Fast bowlers who put fear in batsmen's heart! Do they even exist now?

[Muhammad Saad]

And it's nothing to do with bowling 150km/h+ , But it's about putting geniune fear in batsmen's mind , do such bowlers exists? Mark Wood? I can't name any other guy even Mark Wood is not that kind of breed as well. So what is the reason for their dissappearance like Dinosaurs?

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

And it's nothing to do with bowling 150km/h+ , But it's about putting geniune fear in batsmen's mind , do such bowlers exists? Mark Wood? I can't name any other guy even Mark Wood is not that kind of breed as well. So what is the reason for their dissappearance like Dinosaurs?

Cummins
Starc
Bumrah
Wood
Shaheen if he bowls bouncers
Naseem
Norche
Rabada
Lockie


Bumrah and Cummins hit lot of batters on the body on spicy and bouncy pitches of Australia.

 

[SamNJ]

Protective gears are much better now.
With bowling machines batsmen can practice against 160 kmph all day.
So just speed doesn't cause fear in modern batsmen.

 

[Suleiman]

Game is geared towards batsmen now. If the bowlers of the 80s-90s existed today they may still be effective, at least the ATG level pacers. But there’s enough rules in place to negate the “fear” factor. Abundance of flat tracks is probably the biggest factor.

It’s also the mentality of batsmen in the modern day. Around the late 90s- early 2000s the mentality of a batsman slowly began to transform to be more aggressive, it didn’t come full circle until 2003 onward, but the paradigm shift was in motion. Batsmen don’t come to the crease to survive anymore, they always look to score (not all Pakistani batsmen though sadly, some are still stuck in early 90s).

Also, everyone plays each other so often that they’re probably used to facing each other. Pacers plays so many games nowadays compared to decades ago. A new format + t20 leagues where the top batsmen are constantly facing the top bowlers. A format that is a great place to erase all your fears of a fast bowler.

 

[wrongun]

Mark Wood bouncing guys out & having them caught hopping off the hip on featherbed pitches was great fast bowling. On those pitches to get so many of those "pace counts" strangles down the leg and caught off the hip is really impressive. Trundlers don't get those "gifts" often, only someone with real heat forces them regularly.

Nortje had the worlds best players of pace/bounce hopping and looking genuinely uncomfortable recently. Jansen did too with sheer bounce- they just weren't well supported by a listless Rabada & Ngidi this tour.

Archer genuinely scared Steve Smith to the point he scrambled his feet up/natural reactions.

Starc at times is brutal.

There's more to "scaring batsmen" than just pace though. Nortje is super quick but shows the batsman the ball the entire way in. So he'll never seem as terrifying as Johnson or Waqar did.

"Scary" bowlers all have a method where the batsman loses sight of the ball during the load up- generally a slingy type action where the bowler brings the ball back in such a way his own body hides it as he loads up. Batsmen lose sight of the ball at the crucial pre delivery instance and then are playing "catch up". Waqar, Johnson, Thommo all had such actions (Shaun Tait too). Malinga did too and it's why he was able to startle batsmen so often despite being 5k slower than the others on this list.

The other thing batsmen find scary or difficult to follow is a "fast arm" or change of pace with no discernible greater effort. Wasim fell into this category. Archer too. Perhaps Bumrah.

Science says batsmen don't have time to react to a cricket ball that fast from 20 yards (distance from batter to ball)- so we know batsmen are using cues from the bowler to "pre judge" where the ball will go before it's even released. It's the bowlers with a method which scrambles or offers fewer of these cues that batsmen seem to find "scary".

 

[Farabi]

Mark Wood bouncing guys out & having them caught hopping off the hip on featherbed pitches was great fast bowling. On those pitches to get so many of those "pace counts" strangles down the leg and caught off the hip is really impressive. Trundlers don't get those "gifts" often, only someone with real heat forces them regularly.

Nortje had the worlds best players of pace/bounce hopping and looking genuinely uncomfortable recently. Jansen did too with sheer bounce- they just weren't well supported by a listless Rabada & Ngidi this tour.

Archer genuinely scared Steve Smith to the point he scrambled his feet up/natural reactions.

Starc at times is brutal.

There's more to "scaring batsmen" than just pace though. Nortje is super quick but shows the batsman the ball the entire way in. So he'll never seem as terrifying as Johnson or Waqar did.

"Scary" bowlers all have a method where the batsman loses sight of the ball during the load up- generally a slingy type action where the bowler brings the ball back in such a way his own body hides it as he loads up. Batsmen lose sight of the ball at the crucial pre delivery instance and then are playing "catch up". Waqar, Johnson, Thommo all had such actions (Shaun Tait too). Malinga did too and it's why he was able to startle batsmen so often despite being 5k slower than the others on this list.

The other thing batsmen find scary or difficult to follow is a "fast arm" or change of pace with no discernible greater effort. Wasim fell into this category. Archer too. Perhaps Bumrah.

Science says batsmen don't have time to react to a cricket ball that fast from 20 yards (distance from batter to ball)- so we know batsmen are using cues from the bowler to "pre judge" where the ball will go before it's even released. It's the bowlers with a method which scrambles or offers fewer of these cues that batsmen seem to find "scary".

Insightful take.

 

[TheSultan]

It’s sad to say but the only time I see fear in batsmen’s eyes is only Pakistani batsmen against an express bowler. The panic Wood set in during the t20 series was eye opening.

Worst of all, no doubt he will hurry a lot of batsmen the world over, but I don’t see any player in any team fearing him apart from Pakistan.

Sad state of affairs.

We were also like this against some of the Zimbabwe bowlers at perth too in the World Cup.

 

[Rana]

Nortje is a scary bowler for sure

 

[Firebat]

Starc and Nortje for me are the most brutal. Archer in Ashes 2019 also comes to mind, concussing Steve Smith and then leaving his concussion replacement Labuschagne on the deck on his 2nd ball )

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

Mark Wood is the only one. And maybe Nortje

 

[Champ_Pal]

In Test matches, Aus bowlers are pretty scary. In LOI, Wood, Nortje, Shaheen can be very intimidating. I know Shaheen is not that quick, but his height and point of release makes it scary.

 

[Champ_Pal]

In Test matches, Aus bowlers are pretty scary. In LOI, Wood, Nortje, Shaheen can be very intimidating. I know Shaheen is not that quick, but his height and point of release makes it scary.

 

[Robert]

Mark Wood bouncing guys out & having them caught hopping off the hip on featherbed pitches was great fast bowling. On those pitches to get so many of those "pace counts" strangles down the leg and caught off the hip is really impressive. Trundlers don't get those "gifts" often, only someone with real heat forces them regularly.

Nortje had the worlds best players of pace/bounce hopping and looking genuinely uncomfortable recently. Jansen did too with sheer bounce- they just weren't well supported by a listless Rabada & Ngidi this tour.

Archer genuinely scared Steve Smith to the point he scrambled his feet up/natural reactions.

Starc at times is brutal.

There's more to "scaring batsmen" than just pace though. Nortje is super quick but shows the batsman the ball the entire way in. So he'll never seem as terrifying as Johnson or Waqar did.

"Scary" bowlers all have a method where the batsman loses sight of the ball during the load up- generally a slingy type action where the bowler brings the ball back in such a way his own body hides it as he loads up. Batsmen lose sight of the ball at the crucial pre delivery instance and then are playing "catch up". Waqar, Johnson, Thommo all had such actions (Shaun Tait too). Malinga did too and it's why he was able to startle batsmen so often despite being 5k slower than the others on this list.

The other thing batsmen find scary or difficult to follow is a "fast arm" or change of pace with no discernible greater effort. Wasim fell into this category. Archer too. Perhaps Bumrah.

Science says batsmen don't have time to react to a cricket ball that fast from 20 yards (distance from batter to ball)- so we know batsmen are using cues from the bowler to "pre judge" where the ball will go before it's even released. It's the bowlers with a method which scrambles or offers fewer of these cues that batsmen seem to find "scary".

Ace analysis. Give [MENTION=129939]wrongun[/MENTION] POTW, mods!

 

[sweep_shot]

They still exist.

Nortje is pretty fast. So are Rauf, Umran, Lockie etc.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

They still exist.

Nortje is pretty fast. So are Rauf, Umran, Lockie etc.

It's not about pace it's about fear of facing such bowlers in batsmen's eyes and I don't think any of these bowlers have that factor , Possibly only Mark Wood comes in this category but against only Pak batters and not rest of the world batters.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

The problem is even no11 batter from any test playing nation does'nt have a fear of facing Lockie , Rauf , Starc etc , yes they eventually will get out after hitting couple of boundaries and few play an miss but not in a old fashioned scared way , Those bowlers simply don't exist any more , possibly due to more protective gear and attacking mind set from batsmen. I miss those cricketing days , Lee and Akhtar Era to be precise.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Perhaps it's time to remove the front grill of helmet and chest pad to make cricket exciting again.

 

[wrongun]

Ace analysis. Give [MENTION=129939]wrongun[/MENTION] POTW, mods!

Don't think it's potw material (have to look up the reaction times data and find the articles again etc) but thanks. Just what I've heard from players interviewed. Once I heard about the fact Thommo's back arch & shoulder flexibility meant the ball disappeared and then was slung "out of nowhere" compared to say a more traditional action and someone said the same thing about Johnson and why he busted so many ribs/fingers even in years he operated more at 145 than 155 it all made sense why slingers are often hard to face. (I'm sure there are a bunch of other trajectory factors too)

These days they have a bowling machine with a video screen background at the Oz cricket academy which they can set to different bowler footage + release points etc. I know they try the same speed & release coming without the "video cues" and they say it's much harder, near impossible sometimes unless it is set to the same exact spot each delivery.

I have no firsthand experience of this, but a friend of mine was good enough to spend a winter there some years ago. He had some god insights.

 

[Robert]

Don't think it's potw material (have to look up the reaction times data and find the articles again etc) but thanks. Just what I've heard from players interviewed. Once I heard about the fact Thommo's back arch & shoulder flexibility meant the ball disappeared and then was slung "out of nowhere" compared to say a more traditional action and someone said the same thing about Johnson and why he busted so many ribs/fingers even in years he operated more at 145 than 155 it all made sense why slingers are often hard to face. (I'm sure there are a bunch of other trajectory factors too)

These days they have a bowling machine with a video screen background at the Oz cricket academy which they can set to different bowler footage + release points etc. I know they try the same speed & release coming without the "video cues" and they say it's much harder, near impossible sometimes unless it is set to the same exact spot each delivery.

I have no firsthand experience of this, but a friend of mine was good enough to spend a winter there some years ago. He had some god insights.

Thommo also got prodigious lift. Botham said 6’0” Thommo got as must bounce as 6’8” Garner. The ball looked to be coming for the gloves and it landed in the ribs, and there was nothing the batter could do to counter that.

 

[Cricket-lion]

There are none now as oppose to lets day 20 years ago when we had near peak Akhtar, Lee and Bond. Bowlers now a days do not hurry the batsman too much or neither are batsman scared of them. The quality of bowling has decreased.

 

[Unbiased-Fan]

Mark Wood is a very likeable guy, but seems like he is overrated atleast in ODIs.

 

[Kianig89]

After seeing Rauf Wood spanked like a mule who' be a fast bowler

 

[Usman Chadda]

Mark Wood is a very likeable guy, but seems like he is overrated atleast in ODIs.

Raw pace is getting hammered on these true wickets. Wood and Rauf have taken plenty of ODI wickets around the world, and are proving to be cannon fodder on these tracks and small grounds.

 

[pratiktc]

Pace without brains or alternative skills has been shown it's place