thierry henry
International Coach
A few points on various things I have read in this thread.
1) Shane Bond bowls big in-swingers (NOT out-swingers, as some people seem to think) with the new red and white balls. This also makes him very effective at nicking out left-handers.
2) Early on Rik said he would love to see a 100 mph ball hit for 6. If you go back and watch the Aussie Vs SL game at the World Cup, you will see a very hostile spell from Brett Lee where he was consistently in the 155-160 kph range bowling to Sanath Jayasuriya. Eventually he bowled a leg-stump half-volley, and Jayasuriya hit it for 6 over square leg. From memory the ball was probably between 96-98mph. The shot will always stick in my memory because I am not exaggerating when I say that all Jayasuriya did was get his bat down in an attempt to avoid being bowled. There was little or no attacking intent in the stroke, it was just a defense mechanism to jam the bat down, and the ball fair flew for six.
3) I disagree that Daryl Tuffey's predictability makes him too hittable. Line and length bowling will never go out of fashion. Are McGrath and Pollock too hittable? Their records suggest no.
I also believe that Tuffey has improved vastly on flat pitches. His excellent seam and wrist position enables him to extract leg-cut on the flattest of pitches. Watch his bowling effort in the second test in India for proof. The way he nicked out the likes of Dravid on a featherbed was tremendous.
1) Shane Bond bowls big in-swingers (NOT out-swingers, as some people seem to think) with the new red and white balls. This also makes him very effective at nicking out left-handers.
2) Early on Rik said he would love to see a 100 mph ball hit for 6. If you go back and watch the Aussie Vs SL game at the World Cup, you will see a very hostile spell from Brett Lee where he was consistently in the 155-160 kph range bowling to Sanath Jayasuriya. Eventually he bowled a leg-stump half-volley, and Jayasuriya hit it for 6 over square leg. From memory the ball was probably between 96-98mph. The shot will always stick in my memory because I am not exaggerating when I say that all Jayasuriya did was get his bat down in an attempt to avoid being bowled. There was little or no attacking intent in the stroke, it was just a defense mechanism to jam the bat down, and the ball fair flew for six.
3) I disagree that Daryl Tuffey's predictability makes him too hittable. Line and length bowling will never go out of fashion. Are McGrath and Pollock too hittable? Their records suggest no.
I also believe that Tuffey has improved vastly on flat pitches. His excellent seam and wrist position enables him to extract leg-cut on the flattest of pitches. Watch his bowling effort in the second test in India for proof. The way he nicked out the likes of Dravid on a featherbed was tremendous.
