Panesar

[Speedboy Salesman]

referencing people knocking Panesar, what if he hadn't played? I mean like him or not like him, he really did bowl one of his best performances (like the 5 wickets at the WACA in Australia) in the 1st Test against the West Indies and if Panesar hadn't played, Harmison and Plunkett would probably still be out there now trying to bowl straight! I mean people can say that "It's only the West Indies" but I think taking 6 wickets out of 10 in any innings against any international Test side is worth praise, I really don't see why some people really don't want Panesar in the side, and want Giles back in, even when he's not even fit to play!

[darksideofthemoon]

Most wickets so far in 2007 -

1. Ntini 4 Tests - 20 wickets at 24.55
2. Asif 3 Tests - 19 wickets at 18.47
3. Panesar 4 Tests - 19 wickets at 23.15 (Career average now 29.93)
4. Kaneria 3 Tests - 15 wickets at 26.33
5. Harmison 4 Tests - 14 wickets at 33.64

[greg]

Here is an interesting little stat for the anoraks,Monty has more 5 wkt hauls in an innings after 17 test matches than any of the other leading spinners of the last decade.

Records after first 17 matches...

Panesar - 65 wkts @ 28.4 with 6 five wkt hauls
Murali - 61 wkts @ 31.31 with 4 five wkt hauls
Warne - 65 wkts @ 28.18 with 2 five wkt hauls
Kumble - 86 wkts @ 24.43 with 5 five wkt hauls
Vettori - 55 wkts @ 34.14 with 2 five wkt hauls
Harbhajan - 68 wkts @ 30.11 with 4 five wkt hauls
Saqlain - 65 wkts @ 32.43 with 4 five wkt hauls
Kaneria - 70 wkts @ 27.25 with 5 five wkt hauls

So the question about Monty now is,will he be found out like Saqlain and Harbhajan and basically disappear or will he carry on improving and become a very good bowler or perhaps do the Vettori and Kaneria and just be a good solid test bowler who wins a share of games?

It surprised me how well his stats match up against some great bowlers after the first 17 games of his test career.

P.S. i left Giles out as he is not of the same quality.

[flanflinger]

A very good review here:-

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/toppe...ry/298655.html

Basically he comments on Monty's mental strength, his concentration and his consistency. How he finds the right place to bowl and just plugs away, and watches as the batsman fail to cope, especially if like the West Indies (Excluding the superb Chanderpaul) they are not up to the task of waiting for the bad ball.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

At 25, he has the world at his feet. OK he's got into the top 10 bowlers at the moment but if he can get wickets against india he could be set to be the best spinner this country has produced.

[pie_chucker]

So far the only major team Monty hasnt played against is SA.

The one thing Monty will allow us to have is a 4 man attack and give us great depth to the batting. Just think 6 main bats, Prior at 7, Flintoff at 8, then Harmison, Monty and Hoggy.

[Harmy's Army]

Currently 6th in the ICC rankings, if Monty has a better series than Anil Kumble he could find himself at the end of it displacing Kumble for 3rd position in that table, being that Anil is only 9 points ahead of him. He has been simply outstanding in his short career thus far. It's going to be really interesting to see in a few years if England's regular bowling attack consists of Monty and Rashid + 3 seamers.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by pie_chucker

The one thing Monty will allow us to have is a 4 man attack and give us great depth to the batting.

Too right, Ern will hark back to needing a five man attack, but was it? You had four very attacking seamers and a holding player in Giles (yes he did take wickets, but his first job was to contain from over the wicket). But with Monty able to defend and attack (particularly in the second innings on a worn pitch), you can get away with just three seamers plus Monty.

This means of course an extra batsman, and of course this will hopefully allow us to post consistent first innings totals, which of course brings the spinner into the game in the second innings!!

[pie_chucker]

To be honest, when we played our 4 man attack of Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff and Jones I thought that we should always play 5 bowlers, but I now accept that Jones will never play international cricket again.

So 4 bowlers it is with a very long batting order. I mean Flintoff / Prior at 7 and 8 looks a heck of a lot stronger than Flintoff at 6 and Read at 7!

Plus, the good thing about Monty is you can expect him to bowl the majority of overs from one end.

[Milo]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

At 25, he has the world at his feet. OK he's got into the top 10 bowlers at the moment but if he can get wickets against india he could be set to be the best spinner this country has produced.

You are kidding me aren't you?? Panesar really has no hope of being anywhere near as good as Underwood, Lock and Verity (just the lefthanders).