Aye, I know, but until you've conquered your demons, they remain. A bit like what you and Burge were saying re Anderson prior to the series - his record last time would have been playing on his mind - it won't be anymore, I wouldn't have thought, but you get my point.
Because we're better at cricket, duh
Almost all 1st grade bowlers could bowl a better line, especially in NSW
Aye, I know, but until you've conquered your demons, they remain. A bit like what you and Burge were saying re Anderson prior to the series - his record last time would have been playing on his mind - it won't be anymore, I wouldn't have thought, but you get my point.
Because we're better at cricket, duh
Yeah I think it has to be a confidence thing. You could argue that England just have better bowlers, but even if that's true I don't think it would be by a large margin at all. I mean, the English bowlers don't have outstanding overall records at all - if they were really that much better than the Aus bowlers surely their records would indicate that.
Yeah, today's batting was terrible from Australia as well. If they'd have played sensibly before lunch it would've been so much easier after for them. Didn't make England bowl overly well for wickets.
That doesn't directly affect the bowling though. I mean just in terms of consistancy and bowling in the right areas.
The only bowler playing in this Test who doesn't have a good record is Anderson (and it's now approaching acceptable). His record over the past 2-3 years is very good.
There's no denying that England put the ball in good areas, but if some of our batsmen decided to put their head down and try to struggle through a tough period instead of trying to hit their way out we'd be in a much better position.
That's just crazy talk, you don't get on the highlights reel or a cologne deal by blocking...
I think that with the addition of Swann and Anderson maturing into a really top bowler, England have had the best all-round attack in test cricket for the last 12 months or so.
You can't judge Finn, Tremlett by their test records though because of, as you said, the small sample size. The only bowlers from both sides where the test record is a good indication is Johnson and Anderson. Anderson's overall test average is 31.59, whilst Johnson's is 30.10. Anderson has been bowling very well this year, but averaged a mediocre 33.88 last year, where as Johnson has obviously been playing terribly of late. The best judge of all the other bowlers in their FC averages. English FC averages for bowlers are typically better than test averages though, and I think Australian FC averages are pretty consistent with test averages. So given that there is nothing in the records at least which stands out between Finn, Tremlett, Siddle, Hilfenhaus and Harris.
To be fair, both teams have played Pakistan the most times...
