Fidel Edwards - The Unsung Hero for the WI

[f.b.m]

This man is probably the most unsung of the unsung heroes in West Indies cricket at the moment. He almost single handedly made the last Wisden Trophy in West Indies watchable for the last few matches with his electric bowling and his amateur ditch batting. One thing that seems to be constant in recent months about West Indies cricket (apart from Chanderpaul's batting) is this man steaming in, regardless of the time of the day, bowling at 145 kmph and making the batsmen itch. And all that for a man who looks like starving Somali teenager! His stats stay shabby for most of the time but for the amount of adrenaline he injects into the game, few bowlers can match him. If only there were stats on how many unplayable deliveries someone bowls, how close they were to killing the batsmen, how uncomfortable they make them feel or even how unlucky the bowlers are (how many freaking catches did they drop today?)! Here's hoping that this series is where his wickets tally match the amount of excitement that he brings into the game. Oh and some more of them to KP please!

[King]

What a star??? Great bowling spell yesterday to take out Cook, Pietersen and Collingwood in a short period. The England commies were commenting on the decision to bowl, the pitch being slow and the West Indies players showing lack of ability to bowl consistently well. All of those comments fell flat thanks to the spell from Fiedel Edwards. He's an exciting bowler and here's hoping for his longevity. The ball to Pietersen was a jaffa. Pietersen couldn't believe the amount of swing and seam the ball had. Cook was guilty of playing away from the body but Collingwood got a terrific ball from Fiedel. On another note, Bopara was fantastic to watch. Some of his shots were reminiscent of Tendulkar (I know not many will like the comparison) albeit a poor man's Tendulkar. I feel he copies a lot of his shots from Tendulkar particularly the punches and backfoot drives from the master.

[graphic23]

Hey fbm, I hope you don't mind, just changed the title since the "appreciation thread" I felt wasn't a great title. If you want me to change it back, let me know. I was speaking to Salil earlier about this - what a great season he's having. He's completely rejuvenating the WI team with his amazing bowling. On the roads they produced in West Indies, he was the only bowler who looked like taking wickets. Has got a very competitive mind, and is willing to work hard too. I think they've unearthed a star, and he's got a very good captain to take care of him as well. Should be fun watching this series. And I expect Pietersen to fall to Edwards a couple more times. Pietersen's got a lot of ego, and I'm sure he'll work hard to counter Fidel but I feel that early in his innings, he's just too dominant for his own good, and will end up creating lots of opportunities for the bowlers.

[flamy]

Lemme go catch the highlights :woot:

[Don Sharma]

He is the most unluckiest bowler in International cricket.Period. I dunno what the WI players have against him, they keep on dropping catches off his bowling. I can recollect atleast some ten catches that they put down in their home series against England.Nash dropped one of the simplest catches of Bopara, but the reaction of Gayle after that was hilarious, it was like "oh even this Aussie drops a catch".

[Gambit]

He's like Matthew Hoggard with 10 times more pace. He will run through a brick wall for his side no matter how hot the weather is,how flat the pitch is or who the batsmen are. I will never forget the one over of hell he gave to Thorpe(another terrific gladiator) during WI's 2004 tour of England. That over was something else and completely livened that session.

[f.b.m]

Yeah, that series in 2004 was really something in terms of pace bowling and its excitement. As far as I know that was when Edwards peaked in terms of pace and was hitting the mid 150's and the English batsmen had the small matter of facing Tino Best bowling at 150 from the other end.

[Don Sharma]

The WI bowlers didn't do a lot in that 2004 series, the series will be remembered for the resurgence of Harmison and Co. even though Edwards had flashes of brilliance here and there.But Tino Best was all over the park;he was quick but he was wayward.

[Kumar]

When on form, Edwards is a joy to watch and a rare talent which can lift you out of your seat, in this case getting KP for a golden duck Though he can EASILY have downfalls and is very very inconsistent at times

[Gambit]

The WI bowlers didn't do a lot in that 2004 series' date=' the series will be remembered for the resurgence of Harmison and Co. even though Edwards had flashes of brilliance here and there.But Tino Best was all over the park;he was quick but he was wayward.[/quote'] England's performances in the late 2002-end 2005 period are very underrated and easily forgotten. Beat WI 7-0 home and away, beat RSA in RSA, beat NZ in NZ, drew with a powerful RSA at home and Ashes of course.

[Don Sharma]

England's performances in the late 2002-end 2005 period are very underrated and easily forgotten. Beat WI 7-0 home and away' date=' beat RSA in RSA, beat NZ in NZ, drew with a powerful RSA at home and Ashes of course.[/quote'] Absolutely. Infact everyone was surprised the way they bowled in the WI and the WI batsmen were caught off guard, even Shiv was dropped for the final test for his medicore performance in the first three tests. Then the English went on a roll and did very well in SA, I think that was a great achievement second only to their winning the Ashes.