Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Not sure how fair it is to shave off a player's lean years to show them to good advantage when that doesn't take into account the ebbs of form for the other bowlers. Even so, if you start Anderson's career at the home summer of 2009, when he really came into his own, he is still flanked by Southee and a late period Zaheer Khan. Which is fine, but it's not the most skillful bowler territory.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=bowling

I agree about his workload, and he can be very dangerous in certain conditions. And at home, England have made sure he gets good conditions, as they most overtly did v India last year.

Away from home, he has really only had one noteworthy series in this peak period, the Ashes win in 2010-11. When he bowled with a lot of heart. People often mention the India series, but I think that is part of the exaggeration of his talents. He bowled economically in the first two Tests, but I think took two wickets. The spinners fought back in that series, and Monty especially. When he did manage some swing in Kolkata, he bowled a good spell, but Finn actually (IMO) bowled much better.

My feeling is that the press in uk has been very pro Flower, and Flower decided to lead with pace in that series. The narrative that it was Anderson's swing that won it was an attempt at face saving. My impression is that, among many virtues, he's quite a smart bowler, and makes quite a lot out of what he has, for example, his very limited reverse swing. But I can't say he stands out for his skillfulness, compared with contemporaries Steyn, Harris and Asif, to name some obvious examples. I also think the uk press is frequently Anglocentric in its views.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Not sure how fair it is to shave off a player's lean years to show them to good advantage when that doesn't take into account the ebbs of form for the other bowlers. Even so, if you start Anderson's career at the home summer of 2009, when he really came into his own, he is still flanked by Southee and a late period Zaheer Khan. Which is fine, but it's not the most skillful bowler territory.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=bowling

I agree about his workload, and he can be very dangerous in certain conditions. And at home, England have made sure he gets good conditions, as they most overtly did v India last year.

Away from home, he has really only had one noteworthy series in this peak period, the Ashes win in 2010-11. When he bowled with a lot of heart. People often mention the India series, but I think that is part of the exaggeration of his talents. He bowled economically in the first two Tests, but I think took two wickets. The spinners fought back in that series, and Monty especially. When he did manage some swing in Kolkata, he bowled a good spell, but Finn actually (IMO) bowled much better.

My feeling is that the press in uk has been very pro Flower, and Flower decided to lead with pace in that series. The narrative that it was Anderson's swing that won it was an attempt at face saving. My impression is that, among many virtues, he's quite a smart bowler, and makes quite a lot out of what he has, for example, his very limited reverse swing. But I can't say he stands out for his skillfulness, compared with contemporaries Steyn, Harris and Asif, to name some obvious examples. I also think the uk press is frequently Anglocentric in its views.

so why would dhoni say Anderson was the key figure for England in that series ?

he is not part of the pro-ECB or pro-flower press

Good to see we finally won an overseas test again.

Dhoni's press statements. are pretty hard to account for. He has his own agenda to justify. I realise that last post, and this one, makes me sound like a crackpot. But that's the nature of the terrain. Match reports are written still echoing with the ricochets of past conflicts. Like the Le Carre school of sports journalism.

Aidan11 wrote:Good to see we finally won an overseas test again.

:Eng: :party

Steely has won four out of five and is averaging over 60. England are on the up.

Cook calls Anderson England's best bowler of all time...

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Cook calls Anderson England's best bowler of all time...

Bit over the top. But the sort of thing grateful skippers are inclined to say when a bowler has worked some magic to win them a Test Match...

I'll forgive him a bit of over enthusiasm in the afterglow of victory. Though I'm sure some others won't

Something should be done about such people.

Steely's said it before so I suppose he really thinks it.

Pete & Dud pull it off.

huge win, great win, and one for the bowlers to enjoy and savour..

Jimmy will have one thought on the 400 wickets now.

will be a tremenous achivement

I see on other MBs that now England have finally won it is only because we beat "WIs 2nd XI".

They might be missing a few names but that was a decent side out there.

That was WI best side, save Taylor. But still not a strong side. The sentiment that the opposition wasn't high quality is right, even though WI can be competitive at home.

Shame they fought for most of the game but lost it in a session.