View Single Post
  #7  
Old June 14, 2013, 04:32 PM
RazabQ's Avatar
RazabQ RazabQ is offline
Moderator
BC Editorial Team
 
Join Date: February 25, 2004
Location: Fremont CA
Posts: 11,902

As a fellow SLA, I fully believe that we need to separate out the Test SLA vs Limited SLAs.

My criteria for a Test-class SLA
1) Can beat batsman in flight
2) Has the immaculate length to consistently bring batsman forward but hesitantly
3) Turns and bounces the ball enough to bring slips in play
4) Can get a set batsman out even when he's playing risk-free
5) Can bowl long spells to give his fast-bowlers a rest
6) Maintains tight control

For a limited over the attributes change:
1) Maintains tight control
2) Has sufficient variation of flight, turn, etc to keep batsman from all-out attack
3) Bowls at sufficient pace to prevent coming down the wicket
4) Able to adapt on the fly and change point/type of delivery as game changes

Going by these, the best SLA right now is Rangana Herath, and the best of all time Bishan Bedi.
Herath - whether home or abroad - you can see the opposition game planning for him. He's a strike bowler who's constantly probing the batsman. And he's an underrated turner of the ball. As for Bedi, go watch the clips. His loop and dip, the bounce he got - he was well-nigh intimidating on home pitches and fairly effective on foreign pitches.

Limited overs, I'd humbly posit our Abdur Razzak is one of the best. His stats are good enough but his value in a team which is almost always under the cosh cannot be understated. He gets good batsmen out - watch what a high % of his wickets are top order! Vettori and he are prolly my two best all-time Limited over SLAs
Reply With Quote