Did anyone else notice the manner in which Shoaib knocked over South Africa in their 2nd innings? Murderous short pitched bowling aimed at the batsman - in the 1st innings he put Kirsten in hospital of course.
In the past Shoaib has relied on pitching it up and reverse swinging, but with reverse swing not so much a factor any more, I have sometimes wondered why he doesn’t do what Lee does and just use his pace to rattle the opposition more. That doesn’t mean knocking the batsmen’s head off with bouncers which they can just duck away from, but pitching it short of a length so it’s coming at around rib/throat height. That’s how he got all 4 wkts in this innings and he really looked the part.
If he keeps doing that I think he can reclaim his place as the world’s premium fast bowler. SA batsmen are no mugs and and he rolled over some world class players here.
I missed the Shoaib show this morning. However, he has been bowling very well recently and has been a handful for the opposition. Hope he continues this way and use his enormous potential to devastating effect. It is a shame that he is injured and might not be able to play the last test, which he might miss anyway if his appeal is rejected.
a cool head can do anything, before he used to bowl too short.. but this time he bowled not that short.. which was precisely what we wanted..
he was rising his deliveries from good lenghts not very short.. thats why they were unable to play them at all... and plus the pace was extra ordinary...
Thanx man Shoaib. I hope the ban gets lifted, and he will kick more SA's a$$e$ in the next match...
now this is a problem he aint fit.. that happened to him several times before as well.. he bowls deadly speel and then gets off the filed coz of some injury… the physio nees to make sure that he is fit for long not for short burst…
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*Originally posted by Nikema: *
REsponsibility Responsibility, thats the only reason he is doing well......and thats why i supported him as VC
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It's not just about responsibility, Shoaib's never going to have much of that, although I think being made V captain would give him something to think about at least. But watching Brett Lee during the Ashes and bowling in the WC, I was struck by how many wickets he got just by bbowling short and getting the batsmen fending to catchers behind the wicket.
Ehsan, watch the highlights tonight and you'll see exactly what I mean, this is the first time I've seen Shoaib consistently bowl to that method and he had Smith, Gibbs, Kallis and Dippenaar and all out in the similar fashion.
Add that to his already devastating ability to reverse the old bowl in his 2nd spell and you have one frightening fast bowler. if only the stupid beggar can keep his head straight this guy can achieve anything he wants.
I agree with you Xtreme. In the past decade Wasim and Waqar had most of their scalps on pitched-up stuff which was considered unconventional method, as fast bowlers were supposed to bowl short of a good length to get wickets(trend set by big Windies bowlers).
I once saw stats on TV that about 55% of Waqar's wickets are either LBWs or clean Bowled, which is just totally amazing. There are few reaons for opting to bowl that way:
a) Wickets in sub continent lack bounce
b) Pakistani fielders are not very reliable
c) Pakistani bowlers got the two key factors of pace and reverse swing to do that.
If you see Australian style of bowling, most batsmen they dismiss are either caught in the slips or keeper, thats because of thier nagging line and length at off stump. In contrast, pakistanis always attack the stumps and slips dont get involved too often.
Shoaib bowled with a different method in this match and it paid off for him. Seems liek he is working on his game and he should stick to a moderate way of short-pitched bowling and attacking the stumps one. Result, well he is as lethal as one could have been.