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Height of Sarcasm by the English media


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Reaping the rewards of swing S. Ram Mahesh The ball has curled wickedly late for Zaheer and R.P. Singh — Photos: AP

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Nottingham: In The Times, London, appeared a cartoon, sketched with economy of line: on the threshold of the Indian dressing room stands a cricketer with a severed head in each hand; an incredulous teammate accosts him with: “ Er most people collect stumps as mementoes.” No doubt, the joke is on Sreesanth after his beamer to Kevin Pietersen, but, so far on tour, it’s his left-handed colleagues who have resembled bounty hunters most closely.Between them, Zaheer Khan and R.P. Singh have 25 scalps in two Tests. Every one of England’s top seven batsmen has been scouted, softened, probed, and picked up.That this is a formidable batting line-up puts the performance in perspective. The most obviously visible cause of the left-armers’ success is swing. Both at Lord’s and here at Trent Bridge, the ball has curled wickedly late for Zaheer and R.P. Singh. Pleasing act So pleasing has been the act — so smoothly snug the arc of the swinging ball, so apparently certain its repetition — that the work behind it has gone unnoticed. Swing bowling is a difficult art requiring high skill. It demands a confluence of conditions, precise wrist positions, and great nerve: each unforgiving, and each apt to unravel very quickly indeed. To illustrate: Rahul Dravid’s decision to bowl here in the second Test looked fairly straightforward; yet countless captains have discovered to their horror that in similarly damp conditions, wet balls haven’t swung at all. Certain balls swing; others don’t. “The Duke ball does swing,” said bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad, who himself found success in England. Zaheer pleaded, in jest, for the Duke to be used in all Test-playing nations. Yet, as Ian Botham said, even in a box of balls, there are some that do and some that don’t — even in this era of machine-stitched seams. The two most outstanding aspects of Zaheer and R.P. Singh have been their ability to swing it both ways from both over and around the wicket, and their scarcely believable control. Disguise Disguise is everything. Neither changes his action or slants his wrist noticeably: for the batsmen looking for cues, few, if any, appear. Zaheer, at times, drags his fingers down the inside of the ball for the outswinger to the right-hander, but it’s done so fast, it’s barely detectable. The least discussed aspect has been their pace. Swing bowlers tend to hold the ball further back in their fingers — Damien Fleming said he rested it in the hollow between the thumb and his first two fingers — to release the ball with back-spin. This controls the seam, keeping it upright, but robs the delivery of pace. R.P. Singh has hit the high 80s (mph), while Zaheer has been timed in the mid 80s. It’s an exceptional effort to produce swing at this pace. And at this pace — as quick as their English counterparts, incidentally — the batsman has little time to adjust; his already difficult task of playing as forward as possible as late as possible made incalculably harder. Length is crucial, and it is here that many falter. Swing presupposes a full length; but, a full length permits driving. It’s the classic contest — the drive against the swinger. It makes for enriching viewing, having as it does levels of strategy, skill, bluff, and execution. Only bowlers of confidence and daring can play at this table; pertinent then that no English bowler, not even Ryan Sidebottom, landed it as full and swung it as much as Zaheer and R.P. Singh. There are two further elements to their success in the two Tests. Both have used the bouncer well. R.P. Singh surprised Paul Collingwood at Lord’s; Zaheer heckled Michael Vaughan at Trent Bridge, hitting him on the helmet, nudging his ribs. This has kept the batsmen thinking. Even Kevin Pietersen in the second innings here wasn’t stomping as far forward as he normally does. Using the angle Both have also used the angle from around the wicket, evoking memories of the mercurial Wasim Akram. Sometimes the ball has cut in the direction of the swing, augmenting the movement, as in Matt Prior’s dismissal, bowled middle stump from a ball starting well outside off. Other times, it has swung one way and moved the other. Both have been devilishly tough to combat. Except for the first session at Lord’s and a brief period on the third day, Zaheer has been excellent. R.P. Singh was India’s most consistent bowler in the first Test; in the second, he contented himself with wicket-taking deliveries at critical moments. “Whatever I’ve seen of R.P., he is a fantastic bowler,” said Prasad. “He is coming up really well along with Zaheer. They do make a terrific bowling combination. They needed someone to show them the direction. That is all I’ve been doing with them.”
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In The Times, London, appeared a cartoon, sketched with economy of line: on the threshold of the Indian dressing room stands a cricketer with a severed head in each hand; an incredulous teammate accosts him with: “ Er most people collect stumps as mementoes.” No doubt, the joke is on Sreesanth after his beamer to Kevin Pietersen,
That's quite cocky and not warranted. How the heck do they know he bowled it deliberately?
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Maybe , Sree has been given a license by the Indian team management to really get under the English skin , irrespective of how he bowls. I didnt see any concerted attempt by Rahul to calm Sree down. That the second test match ended in so much controversy is good for us , since the pressure is even more on the English team now. But Sree is just one tantrum away from a match suspension. He has to watch out.

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Maybe , Sree has been given a license by the Indian team management to really get under the English skin , irrespective of how he bowls. I didnt see any concerted attempt by Rahul to calm Sree down. That the second test match ended in so much controversy is good for us , since the pressure is even more on the English team now.
That's all well and good, but who's going to fork up the 50% match fee that he stands to lose for his pseudo-aggression?
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That's all well and good' date=' but who's going to fork up the 50% match fee that he stands to lose for his pseudo-aggression?[/quote'] You have two choices 1) 50% match fee 2) "Contributing " to team's success Which one would you take ? Maybe there is a reimbursement plan or something. :D
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You have two choices 1) 50% match fee 2) "Contributing " to team's success Which one would you take ? That would depend on how much the match fee actually is :). Amusement aside, it is not fair to appoint someone the "designated sledger" at the risk of him losing part of his match-fee, unless there really *is* a covert reimbursement system.
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My point again wasn't to do with humour or not in those cartoons. Firstly carrying two heads in both hands is in bad taste. It makes is sound as if Sreesanth is killing people for fun bowling non stop beamers. Sreesanth bowled one beamer and apologized for it. Now where is the problem? It is ridiculous to suggest he was deliberate.

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Who is S Ram Mahesh ? Obviously not a bowler, or a physicist for that matter, as the following two examples indicate: "Zaheer, at times, drags his fingers down the inside of the ball for the outswinger to the right-hander, but it’s done so fast, it’s barely detectable." You do NOT achieve swing with a scrambled seam - which is what happens when you drag your fingers down either side of the ball at point of delivery. I'm not saying the ball couldn't move in the air but, if it did, that would be drift. "Swing bowlers tend to hold the ball further back in their fingers — Damien Fleming said he rested it in the hollow between the thumb and his first two fingers — to release the ball with back-spin." This also sounds incorrect. Unless you're trying to spin the ball - either leg, off or topspin - the ball will backspin - wherever it's positioned in the fingers and not just in the Damien Fleming example. Try it. :regular_smile:

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Seems one English player had commented at an Indian batsman saying , " I drive a Porche Carrrera . What car do you drive ? ". When it comes to sledging , wit and quick thinking should be the keyword , not passing insensitive comments based on background. This is totally unacceptable.

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I have no issues with Sree's tantrums as long as he can bowl well. He can be our own version of Andre Nel! But his antics annoy the hell out of me' date=' when he cant bowl one decent over.[/quote'] GS, Very well said. First bowl well, then up the antics if you need to. But always, always, first bowl darn well - you need to not only have stuff, but show the real stuff and then you can follow with some minor antics.
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You do NOT achieve swing with a scrambled seam - which is what happens when you drag your fingers down either side of the ball at point of delivery.
Err..that would depend a lot on how the bowler held the ball, wouldn't it ? Not all bowlers (especially swing bowlers) hold the ball in a seam-upright position.
This also sounds incorrect. Unless you're trying to spin the ball - either leg, off or topspin - the ball will backspin - wherever it's positioned in the fingers and not just in the Damien Fleming example. Try it.
Actually that is a spot-on comment i find. Akram used to hold the ball deep inside his palms and his already large hands (he has freakishly large hands btw) means that the ball travels the entire length of the finger to produce backspin and even though there is a degree of backspin with most bowlers (unless you are bowling the 'heavy ball'), providing longer contact with the fingers by holding the ball deep inside the palm gives it more backspin. This is important for a leftie because leftie swing bowlers rely on bringing the ball back into the righthander and the angle of delivery means that the ball has to deviate a lot more for a leftie than a rightie to get the 'bend it back inside' factor. For this to occur, as much backspin as possible (with as little compromise of speed as possible) is essential- backspin is what makes the ball 'stop' on contact and sweve in/our depending on the position of the seam (and if the ball is reversing). Akram was the greatest leftie ever (and IMO, one of the top 5 pacers ever) because he could get crazy backspin (and thus crazy seam and swing movement) and had a super-fast arm action ( i think he has the fastest arm action of any bowler i've ever seen) with very powerful deep shoulders. The fact that he could get alarming swing at near 90mph and sometimes sacrifice a bit of swing to bowl at well over 90mph is what put him in the alltime great category.
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