Who do you think the best bowlers are at present??

[Richard]

Siddle outbowled Noffke (who'd already burnt his opportunities by being a knob and blowing up with the coach over money issues) and Bollinger in India on the preceeding A tour (which finished only three days before the Test series in the same country) by all accounts.

I see. From where, incidentally, do you hear this? Is it "insider's word" that only those involved to some degree in the Australian set-up will know about, or is it an open secret?

Because frankly, I'd say that if Noffke is being ignored due to that, those responsible should go public about it. Noffke, if he's been that much of a dumbaess, deserves the public humiliation, and it'll obviously mean the selectors' seemingly inexplicable move gains much more credence.

Also, didn the A series see a number of overs bowled that was slightly above nothing? Not the sort of evidence I'd want to be basing too much on, not if other evidence (ie, state cricket) was more considerable in amount.

 

[Richard]

To be fair to him though Richard you saw him in India...not exactly a fast bowler's paradise. I didn't think he bowled that badly.

I did. The pitch at Mohali(?) was unhelpful, sure, but he was all over the place. And he only got his first wicket due to Tendulkar's over-ambition.

If he bowls like that often during his Test career, on any pitch bar a complete minefield, he'll get a spanking. The only explanation can be that Test debut nerves got the better of him and resulted in a considerably reduced performance.

Either that or he honestly isn't that good and his first few state games have been just a flash-in-the-pan. Not very likely that, but the danger is always there to some extent if you pick someone when they've been in the domestic game 5 minutes.

 

[Precambrian]

Cricket God Vs Social makes my ****ing cricketing day.

Not.

 

[social]

If you bowl on unhelpful wickets what will you average fool?ask lee,clarke,johnson if you still
do not get it

he is at his peak ,bowling between 80-90miles swinging and reverseswinging the ball with a great bouncer and slowerball,complete bowler if you ask anybody who knows cricket.
the way he is going he will average in 27-29 when he will finish and he is the best leftarm
fast bowler in the world

Johnson averages 7 runs less per wicket and takes more wickets per match i.e. he is a better left arm fast bowler

 

[Richard]

Johnson's average means precisely nothing at the current time as it's come down about 10 points in the last 2-and-a-half Tests.

For a career so short containing two very obviously divided periods, an overall average is useless.

 

[Cricket_God]

Johnson averages 7 runs less per wicket and takes more wickets per match i.e. he is a better left arm fast bowler

johnson has played few tests and most wickets he gets are of batsman mistake.
he is never going to win any matches for australia

 

[Richard]

Well he's already played a considerable part in at the very least one defeat of New Zealand, so that puts that one to bed.

If and when people stop making errors against Johnson, he'll probably stop getting wickets. However, the ability to draw the batsman into a drive with a ball that moves away from him is a considerable skill and one Johnson possesses in abundance. It takes an incredibly good batsman to continuously judge correctly, all innings, which balls are full enough that any away-movement is not dangerous enough to preclude the drive.

Most average Test batsmen will fall for the trap before they've made an enormous score.

 

[Migara]

Guess Zaheer is in the wrong team and probably playing the most wrongest conditions for a swing bowler almost whole of his career. However to his credit, he has started a new chapter in the history of fast bowling in India by successfully mastering reverse swing. I am sure he will have a fantastic year in terms of records, which should probably bring down his career average to around 30-31. In this age, and in these conditions, that is very good.

Compare and contrast that with Vaas' figures, and you'll find where Zaheer Kahn actually is. I can name 5 left arm seamers better than him who played in last 25 years.

 

[GIMH]

Go on then...

 

[JBH001]

I can name three off the top of my head: Wasim, Vaas, and Bruce Reid.

 

[DingDong]

Also
Ruchira Perera
Aashish Nehra
James Franklin
Ian Bradshaw

 

[vic_orthdox]

I fear the worst. It's not what ****s me the worst, though - the fact we have a relative embarrassment of fast-bowling riches for the first time since January 07, and we pick, of all people, a hack who'd done nothing to demonstarte his hunger or readiness for the job at hand and was exposed as nothing more than a shot in the dark. Siddle, of all people. ****'s sake. Far as I can tell, he was picked on a whim in India (looking good in the few preceding net sessions by all accounts, which apparently accounts for temperament, consistency and evidence of hard work as well as form) and is in the team now solely to make the selectors look consistent in not picking two or three debutantes every series - which has been the case in every series this year. I wouldn't be surprised if Noffke and Bollinger lost whatever motivation and impetus they had to keep striving away for a spot if this is their understanding of the system. You might as well have picked Magoffin, Harwood, Dorey, or Mark ****ing Cameron if you wanted to make a statement on how capricious and arbitrary the process is.

 

[Chimpdaddy]

Mendis is probably the hardest bowler to read at the moment. Great spinner for Sri Lanka. Just the right man to take the reins from Sri Lankas greatest spinner.

-Chimpdaddy-

 

[Migara]

I can name three off the top of my head: Wasim, Vaas, and Bruce Reid.

Add Brett Schultz and Ian Bradshaw in ODIs to it

 

[Richard]

Also
Ruchira Perera
Aashish Nehra
James Franklin
Ian Bradshaw

I think not on the Perera and Nehra counts. Franklin, certainly, though he's not played as much as he should. He, like Zaheer Khan has, still has time to make a fine last 5-6 years of his career.

Bradshaw was clearly a better ODI bowler (when not being forced to bowl at the death ) than Zaheer Khan and obviously not as good a Test bowler.

 

[zaremba]

Also
Ruchira Perera
Aashish Nehra
James Franklin
Ian Bradshaw

He always struck me as a "run the batsman out from 22 yards" merchant

 

[Richard]

TBF, it was more 18 yards or so.

 

[zaremba]

TBF, it was more 18 yards or so.

Another reason for no-balling him then?

 

[Richard]

Well, he did overstep something like 15 times in his debut ODI spell (funnily enough, the same series where a bowler - you might be able to guess who - was unfairly victimised by no-ball-throwing calls). But no, I was more thinking that 18 yards is the distance popping-crease-to-popping-crease.

 

[Flem274*]

Isn't Perera the guy who runs around in circles before coming in to chuck it?