Tendency to quote freak stats out of context !!

[social]

i said 'seamer friendly conditions', but if you want me to say 'seam and swing' then so be it.



then you havent watched much cricket in india. in india theres almost always a bit of movement with the new ball off the seam or perhaps uneven bounce as the game. of course if you could bowl cutters or get the ball to reverse you would be even more effective.

I agree that skilful bowlers can extract some reverse swing or, on odd occasions "cut the ball" (basically a quick spinner) later in the innings but seam is basically non-existent in India.

Swing was prevalent in the ODI series where Bracken was successful but that was mainly because of the early start. Others, such as Dev and Fleming, have been succesful with swing in the past but such occurences are increasingly rare.

In any event, Bracken made use of the conditions with swing and pace, something he failed to do in his short test career.

India, as you would know, was where Bracken had substantial success by bowling in-swing at good pace. This combination of traits was something, as I said before, that he could not replicate at test level.[/B]

that happened only in the ODI series, on uncharacteristically seamer friendly conditions, and strangely it only happened in the first inning of the NZ-aus games.




except that i actually watched him bowl some of the most inaccurate tripe possible.

Not true. He bowled medium pace, accurate deliveries with virtually no movement and, as a result, the batsmen got used to his deliveries and simply played throught the line.


whatever you want to call it, fact is that he was rubbish at the intl level, and i doubt too much has changed.

He bowled rubbish (as you like to call it) in one game - Adelaide. Other than that, if anything, he was unlucky.

and for some reason i very much doubt that. because otherwise you'd expect players like akhtar to have a better average than 26 at the FC level.




yet he averages 19 for durham, but im sure he raises his game when he plays for durham.
excuses excuses. i wouldnt expect akhtar even bowling at half of his best to average 26 at the FC level if he comes across players of the quality of 'first grade cricket'.

Why?

Akhtar's primary weapon is pace. If he doesnt bowl at full pace he becomes an ordinary medium pacer - end of story.

 

[tooextracool]

I agree that skilful bowlers can extract some reverse swing or, on odd occasions "cut the ball" (basically a quick spinner) later in the innings but seam is basically non-existent in India.

pretty much yes, except with the new ball. the most successful bowlers in the subcontinent- mcgrath, vaas, wasim,kaspa etc were all very capable of reverse and/or cut.

Swing was prevalent in the ODI series where Bracken was successful but that was mainly because of the early start. Others, such as Dev and Fleming, have been succesful with swing in the past but such occurences are increasingly rare.

In any event, Bracken made use of the conditions with swing and pace, something he failed to do in his short test career.

.

no, i find it surprising that so many people come up with the excuse that bowlers simply forgot how to swing it.we've seen it with anderson and pathan in the past. the reason bracken didnt swing the ball in the series against india was because the conditions werent conducive for swing bowling. fact is that bracken needs to be capable of doing something else with the ball when the ball is not swinging. hes not quick enough to be a force on non-seamer friendly wickets, and he doesnt have any variety in his bowling. not to mention that he generally bowls a length too short.

Akhtar's primary weapon is pace. If he doesnt bowl at full pace he becomes an ordinary medium pacer - end of story.[/B]

so you think he bowls at full pace for durham and not for his domestic side?