Should Eng keep or dump Stuart Broad?

taipan wrote:

JKLever wrote:Perhaps more important is that our next 2 tests are played on pitches that offer a bit to our style of bowling?

Swing?

That would help - but a little bit in the pitches themselves.

We are not going to outgun you on flat decks. We may not on pitches that offer a little to the bowlers but it would be more even...

JKLever wrote:

taipan wrote:

JKLever wrote:Perhaps more important is that our next 2 tests are played on pitches that offer a bit to our style of bowling?

Swing?

That would help - but a little bit in the pitches themselves.

We are not going to outgun you on flat decks. We may not on pitches that offer a little to the bowlers but it would be more even...

I think the problem then might be that our top 6 is outgunnng your top 6.

I think half of that problem is the bowling each is facing...

There's been a lot more application by the South Africans once they get in. They've been as ruthless as Pol Pot.

Glad to see people are willing to continue to invest in Stu as I think he will eventually be an all time great for Eng.

However its his bowling that I think will really fufill this. I suspect his current batting form has a bit of the beginners luck about it at the moment but that ultimately he will settle down to being a more than useful No.8 averaging 28-30 ish.

I suspect he will be retained because his batting is currently so useful in formulating a 5-man bowling attack but I fear that within such a line-up his bowling might well start to regress.

There's no way he'll average 40 but I see nothing in his technique to suggest he won't be as succesful there as someone like Dan Vettori.

I just hope we don't try and turn him into an allrounder and bat him above his station.

As for his bowling he's got to decide what he wants to be.... fast bowler or acurate seamer

JKLever wrote:
As for his bowling he's got to decide what he wants to be.... fast bowler or acurate seamer

If it's fast bowler he needs to do a foc off weight training programme in the off season.

As for his bowling he's got to decide what he wants to be.... fast bowler or acurate seamer

Glenn Mcgrath should be his ideal role model. 83-84 mph good length bowling with a bit of seam movement both ways. I sometimes feel that he's tries too much as a bowler with all the cross seam stuff etc. Fine for the shorter forms of the game, but overall a waste of time in the tests. Just plug away, trying to hit the top of off stump for an hour. Wickets will come.

Lever - Are you mental? Broad's nearly as good as Sobers according to Boycott.

Eric Air Emu wrote:There's been a lot more application by the South Africans once they get in. They've been as ruthless as Pol Pot.

Though only one dead.

JKLever wrote:There's no way he'll average 40 but I see nothing in his technique to suggest he won't be as succesful there as someone like Dan Vettori.

I just hope we don't try and turn him into an allrounder and bat him above his station.

As for his bowling he's got to decide what he wants to be.... fast bowler or acurate seamer

What does Vettori average with the bat? I am guessing somewhere between 28 and 32 and yes that is where Broad the batsmen will end up.

So far as bowling is concerned he should be modelling himself on Glenn McGrath.

At the moment he is trying to do too much in a vain search for wickets and losing his accuracy. He should focus on being metronomic and the wickets will come with the extra bounce his height grants him. If he does this his pace will be relatively academic.

Henry wrote:

As for his bowling he's got to decide what he wants to be.... fast bowler or acurate seamer

Glenn Mcgrath should be his ideal role model. 83-84 mph good length bowling with a bit of seam movement both ways. I sometimes feel that he's tries too much as a bowler with all the cross seam stuff etc. Fine for the shorter forms of the game, but overall a waste of time in the tests. Just plug away, trying to hit the top of off stump for an hour. Wickets will come.

Scary ...Thats what I just said and I swear I didn't copy you Trev.

It's not that scary. People have been saying it for months.

How is Saj Mahmood doing these days?

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:It's not that scary. People have been saying it for months.

82 mph bowling only works for some one as accurate as Mcgrath or some one who can make the ball seam as much as Asif.

PlanetPakistan wrote:How is Saj Mahmood doing these days?

In the absense of Dello, I'll tell you he's doing quite well.

Only I won't be massaging my prostate at the time whilst growling.

How do you massage your own prostate?

Eric Air Emu wrote:How do you massage your own prostate?

I don't know. I said I wouldn't.

Better ask Dello then- where's he gone?

On hols apparently...

Brass Monkey wrote:

PlanetPakistan wrote:How is Saj Mahmood doing these days?

In the absense of Dello, I'll tell you he's doing quite well.

Only I won't be massaging my prostate at the time whilst growling.

hmm thanks for info. Does he play(cricket) with Dello?

PlanetPakistan wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:

PlanetPakistan wrote:How is Saj Mahmood doing these days?

In the absense of Dello, I'll tell you he's doing quite well.

Only I won't be massaging my prostate at the time whilst growling.

hmm thanks for info. Does he play(cricket) with Dello?

No. But you'll be 'interested' to know that I'm with you on Steve Harmison. He should be in the team. I'm basing this on the back of a T20 match on TV at the minute. Steve Harmison isn't top whack but he's gone over 90 a few times. Think that'll be his pace now.

I'm with Nasser's comments:

Nasser wrote:
"Steve Harmison... bowling well... he would be. He's been bowling, bowling constantly. That's what he needs. No month off for the likes of him and Caddick... regular bowling needed - so many working parts to his action that it needs to be flowing.

And that's the truth and he looks good for it. Shame it's only four overs. Reckon he'd get better.

I really can't decide on Harmison. Yes he's bowling well again for Durham, and on form he's probably the English bowler who opposing batsmen would least like to face. But the question is whether he's really up for it, 4 overs at 90mph is one thing, even knocking over weak county sides in the four-day game, but how about a tough SA batting line-up that don't give you many chances on a slow pitch?

And then there's the question of the winter. Can you rely on him to tour again? Does he really want to? Perhaps going to the Caribbean would inspire him again after what he did there in 2004, and get him approaching his peak for the Ashes. Or perhaps he would be a complete liability if we took him. It's a really tough one for the selectors.

Harmy always seems to bowl quicker with the white ball - perhaps it's because he knows he's only got a certain number of overs to bowl so he doesn't mind bending his back a bit more.

Dump him, for a short period of time.

If he hadn't scored his runs, he'd have been gone. Bowling average bordering on 50 is poor, with a best of 3 wickets in an innings, plus he doesn't move the ball AT ALL.

Send him to the bowling academy whereever and let Lillee or someone show him how to move the ball, as Moores and his cretins will be doing him no good whatsoever, as they are farking useless.