Bowling in this Test series put us back in swing - Mike Atherton column

[King]

Throughout the the last two Test matches, we have seen the kind of cricket that has had the old bowlers in the press box purring with pleasure, writes Mike Atherton. More... Bowling in this Test series put us back in swing By Mike Atherton, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 10:41pm BST 28/07/2007 Have your say Read comments In pics: India take upper hand | Trent Bridge scorecard Video: The Analyst at the Test Throughout the the last two Test matches, we have seen the kind of cricket that has had the old bowlers in the press box purring with pleasure. For Mike Selvey, Derek Pringle and Jonathan Agnew (although not the roundhead Angus Fraser, who regarded swing bowling as far too cavalier) the last fortnight must have transported them back to the beginning of their careers, when every county team had a genuine swing bowler or two, pitches always had a tinge of green, when lavish movement in the air was a given, and when reverse swing was a yet-to-be learnt, mysterious and foreign art. At Trent Bridge, and at Lord's, it was almost like being transported back in time: a liberal sprinkling of sawdust covered the run-ups and follow-through marks; deep red stains ran down the trouser leg of every bowler; the ball was so polished that you could almost see the bowler's reflection, and five out of six front-line seamers used orthodox swing as their main weapon. (More than that, the crowds have been knowledgeable, the cricket appreciated and buffoonery at a minimum). They have been the type of conditions that spawned generations of bowlers such as Tom Cartwright and Derek Shackleton, craftsmen from a near-forgotten age, of whom modern players look back and shake their heads in wonder. How could bowlers who were so slow get so many wickets, and so cheaply? Perhaps Alastair Cook, tangled in knots by the medium pace of Sourav Ganguly during a seven-over spell on Friday, now understands. The surprise has been how well the bowlers have adapted in conditions that have nearly become alien. Pitching the ball a yard or two fuller to encourage the drive, sending the seam so late out of the tips of the fingers that the ball rotates backwards, and canting the seam now this way, now that, with a minor adjustment of the wrist position, in order to vary the amount and direction of swing. Skills that would have been second nature to Selvey and Pringle, and their predecessors, but not necessarily to bowlers conditioned to whacking the ball in (to use the professionals' term) 'just back of a length'. James Anderson has been the best on show, because of the control and the minuscule difference between his outswinger and inswinger. Sreesanth has been the least impressive, seemingly overawed by the occasion at Lord's, too inconsistent at Trent Bridge and unable to adjust his line to left-handers. All three left-armers have been threatening, keeping the umpire's index finger twitching. There have been so many lbw appeals that batsmen might well have used the long-forgotten tub of whitening to erase the evidence. These are conditions that demand not just a different set of skills, but a different mindset as well. Essentially, swing bowlers are attacking bowlers. They are prepared to be driven, happy to leave gaps in the field to encourage the drive, safe in the knowledge that such rewards for the batsman are laced with risk. They don't mind going for runs. Rather a second gulley than an extra cover, thank you very much. They need captains who are understanding, who are happy to see the odd ball whistling to the cover boundary and who are aware that the swing bowler won't always get it right. It is why the modern back-of-a-length bowler - Shaun Pollock, Curtly Ambrose and Glenn McGrath, the best of them - are so cherished by captains. They experiment less, so there is less that can go wrong; they don't need certain conditions to succeed, and, since they don't have to pitch the ball up to take wickets, their success is risk-averse. They are both attacking and defensive, a captain's dream. Swing bowlers are more mercurial (is this reflected in a difference in temperament and character between the seam and swing bowler?) and therefore more of a luxury. If the bowlers have adapted well to conditions, then batsmen haven't. Suddenly, batting looks difficult and runs are not so freely scored. Hundreds, spread around like confetti earlier in the season, have suddenly been in short supply. A lack of movement in the air encourages the batsman to play early and through the line, with hard hands and often with minimal footwork. Either minimal footwork or footwork that is so early and premeditated that the batsman becomes committed to the stroke too soon. Marcus Trescothick, to use a name in the news, is an example of the type of modern player produced by such an unchallenging environment. The conditions at Trent Bridge have demanded a fundamentally different approach. Technique suddenly matters again: batsmen need to play the ball later, with the swing, with softer hands and they need to take care choosing the right ball to drive. Shot selection no longer just about which boundary board to clatter the ball into. Andrew Strauss played early, hard, crookedly and chose the wrong ball to drive. Predictably, he edged to slip. It was the classic swing bowler's dismissal. More care, thought and skill have been needed from the willow wielders; a little old-fashioned grafting required. Cook, the youngest, has been one of the few prepared to do so. That runs still came at over three an over on the first day here illustrates that grafting has become something of a forgotten art. Poor footwork is likely to be punished. Fourteen lbws at Lord's, and three so far at Trent Bridge, suggest that umpires are more prepared to give decisions than before, and that batsmen's footwork has not been too flash. When given the chance, India's openers coped with conditions much better than England's. The century opening stand yesterday between Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik was one to be proud of, and may well have set up the chance of an Indian victory. They taught their English counterparts a lesson or two in playing tight, playing late and in how to graft. I believe cricket to be at its best when the balance between bat and ball is a fine one, when run-making at the highest level is difficult, when hundreds scored really mean something, and when the full range of bowling skills are on show. For too long, coaches (understandably enough because of the arid, abrasive conditions that have dominated the last few summers) have been in thrall to quick bowlers who bang the ball hard into the pitch and who will reverse swing the ball later in the day. The last two Tests have shown that a different set of bowling skills can be just as effective, given the conditions. If climate change continues to give us more of the same at least there will be one positive effect amid all the misery. It has been fascinating to watch.

[King]

Contrast this article with Cricinfo one. I quite like Atherton, he's quite good to listen to.

[silentstriker]

Absolutely spot on. Cannot agree more. Nothing disgusts me more than an unworthy batsman plonking his front foot down the pitch and stroking away to massive averages. A century should mean something. It did once, before this decade. The flood of runs this decade has been fun to watch for some, but I missed the dual between bat and ball. I loved the Allan Donald vs. Atherton. It was an absorbing contest where you had no idea who would win, and if a batsman did score a century - it was actually an achievement. The west indies attack started pitching it fast and short and the death of the swing bowler began. In the nineties we had Wasim and Waqar pitching it fast and full, but they were looking for reverse swing and thus trying to get the ball all scruffy. And as the pitches got flatter, the swing bowler started going out of style, and not coincidently, the batting averages were higher. I am not sure about anyone else, but I find a contest where a team scores somewhere between 200-350 a far more absorbing contest than a team just stroking away to a 550 first innings scores. India may lose, win or draw...but this has been a fantastic series so far.

[The Outsider]

The series has delivered on all accounts till now. Superb swing and seam bowling, counterattacking batting, gritty display on the last day, it has been really entertaining stuff. Hopefully, the remaining 8 days continue to provide the same entertainment and a result in India's favor.

[Guest BossBhai]

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[Chandan]

When English bowlers bowled well in the 1st inning at Lords, it was Indian batting which was blamed. Now if Indian bowlers did well, it was just by luck!!! Thank God that Artherton is putting some sense back!