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Piyush Chawla

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
From memory, De Silva actually bowled a fair bit during the first 15 with fielding restrictions in that series; and overall had quite a mixed time with the ball. A couple of games he was really effective, and in a couple of others he got a touch-up (as can be the way as a part timer).
 

pup11

International Coach
Modern day leggies (Chawla, Afridi, White, Kumble) who are playing odi cricket or test cricket atm, seem to bowl quickish top-spinners followed by a wrong'un (but i don't think MacGilla is guilty of doing that) and there is hardly any flight or turn in their bowling because they don't have much confidence in their bowling when they flight the ball (and they also seem to sacred about giving away too many runs).
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Exactly - they block things out, so such bowlers aren't really much of a threat...

The only problem with such bowlers comes when you try to attack them headlessly.

I see batsmen get caught at mid-wicket and extra-cover by being beaten in flight occasionally, but only very occasionally. Mostly being beaten in flight just results in an uncomfortable-looking stroke and no real harm done.

Whereas being beaten by turn results in wickets much more often. And bowlers who turn the ball and use loop can get batsmen out regardless of whether they look to attack or defend them.
I am not arguing that flight is a better way to get people out than turn. I am just saying that the ability to be a good flighter of the ball has its own advantages, esp. in the limited overs format, even if you cannot turn the ball. The only proviso is you should be able to be consistent with it. It will always help one get wickets or atleast block runs to an extent. Didn't Dinesh Mongia have the best economy rate in the English Twenty20 at one point?
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Haha :laugh: yeah he did. That was by courtesy of bowling very flat and full, though, not by throwing it up.

Obviously, if you're bowling Full-Tosses, Long-Hops and Half-Volleys, a very flighted ball is the same as a very flat one. Accuracy is a basic prerequistite for success (economy-rate-wise) in ODIs.

Nonetheless, I see enough evidence that a bowler with skill of flight but without enough spin to turn the ball on all surfaces will struggle on non-spin-receptive surfaces. In both ODIs and Tests.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Haha :laugh: yeah he did. That was by courtesy of bowling very flat and full, though, not by throwing it up.

Obviously, if you're bowling Full-Tosses, Long-Hops and Half-Volleys, a very flighted ball is the same as a very flat one. Accuracy is a basic prerequistite for success (economy-rate-wise) in ODIs.

Nonetheless, I see enough evidence that a bowler with skill of flight but without enough spin to turn the ball on all surfaces will struggle on non-spin-receptive surfaces. In both ODIs and Tests.
Daniel Vettori?
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Vettori being the sole exception. I've said before that he's been a good ODI bowler for a number of years.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Vettori being the sole exception. I've said before that he's been a good ODI bowler for a number of years.
Then you must be able to accept the idea of bowlers being able to be effective in his mould which is what most people are implying? (Though I don't feel there is a bowler in international cricket that can match his flight deviations.)
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
That's just the point - you'd have to be seriously exceptional, and people capable of that are even rarer than those capable of bowling really fast and flat a la Kumble 1989-1999 and Dharmasena. Rarer, even, than those like Saqlain and Harbhajan who can bowl Doosras. Rarer, I'd even dare say, than those like Warne and Murali who can spin the ball massively and still keep exceptional control of length.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
IMO I think unlike some of those things a spinner can bring it into his game with a lot of practice, a skill which unlike those others you have named is easier to learn (perhaps hard to master) but a very effective asset to any spinners arsenal. IMO flight shouldn't be the only tool to any spinner or even the main one, Vettori is an exception (though he also uses pace), but I can see any spinner using flight every now and then to pick up a wicket, he just needs to use it effectively and like a doosra buidling his batsman into a position where the deception may get him out.

A main weapon? No, a valuable asset? Yes.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Absolutely, I agree 100%.

Just high flight in itself is no use either - it needs to be mixed, regularly, with flatter ones. Powar does this well but I don't feel he really does it as well as Vettori and to date hasn't demonstrated anything much to me suggesting he'll have a long, successful ODI career.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Absolutely, I agree 100%.

Just high flight in itself is no use either - it needs to be mixed, regularly, with flatter ones. Powar does this well but I don't feel he really does it as well as Vettori and to date hasn't demonstrated anything much to me suggesting he'll have a long, successful ODI career.
He looks handy but hardly a match winner for me, when used in tandem with Chawla I feel makes him more effective as choking the score so often does. He's also a very brave bowler, keeps it up even when he's been hit, which is probably the best display of guile he can have, most batsman wouldn't expect it (though if he does this EVERYTIME, then they will), verdicts out for me, he's shown some potential but I don't see him ever being a match winner.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
He looks handy but hardly a match winner for me, when used in tandem with Chawla I feel makes him more effective as choking the score so often does. He's also a very brave bowler, keeps it up even when he's been hit, which is probably the best display of guile he can have, most batsman wouldn't expect it (though if he does this EVERYTIME, then they will), verdicts out for me, he's shown some potential but I don't see him ever being a match winner.
I don't think anyone ever said he is a match winner here. Richard was implying that he won't be any good at all (or any spinner who has good flight) which is what we are refuting here. That is all....
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
I don't think anyone ever said he is a match winner here. Richard was implying that he won't be any good at all (or any spinner who has good flight) which is what we are refuting here. That is all....
Was just noting my opinion on him in that regard
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I don't think anyone ever said he is a match winner here. Richard was implying that he won't be any good at all (or any spinner who has good flight) which is what we are refuting here. That is all....
Heavens, I've not once said flighted < flat. I've just said that flight without turn is little use (and yes, sometimes worse than bowling flat).

Powar seems to be more famed for tossing the ball up than actually spinning it. Hence why I don't see him amounting to much (added to his very mediocre List-A-OD record).
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Heavens, I've not once said flighted < flat. I've just said that flight without turn is little use (and yes, sometimes worse than bowling flat).

Powar seems to be more famed for tossing the ball up than actually spinning it. Hence why I don't see him amounting to much (added to his very mediocre List-A-OD record).
Powar gets more turn than any finger spinner I've seen. He has a reputation for flighting it because it's so different; it's rare for bowlers to flight it much these days, especially in one days games, and certainly not as much as Powar. He turns the ball more than any finger spinner currently in world cricket from what I've seen, and that is partly due to his flight. Obviously, if you get the ball up above the batsman's eyeline and then back down quickly, you'll get more revolutions on the ball and, in turn, spin it more. He turned the ball significantly more than Panesar throughout the one day series and turned the ball more than Chawla when there was something there for him in one of the games as well (sorry, I don't actually recall which one it was).

Flighting the more twice as much as anyone going around is obviously going to be more reputation-establishing than turning the ball slightly more than your peers but still less than those who bowl wrist spin.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
A lot? Kumble and Chawla (neither of whom are enormous spinners of the ball) do you mean?

I've never seen Powar turn a ball (much) on what I tend to call "non-spin-receptive surfaces". Hence, he might spin it more than Panesar (or he might not - it's well-known that Panesar tends to concentrate less on spin in OD games - one of many reasons he's far less good in OD than FC cricket) but still nowhere near enough to get something out of all surfaces - he, like everyone, is limited by the human hand's power.

In the recently-concluded series (and FTM in the one in India in 2005\06) he certainly struck me as spinning it no more, and often less than, Harbhajan Singh. And if he was such a massive spinner I'd find it inconceivable his ER would be as high as 4.6-an-over in domestic cricket.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
4.6 is pretty good, and Indian players, even in domestic cricket often rival most international teams in spin playing potential. Plus, being someone who flights it a lot means he takes more wickets (lower S/R) than that overrated Harbhajan Singh, but also can go for more. Their averages are similar.

Except Harbhajan is not even a mediocre bowler, while Powar is potentially a very very good one.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Harbhajan > Powar, as ER > SR. Not that I reckon Powar is going to be getting a hell of a lot of ODI wickets, other than against England.

4.6 is never, ever a good ER. Accept that and you see why scoring-rates are so fast at the current time. You'll only become a truly top-notch OD bowler if you aim high (ie, at the 4-4.1-4.2 mark).
 

Perm

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
4.6 is never, ever a good ER. Accept that and you see why scoring-rates are so fast at the current time. You'll only become a truly top-notch OD bowler if you aim high (ie, at the 4-4.1-4.2 mark).
Considering he is bowling against Indian batsman, traditionally the best players of spin in the world, and bowling on the flat Indian pitches I think 4.6 is an okay economy rate, particularly when coupled with a good strike rate.
 

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