Cricket today - Chapter 1 - Fast Bowling

In the early stages of an innings, a game or even a day of play, people of the game converse much about the important role the pitch plays. At the beginning of the day’s play it is usually true that there is a bit of dew and that the conditions generally favour the fast bowlers. There are numerous fast bowlers in the dressing room waiting for a turn to get out there and perform.

Teams throughout the world are more used to having fast bowlers as their strike bowlers and there have been just so many of that breed – from Wes Hall and Griffith to Lillee, Thompson and Hadlee, to Walsh, Ambrose, McGrath and Pollock – who have spearheaded their respective attacks. But what’s the situation of the quickies today?

Well, one thing’s for sure - there’s lots and lots of talent around. There’s a host of medium pacers coming into their national sides as freshers, many doing well, some performing averagely.

Almost every test nation has a decent pace attack or at least one which shows promise for the future. Some pacers – most conspicuously from Australia (Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, etc.) – are coming of age, gaining experience and enjoying the international stage. Some pacers are in the news for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, since the departure of McGrath, the cricketing world is looking for a fast bowler who will find a place in history books and the records for their exemplary performances. Although Pollock is still there, he is not exactly performing as well as we all know he can of late.

The positive point of today’s pace bowling situation world over is the wonderfully combined blend of the different styles of fast bowlers. There are genuinely quick fast bowlers – Malinga, Tait and Shoaib – and the bowlers with the more subconsciously and emotionally pleasing and satisfying methods of getting the batsman to walk back like Pollock, Mathew Hoggard, Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Asif, etc.

The disappointing fact is that the number of constantly probing bowlers has come down sharply in the international circuit. There is a constant question in my as to who will take over from McGrath as that great great bowler of the contemporary generation who every batman in the world fears inside. Only time will tell.

There are a lot of new faces who have started performing. One example is the English Ryan Sidebottom. After playing a single test a few years ago, the southpaw was picked for the series against the West Indies and picked up 8 wickets in the second match of the series. No spectacular deliveries; just intelligent, tidy and consistent bowling. A look at his pitch map will confirm this.

A point - Jason Gillespie scored a double hundred in the last match he played and hasn’t played for more than a year (he’s a bowler and night watchman) but is surprised that his contract has been renewed by CA!

There’s just so much to look forward to in the fast bowling ranks in the future – so many things to be finished, so much suspense.

This is part of a series discussing every kind of bowling (fast bowling, off spin bowling, leg spin bowling, left arm spin bowling.)-BS