A post on Third Umpire about Malcolm Marshall has had me browsing the internet for some clips of the Barbadian. I grew up in the (19)80s and whoever England played, it seemed, brought at least one top class pace man. Marshall, Holding, Roberts, Garner, Croft, (Winston) Davies, (Sylvester) Clark, Paterson came from the West Indies, any one of which would walk into the current England team (and maybe even Australia). Then there was Dennis Lillee, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev, four greats in their own right; not forgetting Willis and Botham from England.
What do we have now? Err, hang on, I know this one... Well, there is Brett Lee and there used to be Shane Bond. There is also Shoaib Akhtar who is definitely quick and has his moments but is nowhere near an all-time great. What has happened, why are there no quality quick bowlers anymore? International bowlers probably play less that they used to in the 1980s -- that is certainly true of English players, so it cannot be a workload problem. Whatever the reasons it is a great shame, the game needs the spectacle of a fearsome fast bowler thundering in.
In case you do not remember Marshall et al:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgfY2VNbv7s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJvVvYdAWLg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6RamWV-2LU
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6401152FtEKJhW2
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
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5 comments:
tait is having his own set of problems...
you also failed to mention styn and even ishant is quick...its just that word quick is does not get attached to indian bowler...
they way his pace got increased as the tour progressed is remarkable...he will be quite an asset if handled properly...
Steyn is genuinely quick, it will be interesting to see how he does in India and England. Sharma's inexperience (12 test wickets) hardly qualifies him to be on the same page as Marshall, Garner etc (although he has impressed so far).
There is one I deliberately missed out: Andrew Flintoff, let's hope we see him bowl at his best again...
give these boys some time rob...and they will become the men yo are looking for...
I think the reason is beacuse more emphasis is given to batting, more sixes me more entertaintment :) Sadly the sacrifice is people wanting to bowl.
I wouldn't blame anyone, it's just the way the game has progressed into this century. People no longer have 5 days to watch a game. Heck they even saya a *full day* is not good enough. There came Twenty20. In these forms bowling good will be just be considered a spoil sport!
perhaps the demise of West Indian cricket has played a major part in the demise of the truly fast bowler- that and wickets which in the main do not give the advantage to the bowler anymore.
Or perhaps it was the likes of Mcgrath and Botham who showed you don't have to bowl at 95mph to be devastatingly good?
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