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Finally, as ever, Clive, I don’t see why you feel the need to be so aggressive and personal.
Small todger, well that’s what his last boyfriend said
Clive, saying it is nonsense does not make it so.
There is no way Ponting would be able to pull Holding, Croft, Roberts et al off the front foot on the pitches of the late seventies/early eighties, whether that is in Australia or the Caribbean.
Furthermore, I don’t agree that modern batsmen have negated short pitched bowling. There are very few great fast bowlers around these days and a four-pronged pace attack is very rare. But only last month, within the confines of the twenty over game with its stringent rules on short pitched bowling, both the West Indies and England were able to work the Indian batsman over.
The biggest problem for fast bowlers these days is the proliferation of dull, lifeless pitches, designed to get five days play out of every Test.
Warne indeed would have had the Windies in trouble, but he can’t bowl from both ends.
Finally, I disagree with you about the Windies. They were breathtaking to watch and they remain the most entertaining cricket team I have ever seen.
they were miles from being entertaining. they were the Wimbledon of cricket. Boringly brutal. The oval test in 91 with endless bouncers was for long periods deeply boring/ long run ups and same old same old….crap
The idea that Ponting can only hook is ridiculous
As for bouncers, how many batsmen actually get hit nowadays? Very few indeed. Even at Old Trafford and Perth. Players like Donald (eually fast and dangerous as the windies) hardly used the bouncer for a very good reason. Walsh only used it effectively against myopic players like
Malcolm (so very very brave). ambrose barely at all. times changed. Steyn, lee, Harmison and Flintoff could equally go down that route if it was still effective. but it isntThere are more dull pitchs, granted….but not everywhere
A
Don’t recognise your description of the West Indies. They had some of the finest bowlers ever to grace the game. Personally, I always enjoyed watching them bowl. The over rate was a bit of a problem, but then that is a modern trend – Ponting’s Australians are the worst offenders currently.
I’m sorry to hear that you had a bad day out at the Oval. I’ve never been there myself, but it does look a tatty old place on television, so I can empathise with you.
I didn’t for one minute suggest that Ponting could only hook – that would of course be absurd. Indeed, I was referring to different shot entirely – the pull off the front foot that he regularly employs to short pitched bowling. It would have been fraught with risk against the Windies on the pitches of the day.
Speaking of pitches, I can think of only a couple of grounds in the world that offer the fast bowler any help these days. Even Perth is not what it once was. Financial concerns are only part of the problem – until recently the ICC pitch regulations were framed in such a way that grounds producing bowler-friendly wickets could be punished more heavily than those producing flat and lifeless pitches.
Donald, Steyn, Walsh, Flintoff and Lee all employed the bouncer. It is an important weapon in their armoury, although they are of course restricted in how often they can employ it these days. In March this year, Mitchell Johnson fractured Graeme Smith’s hand and did something nasty to Jacques Kallis’s face. Last summer, James Anderson rearranged the teeth of Daniel Flynn and as I mentioned in my last post, the Indians proved unable to cope with the short ball in the World T20. Short pitched bowling remains part of the game and a good thing too.
Im a member at the Oval and not missed a days test play there since 1989. Its not tatty…! Anymore anyway,Thats Old Trafford, which is a real mess….
Ok i exaggerate a bit about their bolwers. Holding and Marshall in partiocular were great to watch in full flow
As i said, it was the brainless one dimensional tactics of the windies that ruined the day (the crwod turned on them a bit i recall).
The bouncer is abig part of the game and i enjoy it too, but the restriction was one of crickets better recent laws. In many ways it is more likely to suprise these days, but i still contend that it is not the weapon it was
Ponting has far too many shots in his armoury (and excellent selection) to be caught out by such bowling IMO
No
Cardiff is a disgraceful selection. English taxpayers money (denied to the english counties) used to back their bid…and beyond belief that they had any right at all to jump the queue for an ashes test of all things
Old Trafford should have been used simply because it would suit the english bowlers best
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