Is Simon Jones really that good?

[masterblaster]

Well England dont have a hope in hell, regarding winning the ashes series, but they are trying to fight fire with fire in Simon Jones. The whole nation is pinning their hopes that young Jonesy can clean bowl Matthew Hayden or Ricky Ponting.

I dont really think thats going to happen.
I mean this guy averages 37 in county cricket! That is huuuuuuuge! And you englishmen were talking about how Zaheer Khan averages 36 in Tests, let alone Jonesy averaging 37 in FC.

Now i know you will all come back to me and say, "Averages dont mean nothing", they probably dont, but then why cant you accept that for Zaheer Khan?

Anyway, the point is that I dont think Jones is as good as Lee or Akhtar or Bond or Ntini. I think that the media has blown it all out of proportion just because he is a little fast.

Now i know that he took 5 wickets against the Warriors, but still, I dont think he is as good to face the might of Australia or any other country in fact.

How about Martin Saggers of Kent? Was one of the best bowlers in the County circuit, but doesnt get a look in.

 

[Tim]

Its been known before that sometimes players with less than average first class stats step up to international level & become world class players.

Now Jones has very poor FC stats to be considered an international player, but he has played 1 test & i think to give him the benefit of the doubt he needs to play 3 or 4 more to see if he can be consistent.

Lets not forget that Khan has played alot of tests & ODI's and his avg of 37 is reasonably poor for a frontline seamer, but there is no doubt that he is improving and its likely that he'll cut that down in due time.

 

[marc71178]

Saggers is not the sort of bowler we need, he doesn't add anything to the attack. Jones adds real pace, something we're lacking with no Gough.

 

[Andre]

Personally, i prefer Harmison, abit bouncier, getting into the ribs of the batsmen - something, combined with genuine pace, that makes him a difficult prospect

 

[Rik]

Saggers should be involved in England sometime soon, he is a very impressive bowler with great career stats and Hussain said before he was very impressed with him. Jones only really sorted himself at the Academy last winter and it looks to have worked wonders on him. Lets remember Zaheer averages 36 or 37 from 20+ tests...Jones averages 32 from one. He averaged 26 or sommit in the County Championship, his past record means nothing now. As I said before he is not the same bowler that played occasionally for Glamorgan a few years ago. Also he has a wonderful competetive spirit, he really wants to give the Aussies some and that helps, belive me.

 

[marc71178]

Being 30 already, I'd say Saggers has missed his chance.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I haven't seen Jones bowl much but i do know that he is quick. He's also inexperienced. He will learn if given the opportunity and guidance by Goughie and Caddick.

(If he's getting smashed consistenly though, drop him!Let him learn against the counties)

 

[Rich2001]

Originally posted by marc71178
Being 30 already, I'd say Saggers has missed his chance.

IMO it shouldn't matter if the guy is 30 or 50, if he is the best we have he should play...no offence to the young guys but they shouldn't be picked because they are young, they should be picked on merit and this isn't because iam a Kent fan here, I feel we should be picking our best team and if that means that a older player is better then he should get the nod, we have enough space to have a mixture of youth and experiance in our team and to be honest Harmision's tour hasn't set the world on fire and Jones (who I like the look of) I doubt he will make it through the tour the way he bowls will just make a re-ourrance of his injury and what cover do we have? an injured Gough (1 game in 15 months) and Dawson who is a spinner so isn't even like for like.

 

[marc71178]

So where exactly in the England team would you put Saggers? I can't see an opening to be honest.

 

[Rik]

Well if Caddick keeps being mind blowingly inconsistant then I reccomend New Ball

 

[masterblaster]

The principal mantra to good bowling is not pace, but it is line and length.

This is why Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath are two best in the world, and Wasim Akram for that matter.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Courtney and Curtly!

 

[onemangang]

[/quote]Anyway, the point is that I dont think Jones is as good as Lee . [/quote]


As good or as Worse??

 

[marc71178]

Originally posted by Rik
Well if Caddick keeps being mind blowingly inconsistant then I reccomend New Ball

Caddick is a bowler who thrives on bowling. When he came back into the side for the 3rd Test against India, he hadn't had a lot of bowling, and so was poor - by the 4th Test he was back in the groove, and bowled well.

 

[marc71178]

Originally posted by onemangang

Anyway, the point is that I dont think Jones is as good as Lee . [/quote]


As good or as Worse?? [/quote]

What does that mean exactly?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Firstly, "Is Simon Jones really that good"?

I haven't seen any reports (not in the UK anyway) of Jones being earth-shatteringly brilliant.

We have line and length in Caddick and Hoggard so Jones provides variation with out and out speed. Nowhere has he been touted as a world beater, so I'm not sure what you're getting at?

 

[Rik]

Well he's not bad but also he's not great but I think if he continues to improve then he could turn out to be a very useful player for England. As for Harmison, his action may look like an action from one of the old WIndies pacers but he now needs to learn how to take wickets like them...