OverratedSanity
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Haha yeah wtf. Mcgrath was not over 140 for much of his career unless 'much of his career' means his first 18 months or so.
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The curious case of Mohammad Abbas
- Thread starter Xuhaib
- Start date
Spark
Global Moderator
McGrath was mid-130s at most, idk what stephen is smoking there.
Abbas is a lot like Philander IMO. Accurate, canny, attacks the stumps relentlessly, makes you play on both edges with every ball. But it is worth reminding everyone that this Aus batting lineup is minnow-tier.
Abbas is a lot like Philander IMO. Accurate, canny, attacks the stumps relentlessly, makes you play on both edges with every ball. But it is worth reminding everyone that this Aus batting lineup is minnow-tier.
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Top_Cat
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And here you are, always with the correction in the holster. Heroic.Absurd. McGrath's supposed quickness gets more and more exaggerated every year. By the next telling we'll hear about how he was bowling at about 160 early in his career before slowing down to a moderate 145 in his last year or so.
For the record, McGrath was officially clocked at 143Km/h in the West Indies in 1995 and as he said in his autobiography, it was as fast as he was ever timed. He was always capable of the effort ball as we see with his final wicket here in 2003, clocked at the levels of Lee’s warm-up wheels, 142Km/h. Yes it was South Africa, yes everyone’s quicker there, yes it was a ODI, yes it was still 140+.
McG himself said he throttled back, not because he wasn’t capable of being quicker but he couldn’t sustain it for long enough to make it weapon bigger than the bounce and seam he got at slower speeds.
Everyone can calm their **** now. No one has ever seriously claimed McG was some hidden speed demon.
Howe_zat
Audio File
**** and **** are censored too, which has always annoyed me because people probably think I'm saying ****.
SillyCowCorner1
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This bowler has a nice. decent. and smooth action. Very efficient in delivery. Streamlined.
Pup Clarke
Cricketer Of The Year
His action is very 'over-the-top' in terms of where he's releasing the ball - and he also gets through the crease very quickly. These are two attributes which combined make him rather unique and incredibly effective.
Can't wait to watch him in SA later in the year
Can't wait to watch him in SA later in the year
Burgey
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There was a fair bit in the deck in the second test. Even Siddle was moving them.
But that sounds churlish when it isn't meant to be.
A couple of things I've noticed about him which I think contribute to his success. His action is pretty simple and repeatable, but I think his arm action is a bit quicker than you think, so he can actually hurry you a bit when you don't expect it - see Labushagne's dismissal in the second dig. But that also brings the front pad into play for right handers.
Also, he's an excellent bowler to left handers. His stock ball seams into the right handers, meaning it decks away from the leftie. When you're doing that from around the wicket, you're making lefties play at balls angled into off which then seam away. Which would look good but be relatively ineffective if it wasn't for.....
The length he bowls (which is everything in bowling). His default length is one which has him attacking the stumps, and he's very accurate. Perfect on pitches which aren't bouncing a great deal, given he mostly decks it into the right hander but has one which holds its line. So he basically challenges both edges.
Having Sarfraz up to the stumps occasionally is great for him because it stops batsmen batting a couple of feet outside the crease, whichI I admit I would try in the hope it would negate a bit of movement and also effect his ability to attack the stumps as effectively as he does.
He's a quality bowler. A seriously, seriously good bowler. Exceptionally good.
Only thing I'd take issue with in the OP is suggesting McGrath wasn't quick when he was younger. He flat out was. Weren't as many speed guns around then as now, but he was rapid enough. His MO was just so good though. Unusually for such a tall bloke (I think he was 6'5") his default length was pretty fullas well, so you sort of had to play a lot more than you expected, and then the bounce would come into play.
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SillyCowCorner1
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Bowlers of this mold are usually boring
Ah, yes the 2003 World Cup, back when Ashish Nehra was a 150 Km/h merchant.
SillyCowCorner1
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Poor Namibia...
TheJediBrah
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Can't overlook this. Shouldn't take anything away from him though.
This isn't quite true. McGrath never bowled a ball over 140 since I started watching cricket (1999). 135 was about as quick as he got for the last 8 years of his career. I heard McGrath was quicker in his first few years but it would have only lasted a few years at most.
edit: ok I see you guys discussed this already . . .
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Woodster
International Captain
So he was 27 years old when he made his Test debut, now at that stage he’s going to know his action and his bowling style inside out so I guess in that respect it’s not a bad thing coming into Test cricket at that age. But has he been overlooked for a few years more than was necessary or did he finally find that consistency at that age ?
He looks a truly metronomic and fantastically consistent bowler, both in his action and his deliveries. Constantly challenging the batsmen and the stumps with just a fraction of movement that is necessary to have the batsman in trouble. It’s highly skilled but nothing too complex about his MO, whether he can maintain this level will decide how far and high up the rankings he can go.
If you’re taking bag fulls of wickets in the UAE, you do expect the spicier pitches of SA to see him replicate the kind of performances Big Vern churns out over there on a regular basis.
He looks a truly metronomic and fantastically consistent bowler, both in his action and his deliveries. Constantly challenging the batsmen and the stumps with just a fraction of movement that is necessary to have the batsman in trouble. It’s highly skilled but nothing too complex about his MO, whether he can maintain this level will decide how far and high up the rankings he can go.
If you’re taking bag fulls of wickets in the UAE, you do expect the spicier pitches of SA to see him replicate the kind of performances Big Vern churns out over there on a regular basis.
Xuhaib
International Coach
It’s not.Its the first time apart from Anderson I have seen a seamer get consistent success in UAE through a series so really curious what he has done so differently to all these other guys maybe it’s a weak aus batting line up but I really can’t put my finger on one particular reason.
Maximas
Cricketer Of The Year
How does this work? I thought speed guns measured pace out of the hand effectively. Remember seeing a pace analysis of a Brett Lee ball once that was clocked at about 150 but had slowed to about 125 by the time it actually got to the batsman - think this was during the 2006/7 Ashes
trundler
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http://www.espn.in/cricket/story/_/id/21871997/why-mcgrath-was-faster-think
Basically this article is what I was talking about. I'm unsure how true it is.
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Starfighter
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
It's bollocks.