Injured Anderson may miss Bangladesh tour

[tnb]

BBC reports Anderson may miss Bangladesh tour
due to his knee injury. This will weaken (hopefully)
England's bowling attack.

[Edited on 23-9-2003 by tnb]

[Tintin]

I did not expect him to do a great deal in the subcontinent anyway. He is not fast, and relies more on swing. Wouldn't have much of it in Bangladesh.

[capslock]

Originally posted by Tintin
I did not expect him to do a great deal in the subcontinent anyway. He is not fast, and relies more on swing. Wouldn't have much of it in Bangladesh.

Doesn't that describe almost all the England seamers though? (All the Bangladesh ones as well I guess).

[Sham]

Anderson would have found bowling difficult on Bangladeshi pitches. He pitches the ball up and relies on swing a lot. As a result, he also gives away a lot of runs. I was hoping he would play in BD because our batsmen would have liked playing Anderson minus the swing. The bowlers who will cause us problems are Hoggard and Flintoff, who bowl more wicket to wicket and plug away at the same line.

[Tehsin]

So, what you are saying is that Anderson injury = not good.

You know what, our batsmen needs to play the best and that's the only way they will improve. No need to hide (and they didn't) from the likes of Lee, Shoaib, Sami or any other top names. We actually need to learn to play them to get tougher.

With Flintoff and Hoggard - it will be a test of our patience. That unfortunately is one of our lesser virtues.

[tnb]

I was happy looking at Anderson news, now Sham says Hoggard and Flintoff are the problem

While other threads are dealing with our players, I tried to look at England’s bowling options.
Looking at the stats, Batty seems a very good bowler. He has a good striking rate and very good economy rate, can possibly frustrate our impatient batsmen. Giles also had a decent tour in India last time. His striking rate in tests is awful but again enjoys a good economy rate.

In another thread Rajputro bhai suggested we should go for a spin-pitch. Now I have a question,
Is it possible that if we make a spin-pitch it will be a boomerang for us? Based on the fact that
England has a decent off-spinner in Batty (judgment solely based on stats.) and a left-arm orthodox, Giles, while we only have Rafique as a tested spinner. Also, I am not sure how successful he will be against classy left-handers like, Thorpe and Trescothick.
Please share your opinion. The stats for the possible English bowlers are pasted below.



FIRST CLASS (DOMESTIC '02-'03)

Last Name         Mat   O       M      R   W     Ave     Best     5   10    SR    Econ  
Batty             18    574.4  142   1575  60    26.25   6-88     1   -    57.4   2.74   
Clarke            11    164.1   22    709  17    41.70   4-21     -   -    57.9   4.31   
Collingwood        4     61.1    7    228   4    57.00   3-38     -   -    91.7   3.72    
Flintoff          10     232    57    727  15    48.46   2-47     -   -    92.8   3.13    
Giles             12     374.5  62   1146  22    52.09   5-115    1   -    102.2  3.05    
Harmison          11     349.2  97   1002  37    27.08   4-33     -   -    56.6   2.86    
Hoggard            7     225.3  57    606  21    28.85   7-49     1   -    64.4   2.68

TEST

Last Name             O       M     R     W    Ave     BBI  5  10    SR     Econ
Flintoff             723.5   174  2148   43  49.95   4-50   0   0   101.0   2.96
Giles               1005.3   223  2671   64  41.73   5-67   2   0    94.2   2.65
Harmison             369.4    82  1136   32  35.50   4-33   0   0    69.3   3.07
Hoggard              711.4   161  2320   69  33.62   7-63   2   0    61.8   3.25

ONE DAY

Last Name              O     M     R      W      Ave    BBI    4w    5w      SR    Econ
Batty                 20.0   0    120     1     120.00  1-65    0     0    120.0   6.00
Clarke                21.2   0    113     3     37.66   1-29    0     0     42.6   5.29
Collingwood          111.1   0    665    16     41.56   4-38    1     0     41.6   5.98
Flintoff             352.5  24   1535    59     26.01   4-17    2     0     35.8   4.35
Giles               241.0   7    1123    27     41.59   5-57    0     1     53.5   4.65
Harmison             41.4   1    246      5     49.20   2-39    0     0     50.0   5.90
Hoggard             711.4  161   2320    69     33.62   7-63    2     0     61.8   3.25

Source: http://statserver.cricket.org/link_t...L_BEST_SR.html

p.s. how can i get rid of this 'code' at the beginning while keeping a readable format.?

[Edited on 24-9-2003 by tnb]

[Edited on 24-9-2003 by tnb]

[Sham]

is that this is not a very good English bowling attack. They were much more formidable two years back when Gough and Caddick had full fitness and Giles was in form.

Okay, now a few thoughts.

1. Tehsin bhai is right, Hoggard and Flintoff will test our patience and that is our main weakness. However, under Whatmore, we have improved greatly in that area.

2. I've seen Batty bowl in domestic cricket. He is good. Also, he went to the Academy in Australia last winter where young England players are now trained by Rod Marsh and his staff. But again, I have seen many good English spinners in county cricket who have failed to impress in Test cricket. The key is to do our homework on Batty. Get tapes and watch them so the first time he bowls, we dont get baffled out of our brains.

3. Giles is out of form and more importantly, out of confidence. I saw him bowl through most of the SA series and he just bowled a negative line from round the wicket (lefty's over the wicket). I don't know how many times the commentators, especially Botham, suggested that he come over the wicket to the right hander and give them something to think about, rather than bowling from round and pitching outside leg stump, which means batsmen could happilly pad him away. If we can get the better of Giles early, we can neutralize him. If he starts off with a bang and his confidence grows, he can be a handful. But again, Giles is very similar to Rafiq in the way he bowls. Shouldn't be too many surprises there.

3. I don't really know how they can make a spinner's wicket as opposed to a batting wicket or a pacers wicket. A wicket is a wicket, it depends on soil conditions. Once it is laid, there isn't a lot you can do with it. The only thing you can alter is the length of grass you want to keep on and how much you water. As for grass, BD pitches are mostly devoid of grass, so thats not really a factor. Even the little grass they can keep on is dead grass, and fast bowlers will tell you that the type of grass they like on the pitch is fresh green grass. The bottom line is, the BD pitches will be just like they usually are. Pretty good for batting, nothing in it for the pacers, and will take spin later on when the bowlers' footmarks scruff up the two ends. The only thing they can do, and even that very minimally, is keep a the pitch a little moist so that the pacers get a little help, or they can completely dry it out and make it a dry dead track where the batsmen should 'book in for bed and breakfast.' So talking about how we should make the wickets will turn out to be a waste of time in the end.

[tnb]

If thats the case, I will go for a dry dead track. Even though everytime I look at England's batting line up it scares me, a batting paradise will allow our batsmen to stay in the crease (offcourse we have to overcome tehsin bhai's fear) for long time and may enhance our chance of a sweet draw.

Nothing like watching a player live, the use of stats are very limited. What u said about Giles sounds nice to me. I want him to be out of confidence for next two months.

[paco]

England is lacking in the spin department. That's why Mushtaq Ahmed got 100's of wickets at the county level. Also, one BBC expert (or may be wisden)rates Rafique higher than Giles.

BUT, you never know with our boys. Kaneria was a nobody before he played us.

[Upal]

IMO, Anderson is their best fast bowler. I don't know what his stats are but James Anderson is an attacking bowler with a very, very nice action. I was quite impressed by him in the World Cup. I think England will miss him if hez out with an injury. They are already short on fast bowling. I think the English fast bowling attack is prolly worse than the Pakistan one that we just faced. We should be aiming for 300+ each innings for sure!

[Nasif]

Originally posted by paco
BUT, you never know with our boys. Kaneria was a nobody before he played us.

And he turned into nobody again at the start of Pak series anyway.

[chinaman]

The England selectors today announced that James Anderson had been withdrawn from England's Test squad to tour Bangladesh in order to rest a knee injury.

Anderson will, however, be available for England's one-day series in Bangladesh and both Test and one-day Series in Sri Lanka.

Prior to flying out to Dhaka with England's limited overs specialists on October 28, Anderson will undergo a fitness programme designed to strengthen his left knee and will also spend time at the ECB National Academy in Loughborough working with the National Academy bowling coach Troy Cooley.

ECB chief medical officer Dr Peter Gregory said: "James has an overuse injury in the tendon on the outer side of his left knee which we feel will be best alleviated by a combination of rest from competitive cricket and an intensive programme of strengthening exercises under the supervision of the Lancashire physio Dave Roberts."

England chairman of selectors David Graveney said: "Losing James for the Bangladesh Tests is a blow but he is a young bowler who has borne a heavy workload this summer and having consulted the medical team we feel that this decision is in his best long-term interests."

The England selectors will announce a replacement for Anderson next week ahead of the Test squad's departure for Bangladesh on October 7.

Source

[Kalbaisakhi]

Hey can any one give me the layer list of england playing with bangladesh??????

[fwullah]

Hey, I think the matches could be rained off, at least the way it is now raining, there is certainly that possibility.

I think at start, those who haven't played much in the sub-continent will find it difficult to handle the situation out here. But they're professionals and they will get the hang of the situation after the first practice match or the first test.

So, if we have the chance of a draw, then it must be in the 1st test. But we don't know if the pitches are being prepared well or not - so it may be the other way around.

One thing strikes my mind, before we go for our first test win, I think that it is better for us to think of a first test draw (by playing all 5 days on the field - not by rain).

[Mahmood]

If it will rain, that might help us get a ODI win with the DL.

There is no shame winning a match by DL.

[Tehsin]

To draw a match, you have to pay over 5 days. Besides, if we go into a match for a draw, we actually give the opponents a lift in their game plan. Because it means that we are not going to try to bowl them out twice within those 5 days (am I wrong ?).

You don't have to draw before you can win. Against Pakistan, we were winning. You see a kill, you go for that kill.

[Sham]

Fahmida, you made a good point, we shouldn't all be thinking about a win all the time. Even if we can learn to play 5 days and draw regularly, that is a step forwards. But, going in for a draw means you are starting with a semi-negative mindset, which is never a good thing. We should go out there to play by sessions and stay with our opposition every session.

Against Pakistan, we won many sessions. In some, I would say we overwhelmed them, such as the first 4 sessions of the 2nd Test. But then in one session we threw it all away. We have to be more consistent throughout the match. Be competetive till the 5th day. And then the match can go anyway, a win, a loss or a draw. But from the first day if we think of a draw, we will lose, that is for sure. That is what we have been doing for almost 3 years, saying, we want to draw, and you saw what happened. Only after Whatmore took charge have we stopped talking about a draw all the time and started talking about individual improvements!