Test Cricket "Hot Takes"

[Spark]

DWTA. They've got more depth after the first 2.

Lillee and Thompson don't bowl the entire first over of an innings two feet down legside.

 

[OverratedSanity]

The difference in Rabada's stats and his actual impact/quality of performance has been huge in recent years. I used to rate him higher than Cummins, it's not even close now tbh.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yeah SA were here 6 months ago and their bowling was decent but nothing really special. Jansen and Nortje were quite good. Rabada and Ngidi were quite bad.

Nortje coming along has been a huge find but it was a case of 1 step forward, 2 steps back with the rest of the attack being disappointing.

 

[Shady Slim]

Yeah SA were here 6 months ago and their bowling was decent but nothing really special. Jansen and Nortje were quite good. Rabada and Ngidi were quite bad.

Nortje coming along has been a huge find but it was a case of 1 step forward, 2 steps back with the rest of the attack being disappointing.

yeah and even with jansen it sort of felt like as the series went on like, i really don't want to say he "petered out" but more of a case that rabada especially sucked so much he just couldn't shoulder it

 

[honestbharani]

yeah and even with jansen it sort of felt like as the series went on like, i really don't want to say he "petered out" but more of a case that rabada especially sucked so much he just couldn't shoulder it

Its possible Jansen being pretty young, his body is not used to the workloads of a full test series.

 

[Bahseph]

With regards to the Rabada discussion, there is definitely something off with his bowling at times these days. Obviously when it clicks he is phenomenal but it seems like he just runs through the motions now more than he did a few years ago. It is incredible that he maintains the SR/AVE he does. Just looked at his stats and he has 280 wickets in 60 games which even surprised me. One of the differences between him and Steyn for me is the intensity. Rabada seems to turn it on and off while Steyn was so intense he cracked a bone in his shoulder trying to celebrate

Oh,the first hot take is a no from me. Pretty much every batsman that played around the late 2000s and early 2010s for SA would walk into the current team. I'd kill for a Mckenzie or Prince right now haha. Amla and Smith can't balance out the rest of the batting unit.

 

[Dendarii]

With regards to the Rabada discussion, there is definitely something off with his bowling at times these days. Obviously when it clicks he is phenomenal but it seems like he just runs through the motions now more than he did a few years ago. It is incredible that he maintains the SR/AVE he does. Just looked at his stats and he has 280 wickets in 60 games which even surprised me. One of the differences between him and Steyn for me is the intensity. Rabada seems to turn it on and off while Steyn was so intense he cracked a bone in his shoulder trying to celebrate

Something I've noticed about Rabada is that he seems to have periods where he looks very ordinary and then will suddenly turn it on almost out of nowhere. I think it was after one of the recent test matches against India where Elgar said something along the lines of having to say something to Rabada in order to fire him up, so I'd agree that the intensity comes and goes with him.

 

[Bahseph]

It's almost like he takes going for runs as part of the game where as Steyn seemed personally offended that a batsman scored off him. Different personality types I suppose.

 

[ashley bach]

Steyn had those fiery eyes that forever made him look personally offended.

 

[SteveNZ]

I challenge the idea that we're necessarily going to have much faster scoring rates. England aside, run rates have been pretty steady for about 20 years.

It's only a theory, but I think we will. And I am perfectly prepared to be proven wrong. I don't think that Bazball is necessarily Test cricket's version of the four-minute mile, where Bannister managed to carve open the mental barrier that was keeping people from reaching the potential of their physiology.

But I do think that over time, the first generation raised fully on T20 will make higher scoring rates in Tests a reality. I don't think you're going to build a niche of people born after the IPLs inception in 2008 who have a romanticism for 'traditional' Test cricket and continue to play it in the same vein. You're more likely to have people who want to be relevant in the format where the money is, but also carry on the idea that Test cricket is the pinnacle. I don't believe everyone will score as freely and declare as wantonly as England now, but I think 2030-40 as a period, where people born and raised in the IPL/franchise era will start to play international cricket, will be the fastest scoring period in Test history (unless variables arise that challenge this).

I also won't credit England's modern approach for being the forerunner to this, but I do think it is a worthy discussion point now for teams not only as to whether this approach will benefit them, but also Test cricket as a whole. There are some cynics around this - I'm actually not sure why, given how often the 'death' of Tests is bemoaned - but to me, England claiming to be trying to not only win but preserve the allure of the format is incredibly note-worthy.

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Hoggard > Lillee

Garner > Mcgrath

 

[Adorable Asshole]

???? I completely disagree. That makes no sense.

Graeme Smith = Greenidge & Hayden
Hashim Amla < Viv & Ponting

The rest of the current SA team is MUCH worse than WIs and Aus of those eras.

Don't know much about Greenidge but Smith is better than Hayden by a significant margin.

 

[honestbharani]

It's only a theory, but I think we will. And I am perfectly prepared to be proven wrong. I don't think that Bazball is necessarily Test cricket's version of the four-minute mile, where Bannister managed to carve open the mental barrier that was keeping people from reaching the potential of their physiology.

But I do think that over time, the first generation raised fully on T20 will make higher scoring rates in Tests a reality. I don't think you're going to build a niche of people born after the IPLs inception in 2008 who have a romanticism for 'traditional' Test cricket and continue to play it in the same vein. You're more likely to have people who want to be relevant in the format where the money is, but also carry on the idea that Test cricket is the pinnacle. I don't believe everyone will score as freely and declare as wantonly as England now, but I think 2030-40 as a period, where people born and raised in the IPL/franchise era will start to play international cricket, will be the fastest scoring period in Test history (unless variables arise that challenge this).

I also won't credit England's modern approach for being the forerunner to this, but I do think it is a worthy discussion point now for teams not only as to whether this approach will benefit them, but also Test cricket as a whole. There are some cynics around this - I'm actually not sure why, given how often the 'death' of Tests is bemoaned - but to me, England claiming to be trying to not only win but preserve the allure of the format is incredibly note-worthy.

The idea that batsmen should look to score first and block or leave only if they can't is a good one IMO. As long as batsmen can learn to be judicious, it can be a potential game changer.

- Above by someone way too put off by Pujara and Dravid knocking back long hops and full tosses straight to bowler/fielders.

 

[Spark]

The idea that batsmen should look to score first and block or leave only if they can't is a good one IMO. As long as batsmen can learn to be judicious, it can be a potential game changer.

- Above by someone way too put off by Pujara and Dravid knocking back long hops and full tosses straight to bowler/fielders.

It definitely makes for watchable cricket. But it does mean that I think that pitches with nothing in them for bowlers until Day 4/5 are just going to be an absolute no-no from now on; the drama of "your first thought is attack" only really holds up if there's a bit of jeopardy in doing so, which means there's got to be a little in the wicket for bowlers.

 

[chris.hinton]

1) Curtly Ambrose is the best fast bowler of all time

 

[Coronis]

1) Curtly Ambrose is the best fast bowler of all time

hot af

 

[Johan]

Jimmy Anderson is an ATG

 

[honestbharani]

It definitely makes for watchable cricket. But it does mean that I think that pitches with nothing in them for bowlers until Day 4/5 are just going to be an absolute no-no from now on; the drama of "your first thought is attack" only really holds up if there's a bit of jeopardy in doing so, which means there's got to be a little in the wicket for bowlers.

Yeah i have no qualms with pitches that aid bowlers.

 

[Marius]

Daryll Cullinan could play spin, he just couldn't play Warne.

 

[thierry henry]

Daniel Vettori was very overrated while he was playing but seems to have somehow become a bit underrated since retirement (possibly because of everyone understandably taking my earlier hot takes as gospel)