phantom005

I was watching some days back highlights of this wonderfull test match.
2nd Test: England v Australia at Birmingham, Aug 4-7, 2005 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo
In this match there is cool performance of fast bowling by steve harmison and andrew flintoff. The pitch seems cool with good bounce and the ball too seems real season ball. The deliveries after pitching at good length skids towards the batsmen at good bounce. So the tailenders aussies bat with tricks to score runs. Some deliveries of andrew flintoff seem very quick like a fast paceman and one hits to the elbow of bret lee. This seems the last aussie vs english test match were some good entertaining cricket was played like the 1995-1999 years!

Funny that when i was watching this match it seemed to me that it was infact played in year 1999. This match says that if real season ball is used then the fast bowler height should be above six feet and high arm reach. English bowlers like dominic cork and darren gough are short height fast bowlers. In some matches they might had raised their heights, but in most of their career matches they are just 5feet 10inches. So dominic cork and darren gough bowling the ball takes more time to reach the batsman's end. And most deliveries skid on the pitch. But high height bowlers like steve harmison and andrew flintoff bowl with speed and ball reaches quickly towards the batsman's end. And also get bounce off the wicket. But still the batsmen never gave away their wickets over such fast bowling. And funnily they gave their wickets to slow spinners.

phantom005

I think the worlds successfull bowlers in cricket mentioned in the top lists are successfull because they are magicians!!!
Like fast bowlers are many in this world but no one makes it to international cricket tests ODIs.
Waqar younis, andy roberts, nantie haywards, michael holdings, kapil dev, wasim akram....etc had in common just five step run ups. And a slow bowling arm but still the ball after pitching used to make a high impact to the batsmen pads, helmets and bats. So they baffled the batsmen in uncertainty and got many a wickets in shear speed. Even their swing is like 'practical magic!'

phantom005

Yess i had seen in a latest T20 match between india vs pakistan, mhd sami had bowled a beamer to v.kohli which seemed like clocking 99mph. The white ball used in that match seemed like covered with white powder which made a puff when it hit v.kohli's helmet. The delivery was so fast and cleverly bowled that v.kohli didn't even knew when it even hit the helmet!!!

phantom005

Here is the magic bowling of waqar younis reverse swing...
YORKERS FROM HELL - WAQAR YOUNIS COMPILATION OF DOOM - YouTube

phantom005

I was reading about new zealand fast bowlers of the modern cricket, and i found that since 2000, there have been very few debuts in their side. Their fast bowlers like chris martin, mills, j.franklin are said to be slow medium fast bowlers. Though their height and bowling action seem quick. Even 1996 fast bowler simon doull is said to be a slow medium bowler. Their only fast bowler after richard hadlee is said to have been shane bond.
So i have to pressume that after the 1982 england's fastest bowlers, the modern day bowlers are slow. How can one calculate if a bowler is fast or not, after leg glance the fastest bowlers deliveries race towards the boundaries quick.
The modern fast bowlers i think the more they are taller the more slower they are. Like nathan bracken who uses the pitch seam conditions but in one dayers had wicketkeeper keeping like a spinner. Other tall bowlers like v.prasad, j.srinath, cameron cuffy etc run in slow with a long run-up and bowl very slow in their odd test matches were they never took much wickets. While there are some exceptions like c.ambrose and c.walsh. But i think the most fastest bowlers are those who are of mid height like just 5'8''. They have very quick pace run-up and bowl a good wicket taking line length.
I was viewing some yester years sharjah matches of 1988 of sri lanka bowlers. Their bowlers height was much more than viv richards, so sri lankan fast bowlers like a.mel, ratnayake etc were very tall 6'2'' but with slow run-up and seaming bowling techniques.
Then what if the actual height of waqar younis is 5'7'' and other pakistani team mates average height is 5'3''. Sometimes i think shoiab akhtar height in his early career days seems just 5'6''. And newcomer cheema height 5'5''.
So does that mean fast bowlers require agility and quickness, then a shorter man runs up much quicker and bowls much quick.
It also occurs to many times that watching fast bowling of shoiab akhtar and shane bond is quite similar. There seems to be hindrance in the human eyes that we assume that they are bowling fast. Infact if you see correctly both are very slow bowlers bowling some deliveries very slow! You might be thinking that i am talking foolish, but really a good batsman can easily hit on the bowling of shoiab akhtar and shane bond.
I like instead bowling of paul jarvis who had whippy action and his yorkers used to rock the batsmen. Here in this england vs india 1993 tour he is seen bowling...! He could be an ideal coach too and could seam fast as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrXTk...e_gdata_player

phantom005

In my cricket playing days(in coaching clubs) of 2001, i had experimented in reverse swing bowling. In this simple bowling action with an old ball i used to obtain swing on the wetted side of the ball.
But just yesterday i again tried reverse swing bowling practise and it really swinged inwards from a rough side of an old ball like waqar younis describes....

Vid0002 - YouTube

Vid0003 - YouTube



In this above video, it seems that the season ball is somewhat huge in size. Whereas real season ball as seen on tv in matches seems small in size. There was a scene in some match where tony greig was holding a ball in his fingers and even pressing on the leather. The leather infact moved inward after pressing as if the ball was soft. The season ball which is available in indian sports shops is very hard leather doesn't presses and large in size too!!!

Other best swing bowling techniques that i like is Inswinging bowling of imran khan and Outswing bowling of ian botham.

harjot

Hello guys, According to me the best bowler of all time is Glenn Mcgrath from Australia. He was a bowler with perfect line and length. He had a very decent pace between 130km to 135km but still he was the best. I was upset when he got retired from international cricket but it happens. Salute to great bowler Glenn Mcgrath.

__________________
Cricket Bat
Cricket Equipment

phantom005

Glenn Mccgrath his career from 1994 to 2005, he single handedly tremorised many a sides. Many batsmen like sachin tendulkar, brian lara, n.hussain, inzaman ul haq, yousuf yohanna had hard times batting against his bowling. Even NZ, SA and minnows bangladesh used to falter against good bowling of his. He wasn't a swing bowler but a seamer paceman. When he retired the batsmen got a respite. But if there is no quality cricket the games seem one sided. And if there is no sport there is no game after all.
Glenn mcgrath reminds me of thwack cricket!!! He used to knock down the ball hard on pitch, and the west indies batsmen just placed their bats and thwack it went for a four!!!!
Might i had debuted in around 2004, i had played against him.

phantom005

Cricket Ball Rules | eHow.com

As you read this article its said in it that according to cricket rule book, a season ball is made up of a small sized cork ball covered by two leather covering halves sewn such the seam is raised.

This reminds me of the match australia versus south africa world cup matches

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqwri...e_gdata_player


(exciting)such ball is used, exteriorly it seems a soft ball but as sa pacemen steve elworthy ricocheted cartwheeled stumps which he impacted the inner cork ball. Such bowlds are not even possible if we threw the ball towards the stumps!

In india the season ball doesn't have a small cork ball inside, it has layers of cork like material and exterior a hard leather.
While in the sa vs australia match lance klusenor just flicked with the bottom bat and ball ricocheted to the boundary hence it seems the ball used is soft exterior but the inner cork rebounds it to far away.
Whereas indian season ball are hard to hit for a six.

phantom005

Yesterday i was watching a program showcasing bob willis fast bowling. His run-up was of 18 strides. His bowling had no swing and no seam either. Just pitching hard bowling on the turf and variations in angle. Bob willis bowling action seems mediocre but the action packed scenario looks cool. His height seems unnaturally very high, the english bobbies helmet comes at his neck, so you might imagine how tall he must had been. Perhaps 6'9'' his bowling arm too might be coming from a height. Unlike shoiab akhtar who is just as similar height to sachin tendulkar, whereas small height sunil gavaskar infact played tall bob willis with no helmet. Just casual cricket gear, no elbow guard, no chest guard. So i think the cricket at those times might had been older mens game. Like veteran cricketeers only of the age above 30 with greying hairs were allowed to play cricket at international level. In some other programs bob willis was referred to as a stock bowler.
Funny the narrator said that in bob willis days the batsmen of the opposite team like west indies till the ninth batsman never gave away their wickets easily. So bob willis had to strive for taking his 325 test wickets. Even taking a six wicket a innings was a difficult task. Bob willis then i saw used to bowl in such a way as to beat the edge of the batsman bat defense. Either a nick towards the slips, wicket keeper or a inward bowled! The batmen then cause of this tense line n length bowling of his used to mishit to give away catches!
But in modern day cricket, many batsmen would say they would easily hit bob willis fast bowling square of the wicket!
Anyway bob willis persona reminds me of the famous fictional movie- 'Lord of the Rings- fellowship of the urn!'