Quote:
Originally Posted by Manee
I think that Swann pushes Harbhaan. Harbhajan rarely bowls his doosra these days (maybe in an attempt to clean up his action), tbh and I think it is currently matched for effectiveness by Swann's arm ball. Although Harbhajan is a criminally underrated bowler in Tests, atm, Swann rarely goes two Tests without a very good spell - and he rarely gets tracks which overtly assist his bowling.
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No, Harbhajan's definitely better. I've posted
this before. India isn't a particularly good place to bowl spin anymore, and Harbhajan does a seriously good job of it. At the very least he's vastly more proven than Swann, and I'd say he's better too.
Back on track, I think Swann is the best of the three. Plenty of turn, drift, accuracy, great variations in pace and flight (although he's gotten quicker since joining the England team which is a shame), fantastic arm-ball and the ability to bowl long spells. He's all you could really ask for in an off-spinner.
Harris is an interesting case indeed. He's almost found the perfect little niche as a foil to the South African attack. He's known for giving batsmen a bit of abuse and generally coming across as a bit of a ****. His bowling somehow repeatedly inspires brain-fades, and unlike Swann he loves being attacked. He's properly accurate and the occasional turning delivery is very, very dangerous as a result. Was particularly comical to hear Nasser Hussain suggest that England's problem against him in the first innings at Centurion was that they didn't attack him enough, but it can sometimes appear that way. His bowling seems innocuous enough that batsmen should be able to score easily off it but it's accurate enough that they can't. I love watching Harris bowl, just to try to figure out what exactly it is that makes batsmen want to slog him so badly.
Hauritz is currently benefiting from a backlash against the abuse he received in the run-up to the Ashes. The English media discovered, to their horror, that he was in fact a decent bowler who regularly put the ball in good areas with a little tweak- which is more than enough against England. He's the token spinner, takes a few wickets on turning tracks, keeps it tight, bowls long spells when nothing much is happening. Nice option for the captain to have, and much better than the filthy pie-chucker he was made out to be in the run-up to the Ashes. He's not a great bowler though, and I'd have the other two quite comfortably above him.