Has any batsman pwned Ambrose by thrashing him all around the park?

[FischerTal]

anyone vs Akram?

wasim in his autobiography talked about 4 batsmen who for him, were most difficult to bowl to. 1) Martin Crowe 2) Aravinda De Silva 3) Rahul Dravid 4) Brian Lara

[Crookbond]

Wasim Akram found Martin Crowe difficult to bowl because Crowe played reverse swing really well. According to Wasim, Crowe is the best player of reverse swing. I think Wasim Akram rates Gavaskar as the best batsmen he has bowled to. In the Wasim Akram XI series on ESPNCricinfo, he picked the following XI batsmen as the toughest he has bowled to : Gavaskar (he's still in awe of him) Martin Crowe (only person he said knew how to play reverse swing) Gilchrist (ODIs) Inzamam-Ul-Haq Andy Flower (played his bouncers very well) Jacques Kallis Alec Stewart Jayasuriya Mark Taylor Carl Hooper Desmond Haynes You can check what he says about each of them on ESPNCricinfo Youtube channel.

[vvvslaxman]

anyone vs Akram?

From Indian side Sanjay Manjrekar, Sadagopan Ramesh There were not many contests anyway apart from Sharjah ODIs. Tendulkar played him well. . From world cricket Mark Taylor, Slater, Mark Waugh, Carl Hooper are few guys that i know played him. Hooper picked his yorker at will. Infact toyed with him in one of the one dayer i saw.

[vamos_rafa]

If anything Tendulkar struggled against Ambrose.. The height bothered him. Dravid played him much better with his "jumping" defense. Probably the best player against AMbrose on that tour.

No sir. Sachin did not stuggle per se. It's just the height difference which makes you thinks so. Also, Sachin played a more attacking brand of cricket then, so obviously he was at times not as tight. Sachin+Dravid were by far the best batters on that tour for us against some seriously good fast bowlers. Infact, Walsh at times troubled Sachin in the ODI series with his incoming deliveries, which has been his bane time and again.

[FischerTal]

To bring this thread to its logical conclusion, NO he was never smacked around by any batsmen.

[Crookbond]

^ Basit Ali :dontknow:

[ravishingravi]

Yes Basit Ali. Sharjah

[FischerTal]

^ Basit Ali :dontknow:

Yes Basit Ali. Sharjah

okay maybe once :icflove:

[Crookbond]

Most such occurrences were towards end of Ambrose's career (in Odis). List of Ambrose Bowling in ODIs with highest Economy Rates (ODIs) No code has to be inserted here.

[rkt.india]

To bring this thread to its logical conclusion' date=' NO he was never smacked around by any batsmen.[/quote'] Would have been thrashed today in this T20 age.

[FischerTal]

Most such occurrences were towards end of Ambrose's career (in Odis). List of Ambrose Bowling in ODIs with highest Economy Rates (ODIs) No code has to be inserted here.

okay im out :vroam:

[Khalpat]

I think Imran Khan has done that in one of the match in Sharjah. Do not remember the exact year but he smashed him all round the park sometime late eighties.

[Khalpat]

I think Imran Khan has done that in one of the match in Sharjah. Do not remember the exact year but he smashed him all round the park sometime late eighties.

I think it was this match, may be our Pakistani friends can confirm: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65943.html Out of topic , in the same tournament what a match this was India Vs Pakistan, India lost by 4 runs http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/65945.html What a batting by Tendulkar against Akram, Imran, Waqar and team 38 balls 49 run :hatsoff:

[Muloghonto]

He never was extreme quick. Had similar pace like Yadav and Steyn.

No. He was a shade slower than Akhtar/Lee at their peak.Except he had about 3 times the stamina of Lee or Akhtar.That is what batsmen who've faced him say and that counts for more than anything else.

[Muloghonto]

Would have been thrashed today in this T20 age.

You clearly havnt seen Ambrose if you think that.

[Ultimate_Game]

You clearly havnt seen Ambrose if you think that.

Times change and with it the game. Even Steyn gets hammered occasionally in shorter formats so it wouldn't be a reach to say Ambrose would have been hit around in T20s as well. He would have been a great bowler but not unhittable.

[Muloghonto]

Times change and with it the game. Even Steyn gets hammered occasionally in shorter formats so it wouldn't be a reach to say Ambrose would have been hit around in T20s as well. He would have been a great bowler but not unhittable.

The bowlers who i think would be unhittable in the modern day T20 leagues would be Ambrose, Walsh & Garner. Ie, all of them taller than 6'9 and all of them capable of bowling short of good length bouncers. When the ball is comming at you at 90mph , where it bounces at good length and shoots up at your shoulder, its practically impossible to hit. This is why Ambrose, Walsh, etc. have economy rates of 3.5 or better in a day and age where every stingy fast bowler was going at 3.8-4.0 rpo. Given that today's batsmen are constantly looking to come on the front foot, have wonkier backfoot techniques and have practically never learnt how to hook, I dont think the abovementioned bowlers would be too badly off in the T20 era. If anything, Ambrose, Walsh & Garner would be crushing a lot more skulls today. Every other bowler- Marshall,Holding included - would get carted more than they did in their times but these three, i dont think would get much stick even today. Anytime you can bowl short of good length deliveries in the subcontinent and good length deliveries outside that bounce between your heart and your shoulder, it is pretty much 'automatically unhittable bowler' zone.

[Ultimate_Game]

The bowlers who i think would be unhittable in the modern day T20 leagues would be Ambrose, Walsh & Garner. Ie, all of them taller than 6'9 and all of them capable of bowling short of good length bouncers. When the ball is comming at you at 90mph , where it bounces at good length and shoots up at your shoulder, its practically impossible to hit. This is why Ambrose, Walsh, etc. have economy rates of 3.5 or better in a day and age where every stingy fast bowler was going at 3.8-4.0 rpo. Given that today's batsmen are constantly looking to come on the front foot, have wonkier backfoot techniques and have practically never learnt how to hook, I dont think the abovementioned bowlers would be too badly off in the T20 era. If anything, Ambrose, Walsh & Garner would be crushing a lot more skulls today. Every other bowler- Marshall,Holding included - would get carted more than they did in their times but these three, i dont think would get much stick even today. Anytime you can bowl short of good length deliveries in the subcontinent and good length deliveries outside that bounce between your heart and your shoulder, it is pretty much 'automatically unhittable bowler' zone.

There's no such thing as "automatically unhittable". Batsmen would have adopted different approaches and strategies. The deliveries that you talk about - between heart and shoulder - would have been ideal for a ramp shot in T20s. The only thing that we can be sure of is that these great bowlers would still have been great, just like Steyn would have been if he had played in an earlier era, but I don't think any bowler would have been "unhittable" in T20s. Just like Steyn gets hammered occasionally, so would have been those legends on occasions.

[Muloghonto]

There's no such thing as "automatically unhittable". Batsmen would have adopted different approaches and strategies. The deliveries that you talk about - between heart and shoulder - would have been ideal for a ramp shot in T20s. The only thing that we can be sure of is that these great bowlers would still have been great' date= just like Steyn would have been if he had played in an earlier era, but I don't think any bowler would have been "unhittable" in T20s. Just like Steyn gets hammered occasionally, so would have been those legends on occasions.

Ramp shots work for short and bouncy balls outside the offstump. How on earth do you ramp one that is swinging in at that height ? Walsh had a killer inswinger- probably the best in the game. Steyn and all other pacers dont get the absurd level of bounce Walsh, Ambrose and Garner got and its the absurdity of their bounce along with their pin point accuracy that makes them unhittable. Even in 1996 world cup when Sachin was working up a storm, he couldnt hammer Walsh or Ambrose- because they kept bowling good length deliveries that held its line, mixed with good length deliveries that seamed back in and ended up at Tendy's ribcage or higher. You cant really pull a good length delivery, no matter how much it bounces unless you pre-meditate it. Steyn is a Waqar Younis-esque attack the stumps type of bowler. He is way better than Waqar ever was (and way cleverer IMO) but there is a reason why Ambrose and Walsh had much much lower economy rates than any other fast bowler from their era. McGrath,Pollock & Akram were as economical as they come and they had economy of 3.7-3.9 range. Bloody good if you ask me. But Walsh & Ambrose had 3.4-3.6 economy IIRC and a big reason was that they got more bounce than Morkel gets off of good length & short of good length, while having Akram-Pollock-esque control.

[vvvslaxman]

No sir. Sachin did not stuggle per se. It's just the height difference which makes you thinks so. Also, Sachin played a more attacking brand of cricket then, so obviously he was at times not as tight. Sachin+Dravid were by far the best batters on that tour for us against some seriously good fast bowlers. Infact, Walsh at times troubled Sachin in the ODI series with his incoming deliveries, which has been his bane time and again.

Not makes me think so. I followed that series. It was a fact. Atleast couple of Ambrose spells i clearly remember Tendulkar was very uncomfortable.