Ian Chappell's Latest Whinge

[Adders]

I'm just sick of people thinking Ali is actually a great spinner, wait until he's played 20 tests.

Who is actually saying he's great?

From what I can see most of us are just delighted that we've got someone serviceable in the role, no one is suggesting that Murali or Warne need to be concerned about their records just yet.

What you actually said.......

The bowling of Ali has been laughable, because the dismissals he's getting are pure batting error. If I had his luck, I'd have made the World XI side in 2005/2006.

Is even further from the reality than anyone who may have used the term "great" to describe him.

Let me introduce you to the vast world of grey that lies between "laughable" and "great"..........anyone with a clue and who has actually watched him bowl would understand he falls somewhere in between the 2.

 

[Flem274*]

Moeen Ali has proven to be one of the most useful spinners in County cricket and has had a better than expected start to his test career with the ball through some good spells and this presents hope he will be a respectable off break 5th bowler in tests provided he remembers how to bat sometime soon. He has a world class beard.

How's that for middle ground? Now can you lot confine the Moeen Moaning/Manlove to one thread pls?

 

[hendrix]

No, this is a case of correctly assessing a guy who has played only six tests, taken over half of his wickets in the last two tests against what has been the most pathetic batting performance I've seen from India, also happens to have a first class average of 38 with the ball in a competition where Jeetan Patel is a potent strike weapon and generally averages below 25 every year.

Jeetan Patel has taken a few 4 wicket hauls vs India IIRC.

In any case, like plenty of spinners both seem to have matured in recent times. Remember guys like Ajmal and Herath weren't anywhere near as good as they are now before their 30th birthdays.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Chappelli is an idiot. It's just batsmen going through a pretty bad patch, nothing more. The same Pujara and Kohli batted brilliantly against Steyn , Philander and Morkel in South Africa. It was an education in confidently leaving swinging deliveries.Then there's all these amazing rearguards from ABdV, Faf, Watling, McCullum, Bravo, Moeen, etc. He has no clue. Cricket's at a very, very high standard right now... almost every nation has some awesome pace bowlers, lots of great spinners, several young talented batsmen, and still he manages to whinge. What a depressed old ****

 

[Flametree]

He's right about the keeping/slip-catching though. Out of the ten test playing nations, there are about two good keepers.

 

[andmark]

He's right about the keeping/slip-catching though. Out of the ten test playing nations, there are about two good keepers.

The reverse though is that there are lots more wicket keepers who can be genuine batsmen. If we take Rod Marsh for example, his batting average was 26.51 whereas Brad Haddin is 36.22. Equally Alan Knott's average was 32.75 as opposed to Matt Prior's 40.83.

 

[Jono]

Wow Prior averaged 45 at one point, andmark's post had me look up his stats as I figured his recent form would have had his average drop well below 40 by now.

 

[Howe_zat]

He was a legit batsman who made into the side as a batsman for ~5 years

Sadly I find myself forced to use the past tense

 

[OverratedSanity]

Prior was being compared to Gilchrist at one point. Seems pretty hilarious now but he was pretty good back then.

 

[91Jmay]

Jeetan does not average under 25 in CC, infact I'm pretty sure this season is the first year he has. Judging Moeen on his career average is so dumb it doesn't even merit debating.

Like saying Kane Williamson isn't that good because he barely averages 40.

 

[Flametree]

Back on the keepers thing, maybe keepers do bat better, but if you average 36 vs 26, in a 3-test series that amounts to about 50 runs. That can be easily outweighed by one bad miss as keeper. Haddin's failure at Lords last year cost his side 180 runs from Joe Root, Ramdin's miss a couple of months ago arguably cost his side a test series win vs NZ. I know it's all conjecture, and the extra 50 runs will often come when most needed, but I still think the standard of keeping these days is pretty poor. They're professional sportsmen, they should be better in their specialist area than in the past, but it doesn't seem to be so. Maybe just rose-tinted glasses and all.

 

[Flem274*]

Haddin, Watling, AB when he kept, Prasaana Jayawardene before they randomly binned him, rahim, Chandimal all seem between acceptable to good.

that argument isn't as strong now i've thought about it. blimey, the standard has fallen a bit in the last couple of years.

 

[OverratedSanity]

From what little I've seen of him, Dickwella is awesome.

 

[BackFootPunch]

Jeetan does not average under 25 in CC, infact I'm pretty sure this season is the first year he has. Judging Moeen on his career average is so dumb it doesn't even merit debating.

Like saying Kane Williamson isn't that good because he barely averages 40.

For Warwickshire, he's got 169 wickets at 27. So yup, not under 25 but still a heck of a good record.

 

[91Jmay]

For Warwickshire, he's got 169 wickets at 27. So yup, not under 25 but still a heck of a good record.

Yeah he is great for us with bat, ball and obviously in the field and I love him just pointing out Blocky's standard tactic of taking a potentially valid point and exaggerating it beyond all recoginition.

 

[Howe_zat]

Haddin, Watling, AB when he kept, Prasaana Jayawardene before they randomly binned him, rahim, Chandimal all seem between acceptable to good.

that argument isn't as strong now i've thought about it. blimey, the standard has fallen a bit in the last couple of years.

Rahim is pants.

 

[Flametree]

Yeah Rahim was truly woeful in his last series, Chandimal didn't look a natural keeper either.

 

[Flem274*]

Rahim is pants.

i hate his stupid screaming with a passion but whenever ive watched him he's been solid. he must be going through a poor patch. maybe it's karma for his assault on our eardrums.

 

[91Jmay]

I wouldn't call Haddin a very good keeper tbh. He isn't terrible but he's barely above average.

 

[Dan]

I wouldn't call Haddin a very good keeper tbh. He isn't terrible but he's barely above average.

Cut us Aussies a break. We're comparing him to the horrors of this: