Anderson Vs Khan

[GIMH]

Zaheer isn't anywhere near that point tbh. Zaheer's been bowling off the back of an injury every time he's played for the last three years and he's been world class, almost without exception.

It's closer to the situation with Flintoff, in that it might not be completely ideal as far as team balance is concerned but you definitely aren't going to leave a player that good on the bench if you like winning matches.

Would we have kept doing it with Flintoff if we had an all-rounder a level below who could play every game though? Maybe? Who knows?

I'm not suggesting he wouldn't get a look-in; of course he would. He'd be a good backup for Anderson. But would we constantly keep dropping Broad/Tremlett/Brezza/whoever whenever Zaheer was fit?

 

[Prince EWS]

Would we have kept doing it with Flintoff if we had an all-rounder a level below who could play every game though? Maybe? Who knows?

I'm not suggesting he wouldn't get a look-in; of course he would. He'd be a good backup for Anderson. But would we constantly keep dropping Broad/Tremlett/Brezza/whoever whenever Zaheer was fit?

Well, I would.

 

[Howe_zat]

Jimmy definitely got some mojo back in his last spell before lunch, fuller and quicker. Promising.

 

[Uppercut]

Would we have kept doing it with Flintoff if we had an all-rounder a level below who could play every game though? Maybe? Who knows?

I'm not suggesting he wouldn't get a look-in; of course he would. He'd be a good backup for Anderson. But would we constantly keep dropping Broad/Tremlett/Brezza/whoever whenever Zaheer was fit?

I should certainly hope so. Those bowlers are all at least two or three levels below Zaheer fwiw. If he was English, I suspect you'd understand quite how good he is a little better .

 

[Spark]

Jimmy definitely got some mojo back in his last spell before lunch, fuller and quicker. Promising.

Looks back now. Zip, control and movement off the seam. Broad back and this is a killer attack.

 

[Furball]

I should certainly hope so. Those bowlers are all at least two or three levels below Zaheer fwiw. If he was English, I suspect you'd understand quite how good he is a little better .

I get Corrin's point, would Broad and Tremlett perform as effectively if they knew that no matter what they did they'd be carrying drinks as soon as Zaheer was fit?

 

[Prince EWS]

I get Corrin's point, would Broad and Tremlett perform as effectively if they knew that no matter what they did they'd be carrying drinks as soon as Zaheer was fit?

Well they'd still be competing with each other.

 

[Uppercut]

I get Corrin's point, would Broad and Tremlett perform as effectively if they knew that no matter what they did they'd be carrying drinks as soon as Zaheer was fit?

Not "no matter what they do". They are allowed to become better bowlers than Zaheer. And they might rise to the challenge too, you can't predict how people will react to that kind of thing. Certainly not with enough certainty to play a vastly inferior bowler ahead of a world-class one.

 

[Spark]

Suspect Broad would. Seems to perform in the key stages (Oval, Durban, here, even that WC game against SA (which I called) - hell even his batting at times). Tremlett - perhaps.

 

[Daemon]

It's been pretty long since I've seen an attack bowl so well as a unit. Theres no room to hide for the batsmen, excellent stuff.

If only they didn't do this against India, wankers

 

[Athlai]

Since Dhoni had his debut as captain Zaheer has taken 103 @ 28.77

Fidel Edwards has a better average than this.

Therefore I propose to you all, Fidel mk II > Zaheer mk II

 

[Daemon]

Since Dhoni had his debut as captain Zaheer has taken 103 @ 28.77

Fidel Edwards has a better average than this.

Therefore I propose to you all, Fidel mk II > Zaheer mk II

Zaheer in England recently has taken 2 wickets at 9 including the next 'Sachin' in Ali Cook.

Zaheer mk III > Everyone

 

[silentstriker]

Yeah as I said, that second group of bowlers depends on who the backups are.

Would you rather have Johnson the whole time, or Zaheer half the time and Munaf the other half? I'd probably take Johnson tbh. If your depth is good enough to have someone a bit better than Munaf then it changes, though.

Zaheer, relatively easily. Now of course if it became a frequent occurrence that Zaheer got injuries during the match, thus leaving the team in a big ****storm - then yes, I'd agree with you.

I don't think India would have their #1 ranking (or at least not for a year) if they had Johnson and not Zaheer. I think it's simple as that.

Zaheer bowls like the *** in India for the past couple of years, which no bowler in the world can match at the moment (not even Steyn IMO - even though Steyn is a better bowler overall of course), and is so vital if you're an Indian team.

Can Johnson do that? Can most other bowlers you mentioned? India play in India 50% of the time. IMO for an Indian team, half fit Zaheer over anyone - excepting Steyn and Anderson. Steyn is a better overall bowler and while I disagree with GIMH and think Zaheer is a better bowler than Anderson, he's not better by enough to have a half fit Zaheer over a fully fit Anderson. Even if that means you get stuck with Munaf for the other half.

Just my opinion of course.

 

[Athlai]

No such thing as Zaheer mk III.

On a more serious note, ranking bowlers by SR since 11 Apr 2008 who have more than 50 wickets reveals Fidel is once again right up there:

Top Ten in S/R minus teh cheatz
Finn 41.4
Steyn 44.1
Edwards 46.4
Bollinger 48.0
Asif 51.5
Johnson 52.1
Zaheer 52.6
Morkel 53.7
Anderson 55.5
Sharma 55.6
Amir 56.2
O'Brien 57.7

then in average

Steyn 24.95
Asif 25.50
Bollinger 25.92
Finn 26.92
Anderson 27.40
Edwards 28.09
Zaheer 28.77
Amir 29.09
Johnson 29.34
Morkel 29.36
Sharma 31.24
O'Brien 31.54

Edwards is clearly the better.

 

[Cevno]

Too much is being made of Zaheer's injury right now.

It's not like he breaks down every match.Infact not even once a year.

 

[Athlai]

Fidel is second only to Steyn against the top teams in this period.

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Daemon]

Would you take Edwards in your team? (Not doubting he's a good bowler, serious question)

 

[Athlai]

Would you take Edwards in your team? (Not doubting he's a good bowler, serious question)

Hell yeah, wouldn't take Zaheer if you paid me.

 

[Daemon]

Hell yeah, wouldn't take Zaheer if you paid me.

Dream cricket player or $10million to take Zaheer?

 

[Prince EWS]

Dream cricket player or $10million to take Zaheer?