The Cricket Thread 2016

[paul_e]

I'd be surprised if this doesn't end as a draw now, there's not much in the pitch and a fair bit of time is lost without there really being much chance of getting extra overs in at the end of the day.

[peter w]

I'd be surprised if this doesn't end as a draw now, there's not much in the pitch and a fair bit of time is lost without there really being much chance of getting extra overs in at the end of the day.

I don't know. I'm not sure what the weather forecast is but get through them quick enough, and I think the problem is that we're just a bit rusty rather than not playing well, bat well for a day and a half and I think we'll get through them. I still think we're favourites. need to get back on soon though.

[tomd2103]

I wouldn't go as far to say he's one of the best bowlers of all time. One of the best English bowlers yes, but not across the board.

14th most test wickets ever, I think it's justified, he'll probably end up 12th by the end of this season (5 behind ntini and 20 behind Ambrose, he's also 11 behind Steyn but I'd guess Steyn will get a few himself).

How many does he get in friendly Englush conditions compared to overseas? The best bowlers of all time do it anywhere on any surface. Being the 14th leading wicket taker is great as a stat but is he better than Trueman? Statham? Larwood? A truly great bowler would have seen yesterday's conditions and caused havoc. Anderson has the ability but not the consistency. Malcom Marshall, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, Allan Donald, Brett Lee, Michael Holding, Abdul Qadir etc come on to bowl and you would genuinely fear a wicket falling and they all have less wickets than Anderson (and probably tests but I don't know). With Anderson you just hope.

No, he's not one of the best of all time.

Have to agree with that Peter.  If the ball is not swinging he is nowhere near the same threat, unlike some of the names you have mentioned above. 

[PaulWinch again]

Good to see Broad's wicket ball was clocked at 91mph

[PaulWinch again]

Very encouraging spell from Broad. This is him near his best, which bodes well moving forward.

[Villan For Life]

And yet another frustrating last wicket stand.....

[taylorsworkrate]

I wouldn't go as far to say he's one of the best bowlers of all time. One of the best English bowlers yes, but not across the board.

14th most test wickets ever, I think it's justified, he'll probably end up 12th by the end of this season (5 behind ntini and 20 behind Ambrose, he's also 11 behind Steyn but I'd guess Steyn will get a few himself).

How many does he get in friendly Englush conditions compared to overseas? The best bowlers of all time do it anywhere on any surface. Being the 14th leading wicket taker is great as a stat but is he better than Trueman? Statham? Larwood? A truly great bowler would have seen yesterday's conditions and caused havoc. Anderson has the ability but not the consistency. Malcom Marshall, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, Allan Donald, Brett Lee, Michael Holding, Abdul Qadir etc come on to bowl and you would genuinely fear a wicket falling and they all have less wickets than Anderson (and probably tests but I don't know). With Anderson you just hope.

No, he's not one of the best of all time.

Have to agree with that Peter.  If the ball is not swinging he is nowhere near the same threat, unlike some of the names you have mentioned above. 

Anderson has had great series' in Australia, UAE and India in fairness. If you take away his first couple of years (where the powers that be completely fucked him over by trying to mess with his action), then his test bowling average is around 26. When you further take into account the fact that he's been bowled into the ground on numerous occasions, then his figures don't reflect too badly with those listed above.

[taylorsworkrate]

And yet another frustrating last wicket stand.....

To be honest I think it's been a pretty piss poor bowing effort in general.

[PaulWinch again]

Anderson is a quality bowler and one of the most skilled swing bowlers I've seen. England really need to get out of the habit of conceding lots of runs to the last wicket pair.
Massive innings for Cook and Trott.

[PaulWinch again]

Trott and Cook looking pretty shaky at moment.

[PaulWinch again]

They've got a start they need to go on now.

[paul_e]

I wouldn't go as far to say he's one of the best bowlers of all time. One of the best English bowlers yes, but not across the board.

14th most test wickets ever, I think it's justified, he'll probably end up 12th by the end of this season (5 behind ntini and 20 behind Ambrose, he's also 11 behind Steyn but I'd guess Steyn will get a few himself).

How many does he get in friendly Englush conditions compared to overseas? The best bowlers of all time do it anywhere on any surface. Being the 14th leading wicket taker is great as a stat but is he better than Trueman? Statham? Larwood? A truly great bowler would have seen yesterday's conditions and caused havoc. Anderson has the ability but not the consistency. Malcom Marshall, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, Allan Donald, Brett Lee, Michael Holding, Abdul Qadir etc come on to bowl and you would genuinely fear a wicket falling and they all have less wickets than Anderson (and probably tests but I don't know). With Anderson you just hope.

No, he's not one of the best of all time.

Have to agree with that Peter.  If the ball is not swinging he is nowhere near the same threat, unlike some of the names you have mentioned above. 

Anderson has had great series' in Australia, UAE and India in fairness. If you take away his first couple of years (where the powers that be completely fucked him over by trying to mess with his action), then his test bowling average is around 26. When you further take into account the fact that he's been bowled into the ground on numerous occasions, then his figures don't reflect too badly with those listed above.

On top of that I think expectations play a lot against him.  If the ball moves (like yesterday) people expect him to get 5 or 6 wickets and demolish attacks.  He has done at times but you're not going to do that every time and none of the people named did that every time either.

The bowling him into the ground line is important too, for a huge part of his career he's played in a 4 man attack and been the go to man when things aren't happening, which has meant him bowling a lot more overs than you want from a wicket taking quick.  On top of that his average was used as a stick to beat him with for a while which has led to him being quite 'safety first' with the field, often arguing to remove catchers to bring in people to cover the singles.

In truth at his best (I'll be fair here I think he's a little past that now) he's technically probably the most accomplished swing bowler of the last 30-40years (it's hard to judge prior to that without footage, etc, everything becomes hearsay and stats) he can get natural and reverse swing in both directions and he can vary the level of swing.  I agree that does make him particularly suited to English conditions but he's probably the one English bowler that I can forgive for that because he's mastered it.  Other bowlers have mastered their native conditions to produce unplayable spells which they struggle to reproduce abroad and don't get the same criticism, a hell of a lot of the spinners from the indian sub-continent serve as evidence of that.

For me he's in the top 15 or so of all time by any legitimate measure.

[PaulWinch again]

He's excellent and underrated by many.

[paul_e]

To carry on the bowler thing a little, I can only think of 3 bowlers who I've seen who've looked world class in almost all conditions, Murali, Warne and Mcgrath.  Anderson isn't in that league (which probably includes a couple more from previous generations) but he's most definitely in the group below.

[peter w]

Anderson = Marshall? Never
Anderson = Hadlee? Never
Anderson = Ambrose? Never
Anderson = Akram? Never