Can anyone tell me when...

[garage flower]

I think we're all agreed that the acid tests (no pun intended) are coming up in South Africa and then the Ashes series, but in my opinion Harmison has already established himself as a very good bowler.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Rik isn't saying that Harminson is not a good bowler.

Please do tell what he is saying then.

 

[Arjun]

Whom would you pick in an England bowling attack against the Australians? This may be a good one-

Harmison (lead bowler)
Hoggard/Anderson (both with new ball)
Flintoff (lead bowler)
Saggers (stock bowler)/Jones (if fully fit)
Giles (stock bowler)

 

[Neil Pickup]

Wouldn't let Saggers near the Aussies.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Rik's saying that Mark Nicholas seems to praise Harmo even when he bowls a rare bad ball, from what I can gather...

 

[cbuts]

Take it in context, I was talking about the lack of any star players in the side, but Fleming makes them greater than the sum of their individual parts.

flemming is too overated by many on this site

 

[marc71178]

Surprised you say that - I don't think he's rated highly enough by most non-Kiwis, so are you saying that they over-rate him?

 

[a massive zebra]

flemming is too overated by many on this site

Yeah I agree. He is rated as the best captain in the world by many on this site, and he is often given credit for tactics that are not really planned or come off through luck rather than judgement. He has a better record than any other Kiwi captain but this is not solely due to his captaincy, he has better players than most of the other New Zealand captains. He is a good captain, no doubt, but overrated and not the best around.

IMO the best captain in the world is clearly Ganguly. They are a real force despite having very limited bowling resources.

 

[Macka]

Yeah I agree. He is rated as the best captain in the world by many on this site, and he is often given credit for tactics that are not really planned or come off through luck rather than judgement. He has a better record than any other Kiwi captain but this is not solely due to his captaincy, he has better players than most of the other New Zealand captains. He is a good captain, no doubt, but overrated and not the best around.

IMO the best captain in the world is clearly Ganguly. They are a real force despite having very limited bowling resources.

So I take it you know the NZ plans and are in on the NZ team talks then? Fleming is easily the best captain in world cricket, and the longest serving. Ganguly doesn't have anything on him. Both Fleming and Ganguly's captaincy against Australia were good, but Fleming has been doing it for longer and is proven against more opposition.

 

[Macka]

Outside of his own country as well.

 

[Craig]

Rik isn't saying that Harminson is not a good bowler. Mind you, he is yet to perform well against Australia in Australia, which is any player's ultimate test.

He made steady improvements in which you had to watch and witness then what you will see on the scorecard. It was an improvement in results, but he did become more confident in his run up and got over his homesickness while he was over here.

And IMO that has to count for something in becoming more confident with the ball.

 

[marc71178]

Actually the improvement coincided with Cooley looking at his action and modifying it.

 

[Richard]

The improvement in accuracy did not coincide with the start of the wicket-taking spree.
There was a lag-time of 3 innings.

 

[tooextracool]

Yeah I agree. He is rated as the best captain in the world by many on this site, and he is often given credit for tactics that are not really planned or come off through luck rather than judgement. He has a better record than any other Kiwi captain but this is not solely due to his captaincy, he has better players than most of the other New Zealand captains. He is a good captain, no doubt, but overrated and not the best around.

IMO the best captain in the world is clearly Ganguly. They are a real force despite having very limited bowling resources.

err no...fleming is undoubtedly the best captain in the world ATM....anybody who saw the recent NZ-SA series or even the last Aus-NZ series would know that. without star players he managed to pull off a champions trophy and without star players hes managed to make it twice into 2 wc semifinals.
and ganguly as a captain is 'good' but is far from great....in fact if you look at some of his field placings you would instantly realize that he isnt all that smart, the only reason why he is a good captain is that hes arrogant and commands respect from the side.....something that not many indian captains in the past have been able to do.

 

[marc71178]

The improvement in accuracy did not coincide with the start of the wicket-taking spree.
There was a lag-time of 3 innings.

3 whole innings because a change of action doesn't take any getting used to does it?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I wouldn't a few weeks ago, but I would now say that Harmison is probably the best seam bowler in the world today. One of the big reasons for that is the amount of respect that one BC Lara has for him. I'd say that Lara doesn't have anywhere near the kind of repect for any other bowler (even McGrath) that he has for Harmison.

 

[Richard]

3 whole innings because a change of action doesn't take any getting used to does it?

A rather irrelevant comment there.
Yes, of course the change of action took some getting used to - the action was basically changed between the end of the Australia tour and the beginning of the 2003 summer. It took 6 innings for the change to take effect. However, the improvement in accuracy didn't have any effect as far as wicket-taking was concerned until 3 innings after it became apparent. He bowled very accurately in both innings at Trent Bridge and the first-innings at The Oval and took a sum total of 2 wickets. Because the South Africans had the sense to not worry about the scoring rate.
Then in the second-innings of that match he got one wicket with an unintentional but perfect leg-cutter, one with a poor decision and two at the end of the innings. While again bowling accurately.

 

[Deja moo]

the only reason why Ganguly is a good captain is that hes arrogant and commands respect from the side.....

The fact that he has a knack for spotting talent and sticking to them till the end, no matter what, means nothing ?

 

[Craig]

Actually the improvement coincided with Cooley looking at his action and modifying it.

Marc I know this maybe an irrelevant comment here, but do you actually have Sky Sports or do you base a lot of your opinions on England performances aboard via radio?

 

[chris.hinton]

Why does anyone think that Harmy is over rated