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James Anderson vs Ryan Harris

Who is the better test bowler? (Ignore Longevity)

  • Total voters
    36
TheJediBrah

TheJediBrah

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Prince EWS said:
I think you're wrong anyway. That ball barely moved at all, was just a good line and length. Obviously a good nut but it's remembered much more fondly because if it was the first ball of the innings and in the Ashes than the actual quality of it in a vacuum, a bit like Starc to Burns.

Jimmy bowled some absolute jaffas that moved miles late and were much better than that ball. Ironically predominantly before he actually became a world class bowler.
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Tf bro

Sounds like someone needs to go back and watch the Harris/Cook ball. It swung in, pitched, then just as it was going to hit Cook's bat (he was playing the right line) it swung away as if it was being repelled by same-pole magnetism in Cook's bat. All the while avoiding a bunch of cracks. There's never been anything like it that I've seen

Show me another ball that swing one way, pitched, then swung the other away into the stumps
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Haha I love how the reductio ad absurdum argument you made at the start of the thread is now what we're actually debating.

Take that, Player Comparisons!
 
GIMH

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Can anyone find me a clip of the Anderson to Manou ball without me having to dig it out of a longer highlights piece?
 
Line and Length

Line and Length

Cricketer Of The Year
TheJediBrah said:
Tf bro
Show me another ball that swing one way, pitched, then swung the other away into the stumps
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It's a pity there's no filmed evidence of a Trueman delivery to Bob Simpson. Alan McGilvray described it as swinging in towards leg, pitching and taking the top of off.
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Line and Length said:
It's a pity there's no filmed evidence of a Trueman delivery to Bob Simpson. Alan McGilvray described it as swinging in towards leg, pitching and taking the top of off.
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TJB's description of a delivery from a right arm over bowler that pitched middle and hit the top of off to a left hand bat is a great example of how writers can embellish what a ball actually did.

Late career Harris did have a way of making it hard to immediately see what a ball was actually going to do in the air until late - a bit like Asif - but there was no second splitter on that delivery. I did indeed rewatch it before telling TJB to GAGF.
 
Burgey

Burgey

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Harris was obviously the faster, better and more masculine and skillful bowler, but unfortunately his career was curtailed by injury.

His sample size is only just big enough to comfortably place him ahead of Anderson, and we know in matches they played against each other that Harris out bowled the Burnley Electric Scooter easily. So it's Harris, but with a bit of a hat tip for Anderson's longevity, albeit his side was pretty ordinary for most of his career, which goes a fair way to explaining said longevity.
 
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Adders

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
Prince EWS said:
Ignoring longevity (but perhaps not to the 'single delivery' extent we've gone above) I actually think Mitchell Johnson is the best bowler I've ever seen.
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I wouldn't disagree with this.....but by the same metric he could quite possibly be the worst bowler ive ever seen (probably not itbt but you get the gist)

Without a doubt what he did to us in 2013 is the best bowling I've seen and theres nothing even close.
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Adders said:
I wouldn't disagree with this.....but by the same metric he could quite possibly be the worst bowler ive ever seen (probably not itbt but you get the gist)

Without a doubt what he did to us in 2013 is the best bowling I've seen and theres nothing even close.
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Yeah totally agree.

On balance MJ was a good but not great bowler. But that's such a weird way to describe his career.

During his career he was the worst properly fast bowler in the history of Test cricket, the best bowler I've ever seen, and everything in between.

Might be a good post for the "players you find hard to rate accurately" thread.
 
Burgey

Burgey

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Prince EWS said:
Yeah totally agree.

On balance MJ was a good but not great bowler. But that's such a weird way to describe his career.

During his career he was the worst properly fast bowler in the history of Test cricket, the best bowler I've ever seen, and everything in between.

Might be a good post for the "players you find hard to rate accurately" thread.
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The definitive Mitchell Johnson article was penned on 19 December 2010. Remains as brilliant now as it was then.

 
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