Zaheer Khan ruled out of England series,R.P Singh is the replacement

[Flem274*]

Chris Martin comes to mind as a guy with incredible fitness. Can bowl forever. O'Brien in his heyday was the same.

 

[Daemon]

Ntini. nuff said.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Ian Austin did 13+ years county service and even took the new ball for England despite being 3 for 4 stone overweight. Shane Watson, who probably has about 7% body fat to go with his hulk like frame has had multiple stress fractures and spent years on the treatment table. Simon Jones too, he still looks great (aesthetically) and still can’t string a game let alone a season together. Easy to attribute Khan being a lard ass for the injuries but I think it is a little bit more complicated than that as it is hard to decipher if someone is physically fit (or fit for bowling) through sheer aesthetics. And last time I looked, England's hero at Trent Bridge Tim Bresnan had two chins.

He looked in the best shape I've ever seen him, tbf.

 

[smash84]

Ntini. nuff said.

Did you see his final T20 against India last year.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

He looked in the best shape I've ever seen him, tbf.

Bresnan has worked really hard after getting the calf injuries and it shows, he is leaner and faster than he has ever been before. Credit to him for working so hard.

 

[Arjun]

Would you rush in RP Singh for the third Test? He's had three consecutive poor seasons (consistently over 30, once over 40, no more than two five-fors) and hasn't played much FC cricket. Then again, Sreesanth fell flat in the second innings at Trent Bridge, so he's an option. After all, as DE Gough said, this is Test cricket, not Indian grade cricket!

 

[Furball]

Would you rush in RP Singh for the third Test? He's had three consecutive poor seasons (consistently over 30, once over 40, no more than two five-fors) and hasn't played much FC cricket. Then again, Sreesanth fell flat in the second innings at Trent Bridge, so he's an option. After all, as DE Gough said, this is Test cricket, not Indian grade cricket!

No. I don't think he represents a significant upgrade on any of Praveen, Ishant or Sreesanth - and the latter two had patches in the last Test where they bowled decently.

 

[Uppercut]

You know you're scraping the barrel for something to back up your argument with when you start quoting Darren Gough.

 

[weldone]

Praveen, Ishant, Sreesanth, Mishra - that should be the attack for the third test, no issues in that.

The trick is how to use those 4 bowlers. Mishra (if he bowls decently and doesn't do a Harbhajan) has to be given really long spells from one side for the max. portion, while operating the 3 pacers from the other side in short spells. The trick is not to give too many spells to Sreesanth if he finds himself in a non-Sreesanth kind of a day. Praveen and Ishant are expected to bowl well in the first 2 spells each, but Dhoni must know from the 2nd test what might happen if he gets carried away and uses the 2 of them in looong spells...

 

[Goughy]

Bresnan has worked really hard after getting the calf injuries and it shows, he is leaner and faster than he has ever been before. Credit to him for working so hard.

Yeah, he looked in great shape. I dont get where TT Boy is coming from. Clearly didnt watch the 2nd Test.

 

[Top_Cat]

AWTA, looked really fit. Reckon it's helped his batting too, some of his shots looked like a right-handed Darren Lehmann was at the crease.

 

[Daemon]

Did you see his final T20 against India last year.

Why what happened?

 

[smash84]

Why what happened?

he looked in bad shape and terribly unfit. Even getting through 4 overs seemed like an uphill task for him

 

[Furball]

he looked in bad shape and terribly unfit. Even getting through 4 overs seemed like an uphill task for him

That would be because Ntini had been retired for a year.

 

[Daemon]

he looked in bad shape and terribly unfit. Even getting through 4 overs seemed like an uphill task for him

What GF said. I remember reading about him running 8km every day while not playing cricket. He's been praised before for bowling marathon spells in test cricket as well.

 

[Jacknife]

Yeah, he looked in great shape. I dont get where TT Boy is coming from. Clearly didnt watch the 2nd Test.

Agree, he's turned that weight he had on, to solid muscle, when you see him in real life, you realize he's built like a Rugby player.

 

[Burgey]

funny post I thought and do agree with you somewhat regarding Zaheer's fitness.



lol @ big muscled arse



Yeah that picture is pretty decent and you can see the muscle that Kapil is packing. Zaheer seems more fleshy (or flabby) than muscular. And wouldn't agree with SC bowlers not having that muscle. You don't need to be an arnold to be bowling quick but you do need to be in shape and at least should err on the side of having less weight than more of it. So yes agree with Brumby here.

some of the bowlers not so stellar but not out of shape.

top quality post

@Cevno. Shoaib akhtar had become such a fat **** towards the 2nd half of his career. Check out the big arse standing here with Imran Khan who looks much fitter at 50 than Akhtar does at 25.

Jesus, what's that under Imran's kaftan thingy? No wonder he's popular with the ladies.

 

[smash84]

what? he is wearing a simple shalwar (the lower garment) and kurta (the shirt) with a waist coat.