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"The almighty Flintoff" and "the below test standard Lee"

Zinzan

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It seems kind of ironic that after all the hype about the mighty "Flintoff" in the lead up to the ashes and the incredible talking down of Brett lee and his ability at test level that it is Lee that comes out of this First test with a good amount of credit as opposed to Flintoff whose performance was below par.

Admittedly its only the first test, but apart from out foxing Gilchrist, Flintoffs bowling in the conditions was disappointing. He went for around 5 an over in the 2nd innings. Not to mention his total of 3 runs in 2 innings with the bat.


I know its only early days in the series, but I can't imagine Flintoff's confidence is sky high, whereas I think Lee will only get more confidence.

Haven't heard much from the likes of Marc and TEC on Flintoff and Lee's performance so far, I'm interested to read their reactions

Whoops....almost forgot to mention the dolly Flintoff put down at slip and Lee's great caught and bowled.

Oh the irony !!! :D :D :p
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Flintoff is a great player as far as I'm concerned. He's England's best and most consistent bowler, and he's got a good technique against pace bowling with the bat and is quite capable of being a 40 average player if he can learn to play spin a bit and stop throwing his wicket away.

Lee is highly underrated by many people, and said people refuse to acknowledge the way he has changed as a player in the last 18 months. Two years ago, Lee had severe problems which stopped him from being effective at test level. He wasn't as shocking as some people made out, but he wasn't worth his place over other bowlers Australia have. He's certainly corrected some of those problems, particularly his ability to be consistently accurate and bowl lengthy spells without becoming ragged, but there are still a few questions to answer. I'm confident he's improved all-round enough to be a good test bowler, but only time will tell. Certainly an excellent start to his comeback... McGrath, Lee, Harmison and Warne have been all class with the ball all test.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
zinzan12 said:
It seems kind of ironic that after all the hype....blah blah slaver
Be very, very careful with the predictions and the writing off.

After all, the whole of Australia (and Richard) wrote Steve Wayward-Harmison off after a single over in Australia last time, although in fairness the whole of Australia have actually watched him bowl a ball or two since and a couple of you have changed your mind.

I've always advocated that a test side needs one out-and-out speedster, although over the last few years Australia have had two all-time greats at the same time and some more than adequate 'stock' bowlers so they have never really been exposed in that department. For me, Lee would have been the third bowler on the sheet every time because I just LOVE pacemen.

Flintoff has been very out of sorts so far, and will have to get his act together if England are to bounce back.
 

simmy

International Regular
Ive always thought that he is a little overrated with the bat... but with the ball he has been consistently bowling tight and wicket taking spells for England over the last 18 months or so. He will be back! Just a shame that he didnt bowl better on a pitch that would have offered him something.

Lee is class... and is bowling a lot more accurately these days. He has never been below test standard (as bowling these days... especially outside this series seems to be on a decline) just that he wasnt good enough for a very strong Aus side.
 

Craig

World Traveller
How many runs did Flintoff give away to no-balls?

That is one thing that will need fixing.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Craig said:
How many runs did Flintoff give away to no-balls?

That is one thing that will need fixing.
Yes indeed. He was way too indisciplined in that regard, and I'm surprised fewer England fans have brought it up, given the bashing Lee usually gets over it. Even when he wasn't bowling no balls, he was really pushing it a lot of the time. Given that his run up isn't as rapid as someone like Lee or Akthar, there's really no excuse for it, and one day he's going to take a vital wicket with one and get called.
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
to be honest i wouldnt say there is anything wrong with flintoffs performace, he has bowled well, and his two dismissals were good balls, warnes was well disguised, and mcgraths was well placed and stayed low. I would say there are much greater concerns to be had over the likes of bell and even vaughn at the moment.
 

Craig

World Traveller
FaaipDeOiad said:
Yes indeed. He was way too indisciplined in that regard, and I'm surprised fewer England fans have brought it up, given the bashing Lee usually gets over it. Even when he wasn't bowling no balls, he was really pushing it a lot of the time. Given that his run up isn't as rapid as someone like Lee or Akthar, there's really no excuse for it, and one day he's going to take a vital wicket with one and get called.
Well 14 no-balls in a match by him isn't good enough to be frank (or by any bowler to be fair).

That's 14 more runs England have to chase off him alone and a total of 19 from England bowlers in this match - 19 more runs need to be scored and that is not including runs scored off them either.
 

Craig

World Traveller
sledger said:
to be honest i wouldnt say there is anything wrong with flintoffs performace, he has bowled well, and his two dismissals were good balls, warnes was well disguised, and mcgraths was well placed and stayed low. I would say there are much greater concerns to be had over the likes of bell and even vaughn at the moment.
Well his econ wasn't the best either - 4.54 in the 1st innings and 4.55 in the second when you consider his role is too keep it tight and allow people like Harmison to attack at the other end. And nor is he a strike bowler to justify going for a few in the hope of getting a wicket or two in his spells of bowling.

I think he has bowled well in patches, but surely he can bowl a lot better and I'm sure he has and will.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Its laughable regarding the comments on Lee on the forum by so many people. Do not rule out a new justification for what they said, meant or did not say :D
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
well i always felt that Freddie would have stuggled with the bat in this series while even though his bowling was on the expensive side in the second innings he is still englands best all-round bowler.

Lee on the other hand before this series was consistently written (on this forum for sure) of about his ability to well in test matches, which was justifiable 2 years ago but even when he came back & bowled so superbly in the VB series & in NZ clearly showing improvements in every aspect of his game he was still written off. I was always defending him & few backed me u such as FaaipDeOaid (sean).But after his good bowling performance at lord's they should be convinced now.
 

King_Ponting

International Regular
aussie said:
well i always felt that Freddie would have stuggled with the bat in this series while even though his bowling was on the expensive side in the second innings he is still englands best all-round bowler.

Lee on the other hand before this series was consistently written (on this forum for sure) of about his ability to well in test matches, which was justifiable 2 years ago but even when he came back & bowled so superbly in the VB series & in NZ clearly showing improvements in every aspect of his game he was still written off. I was always defending him & few backed me u such as FaaipDeOaid (sean).But after his good bowling performance at lord's they should be convinced now.
As was i, haent really said a bad word about the bloke.
im glad he has repayed my confidence in him
 
Craig said:
How many runs did Flintoff give away to no-balls?

That is one thing that will need fixing.
And how many wickets does he take with them?

I remember three so far in his career, one in this match.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
zinzan12 said:
Haven't heard much from the likes of Marc and TEC on Flintoff and Lee's performance so far, I'm interested to read their reactions
im not sure what in the hell you're trying to prove here. ive given my reaction on both flintoff and lees performances this series, and i even said during the ODIs that b.lee should be part of the test squad, because if he bowled as well as he did in the ODIs hed make a fine test bowler.
but how does this change the fact that lee wasnt good enough in his previous stint of test match cricket?
and as far as flintoff is concerned, i never ever hyped him up as anything, in fact ive always said that hes still relatively unproven with the bat. and i dont think 1 test against australia suggests that hes not good enough. as far as bowling is concnered, you'd have to be completely out of your mind, if you thought he wasnt good enough.
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
tooextracool said:
im not sure what in the hell you're trying to prove here. ive given my reaction on both flintoff and lees performances this series, and i even said during the ODIs that b.lee should be part of the test squad, because if he bowled as well as he did in the ODIs hed make a fine test bowler.
but how does this change the fact that lee wasnt good enough in his previous stint of test match cricket?
and as far as flintoff is concerned, i never ever hyped him up as anything, in fact ive always said that hes still relatively unproven with the bat. and i dont think 1 test against australia suggests that hes not good enough. as far as bowling is concnered, you'd have to be completely out of your mind, if you thought he wasnt good enough.
TEC and I agree again - will wonders ever cease?

As for Lee, you wont find a bigger supporter of his reinstatement than me. However, as with Flintoff, let's wait until the end of the series before we pass judgement.
 

Zinzan

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tooextracool said:
im not sure what in the hell you're trying to prove here. .
How could this forum be any fun if you can't give someone a friendly reminder that they were wrong on a particular issue. :p

In the Australian and NZ summer Lee was outstanding in the onedayers and no matter what was written on this forum from us downunder, you always maintained he wouldn't translate that form into test cricket.....so just a gentle reminder on my part.

As far as Flintoff's concerned I've always maintained he's a good test cricketer just a little overated and overhyped. Thats all
 

Nate

You'll Never Walk Alone
tooextracool said:
im not sure what in the hell you're trying to prove here. ive given my reaction on both flintoff and lees performances this series, and i even said during the ODIs that b.lee should be part of the test squad, because if he bowled as well as he did in the ODIs hed make a fine test bowler.
but how does this change the fact that lee wasnt good enough in his previous stint of test match cricket?
and as far as flintoff is concerned, i never ever hyped him up as anything, in fact ive always said that hes still relatively unproven with the bat. and i dont think 1 test against australia suggests that hes not good enough. as far as bowling is concnered, you'd have to be completely out of your mind, if you thought he wasnt good enough.
Good to see you`ve changed your mind on Lee somewhat TEC. :)
 

Dasa

International Vice-Captain
zinzan12 said:
In the Australian and NZ summer Lee was outstanding in the onedayers and no matter what was written on this forum from us downunder, you always maintained he wouldn't translate that form into test cricket.....so just a gentle reminder on my part.
TEC and others (including I) have maintained that in the past Lee has show outstanding form in ODIs only to fall flat in Tests when given the chance. So far, it looks like he's changed this trend and is actually bowling well in Tests as well.
 

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