McGrath - Best form of his career?

[Seamer]

I was just looking at McGrath,s performance for the 04/05 season (India-away NZ, Pak-home) His stats look to me like he is in the best form of his life. Is he now in his best ever form or is he an old man ready to be taken apart by the Poms?
Career
Mat Runs HS BatAv 100 50 W BB BowlAv 5w Ct St
106 556 61 7.31 0 1 481 8/24 21.43 25 33 0
2004/05 season
9 106 61 15.14 0 1 41 8/24 19.51 1 4 0

[Zainub]

You ask McGrath and he'll always tell you as if he's feeling he's in the best form of his life. I think personally that he's bowled equally well at a few other stages of his career too.

[vvvrulz]

Haha yeah, McGrath will never admit a form slump. Despite McGraths success of late, its fair to say that the oppostion batting of late has been pretty ordinary. I'd very much want to see him face off against a rampaging Sehwag and see how he fares.

[Zainub]

If I'm not wrong he did go to India where Aus won, and he bowled quite well there if I'm remembering correctly, but success against Sehwag in particular I'm not sure of, as I recall, Sehwas was one of the few batters for India in that series that notched up some runs.

[Paoli]

Well England could signify one of two things.

1. He is absolutely gone and cant take apart big batting orders OR
2. He can compete against anyone ans IS the best paceman in the world.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Seamer 39260

I was just looking at McGrath,s performance for the 04/05 season (India-away NZ, Pak-home) His stats look to me like he is in the best form of his life.

I agree that McGrath is in very good form Seamer, and is still Australia's best pace bowler; in fact I have gone as far as to say he is their most valuable cricketer (here). However his exceptional figures this season are somewhat misleading, as they are augmented by one 'freak-ish' bowling performance at Perth against the headless chickens that passed for Pakistani batsmen that day. Take out that one spell against some very poor batting where batsmen were intent on gifting their wickets, and you do are left with a very good season but not the best ever. For instance, McGrath's returns during the four Tests in India, though respectable, were not world-beating. In four Tests, he took 14 wickets, same as Warne, but Gillespie took 20. McGrath's aveage was 25.4, good, but not as impressive as Gillespie, who took his wickets at an avg of 16!

So I agree with ZR above, that McGrath has probably similarly impressive seasons before too, but yes, stories of his decline have been greatly exagerrated!

Originally Posted by vvvrulz 39274

I'd very much want to see him face off against a rampaging Sehwag and see how he fares.

Well vvvrulz, we saw the results in the India-Australia series in this very season. McGrath was not at his best in that series as he was returning from injury, and Sehwag definitely was at his best, in fact was the best Indian batsman on show by a long distance. Sehwag was dismissed 7 times in that series, and on 4 occasions, a certain GD McGrath accounted for him! (two of the other dismissals were to Warne and the seventh of Kasprowicz). Looks like McGrath has another bunny to add to Atherton, Lara, Tendulkar, et al.

[Milo]

McGrath's career is now heading the same way as Curtley Ambrose. On paper he continues to perform as good as ever, his yearly average is comparable with that of his career. I know Rachael always mentions Curtley's average of 20 in 1999 and 2000 as evidence of his bowilng better than ever at 37, but he really was at his peak in 1991-4 with his performances at Perth, Bridgetown v SA and Port of Spain v England (where his annual and series averages were as low as 12). The 6-30s turn into 3-50s. The same applies for McGrath. As Maranello points out, he has only one five wicket haul (if you exclude the joke of a pitch they played SL on) since returning from injury. Averaging 20 is great (and would be peak for most if not all other bowlers) - but there have been series, WI 1998, India 1999 & 2000, England 2001 where he has been unplayable and took regularly 8 wickets a test at 15.

The truth is, McGrath is still a quality bowler, he is not as destructive - but when you have accuracy and the ability to do enough with the ball you are always going to get success. He is now very much still the leading part of the Australian attack, but I do feel that he needs the support of Gillespie and Kasprowicz more than he used to. No real criticism (he is still the premier seam bowler in the world), but he has shown he could win tests on his own before - I'm not too convinced this is still the case (whether it needs to be or not).

[Beny]

The truth is, McGrath is still a quality bowler, he is not as destructive

I'm amazed that people can still say this... A good bowler is inherintly destructive.

McGrath, if anything is more destructive having improved on his swing bowling (he can swing it a fair distance and both ways). His line is impecable, he's as fit as ever and he has the experiance of a vetren... Look out Pommies....

[Milo]

You completely miss the point. I have been one of the only people on this board to consistently stand up for McGrath. If you cannot see that he is not as destructive as he was when Lara used to struggle to face even one over from him then you really do not watch the game properly. I am not knocking him, in fact I have always claimed he is the best bowler in the world still....but we are not comparing him with anyone else except himself here Beny. He is detructive, but the important would here is 'as'.

[Beny]

He is detructive, but the important would here is 'as'.

McGrath, if anything is more destructive having improved on his swing bowling (he can swing it a fair distance and both ways). His line is impecable, he's as fit as ever and he has the experiance of a vetren... Look out Pommies....

McGrath is tearing teams apart and his stats now are as good as at any time in his carrer...