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*Official* India Tour of England 2018

R!TTER

State Regular
My problem with the 5th bowler is this, and this is in general, not an attack on Pandya.

Lets say he bowls 10 to 15 overs a day, and is economical, a nice tidy 3 runs an over. And takes his 0/30 or 1/45.

That's a nice lil' breather for his bowling team mates and the batsmen both.

If these guys are going to bowl with averages over 35, they better make runs at over 35 too, else they're a liability imo.
Except that largely depends on the conditions, also luck. At the end of the series, some of them may achieve these numbers but the impact at crucial times, with late order runs or wickets, is what's more important.
 

Mr Miyagi

Banned
Except that largely depends on the conditions, also luck. At the end of the series, some of them may achieve these numbers but the impact at crucial times, with late order runs or wickets, is what's more important.
Not giving away free runs, no matter how economical they are, is the point, but to then give up scoring runs as well, it starts to be become a confounded problem.

Do the bowlers need the support should be the question asked first imo. For instance, a geriatric Anderson and a paper cut fearing Broad may do. And its not like Stokes is worse than Mark Wood as a primary bowler anyway.
 
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GoodAreasShane

Cricketer Of The Year
Not a especially similar case I know, but Carl Hooper was a more than effective 5th bowler despite not really being that incisive. His job with the ball was to wheel away through a fair few economical overs and allow the West Indies quickmen to rest and refresh, a role he performed consistently well. Hence Hooper's presence made the already formidable WI attack stronger, even when he wasn't taking wickets himself.
 

TheJediBrah

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You can average 50 with the ball as a 5th bowler and still be a valuable player, even if you're barely averaging 30 with the bat. There are far too many factors involved to able to make a blanket statement on a player's value based purely on their comparative averages.
 

Mr Miyagi

Banned
Not a especially similar case I know, but Carl Hooper was a more than effective 5th bowler despite not really being that incisive. His job with the ball was to wheel away through a fair few economical overs and allow the West Indies quickmen to rest and refresh, a role he performed consistently well. Hence Hooper's presence made the already formidable WI attack stronger, even when he wasn't taking wickets himself.
He made the team on batting alone, though. The team already had Logie in the line up, and Hooper replaced a winding down Gomes who hadn't bought a run in 3 years.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/51891.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting
 
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CricAddict

Cricketer Of The Year
Hardik will exceed my expectations if he does in 5 tests what Stokes does in his 4 tests both in batting and bowling, considering positively that they are available for all tests and play.
 

GoodAreasShane

Cricketer Of The Year
He made the team on batting alone, though. The team already had Logie in the line up, and Hooper replaced a winding down Gomes who hadn't bought a run in 3 years.

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo
I am well aware he was selected originally on his batting, was more thinking of a few years later. There were times when his batting form was somewhat inconsistent, it is fair to assume Hooper's ability to add extra value with the ball probably helped him stay in the team.
 

cnerd123

likes this
I think that if he's going to be useful it's going to be in counter-attacking innings to give failing innings respectability and crucial breakthroughs with the ball, rather than as more of a support player forming partnerships and building pressure. Even Good Pandya, if it all works out for him, isn't the player you're hoping for there IMO.
If Pandya does this plus what I described, then that would be perfect. If we're on top, he just needs to provide support to ensure we don't lose any advantage. When we are struggling, he puts in a performance that helps arrest the slide.

However, if he only performs the crisis man role and not the supporter role, then that's kinda useless IMO. Because I don't think he's capable enough with bat or ball to take us from a losing position to one of parity. He'll just score some consolation runs, or take a wicket or two. It will still require other players in the team to step up to turn the game around, and I just don't believe our team has the players who can do that overseas. Kohli and Rahane with the bat maybe, and Yadav/Shami if they hit rhythm in one of their spells. But we haven't been that good at coming back from being behind in overseas test matches.

Similarly, if we do happen to get a dominant position, it would absolutely suck if Pandya can't press that advantage forward, and instead ends up throwing his wicket away or bowling a bad spell. I think England are far more likely to win the opening exchanges of these matches, and so it won't be often that we'll be ahead of the game - if Pandya screws up the few times that we are, it might cost us the few chances we have to actually win.

He won't play a role in setting us up for victory, but he will play a crucial role when it comes to either maintaining our advantage or coming back from behind. If I had to choose for Pandya to excel in one of those two, I'd choose the former. I can see how he'll end up with better numbers and a more favorable impression with the fans if he does the latter tho, since I expect India to be behind the game for most of the series.
 

Mr Miyagi

Banned
I am well aware he was selected originally on his batting, was more thinking of a few years later. There were times when his batting form was somewhat inconsistent, it is fair to assume Hooper's ability to add extra value with the ball probably helped him stay in the team.
For ODI cricket, sure. I agree entirely. For test cricket, I really don't think that this is a wise assumption to make.

It assumes too much and doesn't address whether he was on occasion dropped. It ignores whether those who replaced him also failed to make runs, (Phil Simmons averages barely over 20, and there is a long list of ordinary 1990's WI batsmen) and whether he made his way back in on batting.

Hooper has exquisite batting talent unrealized the general consensus of the experts. At beyond Lara levels according to several pundits. The guy could bat.
 
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TheJediBrah

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For the WI side who often played 4 quicks too, Hooper's bowling was very useful.

I'm not sure he'd even make a full strength Zimbabwe side. :ph34r:
does such a thing even exist? Aren't a fair chunk of the first choice players always banned/boycotting/not getting paid/moved to another country
 
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Mr Miyagi

Banned
For the WI side who often played 4 quicks too, Hooper's bowling was very useful.
Yeah, well they did alright too for the best part of 10 years without him with Viv rolling his arm over ;)

In fact, they did better pre-Hooper. More factors at play of course. But the fact remains.
 
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AndyZaltzHair

Hall of Fame Member
Final Predictions:

Highest run-scorer: Bairstow
Highest wicket-taker: Broad
Biggest disappointment: Hardik Pandya
Biggest surprise: Rashid the batsman
Man of the series: Broad
Result: India 0- England 3
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Highest run-scorer: Root
Highest wicket-taker: Anderson
Biggest disappointment: Rahane
Biggest surprise: Karun Nair (when he finally gets the opportunity)
Man of the series: Anderson
Result: India 1- England 2

One point for each prediction.. lets see who wins at end of the series.
 

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