Is McGrath finished?

[Craig]

I dont think making comments about people's age doesnt always helps one arguement.

 

[Andre]

Whether it happens or not, he deserves no credit for it.

So McGrath deserves no credit whatsoever for his ability to consistently put the ball in the right areas?

It takes an incredible amount of skill to do that ball after ball, day after day - it's something that very few bowlers have been able to do. You can't sell that ability short.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Yes, he doesn't deserve credit, because he doesn't do it, pressure happens in the batsman's minds.
If they don't exhibit flawed thinking, they don't feel under any undue pressure.

That completely misses the psychological side of the sport.

You bowl to batsmens' weaknesses - technical and psychological, they both exist and both have equal merit...

 

[Swervy]

flawed thinking is a parted of human nature

 

[SquidAU]

Now most bowlers performances will drop slightly when conditions dont suit their type of bowling....but McGrath's accuracy ensures that he is still in there with a shout even when the pitch is a batters dream.

I have to agree with Swervy on this. McGrath can move the ball when the conditions suit it, but when they don't, he puts the ball in the same place, ball after ball. Granted, if you don't get frustrated, you will not get out to these deliveries. But in the current state of cricket, where high run rates are the order of the day, the batsmen WILL get frustrated by this type of bowling and they will get out to the wide delivery. I would even go as far to say had McGrath been playing in the recent test series against India, the Indian's might not have scored as many runs as they did.

 

[raju]

Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-e-e-e-e-e-e-s-s-s-s................
IMO generalisations and stereotypes are one of the most harmful parts of analysing cricket.

Quite agree me old skipjack. And I raise my glass to you for never resorting to them.

 

[twctopcat]

well, your postings do SOMETIMES smack of the arrogance and stubborness of youth...you may allow your mind to open more to new and crazy ideas, such as 'pressure causes batsmen to make errors' when you get a bit older

Exactly, rich just remind me of my younger brother sometimes, or at least how he was, so there is some hope.

 

[Richard]

Quite agree me old skipjack. And I raise my glass to you for never resorting to them.

You raise your glass to me?
Don't be so ridiculous.

 

[Richard]

So McGrath deserves no credit whatsoever for his ability to consistently put the ball in the right areas?

It takes an incredible amount of skill to do that ball after ball, day after day - it's something that very few bowlers have been able to do. You can't sell that ability short.

Not by any streatch of the imagination have I ever said line and length to McGrath's standards is not a very rare skill. Of course he deserves credit for it.
Many people seem to think line and length is "a basic". If so, anyone who ever picked-up a cricket-ball could be McGrath, Pollock, Warne or Muralitharan.
What I object to is people asserting that doing so automatically means you deserve every poor stroke played against you. But I have never said to bowl line and length is not a skill.

 

[Richard]

That completely misses the psychological side of the sport.

You bowl to batsmens' weaknesses - technical and psychological, they both exist and both have equal merit...

Surely it goes without saying that someone who can bowl to a plan that, in essence, doesn't depend on weakness is the one with the true exceptional ability?
Really, a realistically unplayable delivery doesn't need technical or mental shortcomings.
But if you ask me personally I just prefer seeing technical shortcomings exploited, because mental flaws, no matter, how deep, are almost invariably possible to "fix".
The same cannot be said of technique.

 

[Swervy]

Surely it goes without saying that someone who can bowl to a plan that, in essence, doesn't depend on weakness is the one with the true exceptional ability?
Really, a realistically unplayable delivery doesn't need technical or mental shortcomings.
But if you ask me personally I just prefer seeing technical shortcomings exploited, because mental flaws, no matter, how deep, are almost invariably possible to "fix".
The same cannot be said of technique.

are you sure you havent got that the wrong way round..technique on something that has been coached into you anyway is surely easier to tweak than something that is inherently a part of you..ie your mind

 

[Richard]

Well, all right, not technique (not to say technique is coached into you, it's just tweaked around by coaching) but technique and related stuff.
You know, the sort of physical part of the game. The stuff you see. Eg for batsmanship technique, attacking-shot-repetoire, shot-selection and above-all, eye.
The last two are certainly something that training can only have very limited influence on. You've got as much as you've got, and with the former, the better it is the better you are. The latter, obviously, if you've got it below a certain level, you're not very good at all.
But of course anyone can practise a certain shot, make it better, learn to play it in the first place.
For bowling it would be movement techniques, speed of arm, height and accuracy.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Surely it goes without saying that someone who can bowl to a plan that, in essence, doesn't depend on weakness is the one with the true exceptional ability?
Really, a realistically unplayable delivery doesn't need technical or mental shortcomings.
But if you ask me personally I just prefer seeing technical shortcomings exploited, because mental flaws, no matter, how deep, are almost invariably possible to "fix".
The same cannot be said of technique.

Totally different skills, exceptional in their own ways.

 

[Richard]

So which do you prefer to see?
A batsman, whether a defensive or strokeplaying one, being "worked-over" by being beaten by nip-backers and away-movers, or a strokeplayer being "worked-over" by being tied down and finally playing an attacking stroke to a ball he should have blocked (and had been blocking until now) and mi****ting it up in the air?

 

[Swervy]

each method of attack has its merits

 

[Neil Pickup]

I hate content filters...

 

[Richard]

mi****ting

Surely the "report post" facility is sufficient...
This really is ridiculous. :rolleyes:

 

[Richard]

each method of attack has its merits

I was just asking Neil which he preferred. I know which one I do.

 

[marc71178]

Surely the "report post" facility is sufficient...
This really is ridiculous. :rolleyes:

As and when these things come up, we are looking into them.

This is something that I believe only James has the ability to change, and he does have a life outside this place!

 

[Richard]

I'm no expert on administrating an internet site but surely changing that can't be that difficult! Please.