From conceding six sixes to picking 500 test wickets!

[sarcastic]

All of us would have watched in delight how the blazing blade of UV sent 6 out of 6 balls into orbit on that Durban evening. And while such events happened before in FC by Gary Sobers and in ODIs in that same year by H Gibbs, none of them would have as many LIVE watches both in the stadium as well as TV and both of them were against some spinners whom no one remembers now.

 

But this six sixers by UV were against a young pace bowler and the commentators described him (after 4 balls) as the bowler who knows he is going to be mauled again. 

 

From there, he went to make a test debut and now on the verge of picking 500 wickets. This seems simply incredible. Test Cricket is the highest pinnacle where bowlers are the most useful assets who can create WINs instead of tame draws (that batting can produce) and pace bowlers who can take lot of wickets in tests are the biggest asset a team can have. 

All I can is, to simply sayto the most improved cricketer.

And today, Stuart Broad is only 34 years and 34 days old and is on track to play 2 more seasons and pick 120 wickets and go past Anderson's tally when the latter would hang his boots. 

[Gollum]

Amit Mahapatra: "Many can say that Broad is the best English bowler but I'd argue because out of his 499 scalps, 319 wickets were taken in England and his next best is 45 wickets, he took in South Africa. So he's a bowler for home conditions only and definitely."

 

LINK 

Averages :

54 in India (6 tests)

83 in SL (3 tests)

40 in BD (3 tests)

37 in Aus (12 tests)

31 in WI (10 tests)

 

Under 25 avg only in Eng and RSA. Total 41 wickets in Asia (SC+UAE) in 18 tests, not even 1 5fer. Just 1 5fer in Aus/RSA/WI despite playing double digit number of matches in all those 3 countries. 

 

Good player but if he were from India people would find 1500 ways to put him down. Also if not for his dad, he would have missed at least half a dozen tests cos of his behavior. Hate double standards. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Gollum

[Gollum]

34 wickets in Aus, 12 tests

34 wickets in NZ, 9 tests

20 wickets in UAE, 6 tests

10 wickets in India, 6 tests

8 wickets in BD, 3 tests

45 wickets in RSA, 12 tests

3 wickets in SL, 3 tests

26 wickets in WI, 10 tests

319* wickets in Eng, 79 tests

 

Will be a HOFer before Shaun Pollock. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Gollum

[coffee_rules]

I hope it rains rest of the match, Eng ends up with 1-1 series draw and Broad stuck at 499 and dropped/retired

[SK_IH]

I think this guy is one of the greats of English cricket. One bowler who has a knack of bowling series defining spells. 

Although he batted like a phattu in the backend of his career, he made some vital runs throughout his career, most of the times having demoralising effect on the opposition. 

[Laaloo]

26 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Amit Mahapatra: "Many can say that Broad is the best English bowler but I'd argue because out of his 499 scalps, 319 wickets were taken in England and his next best is 45 wickets, he took in South Africa. So he's a bowler for home conditions only and definitely."

 

LINK 

Averages :

54 in India (6 tests)

83 in SL (3 tests)

40 in BD (3 tests)

37 in Aus (12 tests)

31 in WI (10 tests)

 

Under 25 avg only in Eng and RSA. Total 41 wickets in Asia (SC+UAE) in 18 tests, not even 1 5fer. Just 1 5fer in Aus/RSA/WI despite playing double digit number of matches in all those 3 countries. 

 

Good player but if he were from India people would find 1500 ways to put his down. Also if not for his dad, he would have missed at least half a dozen tests cos of his behavior. Hate double standards. 

I hope he embarrasses the poyz again but your are spot on. His dad has saved his ass too many times to boot.

[Clarke]

Barbie & Clouderson are like our Jumbo was in the past & Ashwin in the present. Not terrific in all conditions but great workhorses who have been simply outstanding at home and had their moment or two in alien conditions. They're not the ATGs like Steyn & Murali but just one tier below, which is still an achievement in itself. 

[Stan AF]

50 minutes ago, Gollum said:

34 wickets in Aus, 12 tests

34 wickets in NZ, 9 tests

20 wickets in UAE, 6 tests

10 wickets in India, 6 tests

8 wickets in BD, 3 tests

45 wickets in RSA, 12 tests

3 wickets in SL, 3 tests

26 wickets in WI, 10 tests

319* wickets in Eng, 79 tests

 

Will be a HOFer before Shaun Pollock. 

Anderson has more or less a similar record right?. He probably had one decent tour in Australia and in India that I could remember.

[SK_IH]

24 minutes ago, Clarke said:

Barbie & Clouderson are like our Jumbo was in the past & Ashwin in the present. Not terrific in all conditions but great workhorses who have been simply outstanding at home and had their moment or two in alien conditions. They're not the ATGs like Steyn & Murali but just one tier below, which is still an achievement in itself. 

Well put. Not ATG but great players nonetheless.

[Gollum]

No disrespect, I prefer match/series winning HTBs over players who are decent everywhere but not dominant (like Gough). Moreover Broad when on song is fun to follow as a neutral, and Andu is an artist in English conditions like how Ashwin is in the SC. 

[zen]

Competitive cricketer in home and similar conditions. Good luck for a career milestone of 500 wickets. 

[Gollum]

29 minutes ago, Stan AF said:

Anderson has more or less a similar record right?. He probably had one decent tour in Australia and in India that I could remember.

Yeah Andu did well in that 2010-11 series against a dire Aussie side. His only series in Aus where he averaged under 30, 26 to be precise but didn't pick a single 5fer in 10 innings.

 

Against us he was good in the 2012 Kolkata test, but again our batting unit (apart from Che) was AWOL. Picked 6 wickets in that match (3+3) .

[Norman]

1 hour ago, coffee_rules said:

I hope it rains rest of the match, Eng ends up with 1-1 series draw and Broad stuck at 499 and dropped/retired

 

That's the evilest thing I can imagine 

[MechEng]

@Gollum the wounds of 2011 are still fresh for me 

 

I never felt more humiliated as a cricket fan after allowing Barbie to score runs when we had them at 120/8 and him getting a hat trick after a classic Dravid 100 in English conditions. Not even 2007 world cup eviction felt this bad.

[Suhaan]

He still bowls with decent/lively pace ,operates in high 130s to  low 140s..

 

[Gollum]

7 hours ago, MechEng said:

@Gollum the wounds of 2011 are still fresh for me 

 

I never felt more humiliated as a cricket fan after allowing Barbie to score runs when we had them at 120/8 and him getting a hat trick after a classic Dravid 100 in English conditions. Not even 2007 world cup eviction felt this bad.

Make peace with it man, 2011 English side was comfortably better in all departments/conditions and hungrier, our best players were on their last legs and probably the WC win was too emotionally draining for some of them. IMO the 0-4 in Aus later that year was worse, that was a mediocre Aussie side (Poms made them cry <12 months back, ghar mein ghuske thoka) with a halwa bowling unit and non-existent top order...ofc their MO was superstrong and saw Ponting's last great series....loss was expected but not in that manner!!!!

 

The 2011 English side however, I doubt an AT Indian XI can beat them in their backyard. 2007 Eng was a puny side in comparison. 

 

Strauss

Cook (peak)

Trott (peak)

KP (peak)

Bell (peak)

Morgan

Prior (peak)

Bresnan/Tremlett

Broad (peak)

Swann (peak)

Anderson (peak)

 

The greatest English team since WW-II. 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Gollum

[Norman]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

IMO the 0-4 in Aus later that year was worse, that was a mediocre Aussie side (Poms made them cry <12 months back, ghar mein ghuske thoka) with a halwa bowling unit and non-existent top order...ofc their MO was superstrong and saw Ponting's last great series....loss was expected but not in that manner!

 

Agree. 

 

We should have never lost that first test in Melbourne (which set the tone for Aussies for the whole series and they never looked back) . I still remember we were like 220/2 or something in reply to Australia's first innings total of 330+ with SRT and Dravid well set for big daddy hundreds. Aussie attack was very very average (Hilfenhaus, Rookie Patinson, Out of form siddle and a harmless offspinner Lyon), but we collapsed to 280.  

 

And even after that we had them on the ropes at 160/8 in the second innings but let them score 240 plus and that was that. 

 

That humiliating 8-0 could easily have atleast been 6-2 if we hadn't squandered clear match winning positions at Trent Bridge and MCG. 

[MechEng]

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

Make peace with it man, 2011 English side was comfortably better in all departments/conditions and hungrier, our best players were on their last legs and probably the WC win was too emotionally draining for some of them. IMO the 0-4 in Aus later that year was worse, that was a mediocre Aussie side (Poms made them cry <12 months back, ghar mein ghuske thoka) with a halwa bowling unit and non-existent top order...ofc their MO was superstrong and saw Ponting's last great series....loss was expected but not in that manner!!!!

 

The 2011 English side however, I doubt an AT Indian XI can beat them in their backyard. 2007 Eng was a puny side in comparison. 

 

Strauss

Cook (peak)

Trott (peak)

KP (peak)

Bell (peak)

Morgan

Prior (peak)

Bresnan/Tremlett

Broad (peak)

Swann (peak)

Anderson (peak)

 

The greatest English team since WW-II. 

The timing of it was so bad. I was super confident that we will win 2-1 at least after the way our team handled Steyn in SA who was bowling like Malcolm Marshall at his prime. I was so confident that I told few English fans back then that Sreesanth will be as good as Anderson in English conditions. 

 

I think it was after that series ICFers started hating on Dhoni.

 

That English team was very good, even better than Ashes 2005 side.

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by MechEng

[Gollum]

2 hours ago, Norman said:

And even after that we had them on the ropes at 160/8 in the second innings but let them score 240 plus and that was that. 

Dravid dropped a sitter of the bowling of Ashwin, Hussey was the lucky batsman and then made us pay. Once again a dropped catch screwed us so badly in SENA. Remember that drop vividly, I smashed my keyboard in disgust, not a big loss since it was worn out thanks to my gaming obsession in college .

Edited July 28, 2020 by Gollum

[Gollum]

1 hour ago, MechEng said:

That English team was very good, even better than Ashes 2005 side.

Swann and Prior gave so much extra firepower to that English side. 2005 Eng pace bowling was good but 2011 had two outstanding HTBs in Andu/Broad at the peak of their powers. Scary English side, also how good was that RSA side that tamed Eng next year in their backyard, that should have been a 5 test series.