Which pace bowler...

[Maranello]

Shaka, another answer from Woomer about Mohammad Sami, in a similar vein to the above:

"Mohammed is OK he is very sensitive and a few games without wickets is debilitating we are working with him and I think he is bowling well, without much luck.
Bob "

I agree, the next two series should be crucial in Sami's career, if he does not improve, even his supporters like Woolmer might have to reconsider their options. I really do rate the guy in terms of what he brings to the team and his pride in playing for his country, so hope he does succeed. After all, there are few more exciting things in cricket than genuine pace harnessed intelligently. Sami has the pace, now needs to develop the intelligence

[Shaka]

Yes it's strange how Sami looks like such a good bowler yet doen't pick up the wickets as much as he should. I don't blame Woolmer for sticking with him though, he does have the tools, maybe just doesn't know how best to use them! I think both he and Shoaib could learn a lesson from the likes of Shaun Pollock...less pace but unerringly accurate, giving very little away in width. Interesting to hear that Woolmer thinks it's a confidence thing, Sami never struck me as lacking it. I think he really does need to concentrate on bowling to a meaner line and length and maybe sacrificing some speed with the new ball.

[Maranello]

I always thought he had a confidence issue - he is not brash or arrogant like Akhtar or even composed and calm unlike Pollock etc.. in fact, Woolmer was asked about Pakistan's performance in the Asia Cup a few weeks back when we comprehensively beat India but didn't pick up the bonus point...he wrote that the team were definitely aware of the bonus point rule, and in fact, when the match was over, Sami came to the dressing room in tears (he had bowled the last over in which India made up the runs required to get the losing bonus pt)..

now, call me old-fashioned, but fast bowlers who cry... just doesn't sound right..!

[Shaka]

LOL! Man you wouldn't think it to watch him bowl! Still if Gazza can cry after a football match why not?

[Zainub]

Rachael ,

It is all about having a certain degree of faith in someone's abilities - those rankings are a reflection of form not innate ability - the selectors in Pakistan beleive this guy Sami has enough talent to turn things around for himself and the team. We beleive he has potential - and you cannot measure up potential by rankings.

[Rachael]

It's all very wel believing in a youngster's potential, Zainub... but if the kid has THAT much about him then he's doing an awful lot to conceal it at the moment. I'm happy to give any youngster the benefit of the doubt.. but it's worth noting that as of right now... Sami is basically making NO impact on world cricket.

The ratings are not perfect: some players are flattered.. others are hard done by. That said.. batsmen as different as Sehwag and Richardson are currently in the top 10... and young bowlers as different as Pedro Collins, Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmed and Jermaine Lawson have all broken the 500 barrier.

Wasim Akram was a slow starter in Test cricket (at least in terms of ratings). Unlike Waqar (who broke 500 in his 7th Test but went on to 800 in his 12th test and then plateaud at/around the magic 900 mark from his 20th to his 33rd Test), Wasim plateaud in/around the 500s from his 7th Test until his 25th Test.. and even then only crept up slowly (not breaking 800 until his 37th Test.. at which point (with Waqar's glory days (rating wise) all but over) he plateaud and sustained a hugely impressive run near the top of the scale... .

Sami may well trace a path more like Wasim's: plodding along as he refines his game and going on to greater things once he has the experience.. but right now he looks so far back in terms of impact that matching the Test bowling career of Abdul Razzaq or Mohammad Rafiq looks beyond him.

I'm a great believer in giving bowlers time... especially where it looks as if they have been picked too early.. but to say that Sami still has it all to prove would be something of an understatement. As several contributers in this thread have indicated.. he's currently not even getting the basics of consistent line and length right.. he's still not building pressure - and there's nothing been said yet that suggests he's actually IMPROVING on those fronts!

KNowing Bob Woolmer we'll see improvement in the not too distant future... and all these fears will be forgotten. Alas, right now.. a certain scepticism does seem justifiable: sadly, far more players get great accolades at Sami's age and then fade than get great accolades at Sami's age and then flourish.

[Zainub]

I was just wondering what his ratings are at one-day level, one has the feeling he done better in the shorter version of the game then in tests. Could you do a survey for me Racheal, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

And I was wondering also where James Anderson stands in those ratings, I was just curious. I hope this isn't too much trouble for you.

[Rachael]

OK - the ODI ratings are easy enough to get.

13 Shoaib Akhtar PAK 692 22.07 732 v Australia, Brisbane 2002 
17 Shoaib Malik PAK 670 33.85 670 v West Indies, The Rose Bowl 2004 
21 Mohammad Sami PAK 650 25.86 713 v New Zealand, Faisalabad 2003 
27 Shabbir Ahmed PAK 617 36.93 629 v Australia, Amsterdam 2004 
32 Abdul Razzaq PAK 587 28.79 714 v India, Dhaka 2000 
42 Shahid Afridi PAK 534 37.43 648 v South Africa, East London 2002 
52 Saqlain Mushtaq PAK 498 21.79 835 v West Indies, Sydney 1997 
74 Mohammad Hafeez PAK 406 25.38 466 v South Africa, Rawalpindi 2003 
76 Azhar Mahmood PAK 394 38.11 809 v Zimbabwe, The Oval 1999 
77 Umar Gul PAK 378 27.32 424 v South Africa, Lahore 2003 
85 Naved-ul-Hasan PAK 350 29.00 350 v West Indies, The Rose Bowl 2004 
86 Danish Kaneria PAK 349 42.44 367 v Bangladesh, Colombo (SSC) 2004 
96 Mushtaq Ahmed PAK 315 33.30 751 v England, Melbourne 1992

For reference purposes.. Sri Lanka have Vaas and Murali on 850+ and Zoysa on 692.. and the Aussies have Gillespie on 833 (best of 855), McGrath on 783 (best of 925) and Lee on 727 (best of 836). Anderson is currently lying in 13th spot with 673 points and a career best of 725.

The match by match comparison of ODI bowling for SAmi and Anderson runs as follows...

Match Mohammad Sami Rating James Anderson Rating 
1 48 vs Sri Lanka at Sharjah 40 vs Australia at Melbourne 
2 113 vs New Zealand at Sharjah 224 vs Sri Lanka at Brisbane 
3 251 vs New Zealand at Sharjah 310 vs Sri Lanka at Perth 
4 252 vs Sri Lanka at Sharjah 375 vs Australia at Hobart 
5 240 vs Bangladesh at Dhaka 367 vs Sri Lanka at Sydney 
6 283 vs West Indies at Sharjah 359 vs Sri Lanka at Adelaide 
7 280 vs West Indies at Sharjah 418 vs Australia at Adelaide 
8 305 vs New Zealand at Lahore 396 vs Australia at Sydney 
9 314 vs Australia at Melbourne 396 vs Australia at Melbourne 
10 348 vs Sri Lanka at Tangier 419 vs Holland at East London 
11 343 vs Sri Lanka at Tangier 420 vs Namibia at Port Elizabeth 
12 328 vs Australia at Nairobi 512 vs Pakistan at Cape Town 
13 359 vs Holland at Colombo (SSC) 512 vs India at Durban 
14 436 vs Zimbabwe at Harare 512 vs Australia at Port Elizabeth 
15 443 vs Zimbabwe at Harare 528 vs Pakistan at Manchester 
16 449 vs South Africa at Durban 588 vs Pakistan at The Oval 
17 495 vs South Africa at Port Elizabeth 587 vs Pakistan at Lord's 
18 493 vs South Africa at Cape Town 607 vs South Africa at The Oval 
19 480 vs Zimbabwe at Bulawayo 607 vs Zimbabwe at Leeds 
20 480 vs Zimbabwe at Sharjah 602 vs South Africa at Manchester 
21 512 vs Sri Lanka at Sharjah 614 vs Zimbabwe at Bristol 
22 522 vs Kenya at Sharjah 646 vs South Africa at Birmingham 
23 545 vs Zimbabwe at Sharjah 663 vs South Africa at Lord's 
24 561 vs Sri Lanka at Dambulla 675 vs Bangladesh at Chittagong 
25 557 vs New Zealand at Dambulla 720 vs Bangladesh at Dhaka 
26 557 vs Sri Lanka at Dambulla 725 vs Bangladesh at Dhaka 
27 577 vs New Zealand at Dambulla 703 vs Sri Lanka at Dambulla 
28 593 vs New Zealand at Dambulla 694 vs West Indies at Port-of-Spain 
29 592 vs England at Manchester 695 vs West Indies at St Lucia 
30 582 vs England at The Oval 679 vs West Indies at St Lucia 
31 580 vs England at Lord's 679 vs West Indies at Bridgetown 
32 588 vs Bangladesh at Rawalpindi 677 vs West Indies at Nottingham 
33 593 vs Bangladesh at Karachi 664 vs New Zealand at Chester-le-Stree 
34 603 vs South Africa at Lahore 687 vs West Indies at Leeds 
35 639 vs South Africa at Lahore 698 vs New Zealand at Bristol 
36 628 vs South Africa at Rawalpindi 697 vs West Indies at Lord's 
37 635 vs South Africa at Rawalpindi 
38 633 vs New Zealand at Lahore 
39 680 vs New Zealand at Lahore 
40 713 vs New Zealand at Faisalabad 
41 699 vs New Zealand at Auckland 
42 701 vs New Zealand at Queenstown 
43 688 vs New Zealand at Christchurch 
44 672 vs New Zealand at Napier 
45 665 vs New Zealand at Wellington 
46 658 vs India at Karachi 
47 683 vs India at Rawalpindi 
48 668 vs India at Peshawar 
49 676 vs India at Lahore 
50 678 vs India at Lahore 
51 687 vs Bangladesh at Colombo (SSC) 
52 690 vs Hong Kong at Colombo (SSC) 
53 687 vs Sri Lanka at Colombo (RPS) 
54 679 vs India at Colombo (RPS) 
55 675 vs Bangladesh at Colombo (RPS) 
56 664 vs India at Amsterdam 
57 675 vs Australia at Amsterdam 
58 677 vs Australia at Lord's 
59 674 vs Kenya at Birmingham 
60 664 vs India at Birmingham 
61 650 vs West Indies at The Rose Bowl

[Shaka]

Rachael, I have just watched the first 15 overs bowled by Pakistan against Sri Lanka and you might be interested to see whether your concerns about Sami are justified. Armed with the new ball he was comprehensively out-bowled by Naved Rana. I was really disappointed with Sami, against a big and clumsy looking right hander (Saman Jayantha) he failed to beat the bat, produced no away swing and wasn't able to pitch in a channel which would cause problems to an opening batsmen. Rana by contrats got his outswingers going immediately and had Jantha groping from ball one before getting him to nick one behind and then trapping Jayasuriya with one that came back. It concerns me that sami isn't bowling outswingers with the new ball as he used to be able to bowl them in the past and if he continues in this vein his stats aren't going to look very good in a years time. I am not sure we can afford to have three R/A pace bowlers all failing to produce away swing in the same team. Razzaq compensates with his batting ability, Shoaib with his sheer speed firepower (although this needs to be tempered by some humility which I will address in a seperate thread) which leaves Sami struggling to justify his continued inclusion unless he bucks his ideas up.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Shaka

Rachael, I have just watched the first 15 overs bowled by Pakistan against Sri Lanka and you might be interested to see whether your concerns about Sami are justified. Armed with the new ball he was comprehensively out-bowled by Naved Rana.

Shaka, I agree, was quite impressed with Rana Naved's bowling with the new ball today, he did get very effective swing against both Jayasuriya and Jayantha...

If Shabbir and Gul are both not fit...I would think that Naved should be tried in the Test team...on current form, he is a better bet than Mr. Akhtar!