alfie wrote:He's a talent , but I think a little too much is being expected of him at the moment. His chief problem is that he does not really move the ball away from the right hander . Unless and until he can develop something on that line his effectiveness will be somewhat limited . Pace alone won't clean up on good batting surfaces against a decent batting team
Pretty spot on analysis, Alfie.
His stock ball at Hove has always been the inswinger to the right hander. On pitches that help him, he brings the ball into the right hander in the air, and gets additional movement from the pitch off a full length that makes him difficult to play. You see him bowling people offering no shot a lot for Sussex as that ball moves really late from that length, or batsman missing the movement and being lbw or bowled playing a stroke. So much in fact, he must be somewhere near the top of bowlers taking wickets in FC from those modes of dismissal. On pitches that help, his lack of ability to swing the ball away doesnt matter, because he constantly has people feeling for that inswinger, he doesnt need it. He occasionally sends a cross seamer that holds its line (not come away) and it has the same effect. Id say most of the right handers he gets out caught are with that straight ball that targets just outside off, and people play inside the line.
To left handers he always targets the same sort of areas, slightly different line but bringing the ball away. He hardly ever bowls left handers, but gets them snicking off behind to the cordon because he brings the ball away from the stumps. But again, when the ball doesnt move he can be too straight to the left handers, and bowls a lot onto the pads looking for that movement.
To be a consistent threat he needs to develop one that more consistently goes away. The scary thing is, if he manages it, he could be almost unplayable on helpful surfaces because that stock ball is very good in getting batsman playing on their stumps.
Sadly though I think England want him to be a more blunt force object. Which is pretty senseless as banging it in short has never been his forte. He gets a lot of wickets with the short ball, and actually when you look at those wickets, most approach comical levels of batting. Why? Because he bowls comfortable fast medium pace for overs on end, then he hits you with something short and very fast. So many batters are left in technical no mans land at the sudden ferocity, that he never has to really be concerned with how accurate those balls are.
Yet with England, its telegraphed. That weapon of surprise has become a stock weapon. I am not sure thats a great idea as it just helps to numb that effectiveness. Id like to see him bowling a tad slower, pitching it up at the stumps and doing what he does for Sussex, rather than his first reaction to resistance being to pound it in short.
In many ways that Steve Smith ball could be the breaking off him. Before that ball I dont think anyone knew Archer had that sort of pace, but like said above, he always did just used it to shock batsman once in a while once they are set. And it caught out the best batter in the world, Smith was totally lost at the extra pace. He should be bowling the bouncer pretty much never, but let the fact he could unleash a 94mph thunderbolt at anytime leave them hanging that weight a little more backwards, which makes playing forward to the moving full ball that little bit harder. Hes put on a lot of bulk since joining England though. And his run up is different, he hits that crease far hard and runs into the crease with much more momentum, dare I say at the cost of a little body control.
Do I think Archer is good enough? Yeah absolutely, hes an excellent bowler. Am I confident England are going to Stuart Broad him and insistent he becomes some enforcer who wastes overs banging it short to batsman..... sadly yeah. I think if hes not going to become a very good test player, England will have a lot to do with it.