Mitchell Johnson vs. Dale Steyn

[express bowling]

You haven't seen Waqar in his prime then.

People like Waqar and Afridi have never left their prime officially. :cantstop:

[Raghav_12]

Exactly. But be prepared for a 3 page reply. :cantstop:

I have been telling for sometime that he uses ICF for typing practice.

[Old guy]

I have been telling for sometime that he uses ICF for typing practice.

:hysterical:

[cricraja]

First he helps his team to 5-0 drubbing of the Englishmen in the Ashes, when they were not at all favored. Now he gets a 12-fer, to demolish SA in their own backyard in the 1st Test. He has been the difference in these 6 Tests. Excepting Marshall, I do not remember someone being so consistent in destroying teams, Test after Test and winning games almost at will.

[FischerTal]

I have been telling for sometime that he uses ICF for typing practice.

Looney tunes types BS at will. Its up to you to not bang your head on the wall while sifting through his granth-esque posts :nice: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Muloghonto]

First he helps his team to 5-0 drubbing of the Englishmen in the Ashes, when they were not at all favored. Now he gets a 12-fer, to demolish SA in their own backyard in the 1st Test. He has been the difference in these 6 Tests. Excepting Marshall, I do not remember someone being so consistent in destroying teams, Test after Test and winning games almost at will.

Of the bowlers I've seen, being singlehandedly the difference and winning matches for their team, match after match, for 6-10 matches in a row, with frightening speed, intimidation & skill: Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop, Marshall, Holding, Lillee, Thommo, Roberts, Croft. Keep in mind, the big reason he's succeeding, apart from his obvious skill and menace, is because this crop of batsmen have not faced such quality hostility at top speed ( 147-150kph consistently) for some time now. Akhtar was the last of the 'menace' bowler before Johnson and his peak probably passed him around 2004-2006. It was harder to be this destructive back in the 70s-90s period because almost everyone faced such hostility in every other series, so the 'novelty factor' of facing such pace & bounce for the first time in years did not exist.

[cricraja]

On current form Mitch is way above everyone at the moment, he is in a different league, guy is doing something extra ordinary, extracting extra pace & bounce from short of a good length area consistently , starting from India vs Australia '13 ODI series till the current test, he has a perfect pivot in his bowling action which allows him to bang the ball into the pitch with fierce energy. Overall, Steyn has been more consistent backed with a legendary record. But on current form, even Steyn would agree that Mitch is bowling in a different league altogether. I have started to admire this guy, after a long long time cricketing world is watching a bowler who could scare the daylights out of a batsman.

Spot on.

[cricraja]

Of the bowlers I've seen, being singlehandedly the difference and winning matches for their team, match after match, for 6-10 matches in a row, with frightening speed, intimidation & skill: Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop, Marshall, Holding, Lillee, Thommo, Roberts, Croft. Keep in mind, the big reason he's succeeding, apart from his obvious skill and menace, is because this crop of batsmen have not faced such quality hostility at top speed ( 147-150kph consistently) for some time now. Akhtar was the last of the 'menace' bowler before Johnson and his peak probably passed him around 2004-2006. It was harder to be this destructive back in the 70s-90s period because almost everyone faced such hostility in every other series, so the 'novelty factor' of facing such pace & bounce for the first time in years did not exist.

I have seen and followed cricket all thru from late 70's and 80's, when most of these bowlers played or started playing. Excepting Marshall, with due respect to everyone there in that list, no one instilled the fear as Mitch did in these last 6 Tests (when his team won all tests primarily due to him) while getting the wickets which is the key. Not to say overall MJ is better than each one in that list, at this point. But if he continues this kind of a streak and form for the next 2 years, I think he will regarded a great bowler. While we are in the midst of something special like this, as a cricket fan you need to admire it.

[CG]

Pitches and techniques of batsman have also contributed to mitch fear factor.We have been playing on some flat tracks last decade so when suddenly pitches have spiced up many batsman are caught napping.

[Muloghonto]

I have seen and followed cricket all thru from late 70's and 80's, when most of these bowlers played or started playing. Excepting Marshall, with due respect to everyone there in that list, no one instilled the fear as Mitch did in these last 6 Tests (when his team won all tests primarily due to him) while getting the wickets which is the key. Not to say overall MJ is better than each one in that list, at this point. But if he continues this kind of a streak and form for the next 2 years, I think he will regarded a great bowler. While we are in the midst of something special like this, as a cricket fan you need to admire it.

If you think Roberts, Holding, Ambrose, Bishop, Lillee, Croft, Thommo, did not instill fear into the batsmen, then i doubt your claim to;ve watched cricket of that era. Holding in particular was brutally menacing with his perfume balls and Roberts used the best bouncer i've ever seen, skewering people with it with alarming regularity. All these names I mentioned, got wickets through the bunches at their peak while rag-dolling batsmen like Mitch is doing right now. Except they were doing it to batsmen who were much more acclamatised to such brutal pace torture, which made it harder IMO. Yes, if he continues to pick up 6-7 wickets per match for another 2-3 years, which translates to 150-180 wickets, then he'd have a legitimate claim to be an ATG bowler.

[Muloghonto]

Pitches and techniques of batsman have also contributed to mitch fear factor.We have been playing on some flat tracks last decade so when suddenly pitches have spiced up many batsman are caught napping.

No, not spicy pitches per se, its suddenly a bowler is bowling at 150kph while zinging balls past your nose, nailing your fingers to the handle, thudding one into the shoulder, all along feeding you full length deliveries that have movement, for caught behinds. This type of bowler has been missing in international cricket for quite a while, so there is the novelty factor involved.

[CG]

No, not spicy pitches per se, its suddenly a bowler is bowling at 150kph while zinging balls past your nose, nailing your fingers to the handle, thudding one into the shoulder, all along feeding you full length deliveries that have movement, for caught behinds. This type of bowler has been missing in international cricket for quite a while, so there is the novelty factor involved.

I have seen him bowl at similar speeds,he was sensational on sa tour earlier also and man y times broke smith but the mindset he has now of attacking batsman body was missing.he used to try to swing the ball in ,which was never his forte .You got to credit australia for using him this way too.

[rkt.india]

Pitches and techniques of batsman have also contributed to mitch fear factor.We have been playing on some flat tracks last decade so when suddenly pitches have spiced up many batsman are caught napping.

Most of the pitches in Ashes were flat, reason likes of Anderson struggled. Even Centurian pitch was not exactly spicey, reason no other bowler got that amount if success as Mitch.

[rkt.india]

No, not spicy pitches per se, its suddenly a bowler is bowling at 150kph while zinging balls past your nose, nailing your fingers to the handle, thudding one into the shoulder, all along feeding you full length deliveries that have movement, for caught behinds. This type of bowler has been missing in international cricket for quite a while, so there is the novelty factor involved.

Morkel, Steyn also bowled pretty much the same pace but didn't have that much impact. It's his bowling action which has deceived batsmen along with skiddy pace.

[cricraja]

If you think Roberts' date= Holding, Ambrose, Bishop, Lillee, Croft, Thommo, did not instill fear into the batsmen, then i doubt your claim to;ve watched cricket of that era. Holding in particular was brutally menacing with his perfume balls and Roberts used the best bouncer i've ever seen, skewering people with it with alarming regularity. All these names I mentioned, got wickets through the bunches at their peak while rag-dolling batsmen like Mitch is doing right now. Except they were doing it to batsmen who were much more acclamatised to such brutal pace torture, which made it harder IMO. Yes, if he continues to pick up 6-7 wickets per match for another 2-3 years, which translates to 150-180 wickets, then he'd have a legitimate claim to be an ATG bowler.

Looks it is silly to get into discussions as to who instilled how much fear, and in how many games and all that kind of a stuff. What Johnson is doing here is win game after game, excepting Marshall no one else did it, from your list. Johnson won 4 MOM awards in those 6 games. Show me from your list in a span of 6 successive games and counting, anyone who got so many wickets at such a low average and S/R, bowling consistently at 150KMPH (which surely instills fear).

[CG]

Morkel' date=' Steyn also bowled pretty much the same pace but didn't have that much impact. It's his bowling action which has deceived batsmen along with skiddy pace.[/quote'] Left arm quick are rare also.In history how many genuine left arm quicks were there?

[Muloghonto]

Morkel' date=' Steyn also bowled pretty much the same pace but didn't have that much impact. It's his bowling action which has deceived batsmen along with skiddy pace.[/quote'] Morkel does not bowl regularly at 147-150kph. he bowls more at the 140-145 kph range. Steyn does not target the body as much, he doesn't need to since he's got so many tools in his kit that he doesnt need to do the classic 'peg them on the backfoot by bowling fast & at their body and then mix in a fast & full one for driving/lbw/bowled'. Morkel bowls at the speed of Joel Garner, with less control, bounce, brains and no yorker.

[Muloghonto]

Looks it is silly to get into discussions as to who instilled how much fear, and in how many games and all that kind of a stuff. What Johnson is doing here is win game after game, excepting Marshall no one else did it, from your list. Johnson won 4 MOM awards in those 6 games. Show me from your list in a span of 6 successive games and counting, anyone who got so many wickets at such a low average and S/R, bowling consistently at 150KMPH (which surely instills fear).

Ambrose, Holding, Roberts, Lillee, Thommo- they all had a 5-6 match series, taking 30+ wickets in those ones bowling with such menace, low average/er and bowling at 150kph range consistently. They took less wickets because they did have to contend with other brutally fast & menacing bowlers taking wickets also. If Johnson had another Johnson besides him, like Holding had Roberts, Marshall had Holding, he'd have taken less wickets too, correct ?

[Muloghonto]

Left arm quick are rare also.In history how many genuine left arm quicks were there?

genuine left arm quicks who'd walk into any team practically: Wasim Akram, Alan Davidson & Bruce Reid (when fit).

[cricraja]

genuine left arm quicks who'd walk into any team practically: Wasim Akram' date=' Alan Davidson & Bruce Reid (when fit).[/quote']When fit? Really. Now you are clutching on to your straws. If's and but's. Fitness and injuries are a very important aspect of the game, fair or not. On display Shane Bond is better than anyone, if only he stayed healthy. That does not mean we can place him, in the list of all time great bowlers based on "when fit".