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What should Ishant work on?

bunny

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Hello all,
A newbie here. This is my first thread.

The cricketing world has seen a lot of tall bowlers whose stock delivery was the offcutter. None of them really swung the ball.

Here are some of them:

Ambrose, McGrath, Walsh, Harmison, Flintoff, Srinath

It seems that Ambrose had the complete package.

But a guy like Walsh who could only bowl the off cutter and bowled so wide of the crease was so much more successful than Harmison, Flintoff and Srinath. Why is that? On the other hand why was McGrath more successful than Walsh? He was neither as quick as Walsh nor did he have a great bouncer. The only difference seems to me that he could bowl close to the crease and also bowl the leg cutter.


And finally what does Ishant need to learn so that he ends up being more productive than Srinath, Flintoff and Harmison?

1. Be as accurate as Walsh, McGrath and Ambrose.
2. Learn the leg cutter asap
3. Bowl more closer to the stumps
4. Bulk up and add more speed
5. Be as fit as Walsh and bowl long spells.
6. Develop a nasty bouncer.
7. Bowl a lot on good length instead of short of good length.
 

Top_Cat

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But a guy like Walsh who could only bowl the off cutter and bowled so wide of the crease was so much more successful than Harmison, Flintoff and Srinath. Why is that? On the other hand why was McGrath more successful than Walsh? He was neither as quick as Walsh nor did he have a great bouncer. The only difference seems to me that he could bowl close to the crease and also bowl the leg cutter.
Nah, McGrath had a great bouncer. Just didn't use it often. When he did, though, it almost inevitably gave the batsmen the hurry-up because it was such a shock that the guy who'd been bowling seam-up in the corridor for 5 overs would slip in a quicker bouncer.

And finally what does Ishant need to learn so that he ends up being more productive than Srinath, Flintoff and Harmison?

1. Be as accurate as Walsh, McGrath and Ambrose.
2. Learn the leg cutter asap
3. Bowl more closer to the stumps
4. Bulk up and add more speed
5. Be as fit as Walsh and bowl long spells.
6. Develop a nasty bouncer.
7. Bowl a lot on good length instead of short of good length.
Surely he already has 2.? Weren't both wickets against Ponting in Perth leg-cutters? Probably doesn't go as consistent as his in-ducker, though

Already has plenty of 4. and shouldn't try to be something he's not unless it's just a natural speed increase. He's no express bowler but he's plenty quick enough. He was up around 140km/h often enough for mine. Bowlers these days are too often encouraged to get quicker at the expense of good line and they inevitably lose movement which is his greatest strength.

5. will come. He already looks like he can bowl long spells, the second innings one to Ponting being a case in point.

To be honest, I don't see a great deal wrong with him. If he keeps it up, he'll take wickets. He has a hooping in-swing. Variation along the lines of movement off the deck away from the bat and he'll be an awesome bowler I reckon
 

Tony

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
He fit in well with the attack he bowled with in Perth who bowled well as a team, not just in type with the lefties swinging it and bowling a bit further up...but the attack was better captained and worked better as a team that what the Australians did in the Perth game.
 

Captain Cricket

State Vice-Captain
Agree with the points you make mate but he's only 19 so he has plenty of time to develop. May be better than Hilfenhaus in a couple of years time. Big future ahead of him.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
The cricketing world has seen a lot of tall bowlers whose stock delivery was the offcutter. None of them really swung the ball.

Here are some of them:

Ambrose, McGrath, Walsh, Harmison, Flintoff, Srinath
:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: Harmison is completely and totally out-of-place there!

And BTW - he can't bowl an off-cutter to order. Sometimes flukes the odd one (like the one - it was a leg-cutter given Gary Kirsten is a left-hander - that dismissed Kirsten at The Oval in 2003) but it certainly isn't his stock-ball, his stock-ball goes through gun-barrel straight, that's why he's so unsuccessful.
But a guy like Walsh who could only bowl the off cutter and bowled so wide of the crease was so much more successful than Harmison, Flintoff and Srinath.
:blink: Walsh could get the ball to go away off the pitch almost to order, with no discernible change in action. That was what made him so difficult to face.

At least, that was the case later in his career; I don't know about earlier on.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
He needs to work on his fitness to be a long term prospect. India have had many bowlers in the past to bowl at over 140kph and generally be promising bowlers only to break down, slow down and lose accuracy, e.g. Agarkar, Nehra, Munaf Patel, Balaji.
 

Woodster

International Captain
I would not expect he will ever be express pace, therefore consistency in hitting the right areas is paramount. If he puts in the hard yards in practice, his accuracy will get better and I hope he does concentrate on that because he will be a real handful.
A good straight bouncer with a bit of extra effort is always a useful addition to a medium quicks armoury. I agree with Top Cat though, Mcgrath did have a more than useful short ball which was always deadly accurate.
 

Burgey

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I think he should work on trying to perfect (as much as anyone can) what he's already good at, rather than trying to develop this and that. When McGrath 1st came along he got told he had to bowl outswing to succeed. He played in the 1st test in 94-95, bowled tripe outswing and iirc got left out next time around. Then he went back to doing what he did best - hitting the deck hard in the right areas, letting the ball do the work, and hey presto - West Indies 1995.
Sharma's got good weapons already - bounce, decent pace and a bit of movement. I say, let him consistently perform with those attribute. When he grows into himself, he can work on other subtleties as his career develops.
He bowled decently in Sydney and well IN perth, with the one outstanding spell. The signs are there that he has the ability to be consistent at the top level. Let's see him do it over a number of tests to confirm it's the case - Adelaide will be a good place to start.
 

taitmachine

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
If he can model his game on McGraths he will be a very good bowler. He has all the right attributes. He does not need to get carried away with bowling fast as he should be able to get sharp bounce from his height, which is always more dangerous. He has plenty of time to master cutting & swinging the ball. If he can combine those skills with consistent line & length he will take 250+ test wickets.
 

taitmachine

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
He should not sacrifice pace at all. Bowl as fast as you can, and add control.
Bowling as fast as you can with control is the Holy Grail of cricket. Does it exist??

He should be bowling as fast as he feels comfortable whilst focusing on control. If he can then build up some pace then thats great.

Brett Lee has been a great example this season, he has just pulled the pace back a little and looked for rythem & control. All of a sudden he is a far more dangerous bowler than bowling 150km all over the place. Of course he still has a change up ball that is quicker which is very handy to upset the batsmen.
 

JBH001

International Regular
He should not sacrifice pace at all. Bowl as fast as you can, and add control.
DWTA.

He is not an out and out quick and neither should he try to be. It would ruin him.

Let him work with what he has, basically bounce, decent pace, and the ability swing and seam the ball in, and sometimes seam the ball away (note, he does not have a leg cutter. His three wickets in Perth were from good seam movement away, not cut). Once he is confident of these deliveries, let him work on off cutters and leg cutters (which is really what made Walsh the bowler - along with greater responsibility - he was on the latter half of his career). Most important of all, leave him alone and dont make him into the next big thing. That will surely spell the doom of a promising young pace prospect.
 

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