The Secret of Glenn McGrath's Success

[Shri]

Outside Philander - who do you think he's had in most of his tests?

Aging, weary Pollock, Kallis and Ntini
Inconsistent Morkel.

Morkel wasn't inconsistent, he did his job pretty well. Their setup is full of good fast bowling reserves and he never had to carry an attack in his career for long.

 

[Blocky]

If you're India - sure, Morkel might look good.

 

[Furball]

McGrath > all

 

[smash84]

McGrath > all

"Dennis Lillee could do everything that McGrath could and he could do it 10 miles quicker." - Ian Chappell

 

[Blocky]

"Dennis Lillee could do everything that McGrath could and he could do it 10 miles quicker." - Ian Chappell

Yet had a worse average at a time where batsmen averaged less and no one from 7 down could hold a bat properly.

Lillee wasn't even the best bowler of his generation - Holding, Marshall, Hadlee were all better.

 

[marc71178]

Outside Philander - who do you think he's had in most of his tests?

Aging, weary Pollock, Kallis and Ntini
Inconsistent Morkel.

I see your break hasn't made you any less of a ****.

 

[Athlai]

Steyn and cohorts

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...ve=47154;team=3;template=results;type=bowling

 

[Shri]

If you're India - sure, Morkel might look good.

Even if you are Australia or pretty much someone who is not an idiot, yeah.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Outside Philander - who do you think he's had in most of his tests?

Aging, weary Pollock, Kallis and Ntini
Inconsistent Morkel.

Morkel is not inconsistent. He has a specific role in the team and he does it quite well. He is not there to run through the sides nor is he capable of doing that. And that's fine. But in a specific spell he can create and sustain pressure and unsettle the batsmen. A bowling attack will have different kinds of people with different strengths and together they form a potent threat to the opposition.

Picking names from who they bowled with and making judgements about them is silly.

Gillespie averages 26, Brett Lee 30, Kasprowicz 32. These are not bad numbers but hardly exceptional. Yet together with McGrath, they formed the most potent and dangerous bowling attack in the early 2000s because they performed different roles and it worked for the team.

Steyn had Ntini, Pollock early on and then Morkel, Philander. They all had different roles to perform.

I would always pick Steyn over McGrath in my team but not for the silly reasons like 'oh Steyn had Morkel and McGrath had Gillespie'

 

[Bijed]

What's happened over the past week or so to make like half of CW start hating bowlers who *only* perform an important role to a decent standard? Lyon's copping it in the SA/Aus, thread, Morkel's taking the heat here and even Philander was being panned before Australia collapsed.

 

[Blocky]

The idea that Morkel is an amazing bowler makes me laugh.

 

[Blocky]

Gillespie averages 26, Brett Lee 30, Kasprowicz 32. These are not bad numbers but hardly exceptional.

I love how people quote numbers at me.

Gillespie in his prime was an absolute beast of a bowler, and averaged 23-24 in those years, the long tail of his career inflated his average..... but I also love how you miss out, oh I dunno, the greatest bowler of the modern era in Shane Warne and don't mention him as a reason as to why McGrath might have performed better than counterparts.

Very few partnerships survived McGrath, Gillespie and Warne in their pomp.

 

[Shri]

You can't be one of the most powerful touring sides of the modern era with just one good bowler.

 

[Blocky]

You can't be one of the most powerful touring sides of the modern era with just one good bowler.

Richard Hadlee disagrees.

 

[Victor Ian]

McGrath had another benefit to his bowling. Pressure. He bowled lots of maidens and had a low economy rate for many overs bowled. He may have a lesser strike rate than some of the faster guys but I would imagine his pressure has allowed others in his team to take more wickets. That is why having 2+ great bowlers suddenly makes a team all time great. The accumulated pressure runs through teams.

 

[cnerd123]

Nah. That was fairly accurate. Who did they have beside Steyn?

Steyn debuted alongside Pollock and Ntini, and has spent his career bowling alongside those two plus guys like Nel, Morkel, Kallis, Philander and even some handy spinners like Boje, Harris, Botha and Tahir.

 

[OverratedSanity]

McGrath had another benefit to his bowling. Pressure. He bowled lots of maidens and had a low economy rate for many overs bowled. He may have a lesser strike rate than some of the faster guys but I would imagine his pressure has allowed others in his team to take more wickets. That is why having 2+ great bowlers suddenly makes a team all time great. The accumulated pressure runs through teams.

While most of that is true, taking wickets builds more pressure than keeping the runs down. I'd rather have my spearhead have a lower strike rate than a lower ER.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Nah. That was fairly accurate. Who did they have beside Steyn?

Pollock was on the decline when Steyn came in but he was still undoubtedly good. Morkel is inconsistent but a good bowler in his own right, Ntini had an excellent run in 06-08, Kallis is a useful 5th bowler, Philanders been awesome, even guys like Nel and co were hardly completely terrible. Steyn has always had good to great support throughout his career.

 

[cnerd123]

What's happened over the past week or so to make like half of CW start hating bowlers who *only* perform an important role to a decent standard? Lyon's copping it in the SA/Aus, thread, Morkel's taking the heat here and even Philander was being panned before Australia collapsed.

We're all about extremes here on CW. You're either a goat or a spud. Winning big or lollapsing. Loveable or a troll. Far left or far right. With us or against us. No nuance, no complexity, no grey. We're gonna make CW great again, believe me.

 

[Kirkut]

Subtlety was the key to Mcgrath's success. His changes in line and length were so subtle that the batsman would feel confident to play the ball which was meant to be left.