*Official* Pakistan v South Africa in UAE

[Agent Nationaux]

It might even be Rahat who replaces Irfan since Misbah likes him so much.

So many lefties:

Junaid
Irfan
Rahat
Wahab
Amir

 

[Prince EWS]

You're forgetting the kings of Pakistani fast bowling; Mohammad Khalil and Sohail Tanvir.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Lol

Don't mention Tanvir, he is one of the worst we have had.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Only remember Khalid playing one match, but don't know how good he was?

 

[Prince EWS]

I was being sarcastic; they're both terrible. Both are still professional cricketers to this day though.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Yeah I realised you were being sarcastic, but I have never really seen Khalil.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Heard he had good domestic stats?

 

[Prince EWS]

Heard he had good domestic stats?

Yeah he always performs domestically. Could well have improved since we last saw him; I don't think he'd actually done too much of note in domestic cricket yet when he was picked the first time.

 

[salman85]

There is no guarantee of how good Amir will be if and when he does get back.After 4 odd years without professional cricket, he could have declined pretty significantly as a bowler.However, even if he is still as good as he was, his return won't be the reason Irfan doesn't get picked.Irfan is already 31.For a fast bowler, and especially one from Pakistan where we have a long list of fast bowlers waiting in the ranks, he will always be only 2-3 poor tours away from being dumped completely. Add his questionable fitness to it, and Irfan isn't someone who will be around for too long,Amir or no Amir.

 

[Furball]

ind v eng series was last yr.

so basically he was well below par against the only good attack he faced. (aus)

smali asked if Cook had had a poor year.

Cook's tons in India came less than a year ago.

 

[centurymaker]

Wow that's some poor posting. New Zealand's pace bowling was hugely impressive earlier in the year.

Wow some more poor posting, given 3 others had already mentioned the same thing.
--------------------------------

@ others
NZ might have good new ball attack but what happens once a batsman has seen the new ball? It's much easier to convert a 30 into a big score since other bowlers are dire.

In any case, when I said Aus were the only good attack he had faced, I meant quality attack or a top attack.

New ball attacks better than NZ's-
1) SA
2) Eng
3) Aus
4) Pak

As for the comment about pace, Cook seems to hang on to the backfoot so his weaknesses outside the off-stump is best exploited by slightly quicker bowlers (85+ mph) when there's movement around (since obviously he's left with less time to react/adjust to the delivery). This is what I have noticed quite a few times over the last 3 yrs. If there's not much movement, then it doesn't matter whether someone is going at him at 150 or 130, he's solid.

 

[Maximas]

Worth remembering how good NZ's opening bowlers were in SL late last year. I honestly don't find Australia's or even England's 'new ball' attack to be that good, but they can sustain their performances throughout the day better.

 

[hendrix]

both teams' England series would suggest that NZ's opening bowlers are the equal of Australia's. Both teams apparently struggle with old ball bowling as well, although Peter Siddle is certainly much better than Wagner.

 

[hendrix]

also, we have to remember that while Cook is a quality batsman, he was confronted with the type of bowling he hasn't received much of in his career. He made his name against a wayward Mitchell Johnson, and has certainly shown the supreme ability to grind out centuries in tough conditions...but just because he has a good record doesn't mean a poor series is just him screwing around. He faced good quality bowling and struggled at times.

 

[Daemon]

smali asked if Cook had had a poor year.

Cook's tons in India came less than a year ago.

 

[Flem274*]

both teams' England series would suggest that NZ's opening bowlers are the equal of Australia's. Both teams apparently struggle with old ball bowling as well, although Peter Siddle is certainly much better than Wagner.

Hmm nah as long as Starc wasn't opening the bowling then I'd take Patto and Harris over Southee and Boult right now, though with Australia it's always hard to tell who is going to play any given test match. There's no hope for our spin options beyond Vettori miraculously finding a new lease of life and playing on for half a decade but the sooner Milne makes his inevitable transition to test cricket the better, since the bloke has the tools to be in the Hadlee/Bond class (but has HEAPS to prove obvz). Siddle is streets ahead of any other third seamer in the world, and no one really seems to have picked up Finn's ability to rescue their figures with the jammiest 4fers ever seen. (On a personal note, thank God he was dropped for guys I like watching. Bresnan/Tremmers forever, Finn never).

It will be a while or probably never before New Zealand deserves to be mentioned alongside the top three attacks due to Gillespie/Wagner/Bracewell being the incumbents and being a mixture of inconsistent, mediocre or way below par right now, and even when Milne/Henry/Wheeler usurp them we still need a test standard spinner and there is very little on the horizon. I know people are excited by Sodhi but wristies tend to be either amazing or terrible at test level, and there are very few amazing wrist spinners.

In saying all that, centurymaker is posting on crack right now. Such bizarre logic. It's the lateral movement that gets Cook and lateral movement >>>>>>>>>>>> pure pace. Pattinson and Steyn don't bowl that much faster than Boult in their initial spells, because Boult is fresh and the other two are looking for swing and control more than breaking the speed gun.

And even then, centurymaker seems to be implying the other attacks are better purely because they're 5kph faster on average, because we all know Glenn McGrath and Vernon Philander bowl(ed) 140kph all the time.

 

[Daemon]

Hmm nah as long as Starc wasn't opening the bowling then I'd take Patto and Harris over Southee and Boult right now, though with Australia it's always hard to tell who is going to play any given test match. There's no hope for our spin options beyond Vettori miraculously finding a new lease of life and playing on for half a decade but the sooner Milne makes his inevitable transition to test cricket the better, since the bloke has the tools to be in the Hadlee/Bond class (but has HEAPS to prove obvz). Siddle is streets ahead of any other third seamer in the world, and no one really seems to have picked up Finn's ability to rescue their figures with the jammiest 4fers ever seen. (On a personal note, thank God he was dropped for guys I like watching. Bresnan/Tremmers forever, Finn never).

Morkel?

 

[Prince EWS]

There is no way Pakistan having a better new ball attack than New Zealand IMO. They obviously have the better attack overall, but just the new ball bowlers? Nah.

 

[Maximas]

yeah, for example Junaid is probably a better old ball bowler - particularly when there isn't much in the pitch, but I'd take Boult with the new ball most days I reckon.

 

[Prince EWS]

yeah, for example Junaid is probably a better old ball bowler - particularly when there isn't much in the pitch, but I'd take Boult with the new ball most days I reckon.

Yeah Junaid's arguably the best bowler of the four but what makes him so good is his ability to seam the ball once it stops swinging and then also reverse swing it when it's properly old; he's good with the new ball too but not Southee-Boult good. And Irfan is comfortably the worst of the lot.