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Will McGrath AND Pollock still be playing international cricket this time next year?

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Norman Cowans' international career was over at said age (24).
Now that's a thought to those of us who remember him playing. Not that he was ever great, but you always felt more could have ben done with him. Perhaps injuries played a part from his mid20's? Long time ago now, anyway.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I personally think it's a mark of how times have moved on that Anderson's case bears more than a few similarities to Cowans' and a similar proceeding course is near enough unthinkable.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Comfortably his best ODI performance for 4 years IMO - or at very least 3-and-a-half, since this. I suppose you could argue that this was up there too.

Not quite at the 10-12-1 level, though.
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Incidentally, Anderson bowled beautifully tonight. Comfortably his best performance of the tour.

Yup. Basically we're seeing the benefit of bowling regularly, esp when you consider that he wasn't bad against NZ either. I suppose the NZ game was the opposite of today, in that he claimed more wickets than he really deserved, but there's clearly an upwards trend. He really was horribly undercooked in the 1st test, but now he's looking the part, which is why I suggested elsewhere that this series could be the making of him.

Incidentally, someone wrote elsewhere that he was touching 90mph today. Do you think that was really the case, or just the speedos playing up again?
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Comfortably his best ODI performance for 4 years IMO - or at very least 3-and-a-half, since this. I suppose you could argue that this was up there too.

Not quite at the 10-12-1 level, though.
Jaipur > The Oval, imo.
Actually, didn't he bowl pretty well in the final odi in Pakistan last winter? I can't be bothered to look it up, but I vaguely recall him seeing off Afridi and one or two others to seal the win.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Took 4 wickets, yes, but on a desperately slow, bowler-friendly pitch still went for 48 off 10 - poor effort by this game's standards.

I'm interested to know what made the Jamshedpur effort superior to The Oval IYO? The Oval was as flat a pitch as you could wish for (surprise surprise) but there was plenty in it for the seamers at Jamshedpur. Though both batting-line-ups were in a pretty poor state.

As for the speeds - didn't take much notice on this occasion, the way my bed and TV is set-up I have to reach my neck high to see the bottom of the screen and can only rarely be bothered. :p The one time I did this this game was a particularly quick-looking short-ball which turned-out to be only 86mph.
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Took 4 wickets, yes, but on a desperately slow, bowler-friendly pitch still went for 48 off 10 - poor effort by this game's standards.

I'm interested to know what made the Jamshedpur effort superior to The Oval IYO? The Oval was as flat a pitch as you could wish for (surprise surprise) but there was plenty in it for the seamers at Jamshedpur. Though both batting-line-ups were in a pretty poor state.
Nothing very scientific. Admittedly I'd forgotten about conditions in the India game and assumed it was a typical Indian track. Wrongly as it turned out! As for the Oval, I just thought his figures were inflated by getting 10 & 11 with full tosses at the death, and that his performance that day wasn't quite all it was cracked up to be. Perfectly good, of course, but a few commentators went OTT imo.

As for the Pakistan game, I think you're being a bit harsh. The slow wicket suited our spinners - I couldn't believe Blackwell's figures when I had a look after my last post - but there's always a danger the quicker guys could just sit up to be hit on that sort of track. I just remember him doing well at the death when Afridi or Razzaq could easily have won the game for Pak, and Anderson did for both of them. All that being said, even Harmison was economical in that game, so who knows.

I'm just pleased to see him back and doing well though. One or two places should be up for grabs in the summer, and it makes achange to see one of our quicks actually showing some sort of form.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I was pleased to see him back and showing some form this time last year, too... and I got my hopes up too much that time, too.

Anyway, I'd also forgotten about the Pakistan game in WC2003 - again, people certainly went OTT about that one, but it was an impressive performance nonetheless. Probably 2nd after the 10-12-1 game.
 

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