Brad Hogg as a test match option

[Richard]

Warne doesn't need a turning pitch to turn it, though.

I can't recall too many fingerspinners ripping it square there at any point.

 

[TT Boy]

If there were any good spinners in South Africa won't they be playing for their national side??

Paul Harris? Or was his performances against India and Pakistan a complete anomaly?
Harris is not the greatest but South Africa do have some decent enough young kids coming through, the likes of Thandi Tshabalala, Tyron Pillay, Corbyn Dolley and SA Engelbrecht, who alongside Wayne Parnell is head and shoulders South Africa’s U19’s best bowler.

 

[Mister Wright]

Warne doesn't need a turning pitch to turn it, though.

I can't recall too many fingerspinners ripping it square there at any point.

There's more to spin bowling than spin. Infact, most spinners prefer a bouncing pitch. With even just a little bit of turn, if you can get the ball to bounce, you can often trouble the batsman more than balls that turn square.

 

[Richard]

Bounce is not really much use without sideways turn.

Wristspinners, of course, can use spin to cause extra (or less) bounce, with the Flipper and the inverse of the Flipper.

Of course, the more bounce and pace, the more any sideways spin becomes effective, same as with seam for a seamer, but you won't get too far as a spinner just because a pitch has bounce.

And I really can't recall too many fingerspinners either ripping it much or getting many big hauls at The Gabba.

 

[Mister Wright]

Bounce is not really much use without sideways turn.

Wristspinners, of course, can use spin to cause extra (or less) bounce, with the Flipper and the inverse of the Flipper.

Of course, the more bounce and pace, the more any sideways spin becomes effective, same as with seam for a seamer, but you won't get too far as a spinner just because a pitch has bounce.

And I really can't recall too many fingerspinners either ripping it much or getting many big hauls at The Gabba.

How many good finger spinners have bowled on the 'Gabba surface in the last 10 years? The only one that comes to mind is Vettori. Murali (if he tours) will have a chance this year.

 

[Richard]

Haha, Murali ain't no fingerspinner.

It says a fair bit that there aren't many fingerspinners considered good enough to play there. But Harbhajan hardly set The World on fire, neither did Vettori, neither did Giles.

Yet all 3 have done on turning pitches elsewhere, plenty of times.

 

[Mister Wright]

Haha, Murali ain't no fingerspinner.

It says a fair bit that there aren't many fingerspinners considered good enough to play there. But Harbhajan hardly set The World on fire, neither did Vettori, neither did Giles.

Yet all 3 have done on turning pitches elsewhere, plenty of times.

Ah, forgot about Harbhajan....

The time he bowled there, the pitch had been covered for the majority of three days. So it really wasn't a 3rd/4th day pitch, as such.

 

[Richard]

What about Giles and Vettori?

 

[Mister Wright]

What about Giles and Vettori?

The last 'Gabba Ashes test only made it into the 5th day due to Pietersen & Collingwood. Australia only batted once. First Innings. In the '02 series, pretty much the same thing.

Last time N.Z. played Australia at the 'Gabba, Vettori took 4/152 off 50 bowling 2nd & 3rd day.

In the '01 series, it was also rain effected and Vettori only bowled 15.4 overs for the match.

 

[Richard]

Heheh. It seems things have conspired against decent fingerspinners having the chance to bowl later on at The Gabba.

I hardly think 4\152 is outstanding, though. Quite the opposite.

 

[Mister Wright]

Heheh. It seems things have conspired against decent fingerspinners having the chance to bowl later on at The Gabba.

I hardly think 4\152 is outstanding, though. Quite the opposite.

Not bad, when you consider how many overs he had to bowl, and from memory I think he had 2 of the first 4 wickets, and was unlucky to not have Clarke out 1st ball. And he certainly wasn't bowling on a 5th day 'Gabba pitch, which would have offered more assistance.

 

[Richard]

I guess Australia have tended to be too impregnable at The Gabba for a long, long while for anyone to get the chance to bowl on the 5th day.

Yes, he should have had Gilchrist (I think it was him, not Clarke) lbw very early on, I remember it very well. But those figures are still distinctly ordinary.

 

[Mister Wright]

I guess Australia have tended to be too impregnable at The Gabba for a long, long while for anyone to get the chance to bowl on the 5th day.

Yes, he should have had Gilchrist (I think it was him, not Clarke) lbw very early on, I remember it very well. But those figures are still distinctly ordinary.

No, the Clarke one, was for one he almost snicked behind first ball. I said 'unlucky', not 'should have'.

 

[Richard]

Haha, oh right. Well I'm still sure he had Gilchrist and wasn't given it, but people miss the outside-edge all the time. If you got a wicket for every play-and-miss, you'd be a rich man indeed.

 

[Mister Wright]

Haha, oh right. Well I'm still sure he had Gilchrist and wasn't given it, but people miss the outside-edge all the time. If you got a wicket for every play-and-miss, you'd be a rich man indeed.

Yeah, you're definitely right. However, this was one of those ones, where everyone had their hands on their heads, and from our angle (where we were sitting) we thought he was out. Not that you'd know of course, never going to matches and all.

 

[Richard]

Haha, a veiled dig at my lack of true support...

It's still something that wasn't out, though, whatever it looked like from certain angles.

 

[Mister Wright]

Haha, a veiled dig at my lack of true support...

It's still something that wasn't out, though, whatever it looked like from certain angles.

That I know. And you would know, if you went to games, that sometimes you can be dead certain that someone is out, and there's not even a reaction from the players, and other times, you think to yourself, "He can't be out surely," yet he is.

 

[Richard]

I do go to some games, y'know, and I play loads of 'em too. I'm well aware of what you mean, and I can understand it. But what is out remains out, and obviously the same the other way around, and what things look like from certain angles doesn't mean they're any more unlucky than any other play-and-miss.

 

[Mister Wright]

Haha. I'm trying my best to get the last word in here, but you just won't let me, will you?

You're lucky (and the rest of the poor souls, that have the misfortune of reading this) that it's my bedtime, 'cause I could keep going all night.

 

[pup11]

Wrighty its never easy to get the last word in when you are in a debate against Rich.


Right Rich!!