***Official*** Pakistan and England in UAE

[Agent Nationaux]

Thanks PEWS for the analysis. I'm sure he can sort all that stuff out with our bowling coach, Aqib Javed. Someone on PP mentioned that his wrist position is like Wasim's and that he will do well. Is that right?

 

[Prince EWS]

Thanks PEWS for the analysis. I'm sure he can sort all that stuff out with our bowling coach, Aqib Javed. Someone on PP mentioned that his wrist position is like Wasim's and that he will do well. Is that right?

I can't really make much of his wrist position from that video; my eyesight isn't good enough.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Reminds me of Asif. Looks a bit like him as well.

 

[Z-Man]

Shoaib Malik has been added in the squad on the request of Misbah.

Payback time I guess. Malik brought him in 2007.

 

[smash84]

Basically you're looking at

1. Mark out your run-up so you're a full pace when you enter your delivery stride but no longer accelerating. It's a fine balance; you don't want to lose pace by not arriving at your maximum speed but you don't want to still be accelerating either or you'll lose control over your body.

2. Whether you're side on or chest on, you still need to get your front arm up as high as possible in front of your face to guide your action into shape and increase your accuracy. After it's up, snap it down as quickly as you can to kick-start the rest of your action and generate pace.

3. Brace your front leg by keeping it straight, get your wrist behind the ball, try to keep your head upright and let your bowling arm come through straight near your ear. This is where I prefer the side-on technique as you can use your front arm to guide through to your bowling arm and keep everything in line, but conventional wisdom disagrees with me for a few reasons there.

Those are the basics when building a fast bowling action from scratch. If you used to be an off spinner your biggest challenge will be to stop pivoting, else you'll bowl like Vinay Kumar.

Wow......I don't know if this really works but you sound good PEWS

So how difficult is it to go from spin/medium to genuinely quick (something like what Imran did)?

I really wish somebody had told me all of this when I was a teenager

 

[smash84]

Shoaib Malik has been added in the squad on the request of Misbah.

Payback time I guess. Malik brought him in 2007.

the best decision that Malik ever took I suppose

 

[Z-Man]

Malik was a pretty good captain imho.

was my favorite player for quite a long time.. huge fan until 2011.

 

[Prince EWS]

Shoaib Malik has been added in the squad on the request of Misbah.

Payback time I guess. Malik brought him in 2007.

Well he should definitely be in the ODI setup. Has looked out of sorts for a while but I think it's probably just a symptom of everything that had gone on because he is/was a quality one day batsman. Probably a good time to bring him and show him some faith in amongst an up-beat team. I'm not sure if he'll bowl much, even allowing for the fact that it's at home and against England - guess it depends if Rehman plays - but he should make it on batting alone anyway.

 

[Z-Man]

He's been pretty bad since his comeback.
Averages less than Asad Shafiq.
Lost his bowling completely.


Hence becomes useless in this team. Hammad Azam is a better option. we do not need another spinner rather a young talented batsmen allrounder.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hammad hasn't really done anything at all at any level tbh to consider himself even remotely unlucky. If he keeps getting picked for Federal he should be happy because he doesn't even really deserve that at the moment.

 

[Z-Man]

Hasn't been given a consistent run until now.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hasn't been given a consistent run until now.

Hasn't deserved one because he's done so little in domestic cricket that he's lucky to still be picked in the elite competitions at that level.

Lets wait until he actually does something before crying foul about his non-selection.

 

[Maqsood]

Ajmal to reveal his teesra after ODI series against england.

Saeel ajmal said the english batsmen hasnt picked his teesra
& challenged to find out before he reveals...he said this to ARY TV.

 

[Bouncer]

Nice Analysis Man. What about him not using his right arm at all in his action, when I first saw this clip on PP, my immediate observation was that he bowls as if his right arm is not even part of his body. What do you think.?

Haha, funny you should mention him now because I did a few months ago and then you said you'd not heard of him.

Definitely something to work with (reminds me quite a bit of Junaid the first time I saw him) but there are quite a few little technical things you could change about that action to increase his pace and accuracy.

Firstly his run up seems to consist of running 15 metres at the same pace and then bowling; I'd look at trying to make that run up a little more explosive even if he cut it down a little bit. You don't want to be accelerating as you enter your action because then you lose control over your movements but he doesn't accelerate much at all after the first few steps so a lot of it is wasted IMO. Hard to make any real judgements on this based just on his wicket balls though.

The most noticeable about his delivery is his front arm. You can see he's come from the school of snapping it down fast to generate pace but, as with a lot of young bowlers who get taught that, he's missing the point of having a front arm at all and that's to align your action and give you accuracy, symmetry and a good wrist position. He needs to get that arm up a lot higher before he snaps it down, and that's a relatively easy thing to fix. I bet if he actually watched this footage (lets hope he does..) he'd think "wow, is my front arm really that low?!".

Another thing I noticed was this:

He's got a bit of a teenage Jimmy Anderson going on (although not as exaggerated - Anderson looked sideways) where he's not really looking at where he's bowling. He's also not making full use of his height there as, while he's got his arm in a good spot and he's braced his front leg, he's crouching a little bit ala Nathan Rimmington. He'd do well to work on keeping that head a bit more upright and down the wicket if possible, although a lot of bowlers just lose their actions completely when they do this; it's not an easy thing to change.

The positives are that he completes his action well, gets through the crease nicely, looks to have a very natural angle away from the RHB and, so far, takes lots of wickets and a tiny average. What he sends down looks decent enough in that video but it's basically impossible to make any judgements on that from a few balls.

Needs work, but at 23 with the record he's got, he's definitely a potential international bowler.

 

[Prince EWS]

Nice Analysis Man. What about him not using his right arm at all in his action, when I first saw this clip on PP, my immediate observation was that he bowls as if his right arm is not even part of his body. What do you think.?

Yeah, I mentioned that:

The most noticeable about his delivery is his front arm. You can see he's come from the school of snapping it down fast to generate pace but, as with a lot of young bowlers who get taught that, he's missing the point of having a front arm at all and that's to align your action and give you accuracy, symmetry and a good wrist position. He needs to get that arm up a lot higher before he snaps it down, and that's a relatively easy thing to fix. I bet if he actually watched this footage (lets hope he does..) he'd think "wow, is my front arm really that low?!".

It's the most obvious thing he needs to work on. His front arm is really low; he's almost doing a Paul Harris. It's not helping him at all.

 

[OhhhhMattyMatty]

Have highlighted above three prime examples of typical woolly-headed thinking by clueless England fans; dealing with them as follows:

1) England lost 3-0 because batsmen like Pietersen and Bell are clueless and cannot play top class spin in these conditions. "If 1 of the top 6 performed in this series, we'd have won 2-1" is like my saying that if I were tall, good looking and a rich Hollywood star then Angelina Jolie would be my wife. The game is played in the real world, not in a fantasy world in which players like Bell and Pietersen suddenly become 100 per cent better than they are because you want them to be. The three main culprits (nos 4, 5 and 6) had six innings each in this series and failed each time with a high score by I believe Pietersen in the 30s. That is miserable; not "if they performed" territory, but clearly "they obviously can't perform" territory. I was confident predicting that Bell and Pietersen would average 15-20 in the series (in the event an under-estimate; they averaged 8.5 and 11 respectively) not because I am a seer but because having seen them bat over the years I was certain that, such is their level of ineptitude against top class spin in tricky conditions, they could each have twenty innings against this Pakistan attack in these conditions and never once get to 50.

2) More rubbish. You're either world class or you're not. It doesn't change depending on the pitch you're playing on. Bell has never done anything to so much as hint that he is genuinely world class in his career, which is why he is only regarded as such by a few credulous England fans, who seem incapable of appreciating the difference between a pleasant English summer afternoon unfurling a succession of gorgeous shots against the likes of Ishant Sharma and finding a way of somehow making tough runs when your team really needs them and you're having trouble picking a dangerous spinner's variations in difficult conditions. Bell had six opportunities to prove he's world class this series - six. And blew them all. But no worries, mugs like you still repeat the mantra. It's embarrassing. Kumar Sangakkara played this same Pakistan side three months ago and like someone else remarked he had major problems picking Ajmal, playing for turn to the straight ones and vice versa numerous times even when well set. Yet he toughed it out and got 516 runs for his team at 86 including a century and a double. That is world class. Ian Bell? Kevin Pietersen? You must be joking.

3) No, Ajmal was made to look more dangerous than he is because of the ineptitude of England's batsmen, particularly Bell, Morgan and Pietersen. He is NOT clearly the best spinner in the world; there are questions about his action for one. If his most dangerous delivery the doosra which to the naked eye looks to many people like it is chucked is looked at again by the authorities and he is forced either to modify the way he delivers it or scrap it altogether then it could be that he may end up being a much less effective proposition. Even as it is there are bowlers such as Swann and his teammate Rehman who more or less match him statistically and over whom there are no such question marks about the legality of their actions. Anyway this is not an "Ajmal is a chucker" post but a corrective to the typical English reflex "he destroyed us so he must be the best in the world" which we've all seen played out so many times it is beyond a joke. It is a subtle and insidious form of self-congratulation. Ajmal for me is very good but for now nowhere close to the Murali and Warne level. If Sangakkara can play him and score 516 runs at 86 then why can't the English batting heroes some of whom no doubt have made yours and/or other English fans' world elevens ahead of him?

Aggressive young fellow ain't you? May want to get that checked, it can lead to a malignant narcissism of sorts....

I'd suggest a rage has festered inside you for quite some time, as England have won series after series. As soon as a top 6 which has scored runs for fun against Australia, Sri Lanka, India and even this Pakistan attack (in England), has a horror collective series, they are suddenly all failures and simply stating that if one of them had performed to a good standard we could have won the series is beyond absurd?

And I'd suggest Bell's career average of 49 before this series, 5000+ Test runs, average of 120 last year and tons against every Test nation he's played against suggests he's pretty close to world class. But then, 1 bad series means you are terrible!

Wollllyyyyy!

 

[Jacknife]

Aggressive young fellow ain't you? May want to get that checked, it can lead to a malignant narcissism of sorts....

I'd suggest a rage has festered inside you for quite some time, as England have won series after series. As soon as a top 6 which has scored runs for fun against Australia, Sri Lanka, India and even this Pakistan attack (in England), has a horror collective series, they are suddenly all failures and simply stating that if one of them had performed to a good standard we could have won the series is beyond absurd?

And I'd suggest Bell's career average of 49 before this series, 5000+ Test runs, average of 120 last year and tons against every Test nation he's played against suggests he's pretty close to world class. But then, 1 bad series means you are terrible!

Wollllyyyyy!

Oh mate you've done it now, remember though if you don't think Bell and KP are crap, your just another woolly-headed thinking clueless England fan, along with other names, who can't think for themselves and just blindly follow the crowd.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Have to agree with you Matty...ABC123 has been quite aggressive.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Should be noted Bell didn't actually play in the home series v Pakistan. & those who did hardly scored for fun either. Majority of our runs came from Trott, Prior & Broad.

Not knocking what our top order has achieved, but there's no doubt in my mind that the Pakistan attack in the UAE is a far stiffer proposition than the SL, Indian or Australian (as of 10/11) bowling line ups.

Anyway, very pleased to see young Jos in the ODI line up. Kid does look an exceptional talent, as a List A average of 70+ with an SR better than a run a ball atests.

 

[Woodster]

Should be noted Bell didn't actually play in the home series v Pakistan. & those who did hardly scored for fun either. Majority of our runs came from Trott, Prior & Broad.

Not knocking what our top order has achieved, but there's no doubt in my mind that the Pakistan attack in the UAE is a far stiffer proposition than the SL, Indian or Australian (as of 10/11) bowling line ups.

Anyway, very pleased to see young Jos in the ODI line up. Kid does look an exceptional talent, as a List A average of 70+ with an SR better than a run a ball atests.

Yes Buttler is an exceptionally exciting talent and I hope if he does a endure a troubled tour here he is not simply written off as another Englishman unable to counter the sub-continental conditions! He's very much a work in progress, I'm looking forward to seeing much more of him.