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.
Aidan11 wrote:Good to see we finally won an overseas test again.
:Eng: :party
Arthur Crabtree wrote:Cook calls Anderson England's best bowler of all time...
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