bhaveshgor wrote:For one reason Clark was actually crap in flat condition and would probably struggled
Most seam bowlers would be crap in flat conditions. Glenn McGrath averaged 30 in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, did it make him a bad bowler?
I have seen Stuart Clark bowl one of the best spells I have ever witnessed at Adelaide in 2006 on a pitch that had DRAW written all over it. While Warne got the plaudits for taking the wickets, it was Clark at the other end that kept the pressure on by giving nothing away. That was textbook stuff on how to bowl on a flat pitch. The problem is, when Clark failed it was often more to do with the fact that his partners failed around him. I mean a good indication was in 2006 tour of BD, Clark may have struggled (as others did at times) to take wickets but when comfronted with a pancake that was made specifically to give rubbish batsman a chance against the worlds best team, you arent going to blow away teams. You need to grind out wickets, but I believe Clark kept it tidy, but Shane Warne got blasted at the other end for 6 an over.
There is also two tests that Clark played against india on flat pitches where stats again dont really do him jsutice. The first was on a flat pitch in Delhi where Laxman and Gambhir scored 200's, and both teams scored 600 in a a dead end draw. Clark bowled 35 odd overs in that innings and hardly gave any runs away, while Cameron White, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee were getting smoked all over the shop. Ok you will say he ends up with 0/60, but thats the only way you take wickets on surfaces that slow. Had he been backed up and they frsutrate and cause pressure at both ends, you get a team bowled out well below par and win heavily. But he couldnt build pressure with that at the other end.
In fact that test in Delhi was in the same year as a test in Adelaide when Gilchrist retired, and that was another surface that was designed only to kill pace bowlers. In fact, looking at those who played on the same surfaces as him, Clark had a better wicket average than McGrath!!! And Lee, and Gilly and Mitchell Johnson.