Cricket stuff that doesn't deserve its own thread

[Prince EWS]

Batting always has a huge slice of luck attached to it. Too many times have I seen one batsman make a single error and be dismissed for a duck, while another one has edges fly past the fielders and stumps, gets a lucky LBW decision go his way, and then gets dropped a couple of times to boot on his way to a 50.

It's even worse if all you do for your team is bat - get a corker of a ball or a bad decision and your contribution for the whole day is done. All you can do now is hope you get the chance to pull off a crazy catch or a runout in the field, because otherwise you're contributing nothing else for the rest of the game.

I've started taking my batting more seriously lately, and get to bat up the order some more now, and man it's a cruel life as a batsman. IDK how you all can do it. Being a bowler is so much better - make one mistake and you've got the rest of the over to compensate for it, if not the rest of your spell.

Yeah I know what you mean. A few years ago I broke my thumb and couldn't really bowl but could still bat, so I dropped down a grade and played as a specialist opener for a couple of games. I'd been opening the grade above as well but I felt a lot more pressure without the bowling, knowing I had to really make the batting count or I'd be hanging around the ground for two days feeling useless.

 

[cnerd123]

Yeah I know what you mean. A few years ago I broke my thumb and couldn't really bowl but could still bat, so I dropped down a grade and played as a specialist opener for a couple of games. I'd been opening the grade above as well but I felt a lot more pressure without the bowling, knowing I had to really make the batting count or I'd be hanging around the ground for two days feeling useless.

I've had two games this season where, based of earlier innings and net performances, I was sent up to bat in crucial run chases, and ended up playing a daft shot early in my innings to get out cheaply.

Man it's the ****ing worst. If I didn't have my bowling efforts to fall back on I'd be so miserable.

 

[harsh.ag]

Batting is awful when you suck. It truly is.

But it's also more fun till it lasts. The bowler is the one throwing down the challenge and the batsman is the one meeting it. That's always more fun.

 

[srbhkshk]

I was really liking that until the last sentence. (at burgey's post)

Not fully incorrect tbh, the worst that can happen when you stink against spinners is that you get out cheaply, if you suck against pacers there are far worse scenarios out there.

 

[cnerd123]

Batting is awful when you suck. It truly is.

But it's also more fun till it lasts. The bowler is the one throwing down the challenge and the batsman is the one meeting it. That's always more fun.

I find them both equally fun tbh. The great thing about being a finger spinner is that it's much easier to find your rhythm and control and maintain it over an extended period of time. This is obviously offset by being super innocuous and hittable to decent batsmen. It creates this great game where you're constantly adjusting you line and length and pace and field and trying to coax a mistake from the batsmen, or once you string together a few dots you look for the batsmen trying to premeditate and catch him trying to do something.

It's really why I quite enjoy spin bowling, especially finger spin. It brings out that cat-and-mouse strategic element of cricket so much more. With pace bowling and wrist spin a lot of the game is just trying to execute the skills under pressure. With finger spin that's a given. Same for medium-pace swing/seam bowling. You're going to be able to do what you want with the ball, and that's no longer the concern. You focus on the next level of cricket instead of dwelling on the basics.

 

[Daemon]

I find them both equally fun tbh. The great thing about being a finger spinner is that it's much easier to find your rhythm and control and maintain it over an extended period of time. This is obviously offset by being super innocuous and hittable to decent batsmen. It creates this great game where you're constantly adjusting you line and length and pace and field and trying to coax a mistake from the batsmen, or once you string together a few dots you look for the batsmen trying to premeditate and catch him trying to do something.

It's really why I quite enjoy spin bowling, especially finger spin. It brings out that cat-and-mouse strategic element of cricket so much more. With pace bowling and wrist spin a lot of the game is just trying to execute the skills under pressure. With finger spin that's a given. Same for medium-pace swing/seam bowling. You're going to be able to do what you want with the ball, and that's no longer the concern. You focus on the next level of cricket instead of dwelling on the basics.

It's also what makes peak pace bowling/wrist spin so much better than finger spin though, because the good quicks and leggies can execute their skills well enough to then play the mental game. Meanwhile the mental game is almost all finger spinners have.

 

[cnerd123]

Indeed. On the flip side, when you see finger spinner or medium pacer dominate in Test cricket it is so so special. They make the most out of limited skills, maximising an art form that doesn't give them much to work with through sheer hard work and intellect and discipline...it's fantastic.

It's why cricket is so special really. There is something in it for everybody.

 

[Daemon]

Indeed. On the flip side, when you see finger spinner or medium pacer dominate in Test cricket it is so so special. They make the most out of limited skills, maximising an art form that doesn't give them much to work with through sheer hard work and intellect and discipline...it's fantastic.

It's decent, I wouldn't say fantastic. I do love Philander/Asif types doing well though.

The issue is when you remove the need for finger spinners to use intellect like some of the Indian/Bang tracks of late, it becomes boring because there's limited skill on display and that limited skill is dominating proceedings.

 

[cnerd123]

It's not really tho - you're still watching exceptional batting skill on display with guys like ABDV, Smith, Kohli, etc, and what Jadeja is able to do by getting the amount of revolutions he does on the ball at that speed is exceptional. And for all the assistance they got from the pitches, it's hard to deny that Lyon, Ashwin, Mehdi and Shakib are not exceptionally skilled bowlers.

Watching those series we saw some exceptional spin bowling on decks that favour them, countered by some exceptional batting now and then. It's not terrible viewing at all.

What makes for terrible viewing is when one aspect of the game is taken out completely - those pitches made batting hard but didn't render it impossible. Certain flat pitches in recent times have certainly made good bowling impossible to come across. And certain slow and low tracks that reduce the game to a battle of attrtion - which is important now and then to highlight the guys with great discipline and work ethic, but God is it awful to watch.

 

[Daemon]

it's hard to deny that Lyon, Ashwin, Mehdi and Shakib are not exceptionally skilled bowlers

might want to re-read that lol

What makes for terrible viewing is when one aspect of the game is taken out completely - those pitches made batting hard but didn't render it impossible. Certain flat pitches in recent times have certainly made good bowling impossible to come across. And certain slow and low tracks that reduce the game to a battle of attrtion - which is important now and then to highlight the guys with great discipline and work ethic, but God is it awful to watch.

Yeah, like fast bowling. Morkel was reduced to bowling cutters as his stock delivery.

 

[TheJediBrah]

It's not really tho - you're still watching exceptional batting skill on display with guys like ABDV, Smith, Kohli, etc, and what Jadeja is able to do by getting the amount of revolutions he does on the ball at that speed is exceptional. And for all the assistance they got from the pitches, it's hard to deny that Lyon, Ashwin, Mehdi and Shakib are not exceptionally skilled bowlers.

Watching those series we saw some exceptional spin bowling on decks that favour them, countered by some exceptional batting now and then. It's not terrible viewing at all.

What makes for terrible viewing is when one aspect of the game is taken out completely - those pitches made batting hard but didn't render it impossible. Certain flat pitches in recent times have certainly made good bowling impossible to come across. And certain slow and low tracks that reduce the game to a battle of attrtion - which is important now and then to highlight the guys with great discipline and work ethic, but God is it awful to watch.

Jadeja is a perfect example of someone who contradicts everything you said you like about finger spinners though. He's really not great at the subtle aspects you mentioned, varying pace and flight etc. compared to others like Lyon. He just fires it in and lets the pitch (when he's playing on dustbowls, aka where he takes wickets) do the work for him.

 

[Starfighter]

I wouldn't say Lyon is all that about subtly varying his pace or flight. 88 km/h over and over. But your Jadeja point stands.

 

[cnerd123]

Goddamn double negatives.

Jadeja is a freak because very few spinners in the history of cricket can put as many revs on the ball while bowling at 90 kmph for as many overs as he can. It's an incredible physical skill. He doesn't have much nuance granted, but it's hard to deny him his success when it's built on such a unique skillset.

Plus in all those India/Bang test matches there was plenty of good reverse swing on display. Sure a tall, hit the deck fast bowler wasn't able to thrive in those conditions, but that's just fair for all the time we have greentops where any medium pacer can swing it and the most potent of spinners is reduced to a holding role.

 

[Daemon]

Keep digging *****

Jadeja a freak, fmd

 

[TheJediBrah]

Darren Lehmann would have a similar bowling record to Jadeja if he played in the same conditions

 

[cnerd123]

Look at all the haterz.


You guys need to learn to appreciate cricketers instead of being annoyed at them having records better than you think they are worthy of.

 

[Borges]

Appreciating Jadeja is hard; very hard. Believe me, I've actually tried it.

I would have imagined that appreciating Darren Lehmann would be even harder; but I must yield to the actual practitioners of that esoteric art like TheJediBrah.

 

[ankitj]

https://twitter.com/OmgSachin/status/985876100617199617?s=19

 

[cnerd123]

https://twitter.com/OmgSachin/status/985876100617199617?s=19

I know it looks like he's having fun, but you cannot begin to fathom the kind of pressure Sachin was under during that game of gulli cricket.

 

[Borges]

Always been a terrific PR man. Just can't bear to think that he has been left behind in the midst of all this hullabaloo about IPL.