Wanted! Quality bowlers in international cricket
Fans in the last few decades have seen the cricketing stage being dominated by some absolutely world class bowlers who had the ability to devastate the best batting line-up’s on any given day.
The last few decades in the cricketing world saw the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, Chaminda Vaas, Malcolm Marshal, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and many others entertaining all and sundry across cricket stadiums around the globe. When looked at the statistics of bowlers who have left their mark in the history of the game, it will not come as a surprise to note that most of them belong from the three countries where there is little developed cricketing infrastructure.
The world is yet to produce bowling legends such as these, and there are few bowlers of the 21st century who could even come close to their game. These bowlers managed to extract the best even out of dead wickets and pitches with the glaring example of Imran Khan’s 40 wickets in 6 test matches in 1982/83 season in the subcontinent. Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis managed to single handedly win games for their teams by completely annihilating their opposition through their line and length. Waqar was known for his raw pace and movement, not to mention his toe crushing yorkers that were virtually unplayable. The sultan’s of swing were also renowned for their reverse swing that made batting incredibly difficult.
Bowlers like Ambrose and Walsh had both the right mix of pace and accuracy to trouble the best of batsmen. Ambrose has taken the most wickets for any West Indian bowler. These bowlers were also very economical. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, operating alone on dead sub-continental tracks. His in-dipper, a well-disguised off-cutter and reverse-swing which he added later on in the game, turned him into a consistent wicket-taker even on dead pitches.
The dilemma faced by the international cricket community today is how the shorter format of the game, has started greatly to favour the batsman. The bowlers, have four overs in which they have to play around with their pace, variation and length. The bowlers normally do not have time to plan their game out with so much happening at the same time. The development of bowlers in the last few decades greatly owe to the test and One Day matches that consistently took place, and gave them the opportunity to prove their mettle in the arena of gladiators.
Despite these dead tracks, these bowling legends still managed to take wickets. Unfortunately with the advent of bowling academies and the standardization of bowling actions, raw talent and natural abilities are being done away with to encourage conformity. It was the unorthodox action of the greats that made them so successful. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292, for one had a short run up, and a quick arm ball concealing bowling action which proved to be the key to his success.
'He is the greatest left arm fast bowler the game has ever seen," said Don Bradman the legend himself about Wasim Akram.
The argument still remains if it is the shorter form of the game or the standardization of bowling through the evolution of bowling academy’s in different countries that has led to this decline in the quality of bowlers on the whole. Very few bowlers of the 21st century can even match the amount of talent and potential that was witnessed against the bowling greats of the past.
However, it is imperative to note that bowlers should be allowed to develop on their own so that they are unique in their own particular way. They must not compromise on their individuality and raw talent, which is sometimes wasted when attempts are made to fine tune it by coaches. In the words of Imran Khan “The problem is that there are no quality bowlers, just mediocre ones that look good.” and this holds absolutely true for the cricketing world today that truly lacks quality bowlers.
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