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Analysis of Steve Smith batting


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31 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

Which several jofra Archer's have Sachin and Viv played?

I will leave it to rtmohanlal to answer the question more fully, but you raise an interesting point. I just want to share my thoughts below regarding the subject.

 

first, of course, it's hard to find bowlers who cross 145-150 kmph like archer does on a semi-regular basis. however, if we look at bowlers who bowled at 140-145 (or higher) for at least some portion of their career (not necessarily all the career), I believe there were quite a few. Note that SRT did not face all of them.

(1) Shoaib Akhtar [mohd. zahid was also quite fast, although he did not bowl 170 kmph as deluded Pakistani claim]

(2) Brett Lee (I believe 1 and 2 were faster than Archer on avg at their peaks)

(3) Wacky Waqar (up to 1994-95)

(4) Nantie Hayward (brief career, but cranked it at least to high 140s)

(5) Dale Steyn (quite fast in early career; up to 2010 could bowl in low 140s when he wanted)

(6) Morne Morkel had an avg speed of 137-138 in 2018 (toward end of career) and he was bowling low 140s quite consistently in some series

(7) Ian Bishop pre-injury was definitely in low 140s.

(8-11) Jermaine Lawson, Fidel Edwards and Tino Best could all bowl low 140s during the early stages of career. Reon King was quite quick. I remember he crossed 150 kmph a few balls, and generally looked like a low 140s bowler.

(12-13) In some series, Flintoff and Harmison had avg speeds in the low 140s, but this was transient. they also extracted good bounce due to their height.

(14) I don't know if Brett Schultz was timed, but he was fast and deadly. I believe he was low 140s at the minimum.

(15) Mitchell Johnson bowled in 140s at the peak. One also has to take his angle into account.

(16) Jason Gillespie was around low 140s at his fastest, although he was more of a swing bowler who operated in high 130s.

(17-18) Brad Williams and Shaun tait were both genuinely quick. latter was certainly faster than archer at his peak. however, both did not play tests for the most part.

(19) Shane Bond. brief career, but a wonderful one (albeit on helpful pitches). could definitely hit high 140s with ease.

(20) heath davis was also someone who bowled in 140s. but had a very brief career due to injuries.

(21) Devon Malcolm's pace varied quite a bit, but he could consistently bowl upwards of 90 mph (145 kmph) at his peak.

(22) early career srinath bowled in low 140s. his fastest balls exceeded 150 kmph at the minimum, and some records even assign him a peak speed of 155 kmph.

(23) Patrick Patterson bowled over 140 kmph during his somewhat short career, which extended into the early 1990s. he also extracted nasty bounce and was dangerous to face.

(24) White Lightning (Allan Donald) bowled in the 140-150 range during his early career. after a series of injuries, he bowled in the 130s.

 

I have probably missed out on a couple of names at least. thus, during the period of 1990-2010, I believe that there were at least 25 pacers who played international cricket and were able to bowl 140-145 (or upwards) for some fraction of their career.

Edited by Vijy
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3 hours ago, rkt.india said:

Which several jofra Archer's have Sachin and Viv played?

i precisely meant those sub 25 averaging bowlers....... not necessarily genuinely quick as Archer.  With Smith's technique, no need of  Arcer's pace. 140k+ bowlers with control can do the trick if the pitches assist them as they used to be  in Sachin's era. That is exactly the reason why there were  so many sub 26 averaging bowlers in Sachin's era.

I firmly believe that Smith's technique is 'so much  off' w.r.t dealing short pitched deliveries.His stance at the crease is always to lean towards the leg when the bowler is about to deliver the ball unlike  the ' technically far superior batsmen' who are always well balanced to counter any type of ball. So when pitted against short pitch balls even at 140ks his method would be just as 'what we saw yesterday' rather than ducking into the ball.And this is exactly where  his chances of dismissals lie in too. 

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14 minutes ago, rtmohanlal said:

i precisely meant those sub 25 averaging bowlers....... not necessarily genuinely quick as Archer.  With Smith's technique, no need of  Arcer's pace. 140k+ bowlers with control can do the trick if the pitches assist them as they used to be  in Sachin's era. That is exactly the reason why there were  so many sub 26 averaging bowlers in Sachin's era.

I firmly believe that Smith's technique is 'so much  off' w.r.t dealing short pitched deliveries.His stance at the crease is always to lean towards the leg when the bowler is about to deliver the ball unlike  the ' technically far superior batsmen' who are always well balanced to counter any type of ball. So when pitted against short pitch balls even at 140ks his method would be just as 'what we saw yesterday' rather than ducking into the ball.And this is exactly where  his chances of dismissals lie in too. 

btw, I listed a number of bowlers who could bowl in low 140s above. assistance from pitches was also a major factor. sabrina park and WACA were quite diff in 90s compared to now.

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11 hours ago, vaul said:

Firstly,you did not get the concept of playing late.Playing away from body means playing early which is opposite to playing near body i.e. playing late.Rohit unlike Smith does not has ability to play as late as possible.In white ball cricket when ball is mostly travelling in straight line,lofted shots played by Rohit are played away from body i.e. "early" (not late). Therefore,playing early = playing away from body(most of lofted shots),whereas,playing late =playing near/parallel to body.

As far as KL Rahul is concerned,he plays better,like most Indian batsmen,when pitch is slower and there is minimum lateral movement.For example,last year on England tour,when kl made century, pitch had slowed down on final day to an extent that Harbhajan said it has become Rajkot wicket.Otherwise he is nowhere near Smith in picking line and length at earliest and playing it at the last moment with making appropriate late adjustments if needed.Lack of required skills does not means being out of form.KL deserves place ahead of Dhawan in t20 only.

u can play late n still far of the body.....playing late gives u more control doesnt mean u cant play far from the body. 

What smith does right over many batsman is playing balls under his head

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5 minutes ago, Vijy said:

btw, I listed a number of bowlers who could bowl in low 140s above. assistance from pitches was also a major factor. sabrina park and WACA were quite diff in 90s compared to now.

yes....  there were several others too like Merv Hughes,Mcdermott, Wittney, Fleming,Fannie Devilliers, Ntini, Ambrose,Akram,Cairns,Merv Dhillon,Walsh etc who 'at the least occasionally bowled' 140+ as per the situations.

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27 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

u can play late n still far of the body.....playing late gives u more control doesnt mean u cant play far from the body. 

What smith does right over many batsman is playing balls under his head

You still did not get the concept of playing late.In following video Ab de Villiers explains the concept of playing late.At 3:30 in video he starts explaining a box surrounding his body and he plays within that box.Notice he uses phrase he "plays nice and late" i.e. within that box/close to body.Playing early would be playing a ball before it reached that box i.e away from body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll6OH3JyCq0&t=1036s

 

Playing late=playing close to body/pads for balls in line of stumps=playing parallel to body for balls outside off stump.

Notice playing early/away from body is "opposite" to playing late/close to body.Ability to play as late as possible is most important skill in red ball cricket.Every batsman to an extent can play ball late but some like Smith are gifted to play ball at last moments,like nobody else,before it hits pads/stumps.Playing late depends upon picking line and length at earliest,which in turn gives more time to react or ability to play late.Among Indian players only Gill can play ball as late as Smith does.

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Before the start of this series, I have gone through some dismissals of Smith and noticed that he never gets out caught behind / slips driving on the offside.  This I think ( experts might have pointed it out ) is all because of the angle of his bat.. traditionally coached batsman are susceptible to moving balls while driving as their angle of bat is more straighter / or towards cover increasing chance of getting an edge.

But Smith seems to play it with the angle pointed slightly towards point making it impossible for edges. I wonder how many edges have come from his bat in the past 5 years.

Edited by Vk1
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