Quickest Bowlers? Today or Yesteryear?

[gbatman]

If you can bowl 150 or above you are express. Starc can get it there but clearly bowls more conservatively now, Archer can certainly bowl very quick but again he averages mid 140’s. Bumbra seems to be the one who maintains his pace all the time.

Akhtar had a terrible action, Thommo had the perfect fast bowling action and hence why he had no back issues.

Fast bowling is a gift, you either can or you can’t. You cannot teach someone to bowl fast without them having the fast twitch muscle fibres needed to be able to do it.

They are certainly being preserved these days, yet funny enough with all the rest they get and how well they are looked after they as a group are breaking down more than ever in history.

I think fast bowlers have always had a tendency to break down. There are plenty of examples of young quicks having issues then by about 23 or so their bodies mature and they seem to get along ok. Is it getting worse? Hard to say.

I think modern sports science, while great for most sports and good for cricket in theory may just not provide specific enough training. I have a feeling bowlers used to spend more time in the nets and less time in the gym. I mentioned this earlier in regards to batsmen and their techniques not being quite as good due to not facing enough quality fast bowling at training.

Guys like Thompson probably spent very little time in the gym and a hell of a lot of time bowling compared to the modern cricketer. Even Brett Lee probably spent a lot more time bowling than doing gym exercises.

I wouldn't call Akhtar's action terrible. It was unique and suited him and was effective in generating pace. It's a bit like calling Paul Adam's or Murili's action terrible or before that Warne's grip on the ball. Unorthodox yes but certainly effective.

The bowlers around now are all very clone like. Seem to be a lack of unique actions. I don't see any slingers getting around who bowl express pace. A lot of the spinners bowl with fairly orthodox actions. Makes you wonder how many kids have their actions changed if they have an unusual way of bowling.

A lot of the special cricketers have unique actions or styles, it's part of what makes the game interesting and puts bums on seats and I hope that is something which the game doesn't lose.

 

[PhatBoy]

If you can bowl 150 or above you are express. Starc can get it there but clearly bowls more conservatively now, Archer can certainly bowl very quick but again he averages mid 140’s. Bumbra seems to be the one who maintains his pace all the time.

Akhtar had a terrible action, Thommo had the perfect fast bowling action and hence why he had no back issues.

Fast bowling is a gift, you either can or you can’t. You cannot teach someone to bowl fast without them having the fast twitch muscle fibres needed to be able to do it.

They are certainly being preserved these days, yet funny enough with all the rest they get and how well they are looked after they as a group are breaking down more than ever in history.

Gabriel bowls around 150 fairly regularly and so does O’Shane Thomas from the brief bits I’ve seen of him

 

[RedTinMania]

Anrich Nortje can hit 150 on a semi regular basis too

 

[Barlos Crathwaite]

If you can bowl 150 or above you are express. Starc can get it there but clearly bowls more conservatively now, Archer can certainly bowl very quick but again he averages mid 140’s. Bumbra seems to be the one who maintains his pace all the time.

Akhtar had a terrible action, Thommo had the perfect fast bowling action and hence why he had no back issues.

Fast bowling is a gift, you either can or you can’t. You cannot teach someone to bowl fast without them having the fast twitch muscle fibres needed to be able to do it.

They are certainly being preserved these days, yet funny enough with all the rest they get and how well they are looked after they as a group are breaking down more than ever in history.

Completely false. Fast bowlers are not breaking down more than ever these days

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Completely false. Fast bowlers are not breaking down more than ever these days

The injury ‘epidemic’ which could threaten the future of fast bowling in Australia
AUSTRALIA

• November 10, 2017 1:08pm
• JOE BARTON@joebarto
• Source: FOX SPORTS

James Pattinson has been sidelined by a stress fracture in his back.Source: News Limited
THERE are fears future generations of Australian fast bowlers will be lost to rival sports unless a ‘horrific’ injury epidemic is addressed immediately.
Former Test quick Damien Fleming raised the concern in his Bowlology Podcast, citing data released by Cricket Australia last week which highlights that “at any one time, 23.2 per cent of fast bowlers are injured”.
However Cricket Australia is confident that the current process is proving effective — as evidenced by the fit-and-firing pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood — and argues it’s introduced new safeguards this year to ensure the future of fast bowling in this country is safe.
And, while conceding a figure of 23.2 per cent is on the high end of what they’d find acceptable, CA argues it is within a typical fluctuation range based on data compiled over the past two decades.
Upcoming Matches

Fleming and former Test batsman Brad Hodge debated the various methods employed in cricket at all levels to manage player development and injury prevention, comparing the modern scientific approach to that of tireless former Test quick Merv Hughes who would “bowl at training for two hours on Tuesday, Thursday and then bowl in a game”.
They came to the conclusion that what is being done right now simply isn’t working.

Merv Hughes (left) and Damien Fleming back in their playing days.Source: Herald Sun
Australia currently has one of the most exciting fast bowling units ever seen in Test cricket — with the trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins fit and firing ahead of the Ashes-opening Test at the Gabba on November 23.
But should all three take the field, it will be the first time they’ve ever done so in a Test match.
Incredibly, last weekend’s Sheffield Shield match for NSW against Western Australia was the first time they’d come together for a game of red ball cricket despite all making their first-class debuts between six and nine years ago.
All three, as well as injured duo James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile and various other fast-bowling prospects of the past decade, have been sidelined for lengthy periods of their careers through injury — with stress fractures the most troubling, according to Fleming.
“(Hypothetically, if) you’ve got 100 fast bowlers, 23 are out. This is horrific. This is an epidemic,” Fleming said.
“23 per cent is unacceptable. They need to at least halve that. Fast bowling is a hard art — you’re running in like an 800m runner, you land ten times and your body weight goes over and you release the ball.
“It’s an unnatural action that takes a lot of forces and if you’ve got any imbalance or a mixed action or (your) core’s not that strong or a bit wobbly in the hips, that only multiplies the stresses through your body.
“But surely, whatever we’ve been doing has not been working.
“...How do we get it from 23.2, which is horrific, down to 11?”
Cricket Australia has been collecting injury data for more than 20 years, and sports science and sports medicine manager Alex Kountouris said based on what they’d seen over the past two decades it was unrealistic to expect a figure below 15 per cent.
In the year 2000, the injury rate for fast bowlers was 20 per cent — and Kountouris notes it tends to fluctuate from between 16 and 25 per cent on any given year.
There’s also the impact of extra cricket — with Kountouris explaining that in 2015/16, there were 450 game days, including state cricket and international games, up from 340 in 1998.
The increased playing workload, as well as improvements in medical science, all have an impact on what Kountouris and Cricket Australia are doing and, he explains, why a scenario of reverting to the methods of bygone eras simply isn’t a sensible option.
“In any sport if you’re trying to compare what happened 20 years ago, it’s almost pointless,” Kountouris told foxsports.com.au on Friday.
“Comparing 15-20 years ago to now is not what we’re doing. We’re trying to focus on how we can adapt to the modern game. In most parts we’ve done it pretty well.
“It’s not going to go down below 15 per cent it’s hopefully not going to go higher than 25 per cent.
“(But) we’re not getting any more injuries, to be honest, than we had 20 or 30 years ago.”
Kountouris cites the 1995/6 season as one which produced more stress fractures than were recorded last year, as an example of how things aren’t necessarily worse now than they were in the past.
If anything, it is a misguided perception purely because medical staff are more considered in their rehabilitation plans.
“We’ve identified that the bone in that part of the spine takes longer to heal so we’re holding players back for much longer than used to happen,” Kountouris added.
The hope is that there will be fewer recurrences of injuries and fewer instances where players are cut down in their prime.
Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and, from a different era, Mitchell Starc have all come back from stress fractures — having been given time to recover and get fit.
“All these guys have had stress fractures and they’ve come back to have nice, long careers,” Kountouris adds.
Kountouris invited Fleming, and other former quicks with opinions on the matter, to open a dialogue with him if they had input that could be helpful.
But with the likes of former fast bowlers Ryan Harris, Troy Cooley and David Saker on the CA books, there’s probably not many lines of thought that Kountouris isn’t already across.
Fleming’s biggest concerns, meanwhile, dive down to the junior level.
To illustrate his point, Fleming used the hypothetical example of a young fast bowler who is showing promise in both cricket and AFL — a not uncommon occurrence at junior levels across Australia.
“Imagine you’ve got 100 AFL players who bowl quick and you go to them ‘if you pick footy, probably ten of you will be injured at any time, but if you choose fast bowling, 23 of you will be injured’,” Fleming said.
“This is a concern for actually getting the good talent of fast bowlers particularly in those AFL states.”
Hodge added: “Imagine playing sport and one in four don’t play? Imagine you’ve got four mates and one of them sits out for the whole season. Boring.”
The practice of managing bowling workloads and fast bowlers being rotated out of matches has been a hot topic among current and former players for at least a decade, but has become more prevalent in recent years under the guidance of CA high performance manager Pat Howard.

Pat Howard (left) has come under fire for the issue of workload management.Source: News Corp Australia
Recently, former Test spinner Gavin Robertson unloaded on the topic, saying that “the people sitting in the Cricket Australia ivory tower, it will be your legacy that falls because it sits on you”.
“All I hear about bowling loads is that it fixes bowlers and all I see is bowlers having operations and time off,” Robertson told Fox Sports’ Bill and Boz show.
“Seriously, it is way out of control and the public don’t know.
“The people in power right now will say, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
“My point to Pat Howard is could you be wrong? And if you’re wrong it’ll be a legacy you will not be able to wipe off your CV, you’ll have to ask Centrelink to do it.
“You ask past players ... there’s a truckload of them and they are worried.”
Hodge, who played six Tests for Australia, raised the issue of young athletes specialising in sports and whether that could be harming their bodies — noting that “youngsters get pulled out at 14 or 15” to focus on one sport.

Pat Cummins had to wait nearly six years for his second Test due to a series of injuries.Source: AFP
Playing football in the winter and cricket in the summer, Hodge believed, was beneficial in developing different muscle groups and strengthening the body as a whole.
“I believe there’s some stats coming out of America that specialising too early is leading to stress-related injuries because you’re just doing the one motion all the time,” Fleming added.
“I think the answer is ‘yes’. If you (don’t) specialise, you’re putting your body through different range of motion — if you’re playing basketball, footy and cricket, say.
“That’s OK. But if you’re specialising and just doing one act a lot, kids are getting stressies at young teenager (ages).
“I think even from a mental component, you know in football maybe kicking a goal late in the game or a touchdown, does that help you when you’re under pressure in cricket. ‘Well I’ve performed under pressure before’.
“I reckon the more scenarios you can get from a mental, tactical side help as well.”

Alex Kountouris walks laps of the WACA with an injured Pat Cummins.Source: News Corp Australia
This is an area Kountouris agrees could be a factor in the development of young bodies.
It’s a difficult choice for young athletes to make, he concedes, and each situation would have to be judged on merit.
“There’s obviously some benefits from specialising in two sports because you get that crossover, fitness, different strengths
“But specialising in a particular sport might help your skills development and you might progress faster through the systems.”
This year, Cricket Australia updated its recommendations around youth bowling — setting a minimum number of balls which should be bowled by developing cricketers.
The purposes of that is to ensure — while not going overboard — players are hardening their bodies against the rigours of fast bowling.
It could be another decade before the results of these new measures are felt, but Kountouris is confident we will see a safeguarding of Australia’s next generation of quicks.
News which, hopefully, will bring a smile to the faces of Fleming and his fellow fast-bowling greats eager to see the craft continue in Australia.

 

[Barlos Crathwaite]

The injury ‘epidemic’ which could threaten the future of fast bowling in Australia
AUSTRALIA

• November 10, 2017 1:08pm
• JOE BARTON@joebarto
• Source: FOX SPORTS

James Pattinson has been sidelined by a stress fracture in his back.Source: News Limited
THERE are fears future generations of Australian fast bowlers will be lost to rival sports unless a ‘horrific’ injury epidemic is addressed immediately.
Former Test quick Damien Fleming raised the concern in his Bowlology Podcast, citing data released by Cricket Australia last week which highlights that “at any one time, 23.2 per cent of fast bowlers are injured”.
However Cricket Australia is confident that the current process is proving effective — as evidenced by the fit-and-firing pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood — and argues it’s introduced new safeguards this year to ensure the future of fast bowling in this country is safe.
And, while conceding a figure of 23.2 per cent is on the high end of what they’d find acceptable, CA argues it is within a typical fluctuation range based on data compiled over the past two decades.
Upcoming Matches

Fleming and former Test batsman Brad Hodge debated the various methods employed in cricket at all levels to manage player development and injury prevention, comparing the modern scientific approach to that of tireless former Test quick Merv Hughes who would “bowl at training for two hours on Tuesday, Thursday and then bowl in a game”.
They came to the conclusion that what is being done right now simply isn’t working.

Merv Hughes (left) and Damien Fleming back in their playing days.Source: Herald Sun
Australia currently has one of the most exciting fast bowling units ever seen in Test cricket — with the trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins fit and firing ahead of the Ashes-opening Test at the Gabba on November 23.
But should all three take the field, it will be the first time they’ve ever done so in a Test match.
Incredibly, last weekend’s Sheffield Shield match for NSW against Western Australia was the first time they’d come together for a game of red ball cricket despite all making their first-class debuts between six and nine years ago.
All three, as well as injured duo James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile and various other fast-bowling prospects of the past decade, have been sidelined for lengthy periods of their careers through injury — with stress fractures the most troubling, according to Fleming.
“(Hypothetically, if) you’ve got 100 fast bowlers, 23 are out. This is horrific. This is an epidemic,” Fleming said.
“23 per cent is unacceptable. They need to at least halve that. Fast bowling is a hard art — you’re running in like an 800m runner, you land ten times and your body weight goes over and you release the ball.
“It’s an unnatural action that takes a lot of forces and if you’ve got any imbalance or a mixed action or (your) core’s not that strong or a bit wobbly in the hips, that only multiplies the stresses through your body.
“But surely, whatever we’ve been doing has not been working.
“...How do we get it from 23.2, which is horrific, down to 11?”
Cricket Australia has been collecting injury data for more than 20 years, and sports science and sports medicine manager Alex Kountouris said based on what they’d seen over the past two decades it was unrealistic to expect a figure below 15 per cent.
In the year 2000, the injury rate for fast bowlers was 20 per cent — and Kountouris notes it tends to fluctuate from between 16 and 25 per cent on any given year.
There’s also the impact of extra cricket — with Kountouris explaining that in 2015/16, there were 450 game days, including state cricket and international games, up from 340 in 1998.
The increased playing workload, as well as improvements in medical science, all have an impact on what Kountouris and Cricket Australia are doing and, he explains, why a scenario of reverting to the methods of bygone eras simply isn’t a sensible option.
“In any sport if you’re trying to compare what happened 20 years ago, it’s almost pointless,” Kountouris told foxsports.com.au on Friday.
“Comparing 15-20 years ago to now is not what we’re doing. We’re trying to focus on how we can adapt to the modern game. In most parts we’ve done it pretty well.
“It’s not going to go down below 15 per cent it’s hopefully not going to go higher than 25 per cent.
“(But) we’re not getting any more injuries, to be honest, than we had 20 or 30 years ago.”
Kountouris cites the 1995/6 season as one which produced more stress fractures than were recorded last year, as an example of how things aren’t necessarily worse now than they were in the past.
If anything, it is a misguided perception purely because medical staff are more considered in their rehabilitation plans.
“We’ve identified that the bone in that part of the spine takes longer to heal so we’re holding players back for much longer than used to happen,” Kountouris added.
The hope is that there will be fewer recurrences of injuries and fewer instances where players are cut down in their prime.
Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and, from a different era, Mitchell Starc have all come back from stress fractures — having been given time to recover and get fit.
“All these guys have had stress fractures and they’ve come back to have nice, long careers,” Kountouris adds.
Kountouris invited Fleming, and other former quicks with opinions on the matter, to open a dialogue with him if they had input that could be helpful.
But with the likes of former fast bowlers Ryan Harris, Troy Cooley and David Saker on the CA books, there’s probably not many lines of thought that Kountouris isn’t already across.
Fleming’s biggest concerns, meanwhile, dive down to the junior level.
To illustrate his point, Fleming used the hypothetical example of a young fast bowler who is showing promise in both cricket and AFL — a not uncommon occurrence at junior levels across Australia.
“Imagine you’ve got 100 AFL players who bowl quick and you go to them ‘if you pick footy, probably ten of you will be injured at any time, but if you choose fast bowling, 23 of you will be injured’,” Fleming said.
“This is a concern for actually getting the good talent of fast bowlers particularly in those AFL states.”
Hodge added: “Imagine playing sport and one in four don’t play? Imagine you’ve got four mates and one of them sits out for the whole season. Boring.”
The practice of managing bowling workloads and fast bowlers being rotated out of matches has been a hot topic among current and former players for at least a decade, but has become more prevalent in recent years under the guidance of CA high performance manager Pat Howard.

Pat Howard (left) has come under fire for the issue of workload management.Source: News Corp Australia
Recently, former Test spinner Gavin Robertson unloaded on the topic, saying that “the people sitting in the Cricket Australia ivory tower, it will be your legacy that falls because it sits on you”.
“All I hear about bowling loads is that it fixes bowlers and all I see is bowlers having operations and time off,” Robertson told Fox Sports’ Bill and Boz show.
“Seriously, it is way out of control and the public don’t know.
“The people in power right now will say, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
“My point to Pat Howard is could you be wrong? And if you’re wrong it’ll be a legacy you will not be able to wipe off your CV, you’ll have to ask Centrelink to do it.
“You ask past players ... there’s a truckload of them and they are worried.”
Hodge, who played six Tests for Australia, raised the issue of young athletes specialising in sports and whether that could be harming their bodies — noting that “youngsters get pulled out at 14 or 15” to focus on one sport.

Pat Cummins had to wait nearly six years for his second Test due to a series of injuries.Source: AFP
Playing football in the winter and cricket in the summer, Hodge believed, was beneficial in developing different muscle groups and strengthening the body as a whole.
“I believe there’s some stats coming out of America that specialising too early is leading to stress-related injuries because you’re just doing the one motion all the time,” Fleming added.
“I think the answer is ‘yes’. If you (don’t) specialise, you’re putting your body through different range of motion — if you’re playing basketball, footy and cricket, say.
“That’s OK. But if you’re specialising and just doing one act a lot, kids are getting stressies at young teenager (ages).
“I think even from a mental component, you know in football maybe kicking a goal late in the game or a touchdown, does that help you when you’re under pressure in cricket. ‘Well I’ve performed under pressure before’.
“I reckon the more scenarios you can get from a mental, tactical side help as well.”

Alex Kountouris walks laps of the WACA with an injured Pat Cummins.Source: News Corp Australia
This is an area Kountouris agrees could be a factor in the development of young bodies.
It’s a difficult choice for young athletes to make, he concedes, and each situation would have to be judged on merit.
“There’s obviously some benefits from specialising in two sports because you get that crossover, fitness, different strengths
“But specialising in a particular sport might help your skills development and you might progress faster through the systems.”
This year, Cricket Australia updated its recommendations around youth bowling — setting a minimum number of balls which should be bowled by developing cricketers.
The purposes of that is to ensure — while not going overboard — players are hardening their bodies against the rigours of fast bowling.
It could be another decade before the results of these new measures are felt, but Kountouris is confident we will see a safeguarding of Australia’s next generation of quicks.
News which, hopefully, will bring a smile to the faces of Fleming and his fellow fast-bowling greats eager to see the craft continue in Australia.

Oh dear. Your own evidence argues it is within a typical fluctuation range based on data compiled over the past two decades. Did you even read it chief?

 

[Barlos Crathwaite]

He saw "epidemic" in the title and grabbed his chance to prove a point. Unfortunately if he bothered to read the article he'd know it was misleading

 

[greatwhiteshark]

He saw "epidemic" in the title and grabbed his chance to prove a point. Unfortunately if he bothered to read the article he'd know it was misleading

nothing misleading at all, 20% of them are always injured. That’s a big number.
Pattinson has missed most of his career, Cummings to this point has missed a quarter of his career, then throw in Couter-Nile, Berrendorf, Paris etc

 

[gbatman]

Some people are just built with flaws in their body, hell I am and they can't handle the training. Some can train like machines and not have too many problems. Training needs to be individual specific but it's probably hard to pick who can bowl for hours and hours mid week and who needs to lighten the load and do a lot of fitness exercises. Perhaps we are at a play it safe stage.

 

[MC Bad Genius]

nothing misleading at all, 20% of them are always injured. That’s a big number.
Pattinson has missed most of his career, Cummings to this point has missed a quarter of his career, then throw in Couter-Nile, Berrendorf, Paris etc

Definitely misleading as you posted it directly replying to someone calling you out for saying "they as a group are breaking down more than ever in history."

No one is denying that it's a high number though.

 

[Barlos Crathwaite]

The article was an ill-judged piece of evidence. Most of those bowlers mentioned are back fit and firing these days. Posting stuff from a few years ago doesn't really prove anything for the here and now. Bumrah and Boult are both out at the same time and before that were fit for ages.

 

[PhatBoy]

You only have to think back to 20-30 years back to see bowlers like McDermott, Reid, Bond a bit later, Brett Schultz, Waqar, Bishop etc who were all absolutely gifted athletically but suffered a lot of injuries.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

IMO it's a matter of what you see being only the tip of the iceberg.

We are getting more of the most talented players to the top of the tree - because we aren't filtering out those without the resilience/body to survive.

Go back 25 years (man I'm so old now), and every young fast bowler at club level was putting in 15 overs a session, 3 times a week. Everyone trained the same, and some (many) bodies broke down and never made it to junior rep teams. Those that did, were the ones with resilient bodies so didn't seem to have as many issues once they 'made it' to a level where the general public take notice. (There was also less 'technique correction' by the sports scientists - so more natural and unique actions). The likes of Cummins and Patterson would never have made rep sides, instead likely have been lost to the local club's 2nd grade, the immensely talented but inconsistent guy who is constantly injured or under a niggle.

Now, 'talent identification' and 'sports science' is seeing players picked much earlier on 'talent', and their training is then modified to try and build up their resilience; techniques changed to reduce stress on the body and avoid injury - less natural. Players are making it to rep sides before being physically challenged, and now we are seeing recognisable players with injuries as they aren't being filtered out by the training system as they were a generation ago.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

Lillee's book is superb - I wore out my copy as a kid.

IIRC Thomson's fastest recorded delivery was a very short bouncer, but the measurement used was on the horizontal plane only. They estimated the difference in angle from yorker to bouncer only reduced the measured speed only by a matter of a few %.

I also thought it was measured across a sizeable distance (inches), compared to mm today which would also have an affect.

 

[gbatman]

In an ideal world you would identify the ones who have issues with their bodies and train them differently with more of a sports science oriented regime. The more durable athletes on the other hand would be better trained the more old fashioned way. Ideally would be good to split them in two.

A lot of our great's have unique and unusual techniques.

No one was teaching legspinners to grip the ball like Warne when he came through. Now no one is teaching legspinners to grip the ball like McGill who had a tighter grip. Same with Murli. I bet if a kid came through with a Jeff Thompson action they would look to "modify" it. It seems the slingers have disappeared. There's certainly no one out there teaching kids to bat like Steve Smith. Well they may well be now but before he came along and had so much success I bet kids who batted similar to him would most likely be modified as well.

There is certainly still some unique batting techniques getting about but as for unique bowling technique there's not a heap of variation.

I think finding that fine line between having an action that puts you at risk of injury and generating spin or pace has moved towards safety a bit more and that probably has a lot to do with the amount of cricket played now.

I know from a personal perspective it's those unique players who enrich the game as a spectator.

I think world cricket is missing that player with xfactor. Who can spin the ball to extremes or can bowl consistently over 150km/hr and reach the high 150s or more. Those players bring the crowds IMO.

 

[Barlos Crathwaite]

Just give it a bit of time. Someone new will pop up soon. Some say archer will bring serious heat soon. On a quick pitch he's going to take an eightfer imo.

Wasn't long ago everyone was calling NZ a pop gun attack. Now they have Ferguson, Milne and Boult etc. Not to mention Wagner. India always had laughing stock bowling attacks and now they have probably their greatest attack they've ever had

 

[PhatBoy]

Just give it a bit of time. Someone new will pop up soon. Some say archer will bring serious heat soon. On a quick pitch he's going to take an eightfer imo.

Wasn't long ago everyone was calling NZ a pop gun attack. Now they have Ferguson, Milne and Boult etc. Not to mention Wagner. India always had laughing stock bowling attacks and now they have probably their greatest attack they've ever had

A lot of it is bias because I follow them and have watched him since he started domestically but at 22, O’Shane Thomas will only get faster and he is seriously quick already. And his speed comes from strength so he doesn’t rely a lot on rhythm or fitness. He sprays them but he is quick

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

IMO it's a matter of what you see being only the tip of the iceberg.

We are getting more of the most talented players to the top of the tree - because we aren't filtering out those without the resilience/body to survive.

Go back 25 years (man I'm so old now), and every young fast bowler at club level was putting in 15 overs a session, 3 times a week. Everyone trained the same, and some (many) bodies broke down and never made it to junior rep teams. Those that did, were the ones with resilient bodies so didn't seem to have as many issues once they 'made it' to a level where the general public take notice. (There was also less 'technique correction' by the sports scientists - so more natural and unique actions). The likes of Cummins and Patterson would never have made rep sides, instead likely have been lost to the local club's 2nd grade, the immensely talented but inconsistent guy who is constantly injured or under a niggle.

Now, 'talent identification' and 'sports science' is seeing players picked much earlier on 'talent', and their training is then modified to try and build up their resilience; techniques changed to reduce stress on the body and avoid injury - less natural. Players are making it to rep sides before being physically challenged, and now we are seeing recognisable players with injuries as they aren't being filtered out by the training system as they were a generation ago.

Great post

 

[Park cricketer]

It is a well known fact amongst cricket purists that the talent/skill level of cricketers and their ability to perform miracles (i.e., bowl in the 170s, smack the best bowler in the world with non chalance in nets at 60 years, etc.) decreases proportionately with every passing year.

 

[FredLeDeux]

It is a well known fact amongst cricket purists that the talent/skill level of cricketers and their ability to perform miracles (i.e., bowl in the 170s, smack the best bowler in the world with non chalance in nets at 60 years, etc.) decreases proportionately with every passing year.

Do you mean that 70-y-o batsmen can only smack bowlers around if they have a chalance?

 

[Park cricketer]

Do you mean that 70-y-o batsmen can only smack bowlers around if they have a chalance?

Depends on the decade he was active in. If he was playing in the 1930s, he could play them in his sleep.