awtb

[Matt79]

Yeah, have to say, 1989 was probably the second series I took a close interest in, after the Windies visit to Australia the previous year, and at the time I thought Alderman was great, but I didn't really appreciate just how fantastic he was in that series. It's only been with the benefit of the years of not really seeing a bowling performance in a series that has bettered it that that performance has achieved what I think is its deserved status in my mind.

He seemed to just have total control of what he was bowling and have the English batsmen utterly hypnotised and all at sea. That said, he wasn't doing anything that at the time looked so outrageous. Warne at the top of his game versus indifferent or bad players of spin, and to a degree Flintoff during parts of the '05 series are probably the other bowlers that I've seen where I just felt that it was a matter of time.

 

[Uppercut]

I don't really blame other people for thinking I do, because they're not me so thus don't fully understand my thought processes. But, no, I don't do bias. I hate it more than most.

No team nor no player has ever caused me to think differently of how well they have performed purely because of which team\player they are. Obviously, I enjoy the success of some players\teams more, but that's different to assessing the calibre of their play.

What some people perceive as bias is in fact simply my "way". It's a result not of prejudicial viewings because of which team someone plays for, but my principles of attacking viewership of the game. This is well-demonstrated by the fact I've been accused, down the years, of bias both in favour of and against players from every single cricketing nation, by ignoramuses who have no clue of my thought processes.

I'm not laughing as an accusation of you personally, the idea of anyone insisting they have no natural prejudices at all is ridiculous. It's impossible to free yourself of them. And if you realised they were there, they wouldn't exist.

 

[Richard]

I don't for a second think I'm free of all natural prejudice in all respects, but where cricket is concerned, I've none. I can see it in some (not absolutely all) others and am actually quite capable of analysing my own thoughts, so thus if there is ever any danger of any cropping-up, I can eliminate that possibility.

 

[Uppercut]

Hahaha no you can't. If you could see them they wouldn't exist.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I thought it was the Australian press who dubbed it the worst ever to leave Australian shores?

I don't think so...I remember it being played up here at the time when we won. Am quite happy to be proven wrong though.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I don't for a second think I'm free of all natural prejudice in all respects, but where cricket is concerned, I've none. I can see it in some (not absolutely all) others and am actually quite capable of analysing my own thoughts, so thus if there is ever any danger of any cropping-up, I can eliminate that possibility.

If this is true Richard you're the only person in the history of mankind that can do so. Which, incidentally, I have no doubt you believe you are.

 

[zaremba]

To have been confident of his [Alderman's] success would have been foolhardy

I just don't see where you get this from. He was proven as a Test player in English conditions, having taken 40-odd wickets 8 years previously, and had enjoyed sustained success against English batsmen in English conditions in the interim.

Anyhow I agree with you and Matt79 that he was unbelievably good in 1989 and it's up there as one of the best series performances I've ever seen.

BTW I'd be interested to know quite how quick he was at that time. He obviously wasn't out-and-out quick, but he had enough pace for his outswing and off-cutter to take maximum effect. I wonder if one day someone's going to start conducting some kind of analysis reconstructing the speeds of various old bowlers from archive footage. Perhaps someone's already attempted this?

 

[Matt79]

I'd have guessed similar to McGrath - predominantly low 130s. Sharp enough, but obviously pace wasn't his major weapon.

 

[GIMH]

I wear my bias with pride, btw

 

[Goughy]

Hahaha no you can't. If you could see them they wouldn't exist.

Nah, thats not true at all. Everyone has prejudices and bias. The 'good guys' recognise theirs and take them into consideration when looking at a topic.

 

[Richard]

I just don't see where you get this from. He was proven as a Test player in English conditions, having taken 40-odd wickets 8 years previously, and had enjoyed sustained success against English batsmen in English conditions in the interim.

Yes, but there's an intensity (and in theory a standard step-up, though with England in 1989 this was indeed barely present) associated with Test cricket and if you're coming back into this aged nearly 33, there have to be question-marks about how things are going to go, IMO.

Alderman answered those questions brilliantly, but I can quite see why they would have been being posed. I cannot accept that he was a "known quantity" along the lines of Border and Boon as of May 1989. No-one who has played 2 Tests in the last 4 years can be such a thing, IMO.

 

[Richard]

I don't think so...I remember it being played up here at the time when we won. Am quite happy to be proven wrong though.

Unfortunately the lack of online journalism from 1989 means it'll probably be impossible to know... only way would be if someone has any cut-outs from the pre-tour previews still hanging around... which I imagine might be rather unlikely.

 

[Furball]

Yes, but there's an intensity (and in theory a standard step-up, though with England in 1989 this was indeed barely present) associated with Test cricket and if you're coming back into this aged nearly 33, there have to be question-marks about how things are going to go, IMO.

Alderman answered those questions brilliantly, but I can quite see why they would have been being posed. I cannot accept that he was a "known quantity" along the lines of Border and Boon as of May 1989. No-one who has played 2 Tests in the last 4 years can be such a thing, IMO.

I guess the equivelant now would be Simon Jones miraculously regaining fitness and being thrown into the Ashes (ish).