Harris vs. Hauritz vs. Swann

[Richard]

If i give him any more credit i'd be over-rating him to be frank. Off all the useful/decent SA spinners that have played tests since readmisson in Symcox, Boje, Adams, Eskeen, Henderson all where better than Harris IMO. (although you can argue not much is between him and Henderson).

I know next to nothing about Clive Eksteen and he barely played anyway so I'll gladly not comment on him; Adams was clearly pretty hopeless and not surprisingly so either, but he's a wristspinner and that applies to most of them. One could argue Symcox was > Harris but it's debateable. There's no way I'd put either Boje or Henderson as > Harris. = at best.

Clearly all bar Adams were better batsmen though, Symcox and Boje especially.

 

[Richard]

Nah Croft was a plodder at best.

Whatever a "plodder" is (generally best known on here as Camel56-idiot-type terminology)... Croft was - is in fact - a quite capable fingerspin bowler, who possessed about all the tools you could ask a fingerspinner to do. Good flight, good arm-ball, the ability to fire it through flat (both as a change-up and consistently) when neccessary, and enough spin to make the ball talk on a helpful deck.

Would venture to suggest on uncovered wickets Croft - like Emburey - could easily have been fit to rank with the better England fingerspinners. Same might well apply to Swann.

 

[Jono]

Michael Clarke. I only rate spinners on how many Tests they win against India, therefore MiIchael Clarke uber alles.

Shaun Udal > Swann too then.

 

[aussie]

Whatever a "plodder" is (generally best known on here as Camel56-idiot-type terminology)... Croft was - is in fact - a quite capable fingerspin bowler, who possessed about all the tools you could ask a fingerspinner to do. Good flight, good arm-ball, the ability to fire it through flat (both as a change-up and consistently) when neccessary, and enough spin to make the ball talk on a helpful deck.

Would venture to suggest on uncovered wickets Croft - like Emburey - could easily have been fit to rank with the better England fingerspinners. Same might well apply to Swann.

Indeed, but i'd say Croft was a slightly better off-spinner than Swann at his best though . I remember how brilliant he was when we won SRI 2001, getting some real big spin..

 

[Sir Alex]

The other conventional offie I had high hopes for was Ramesh Powar. Could watch him bowl all day; absolutely beautiful action. Seems to have disappeared off the radar a bit of late tho. Shame, cricket needs its lardos, IMHO.

I agree. Had it not been for Harbhajan being Ganguly's favorite, Romesh would've got a nod earlier itself. His batting is much superior to Harbhajan and despite being portly he is comparable to Harby as a fielder. He is one of the rare breeds who flight it regardless of the situation.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Adams was clearly pretty hopeless and not surprisingly so either, but he's a wristspinner and that applies to most of them.

I never saw much of Paul Adams, but why exactly was he clearly hopeless? Even taking away his record against Bangladesh, his record is still pretty good for a wrist spinner.

 

[Flem274*]

I never saw much of Paul Adams, but why exactly was he clearly hopeless? Even taking away his record against Bangladesh, his record is still pretty good for a wrist spinner.

Because Richard said so.

 

[mdoggie]

I never saw much of Paul Adams, but why exactly was he clearly hopeless? Even taking away his record against Bangladesh, his record is still pretty good for a wrist spinner.

He was dangerous when he started out, he was so unorthadox that people struggled to play him (without bursting into laughter). But once he was found out, he was pretty ordinary and became hopeless.

 

[Burgey]

Why can't this thread be re-named to its by-line - "Battle of the Tard Slowies"? Like asking who batted best out of Alderman, McGrath and Chris Martin.

 

[Sylvester]

Hauritz is a accurate spinner but he doesn't get enough turn especially on the 4th/5th day wickets. His variations aren't good enough to make up for the lack of spin compared to Vettori and Kumble.

Swann is the most attacking of the lot and his FC and Test stats show that from the amount of 5 fers he has. Didn't have the best Ashes and was outbowled by Hauritz in the games he played but he looked the more dangerous of the two.

Harris has the height factor and SLA which seems to be a good mix for the tight line spinners. Both him and Benn like the bouncy pitches in Aus. The spin away from the right handers is also useful and the extra bounce can cause problems at times. He has more 5 fers than Hauritz both in Test and FC which shows hes capable of winning a match on his day.

 

[Hurricane]

Hauritz is a accurate spinner but he doesn't get enough turn especially on the 4th/5th day wickets. His variations aren't good enough to make up for the lack of spin compared to Vettori and Kumble.

I used to think that Vettori > Hauritz - but I think Hauritz gives it more a rip than Vettori. His accuracy is acceptable as well. And Vettori doesn't have a good history on 4th/5th day wickets either.

I like the loop that Hauritz gets.

Is it generally accepted that Vettori is >> than all of the three spinners highlighted in this thread?

 

[Uppercut]

It's too early to tell.

 

[BoyBrumby]

More useful cricketer, certainly, but possibly a weaker bowler than any of them too. Even Harris gives it more of a rip. Vettori is clever bowler, but doesn't have the basic armoury of even Hauritz based on the little I've seen of the latter.

 

[Sir Alex]

I think Swann is the better bowler and cricketer among these guys.

 

[Richard]

I never saw much of Paul Adams, but why exactly was he clearly hopeless? Even taking away his record against Bangladesh, his record is still pretty good for a wrist spinner.

As was said to some extent, he had some amount of success early on due to the utterly extraordinary nature of his action which meant some people just struggled to play him. He never really threatened much.

If you'd watched him much you'd realise he had so little going for him - only bowled one delivery (the Googly), and though it turned plenty, he struggled to pitch more than a couple per over in the right spot by-and-large.

 

[silentstriker]

Interesting question with Murali's clear decline: If tomorrow, a spin-assisting tracks were assured and you needed a spinner for one series (out of all the spinners who are currently played), which spinner would you pick, and in which order? How many would pick Swann, or Harby, for example, over Murali at this point?

 

[GIMH]

Would pick Swann for his batting tbh

 

[Richard]

Interesting question with Murali's clear decline: If tomorrow, a spin-assisting tracks were assured and you needed a spinner for one series (out of all the spinners who are currently played), which spinner would you pick, and in which order? How many would pick Swann, or Harby, for example, over Murali at this point?

Would still pick Murali any day of any week myself TBH. That might change as hindsight creeps in but at the current time I'd still say I'd back him to outbowl any spinner going around.

Maybe in 2014 I'll say "in late 2009 Swann would've been a better pick than Murali" but I think that has to remain to be seen.

 

[Pothas]

Interesting question with Murali's clear decline: If tomorrow, a spin-assisting tracks were assured and you needed a spinner for one series (out of all the spinners who are currently played), which spinner would you pick, and in which order? How many would pick Swann, or Harby, for example, over Murali at this point?

Still Murali everytime for me although I would also take Imran Tahir bowlng like he did for Hampshire in 2008.

Interesting to see where Mendis fits in all of this, a tad worried about how is going to go for us, am just hoping at the moment that the county batsmen will be confused by him m but has looked very unthreatening of late.

 

[Shri]

Interesting question with Murali's clear decline: If tomorrow, a spin-assisting tracks were assured and you needed a spinner for one series (out of all the spinners who are currently played), which spinner would you pick, and in which order? How many would pick Swann, or Harby, for example, over Murali at this point?

Would take Mishra myself.