The first point you raise is probably a bit true recently but the bolded a much bigger factor for mine. Aussie batters have historically struggled with good swing bowling (Dougeh Walters' and Greg Chappell's records in England for example), mainly because they don't see it very often. So when they do, "AHHHH, MAGIC!!" *prod* *out*.
Wasim has a very good record in Australia though (apart from his last series). I think Waqar became a more controlled bowler who relied on moving the new ball later in his career, when he came back from injury and cut down his pace. I think this spell is a good example of what I mean. I think he was a bit more scattergun in his early years when he relied more on sheer pace and reverse swinging yorkers. In general, he struggled in Australia.
I remember Wasim really swinging it around in Australia both in the air and off the seam. Rob even posted a video of his from the 89 series and the swing that wasim gets is incredible.
True
Agreed regarding Wasim and Waqar. Waqar had to adapt later on after his injury. He started working more on moving the new ball.
Wasim was a more complete bowler in general, Im not sure about his first series in Australia but in his last 2 he struggled to get the ball to swing consistently. Regarding Waqar, I dont believe that he came back a more accurate bowler, I think he learned some new tricks such as getting the new ball to swing, but I reckon for anyone to get those kind of banana swinging yorkers on target, you had to be fairly accurate in the first place. Used to toss the ball towards the slips and it would end up hitting off stump.
Not really. I think he himself had a vague idea as to how much the ball would swing but that it will swing some. Sometimes it didn't swing much sometimes it swung wildly and went outside leg stump.
Think anyone who swings the ball that much is always going to end up sending some down leg side. Swing in general is pretty hard to control, hence why McGrath never bothered with it until he was playing in conditions that were actually conducive for it.
I am not too sure and I disagree with you again. Seeing McGrath bowl (live) in Pakistan especially in the 1998 series McGrath was still a threat. His figures in Pakistan suggest an average of 31 but IMO he was actually better than that. The openers were always wary of him even though the pitches were roads. This is also what Saeed Anwar told me.
DWTA. Most who watched both Gillespie and McGrath bowl that series said that Gillespie was the one that deserved more credit and was a constant threat all series. The figures might not really reflect that but McGrath kind of just put it out there outside off stump and prayed that someone would edge it but Gillespie genuinely tried to get batsmen out.
At an average of 15. Hard to see how anyone could criticise his 2001 series. Got Sachin and VVS a couple of times, not as if he was taking out tailenders either. The more I think about it, the more I realize just how freakish that series win was for India.
There isn't always a parallel between taking wickets and bowling well. Im not saying he bowled poorly, but the bottom line is that there is more to bowling well than just bowling half a foot outside off stump and waiting for the batsman to edge it. Sure lesser batsmen may play a stupid stroke and get out, but for the majority of that series, most players were happy enough to let him bowl without threatening the stumps and scoring all the runs at the other end off Warne and co.
True. I always felt that a lot of times Wasim didn't get wickets with some of the most outstanding deliveries that you will ever see and Waqar on the other end would get a break through with some really bad deliveries.
He struck at 48 in that series, the best of any Aussie bowler by a distance. This is despite the long slog in that Kolkata 2nd innings, which most people would agree was down to some of the most incredible batting you'd see, than poor bowling.
Whether it worked or not is questionable. It makes his figures look good, but ultimately it didn't win the series for Australia because he wasn't really a consistent threat. He employed a defensive almost 'Ashley Giles' strategy of taking wickets that relied on batsmen error rather than his own brilliance. Granted theres nothing wrong with that, granted its not poor bowling, but when we are comparing him with Wasim in the subcontinent for example, Wasim was a class above back then simply because he could rip apart even the best batting attacks in those conditions. In McGrath's case, defense was the best form of offense.