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The curious case of Mohammad Abbas

Xuhaib

International Coach
The likes of Anderson, Mcgrath and Philander have shown that pace is one of the least important attribute to be successful test bowler. However all these blokes have their strengths Mcgrath with his awkward bounce with nagging accuracy, Anderson with his late swing both ways while most of Philander test success has come in delightful seam bowling conditions and his flat conditions bowling still has question marks.

I am really baffled by Abbas early success he is not tall like Mcgrath thus does not extract any extra bounce. I have rarely seen him swing the ball while 80% of his test wickets have come in UAE and WI where wickets were tailor made for spin.

So what is he doing right is this a case similar to Mike Hussey where a battle hardened first class cricket who knows his game inside out making his debut at the peak of his career and over time he will be knocked back a peg or two and settle on a decent to great test career with law of averages taking care of them selves or does he really has something special in his armory that makes him operate at a level better most ATG's in his brief career and he will continue to have these insane numbers.

Thoughts?
 

flibbertyjibber

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I guess the nearest to him in recent times is Stuart Clark who was an older bowler when he got his chance and was destructive without looking deadly but he just got wickets regularly. No idea if Abbas will keep it up but he has been amazing since he came in.
 

trundler

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He bowls to good plans, a bit like Asif I suppose and so far he's bowled to some frail batting lineups.
 

Xuhaib

International Coach
the title suppose to be "curious case of Mohammad Abbas"

but seriously 17-180 in UAE for a seamer is unheard off even if its against a weakish batting side. Just can't put my finger on why he's got these freak numbers till now maybe its a testament to weak defensive batting techniques of modern batsman that is allowing bowlers like Abbas and Jadeja accurate bowlers with slight movement past both edges to make a killing.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
He's just accurate and consistent. If you are facing a metronomic line and length bowler and are batting well you can make them look very ordinary, but as soon as the concentration wobbles for a moment you are out.

In this series he has required session-long flawless competence to face him and that is exactly what this Australian batting lineup lacks.
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
McGrath was pretty fast early in his career, wasn't he?
McGrath was a shade over 140 for much of his career. In the last year or two his pace dropped to somewhere closer to 135. He was faster than Clark who bowled 135 regularly. But he was never express pace.

Honestly I think McGrath could have been quicker but he bowled at exactly the speed he needed to to get wickets. A bit like when Steyn throttles back to 135 to get swing.
 

trundler

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I'm also sure he was absolutely technically capable of swinging it miles. He just didn't operate that way.
 

trundler

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Also I've read bouncy pace (nip) shows up slower on speed guns than it appears when you're facing it compared to skiddy pace.
 

Borges

International Regular
maybe its a testament to weak defensive batting techniques of modern batsman that is allowing bowlers like Abbas and Jadeja accurate bowlers with slight movement past both edges to make a killing.
Abbas is very good, make no mistake about that. But, yes, he is made to look even more superhuman by dire batting line ups.

What has this guy been doing till now? Made his FC debut ages ago, now he is nearly 29 and has played all of ten test matches.
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I guess the nearest to him in recent times is Stuart Clark who was an older bowler when he got his chance and was destructive without looking deadly but he just got wickets regularly. No idea if Abbas will keep it up but he has been amazing since he came in.
The second coming of Ryan Sidebottom?
 

trundler

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There has been a shift in the balance between bat and ball this decade and unlike before it has little to do with conditions. Batsmen are awful against movement generally and can't bat time so when you get a bowler who tests the batter's patience and/or technique you see abnormally deflated averages.
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
https://www.cricket.com.au/video/mo...ralia-test-matches-dubai-abu-dhabi/2018-10-19

In every single dismissal, Abbas moved the ball just enough. His MO reminds me a lot of McGrath in that regard, even though Abbas attacks the stumps a lot more. It's clear that he does a great job of taking the ball into the right hander, but if you look at Khawaja's dismissal in the second test, it's clear that he can move the ball both ways. His nagging line and length outside off stump make batsmen play at every ball or suffer the fate of Tim Paine.

Quite frankly, he's blood good and he reminds me of Malcolm Marshall albeit a bit slower.
 

trundler

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In the UAE you can't really on the slippers as much owing to the low bounce, hence the wicket to wicket line.
 

Xuhaib

International Coach
Abbas is very good, make no mistake about that. But, yes, he is made to look even more superhuman by dire batting line ups.

What has this guy been doing till now? Made his FC debut ages ago, now he is nearly 29 and has played all of ten test matches.
Somebody mentioned on Pakpassion till 2013 after 40 FC games he was averaging 30 since then he has played 44 more games he has averaged 15 in first class cricket and has also averaged 15 in test cricket quite remarkable turnaround something just clicked for him.
 

FBU

International Debutant
Highest percentage of lbws (min 50+ wickets)

Abbas 38.9%
BAW Mendis 38.5%
Alderman 34.1%
 

Top_Cat

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The same guys are getting out basically the same ways which suggests Abbas is basically dissecting their approaches to batting. If there's one thing that links most guys in this line-up is that they were dashers first who had to pare it back as their careers have progressed so if a guy is consistently beating your defense, gotta play on your mind a lot. Pays to wonder who would play Abbas well, I'm thinking Steve Waugh would have found a way against him.

The advantage and disadvantage of being a slower bowler is that the batsmen get a good look at you. Abbas bowls the sort of length where you're taking a risk with every shot and his actual good balls are better and swing more than you think. So he takes a lot of things out of the picture that bats use to get on top of a bowler.

All the guys used to say of Sachin that he was the best because he played like every batsman aspires to play. Guys like Abbas kick other bowlers up the arse to get in the nets with a 10c piece. Sensational Test match bowling.
 
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Tec15

First Class Debutant
McGrath was a shade over 140 for much of his career. In the last year or two his pace dropped to somewhere closer to 135. He was faster than Clark who bowled 135 regularly. But he was never express pace.

Honestly I think McGrath could have been quicker but he bowled at exactly the speed he needed to to get wickets. A bit like when Steyn throttles back to 135 to get swing.
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. 8-)
 

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