Being Boring is What Bowlers Need to do: Kumble

[express bowling]

An excerpt  from an interview with Anil Kumble  published in  Cricketnext  

 

http://www.news18.com/cricketnext/news/being-boring-is-what-bowlers-need-to-do-kumble-1271761.html

 

 Kumble said being boring is what the bowlers need to do in Test Cricket.

"In the bowling department, we will be focusing of consistent lengths and being boring. That's what we need to do when playing Test cricket. The emphasis will also be on the catching as they are important to win the games," said Kumble, while responding to queries from fans during an Q/A session on twitter.

Kumble said both spinners and pacers will have to bowl in tandem on the slower West Indies wickets.

"I believe that bowlers also bowl in partnerships like batsmen play in partnership. Spinners and fast bowlers will have an equal role. The wickets have so far been on the slower side but I don't know what kind of wickets will be in the four Test matches. Indian spinner will have an important role to play for us to win the series," he said.

 

 

 

Kumble has raised a very important point about test match bowling.  It is not about  trying to be flashy and trying to produce one  magic delivery once in a blue-moon  but it is about  being disciplined spell after spell and bowling in good areas consistently.   We were discussing this issue in another thread a couple of weeks back.  Even a pacer  who is bowling 145 k  needs to do this without losing pace.   Even a pacer whose role is to soften batsmen with pace and bounce needs to do this.

Edited July 20, 2016 by express bowling

[Adi_91]

Kumble is right. You need to match the boring WI style of test cricket with that type of bowling. 

 

 

[maniac]

Devanagre to  Westindies on the cards

[sourab10forever]

3 minutes ago, maniac said:

Devanagre to  Westindies on the cards

davangere 

[MechEng]

Kumble is talking about classic test match bowling here, the Mcgrath-Ambrose-Walsh approach to bowling.

[mishra]

Being boring in bowling as well as batting is what wins test matches. Next match for Eng Pak series.   " Maybe it’s time to rediscover the Geoff Boycott art of batting. If you have to bore the c**p out of Yasir for six hours, then do it. "

Edited July 20, 2016 by mishra

[maniac]

1 minute ago, mishra said:

Being boring in bowling as well as batting is what wins test matches. Next match for Eng Pak series.   " Maybe it’s time to rediscover the Geoff Boycott art of batting. If you have to bore the c**p out of Yasir for six hours, then do it. "

Bhaijaan kabhi kabhi apne series ke baare bhi baat kiya keejiye

[sourab10forever]

6 minutes ago, mishra said:

Being boring in bowling as well as batting is what wins test matches. Next match for Eng Pak series.   " Maybe it’s time to rediscover the Geoff Boycott art of batting. If you have to bore the c**p out of Yasir for six hours, then do it. "

I believe that deffence always doesn't work against spinners.When the conditions are assisting a spinner you are better off scoring at a decent pace because you are likely to get out in some times anyways.You might block 25 balls and score 10 runs or just go for 15 off 15 and then get out.You can't leave balls against spinners...but you can against pacers.

[mishra]

18 minutes ago, sourab10forever said:

I believe that deffence always doesn't work against spinners.When the conditions are assisting a spinner you are better off scoring at a decent pace because you are likely to get out in some times anyways.You might block 25 balls and score 10 runs or just go for 15 off 15 and then get out.You can't leave balls against spinners...but you can against pacers.

Only when the conditions are assisting. Even then also you can beat the crap out of a spinner if he is not a Kumble,Warne or Murali or its not a rank turner. How many times we have seen a leggie starting with over the wicket and then after 10-15 overs, he starts coming round the wicket and batsman who should use pads to stop the ball goes on to play with bat and giving wicket. In second inning England started well against Yasir but lost the plot.

 

Most tests finish by end of day 3 or morning of 4th, If you are only going to score just 15, then IMO a 15 off 50-60 balls is way way better than a 15 off 15 balls. Because in later case the bowler who took that wicket will be pumped up and raring to go against next bat.

[Nova]

When teams have boring bowlers to begin with, this is the strategy. 

Jokes aside, it's about grinding and getting the basics right, but we all know that.

[SLICKR392]

Spot on. Pretty much the same sh!t that everyone talks about though. More about boring the batsman and surprising him with a delivery

[FischerTal]

its easy to talk. our bowlers have been mostly clueless, from umesh to aaron to even shami and ishant, they just can't bowl even one good over.

[hazharoon]

Absolute legend. Anil Kumble, what a classy guy. He knows what he's talking about.

[Ankit_sharma03]

Biggest lesson kumble could give to bowlers in this day n age of t20 where bowlers try to do something different on every bowl and have forgotten how to bowl in test. Being boring doesnt mean bowling negative it mean bowling gud lengths n asking batsman question every ball n trapping a batsman. This was kumble's biggest strength as bowler, he was always on the batsman asking question and testing his patience. IF aaron n umesh learns this lesson nothing would be better than it. You can have all the talent but u need the right mindset and a lesson from the legend about it not only for bowlers but batsman as well. 

[Brainfade]

Shouldn't be a one size fits all recipe.  Some bowlers are mercurial. Others metronomical. You must manage them all. But then again, he has 619 test wkts and I have none :)).

[tweaker]

Our bowlers doesn't have the basics to bowl boring line & length.They will bowl all over the place

[express bowling]

" Boring bowling "  means bowling to a plan for an entire spell and having discipline. It means having patience and not trying  something different and spectacular  if a wicket does not fall every over.  It means setting up batsmen over an entire spell.

 

If the plan is to bowl a combination of outswingers and straighter deliveries for 4 or 5 balls in an over and punctuate it by 2 or 1  bouncers, to push the batsmen on the backfoot, then the pacer must do so for his entire spell. He should not try inswingers , yorkers and slower deliveries if a wicket does not fall in the first or second over.  This is precisely what most of our pacers do most of the time. They try too many different types of deliveries without having a plan in mind.

 

If the plan is to bowl 4 short-pitched rising deliveries at the batsman's body and punctuate it by 2 yorkers, maybe in the second session because the ball is not moving around but the pitch has variable bounce...then that is what the pacer must do. he should not try to bowl outswingers if a wicket does not fall in the first over due to this strategy.

 

Boring bowling does not mean cutting down on pace and bounce but combining discipline with the pace and bounce.  For spinners it does not mean cutting down on spin and bounce but it means bowling bowling to a plan and pitching lots of deliveries in the right area.

 

Almost all  great test bowlers, especially in the last 25 years, have been " boring bowlers "  in that sense.

Edited July 21, 2016 by express bowling

[mishra]

^ Exactly, Absolutely spot on message from Kumble to everyone that dont try to fox the bat or attempt to bowl that one or two delivery every over which may give you wicket. No slower ones or spins. Just bowl and bowl and bowl in right areas for 4-5 overs at least till you try one wicket taking ball.

 

 

[adi B]

Kumble's right but our bowlers barring Ishant and Bhuvi just cant be tight

[putrevus]

Any spectators in the ground????