Shami ahmed-First impression..!!!

[rkt.india]

What did he do against England in tests?

4/84 at Ahemadabad on a slow and low track where opposition fast bowlers conceded 245 runs to pick one wicket of Zaheer Khan.

[rkt.india]

I don't know whether it was gym or not but I recall Australian members on another forum noting that he used to bowl 125kph. .

Yes. South Australia wicket keeper Graham Manou used to keep him up to the stumps on those days. He then worked with Joe Dawes as he shifted to Queensland. Dawes was Queensland coach at that time.

[rkt.india]

I don't know whether it was gym or not but I recall Australian members on another forum noting that he used to bowl 125kph. Something which holds back serious weight training from cricketers is the belief that it will cause injuries. It is an interesting point and I'd love to read research into it. You have the injury prone Watson who has only recently been injury free (before today) after stopping weights and doing yoga. Harris is injury prone and another big guy, Napier from England, also gets injured often. I find it hard to find logic as to why being stronger will make you more likely to get injured - surely it will make you more injury resistant. So yeah, if anyone has research into that, I would like to read it.

It might be more with muscles. Muscles can get tighter and hard with weight training and you need more flexibility for fast bowling,

[rkt.india]

He made the difference in this series. 3 matches, 7 wickets, best 3/42, average 22.85, ER 6.62, SR 20.7

[rkt.india]

Another difference I noticed in Shami is he is hitting the deck harder now. Before he used to release the ball like PK which still had pace but ball would float. Now, he is hitting the deck harder and getting seam movement.

[msb1991]

^ Backing your players is a very good policy to have for a captain but, for that,the captain should ensure that the players selected have potential. If backed, for a reasonable length of time, he can develop into a good player. Players like Kohli, Pujara, Dhawan, Rohit, Ashwin, Umesh, Shami, BK etc. should be given the long rope. But players who are choosen, because nobody better is available or because of some politics, if given the long rope , harms the country and does not make any sense. I think a person of Dhoni's experience, knows it more than you and I , that Vinay has no potential. Also, it is not like players have not been discarded after a brief stint.

I think Dhoni thought Vinay had potential. Who knows, maybe he did have potential but didn't realise it. Potential is a subjective thing and I don't think you can reduce it to a set of objective features.

[Crookbond]

Another difference I noticed in Shami is he is hitting the deck harder now. Before he used to release the ball like PK which still had pace but ball would float. Now' date= he is hitting the deck harder and getting seam movement.

That's a good thing. I personally prefer bowlers who can get seam movement. You can't afford to relax against such ilk.

[rkt.india]

That's a good thing. I personally prefer bowlers who can get seam movement. You can't afford to relax against such ilk.

He is also looking seemingly quick off the pitch due to that.

[express bowling]

I think Dhoni thought Vinay had potential. Who knows' date=' maybe he did have potential but didn't realise it. Potential is a subjective thing and I don't think you can reduce it to a set of objective features.[/quote'] When objective features are ignored in decision making, it brings about inconsistency and often mediocracy.

[MCcricket]

Shami needs support, VK was pathetic and BK was not threatening at all, Aaron , Umesh, Suyal will make a good combo where pace and movement will cause anxiety to batters on both ends and they can be more effective.

[express bowling]

It might be more with muscles. Muscles can get tighter and hard with weight training and you need more flexibility for fast bowling' date=

Definitely. Flexibility is one of the key requirements of fast bowling. Some pacers have actually lost pace by becoming too bulky after adding too much muscle mass. The key , I guess , is to strike a balance, do strength and endurance training as well as strengthening ligaments and tendons. Having sufficient muscles But not losing flexibility. Top quicks in terms of pace, like Johnson, Umesh, Steyn, Morkel, Finn etc. have done just that.

[rkt.india]

Definitely. Flexibility is one of the key requirements of fast bowling. Some pacers have actually lost pace by becoming too bulky after adding too much muscle mass. The key , I guess , is to strike a balance, do strength and endurance training as well as strengthening ligaments and tendons. Having sufficient muscles But not losing flexibility. Top quicks in terms of pace, like Johnson, Umesh, Steyn, Morkel, Finn etc. have done just that.

Important thing is developing fast twitch muscles and that happens with quick reactions, quick exercises, which are important to keep fast twitch fibers working, strengthen, and develop further. Like if you are to become a sprinter, you will practice running fast for a short distance because you are developing speed and it will be a routine exercise for you but if you want to become a Marathon runner, you will run slow but for longer periods to develop endurance. In fast bowling, both are needed and should be balanced. Keep trying to bowl fast every time you get a ball in the nets which brings fast twitch fibers into action. If you do not do that, you might eventually slow down. Same way, need to bring quicker and shorter set of weight exercises rather than longer and slower.

[express bowling]

Shami needs support' date=' VK was pathetic and BK was not threatening at all, Aaron , Umesh, Suyal will make a good combo where pace and movement will cause anxiety to batters on both ends and they can be more effective.[/quote'] You may have noticed that BK was getting less zip from the surface than the earlier few series. He was 5k slower too. That is perhaps the reason why he had not looked threatening. Shami, Umesh, Aaron and Suyal should be part of our pacer pool surely. They are the ones who can combine pace with movement and actually threaten batsmen under most conditions. We need pressure from both ends. All these pacers hit the deck and get seam movement too, which is very important. Swing is not always on offer but seam movement is available if the bowler has good seam position, can land the ball on the seam and hit the deck hard. I would like a couple of good tall pacers in this pool to provide some bounce. Pandey is perhaps the only realistic option now. To some extent Dhawal.

[rkt.india]

Y Shami, Umesh, Aaron and Suyal should be part of our pacer pool surely. I would like a couple of good tall pacers in this pool to provide some bounce. Pandey is perhaps the only realistic option now. To some extent Dhawal.

Add Rahul Shukla too. BK was certainly low in pace this series, but I think that is what is his actual pace. This is what he used to bowl in domestic cricket too. Or might be due to playing too much cricket in a small time frame had something to do with it.

[CG]

Yes. South Australia wicket keeper Graham Manou used to keep him up to the stumps on those days. He then worked with Joe Dawes as he shifted to Queensland. Dawes was Queensland coach at that time.

THAT Ryan Harris is known in cricket circles as ''Ryano'' is primarily an example of the generally lazy approach to nicknames in sporting teams in Australia. Inadvertently, it is apt. Its homonym, ''rhino'', reflects the 31-year-old's physique and his approach to cricket - rugged, aggressive, combative. Harris's rise to the Test team is the antithesis of what is seen as the best way forward now, with under-age squads leading into specialised coaching and then first-class cricket by, or just after, the late teens. He did not make his debut for South Australia until he was 22. In his first six years he played 16 matches, with his 30 wickets therein coming at the part-timer-like average of 45.8. Former Test opener Michael Slater faced Harris four times in domestic cricket when he was at the end of his playing career and Harris was starting his. The 31-year-old regularly bowled above 140 km/h in Perth - quicker than Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle - and Slater said in his television commentary that he was stunned that Harris's pace had increased so drastically. Harris agreed - but cannot explain it. ''Definitely the past four or five years [the pace has increased]. I don't know what it is. Whether I've put a bit more weight on or more muscle, I don't know. I just had a breakthrough season [in 2007-08] before I left South Australia, where I just started bowling a bit quicker. What it was exactly [that changed] I still don't know. Whatever it was I'm still doing it,'' Harris said. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/ryan-harris-gathering-pace-20101220-1934q.html#ixzz2jZzFJpAI http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/ryan-harris-gathering-pace-20101220-1934q.html

[Old guy]

Add Rahul Shukla too. BK was certainly low in pace this series' date=' but I think that is what is his actual pace. This is what he used to bowl in domestic cricket too. Or might be due to playing too much cricket in a small time frame had something to do with it.[/quote'] bk will again do fine on tracks which provide help .. before this series started i just asked has he ever played on pattas and people thought i was trolling but truth is he has been lucky with tracks and conditions .. he needs to develop further and get stronger too

[Lord]

bk will again do fine on tracks which provide help .. before this series started i just asked has he ever played on pattas and people thought i was trolling but truth is he has been lucky with tracks and conditions .. he needs to develop further and get stronger too

atleast he was economical. also bowled good yorkers at the end and showed he can develop into a good death bowler too. Him and Shami should be two of our pacers now.3rd one can be Shukla/Mohit

[Old guy]

atleast he was economical. also bowled good yorkers at the end and showed he can develop into a good death bowler too. Him and Shami should be two of our pacers now.3rd one can be Shukla/Mohit

yeah he is def good enough to be in our side.. i was not talking about that i meant he needs to further develop ,afterall he is still very young .. death bowling i do not know man..seriously speaking he can be decent but i still think you need bit of pace at end ..still do not ever bowl ishant or vinay at end..bk should atleast bowl ahead of them

[rkt.india]

Age shall not weary – nor the years condemn – Ryan Harris, Australia’s least likely, but most destructive, Test quick. On sub-continental cricket blogs, where life is a metaphor for cricket and nothing goes unnoticed, serious attention has been given to this current Australia-South Africa Test series. With one Test down in a two-Test series, many are all a-flurry about this truncated clash between two tearaway titans, who, they say, are vying, along with India’s Zaheer Khan (who tours Australia in the summer), for the title of world’s most destructive new-ball practitioner. The contenders have been on display in the Indian Premier League for a few years now, but Australia’s candidate might’ve been considered utterly improbable three years ago. The blogosphere still has its share of sceptics. Many in his home country hardly know he exists. In the lead-up to this series, many thought the comparison with Steyn, in particular, ludicrous, like that funny cartoon in which a scrawny Bugs Bunny takes on a gargantuan mound of muscle, an undefeated world champion named Crusher. After the lengthy, hyperbolic centre-ring introduction exalting the terrifyingly indestructible titleholder, you know where it’s headed: “AND IN THIS CORNER … er, Bugs Bunny?” “Ladies and gentlemen, in the blue corner, weighing in at 46 Tests, for 238 wickets, at an average of 23.21 for a strike rate of 39.9 – the third greatest strike rate of all time – we have one of the most destructive pace bowlers of his generation. At 28 years of age, at the peak of his powers; the 2008 ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, boasting 5 wickets in an innings 16 times, 10 for a match four times, and a best of 7/51 in Test matches. The Duke of Yorker, Baron of the Bender, the Phalaborwa Phantom, DALE STEYN! “And in the red corner, weighing in at seven Test matches, at 32 years of age, we have ... er, Ryan Harris?” But the parallels with that animated artefact end right there. “Ryano” is no Bugs Bunny. In fact, he’s no bunny in any sense, even taking into account cricket’s contribution to the vernacular. If Harris is not the world’s best bowler, or the most destructive, or the most invaluable, he’s certainly the most surprising – a clump of fast-bowling contradictions; the exception that proves the rule in almost every instance. It’s pretty unusual these days to see a bloke who’s not a lot taller than Ricky Ponting charging into the crease and letting them go at the 150km/h mark. It’s not that it can’t be done. Just as tall boxers don’t have a mortgage on power (witness two of the most spiteful smashers of all time, Marciano and Tyson), so the lofty don’t necessarily own fast bowling. The combination of mechanics, musculature, leverage, explosiveness, power, endurance, suppleness and little local strengths that it all entails, is a mystery that might never entirely be solved. But we live in reductionist times. Most things are analysed to death, and the outputs are as monotonously reliable as a hot-afternoon spell from Curtly Ambrose: tall fast bowlers like Ambrose, McGrath, Johnson, Walsh, Morkel and Tremlett best fit the bill. The shorter blokes can generate as much speed (witness Larwood, Marshall and the other Tyson – Frank); they make up for longitudinal lacks with bustle and muscle, but their loping, lanky counterparts seem to strain themselves a lot less. The long-limbed are proving to be a lot more long-lived. Given all that, it must be said that Harris is no bustling boofhead, rather a wholehearted master craftsman. His carriage is not elegant, but it’s neat. The squat and powerful Picasso didn’t have to be a picture of elegance in order to paint one. Harris has proved to be a match-turning weapon. Not pretty, just penetrating. In fact, a fit Harris is the sort of bowler any captain might’ve wanted, in any era. He keeps them honest, keeps them in two minds, and gets wickets. He doesn’t just go all day; he bowls at good pace the whole time. He’s a good-natured team man, an exemplar who absolutely makes the most of every morsel, in every area of his life, and certainly on the field. A swing-bowling conjurer who can match Steyn trick for trick. An affable and malevolent trickster. What more could anyone want? You’ve got to love an exception to the rule. He himself is acutely aware of his role as a poster-boy for paradigm-breakers. “I’ve been on trips with [ex-Bulls coach] Joe Dawes trying to find kids to bowl fast. Joey enjoyed having me, because it broke the rules, where you don’t have to be six-foot-six. I always wished I could’ve grown another three or four inches. It does help. But being shorter, it gets onto the batsman quicker than they’re expecting, I guess.” However, there’s more to the Ryan Harris heresy than height. He’s dramatically increased his pace, and at a late age. Many medium-pacers aspired to tearaway status before coming to terms with their body-bound limitations and developing all those compensatory tricks that make them such a great part of the game. Not so long ago, Harris was approaching the wicket like a pedestrian, bowling pedestrian deliveries to a ‘keeper (Graham Manou) standing over the stumps, and getting pedestrian returns. “Graham standing up to the stumps to me was always a good sign the ball wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to,” he laughs – now. Harris praises the coaches who’d worked with him in Adelaide. He also spent a lot of time working in solitude and obscurity, strengthening his legs and trunk and putting on kilos, which, he swears, made all the difference to his mysterious conversion. “I remember the game against WA in Adelaide when everything clicked, and I took my first five-for. The ball just came out swinging and at good pace.” His good mate, Manou, came up to him, a little amazed, and said, “What’s going on? Your pace has just gone up.” “I said, ‘I don’t know.’ Momentum is pretty important when you bowl, and whether being heavier and having a bit more weight going through the crease ... I don’t know. I didn’t try to make major adjustments. It was pretty similar to what I’d always done.” He also attributes much of his improvement to the fact that he’s older, and concentrating more on success. His 20s, he confesses, went too quickly. “I’ve been looking after myself a lot better. If I had my time over, I’d probably do it a bit differently.” Recently, Cricinfo updated his status from fast-medium to fast. Few bowlers have increased their pace mid-career, especially to world-class level. Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee come to mind. Both were already playing Test cricket when they made the transformation, therefore had the advantage of flourishing in the best of possible nurseries. Neither was a prodigy who announced his considerable talent from the outset. Harris certainly didn’t.

This article was posted by you. Cricket_God.

[msb1991]

When objective features are ignored in decision making' date=' it brings about inconsistency and often mediocracy.[/quote'] I don't think you can say that without becoming pretty hardcore in support of a statistical based approach to selection. Things like height and release speed cannot be really called genuine objective factors considering height is only valuable in terms of bounce and release speed in terms of the difficulty for the batsmen to react.