Ponting quaking in his boots

[Beny]

how's that?

[Alison]

Primarily instinct from having watched them bowl this summer, yes they're still somewhat inconsistent at times, but they never all fail all once, and they've all been improving rapidly and getting more consistent, after all, they are still fairly inexperienced, and they'e getting better and more consistent as their experience grows. You made reference to Harmison being a strike bowler not one who ties the batsmen down, well from what I've seen and read this summer he does both, in fact he's been terrorising the batsmen so much most of the time that they're just looking to survive his overs, and maybe get down the other end if possible, which means that they aren't thinking about scoring runs off him, they're more concerned with not getting either hurt or out.

[Beny]

Harrmison's action dosent allow him consistancy. How many times have you seen him bowl 6 un-hitable balls in an over. You can ball 3 or 4 good balls and then loose it all by giving away 1 or 2 loose ones.

"but they never all fail all once,"
Someday they might.

Dont misunderstand me; It's not the worst in the world, but there're no-where near as good as the hype being generated over in England would suggest.

The Aussie media have hardly talked about England so most of my knowlage is coming from watching and listening to the English Media.
Hate to tell you guys but you're the only ones who think you're a threat.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Beny

how's that?

a)Who have you got like for like with Harmison? (no one I can see)

bWho have you got who bowls both accurate, and fast like Flintoff?( if you have never seen him Beny, you will enjoy watching him take Australia apart both with bat and ball)

c)We have no ageing bowlers, all young and fit.

Now look at Australian bowlers,

a)Lee if the changed the rules to let him bowl at two sets of stumps, and the batsmen had to hild twigs, he would be fine.

b)Mc Grath, he is past his best this year, what will he be like in 2005, he has been great, but all good things have to come to an end.

c)Warne may still be a bit usefull, but he is only one, Australia have a good batting line up, but bowlers win matches.

Welcome to the English board Beny, usualy talk to you on the others.

[Alison]

Yes, they might all fail at once at some point, but that applies to every team, because no-one succeeds every time, and ths there is always the possibility that everyone will fail at the same time, however, since our bowlers are all different types of bowlers, the conditions will suit at least one of them, thus making it less likely that they'll all fail at once.

Also, why do you say that Harmison's action doesn't alllow him consistency? That doesn't fit with what I've seen this summer.

[Beny]

Glad to be here!

a)"Who have you got like for like with Harmison? (no one I can see)"

No one (thank God)

b)"Who have yo got who bowls both accurate, and fast like Flintoff?( if you have never sen him Beny, you will enjoy watching him take Australia apart both with bat and ball)"

Jason Gillespie: Average 25.81, econ 2.85, bowls 140-150 km/h

Andrew Flintoff: Average: 37.40


a)"Lee if the changed the rules to let him bowl at two sets of stumps, and the batsmen had to hild twigs, he would be fine"

brett Lee: Average 31.55, econ 3.45, ODI average 22.31

Andrew Flintoff: Average: 37.40

b)"Mc Grath, he is past his best this year, what will he be like in 2005, he has been great, but all good things have to come to an end."

Glenn McGrath: Average 21.61, cant talk about his current form but watch him bowl and then tell me he's past his prime.


c)"Warne may still be a bit usefull, but he is only one, Australia have a good batting line up, but bowlers win matches."

Off course a man who has about 527 wickets may be a bit usefull.

A good Batting line up.

Hayden:average 58
Langer: 44.98
Ponting: 54.33
Martyn: 47.13
Leahman: 51.63
Katich: 42
Unknown.
Gillchrist: 52.80

Hayden and Langer are officaly the best ever opening partnership.

[Ernest]

The stats you quote Beny are way out of date, You have takenn into account Flintoff sinse he started his career, but his las 18 months stats would show a completely different story, and the difference between Flintoff and Lee, is that Flintoff is improving, and lee is not.#

Flintoff has always been accurate, a high average was caused by lack of wickets, he is as accurate as anyone in the world, Lee is as good as he is gona get, he can't get into the side half of the time.

It's like what you said about McGrath in reverse.

Believe me Beny, that good Australian batting line up is going to be tested, Englands bowlers dont care about reputations,(ask Brian Lara).

The Australian team are just human like any other team, and any weakness they have will be found out, and exploited.

Dont Beny make the sad mistakes of going of old stats.

[DaveGillespie]

Flintoff vs Lee, both taken over last 10 matches:

(6 ball overs) Mat O R W BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 5 10

filtered 10 367.4 1379 37 4/63 7/135 37.27 3.75 59.6 0 0 (Lee)

filtered 10 279.4 840 34 5/58 7/78 24.70 3.00 49.3 1 0 (Flintoff)

For the hype he gets from the Australian camp, that's a disgraceful return. Brett Lee? You must be having a laugh sunshine. Need I mention that Lee's last 10 tests include 2 against Bangladesh and 2 against Zimbabwe whereas Fred has had no opportunity to beef up his stats against these two outfits? Plus the fact that Flintoff has knocked off at least a test 50 in each of the last 8 tests, including two centuries at an average of 58? Even if he didn't know one end of a bat from the other, I'd take Flintoff over Lee.

Gillespie, I will concede, is a bowler of the highest calibre. However, he does sometimes look a bit lost without McGrath for company. Lee is only good when he comes in to bully batsmen softened up and constricted by McGrath & Gillespie and fearful of Warne. Put him in the role of a new ball bowler or as first change behind an inferior new ball bowler and he's exposed as the complete fraud that he really is. McGrath will come back, Warne and Gillespie never really went away; but I would not sweat Brett Lee.

What you say about Harmison is partially true - I would think of him first as a strike bowler than a stock bowler, but since he returned from injury he has proven to be extremely robust, and has also filled the role of stock bowler well, bar losing his rhythm for a couple of tests.

[tbenson]

Originally Posted by Beny

Gillespie is better than Harmison though, but otherwise it's very similer.

Well the statistics suggest otherwise.

Gillespie career average 24.19, last 10 Match average 27.07
Harmison career average 24.73, last ten Match average 23.75

Gillespie is 29, Harmison 26, who's improving, who's peaked and who's getting better?

T

[Alison]

I did some playing around with the stats for our bowling attack, and I've come up with a comparison between their career stats and their stats over the last 12 month, I've not bothered with Anderson or Jones as they'd not played enough matches prior to the last 12 months for there to be a significant difference between their career stats and their stats for the last 12 months.

Flintoff
Wickets Ave. S/R Econ.
87 37.33 76.93 2.91 (Career)
53 27.74 57.47 2.90 (Aug03-Aug04)

Harmison
Wickets Ave. S/R Econ.
102 24.64 50.49 2.93 (Career)
76 20.38 44.45 2.75 (Aug03-Aug04)

Hoggard
Wickets Ave. S/R Econ.
117 32.56 59.71 3.27 (Career)
48 31.04 56.58 3.29 (Aug03-Aug04)

Giles
Wickets Ave. S/R Econ.
116 36.84 81.3 2.72 (Career)
54 32.63 68.41 2.86 (Aug03-Aug04)


Make of these stats what you will.