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Anderson and Steyn

FBU

FBU

International Debutant
Agent Nationaux said:
Anderson is pretty tight in his line, but wouldn't say he is better than Steyn in that respect. Probably equal.

I don't think the speed gives Steyn a huge advantage because he doesn't crank it up that often, plus both bowlers try to bowl in the 130's in order to maximise the swing.

So far FBU is the only one who has managed to answer why Steyn has been better in his career so far. Didn't know that Anderson had problems with his action.
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Troy Cooley thought he could have problems in the future with his action. Had they left him alone he might not have had any problems with his back. The result was loss of form, rhythm, speed and movement.

There are other things. After his stress fracture, and not bowling all summer he had 10 first class overs before going to Australia for the Ashes where he took 5 wickets for 82.60.

After the second change of action in the ODIs in Zimbabwe he went straight to SA and got 1 Test (2005) when Simon Jones was injured. Again he hadn't bowled with the red ball for months and didn't feature in the warm up games and another new action to contend with. Rather than grooving his action back home he was doing it in a Test. He was terrible in that Test.

From 2003 - 2007 13 Tests 36 wickets at 44.72 econ 3.80 s/r 70.4
Back to his old action in 2008.
 
O

Outswinger123

Cricket Spectator
Just think about this. You have 2 bowlers Steyn and Anderson bowling to you. Anderson bowls exotic outswingers and inswingers to you. You play and miss but stick to lunging on the front foot and trying to get behind the line. Steyn pings you twice on the head with 150kph thunderbolts. Are you going to lunge on the front foot with him? I think the biggest differences between the 2 are:

1. Anderson is a swing master and brilliant at it. Steyn similiar but he can bowl in different modes (or gears). Swinging conditions to proper batsman 135-142kph hooping outswingers. If the pitch is flat he'll bowl back of a length and quicker (145-152kph).
2. Stamina - Steyn bowls quicker as the day goes on.
3. Steyn's swing is so late its almost unreal.
4. Steyn is the only outswing bowler I know that can actually swing it from OUTSIDE leg stump.
5. Steyn's inswinger/straighter one is a genuine surprise. Ask Ian Bell.
6. As I said earlier with exactly the same delivery you may find the same batsman on the front foot with Anderson and on stuck on the crease with Steyn. It comes down to aggression and speed. They generally bowl at the same velocity but the batsman knows that with Steyn physical wellbeing may be factor. Ask Cummings and some other NZ batsman today....
 
Woodster

Woodster

International Captain
It seems, as most people have recognised, that Steyn can do what Anderson can do but generally at a quicker pace. Is more likely to change gears throughout the day depending on conditions and match situation, while Anderson invariably these days works around the mid 130's on average. Steyn is almost always used as a strike bowler, as a bowler that attacks and looks to take wickets even if the ball is not swinging a great deal. Now Anderson has improved his accuracy dramatically, on flatter pitches with not much available for the swing/seam bowler, Anderson becomes a more containing bowler looking for just a hint of movement off the deck but is constantly at the batsman. So while Steyn has been more of a matchwinner on a variety of decks by bowling and attacking as he always does, Anderson has developed his game and is now capable of fulfilling alternative roles for the team which shows great flexibility.

Anderson is still mightily effective against left-handers, opting to swing the ball away from them aswell, while Steyn tends to try and swing it into them without appearing to get as much curve.

For me Steyn is the more dangerous bowler, he is quicker and more likely to run through a team in different conditions, Anderson can be lethal with the new ball and play a decent support role nowadays when the pitch flattens out.
 
P

Pup Clarke

Cricketer Of The Year
GingerFurball said:
Steyn is by far a more attacking bowler, hence his strike rate, but one of the consequences of that is that Steyn can get smacked for runs when he gets things slightly wrong.
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Hmmm...I cbf checking his stats but I think you may be confusing the Steyn of 04/05 to the present day one. He's now very accurate and I can't remember batsman in tests recently belting him around the park very often, or hardly at all.
 
Agent Nationaux

Agent Nationaux

International Coach
Steyn averaged 46 against us in UAE. It's his second worst average in a series. The worst is 52 against England in South Africa (his first test series).
 
Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Pup Clarke said:
Hmmm...I cbf checking his stats but I think you may be confusing the Steyn of 04/05 to the present day one. He's now very accurate and I can't remember batsman in tests recently belting him around the park very often, or hardly at all.
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He's still a 3.something an over bowler now.
 
Spark

Spark

Global Moderator
Pup Clarke said:
Hmmm...I cbf checking his stats but I think you may be confusing the Steyn of 04/05 to the present day one. He's now very accurate and I can't remember batsman in tests recently belting him around the park very often, or hardly at all.
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Aus v SA, Jo'burg 2nd innings.
 
theegyptian

theegyptian

International Vice-Captain
steyn is a freak and will go down as a great of the game most likely. anderson is closer to the mean but is a very good bowler now but has had his struggles to get there.

I'd agree with the others in this thread by saying that today the main difference between the two is that Steyn has it in him to bowl genuineley quick spells and bowls on average 5/7 kmh more than anderson. anderson was an inconsistent bowler for a long time in his career, whereas steyn has had a sustained excellent career so far.

anderson is as close as he has ever got to steyn and i think is the no.2 fast bowler in the world but he is unlikely to get any closer to steyn in the future.

both are average ODI bowlers though.
 
akilana

akilana

International 12th Man
Agent Nationaux said:
He had a poor series against Pakistan in UAE.
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forget that he came back from injury and usually takes a match or two to find his rythm and also forget that the series was too short( only 2 matches).. it's probably the only poor series in a long long time and it gets over-played by some people here.
 
akilana

akilana

International 12th Man
let me make it clear. I'm not trying give any excuses to him having two poor test maches.. Why I even made that point in the first place is that I find it a little funny that when it comes to Steyn, the short series is over-played by a lot here. I mean it's held against Steyn as if it's a major blemish in his career despite his overall awesomness
 
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