Opinion Cricket thread

[KiwiRoo]

Not in Tests I wouldn't.

I think Smith (when in form) and Williamson are the two best.

Kohli the best one day player clearly imo

Kohli and Smith are freaks. Williamson is very classy but not a freak. I think Historians looking back would have it Smith , Kohli and then Williamson

 

[KiwiRoo]

Waqar Younis was my favourite. It was fast and swung all over the place. He was a magician when on song.

yeah wasn't quite as effective when the umpires started inspecting the ball !

 

[7577969923]

McGrath best bowler I've seen

Consistent line and length......almost robotic hence struggled in shorter form as "predictable" aka Hazlewood.

Quickest is Tait and Brad Williams. They were legit express but had no idea where it was going. Shane Bond too.

Obviously Brett Lee and Ahktar are the top but these guys as alternate options.

I saw Shane Bond bowl live at Port Elizabeth during the 2003 World Cup. It is a small ground and we were at a straightish mid-off to the right-handers so really close and with a great view. F@#k me that was quick.

Brad Williams had serious wheels. I remember he broke Mark Taylor's arm with a shortish ball.

McGrath was fantastic. I have him in a bracket of bowlers that I find hard to pick the absolute best from. That group includes Hadlee, Lillee, Akram, Marshall, Ambrose, Holding, Steyn.

 

[Twinkletoes]

D. K. Lillee > the rest for mine.

Wasim Akram at his peak close behind.

Anderson in English conditions was a nightmare.

Malcolm Marshall the scariest, closely followed by Curtley Ambrose.

 

[Themanbun]

D. K. Lillee > the rest for mine.

Wasim Akram at his peak close behind.

Anderson in English conditions was a nightmare.

Malcolm Marshall the scariest, closely followed by Curtley Ambrose.

I never saw Lillee and Marshall IRL and only watch highlights on YouTube, but I find Marshall so interesting because he was 230 years ahead of his time.

The world saw Lillee and the side on, flowing action as the perfect action to emulate.

Marshall had an angular run up and was short, and bowled very front on.

Only really in the past 10 years or so is sports science catching up to the fundamentals of pace, which both Lillee and Marshall perfected despite their wildly different actions. It's only really once the people with experience in javelin throwing analysis moved over to the cricket world that we started to change our thought.

Now we're seeing front on and mixed bowlers being encouraged to embrace what makes them quick (Bumrah, Starc, etc.) and we're seeing shorter and front on bowlers coming through bowling 150kph +, swinging it both ways.

Marshall would have had everyone in his ear telling him to change his action. He kept to what made him good and destroyed everyone he bowled to.

 

[Snake_Baker]

D. K. Lillee > the rest for mine.

Wasim Akram at his peak close behind.

Anderson in English conditions was a nightmare.

Malcolm Marshall the scariest, closely followed by Curtley Ambrose.

Marshall is very underrated. He could swing a house brick and at high speed.

D.K. Lillee, the absolute supreme technician.

Michael Holding was poetry in motion.

Richard Hadlee also has to be in my top 4. The best seam bowler of the lot.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Marshall’s whippy action generated pace and bounce which defied his diminutive height. He was scary without putting on the tough guy show a bloke like Colin Croft excelled at.

Lillee and Akram made the ball talk in the air AND off the pitch in both directions. Lillee was to cricket what Malcolm Blight was to footy........a genius!

 

[Snake_Baker]

Perspective on Hadlee.

- The most 5 wicket hauls of all pace bowlers (36)
- In New Zealands 22 test wins from Hadlees 86 tests, he took 173 wickets @ 13.06. (the best all time average by a bowler in test match wins/150 wickets & over)
- Hadlee took 431 of the 1207 New Zealand wickets in his 86 test match career (35%)

 

[Snake_Baker]

Marshall’s whippy action generated pace and bounce which defied his diminutive height. He was scary without putting on the tough guy show a bloke like Colin Croft excelled at.

He was just as smart as Lillee, and would set up batsman like a spinner:



Alan Donald on Marshall:



1984: on arguably the flattest wicket in the world.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Attention younguns, imagine a pace bowler so good that he could bowl Martin Crowe around his legs.

That was Marshall.

 

[KiwiRoo]

Perspective on Hadlee.

- The most 5 wicket hauls of all pace bowlers (36)
- In New Zealands 22 test wins from Hadlees 86 tests, he took 173 wickets @ 13.06. (the best all time average by a bowler in test match wins/150 wickets & over)
- Hadlee took 431 of the 1207 New Zealand wickets in his 86 test match career (35%)

yeah if you want to see how good Hadlee was, watch the series against the Aussies in 85/86 or the Gabba test (if you want the shortened version). 30 odd wickets in 3 tests.
Had it all . Got wickets in the sub continent and in the West Indies when they were in their pomp.
Also had a really good fast short ball . I saw him hit Richie Richardson in the head. Still cant believe he kept on batting cause he didn't wear a helmet !

Lost absolutely nothing in comparison to Lillee, Marshall, McGrath etc

 

[Snake_Baker]

yeah if you want to see how good Hadlee was, watch the series against the Aussies in 85/86 or the Gabba test (if you want the shortened version). 30 odd wickets in 3 tests.
Had it all . Got wickets in the sub continent and in the West Indians when they were in their pomp.
Also had a really good fast short ball . I saw him hit Richie Richardson in the head. Still cant believe he kept on batting cause he didn't wear a helmet !

Lost absolutely nothing in comparison to Lillee, Marshall, McGrath etc

IMO, he was the best of the "laneway" bowlers. Even better than McGrath.

 

[KiwiRoo]

IMO, he was the best of the "laneway" bowlers. Even better than McGrath.

I think so too. He didn't have the benefit of bowling with big totals on the board every game like McGrath too. Having said that the pitches did a bit more in the 80's and 90's.
Hadlee swung it more than McGrath, McGrath got more bounce. Both a similar pace

 

[ChoppyGun]

The 70s and 80s pace is a bit of a fallacy imo.

Cricket fitness and batting safety and technology has progressed a lot meaning quicks looked better than what they actually were back then.

 

[pupstar]

Marshall’s whippy action generated pace and bounce which defied his diminutive height. He was scary without putting on the tough guy show a bloke like Colin Croft excelled at.

Lillee and Akram made the ball talk in the air AND off the pitch in both directions. Lillee was to cricket what Malcolm Blight was to footy........a genius!

Summed up to a T. Unfortunetly i am old enough to have seen both Marshal and Lillee live what a treat it was.

 

[pupstar]

I think so too. He didn't have the benefit of bowling with big totals on the board every game like McGrath too. Having said that the pitches did a bit more in the 80's and 90's.
Hadlee swung it more than McGrath, McGrath got more bounce. Both a similar pace

Also did not have Warnie up the other end Hadlee was special.

 

[ChoppyGun]

I think so too. He didn't have the benefit of bowling with big totals on the board every game like McGrath too. Having said that the pitches did a bit more in the 80's and 90's.
Hadlee swung it more than McGrath, McGrath got more bounce. Both a similar pace

I don't think McGrath swung a ball in his whole career!

 

[SpiderBurton22]

I don't think McGrath swung a ball in his whole career!

Towards the end of his career he started swinging it a little bit, but it was very rare.

 

[KiwiRoo]

The 70s and 80s pace is a bit of a fallacy imo.

Cricket fitness and batting safety and technology has progressed a lot meaning quicks looked better than what they actually were back then.

Not so sure about that Choppy. Thommo was exceptionally quick even by todays standards , so was Holding.

 

[ChoppyGun]

Beautiful day here in Hobart.

Crowd for Hurricanes very poor though when used to be strong.

I think people are simply getting sick of it as way too many games.....

I know I've lost all interest and didn't even consider going.

 

[gokangas]

Beautiful day here in Hobart.

Crowd for Hurricanes very poor though when used to be strong.

I think people are simply getting sick of it as way too many games.....

I know I've lost all interest and didn't even consider going.

Crowds disappoint for most games in Hobart of late - I just don't think Hobart is a 'sports town' tbh. Given you don't get a lot of sport in town, games like this should be very well attended. Seriously Choppy - what do you think?

 

[ChoppyGun]

Crowds disappoint for most games in Hobart of late - I just don't think Hobart is a 'sports town' tbh. Given you don't get a lot of sport in town, games like this should be very well attended. Seriously Choppy - what do you think?

Hobart people are usually extremely sports loving.

However a huge % of Hobart are interstate govt sector workers or professionals who have no affiliation to "Hobart".

These people are more likely to travel to Melb to watch their own footy or cricket team.

The Hurricanes were poorly branded - it should have been Tasmanian Hurricanes to include all as that limited it even more unnecessarily.

Plus with so much Art growth in Mona area and huge tourism on wine trails etc etc it's taking away from sports yes I agree no doubt.

 

[Themanbun]

Hobart people are usually extremely sports loving.

However a huge % of Hobart are interstate govt sector workers or professionals who have no affiliation to "Hobart". These jobs are rarely in the North which is a very different place to the South.

They are more likely to travel to Melb to watch their footy or cricket team than support here.

The Hurricanes were poorly branded - it should have been Tasmanian Hurricanes to include all as that limited it even more unnecessarily.

Plus with so much Art growth in Mona area and huge tourism on wine trails etc etc it's taking away from sports yes I agree no doubt.

Mona is possibly the strangest thing I've ever been to.

Hobart is a lovely place. Shame they didn't market the Hurricanes as a whole of Tasmania team.

 

[ChoppyGun]

Mona is possibly the strangest thing I've ever been to.

Hobart is a lovely place. Shame they didn't market the Hurricanes as a whole of Tasmania team.

Yep it's architecturally amazing but the content is bizarre.....but I'm not an art person at all.

Thanks, it is........

Just make sure always bring a jacket as temps drop quick and catch so many out! ha

(agree on Hurricane team)

 

[Themanbun]

BBL coverage shits me. Hate when someone is bowling rockets and they don't display the speed gun.