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Helpful bowling conditions, but just 6 wickets taken in 91 overs?

The_Real_Deal

Local Club Captain
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
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The Rawalpindi stadium is a beautiful seam and swing friendly stadium and this was evident in the first, second and even the third day, albeit the small number of overs bowled in days 2 and 3.

However, has Waqar been doing and teaching and getting involved in the right kind of bowling tactics to get more wickets on this pitch at Rawalpindi? Has he pushed to get the ball seaming and swinging and pushed for more wickets from his bowlers? Is 6 wickets on a seaming and swinging friendly strip on par or below expectations?

Granted, we didn't see the full on swing and seam from Abbas and Naseem in AUS as the strip was a bit flat for the bowlers but the bowling effort so far here in Pindi has been less then desired from Waqar and his boys considering the seam and swing available?
 
Opening Bowlers bowled poor in First session of day 1
From second session they bowled with control and also some sort of luck helped Sri Lanka
 
"Fast" bowling at 120 km/h doesn't bother batsmen, whatever the conditions are.
 
Inexperience and bowling poorly with the new ball in the first session helped Sri Lanka. Once the the pace trio found their groove, it became difficult. However, the frequent delays later in the next 2 days didn't help the bowlers to get into rhythm at all.

I would sincerely advise PCB to get a bowling coach from England or New Zealand instead of picking ones from Pakistan, however great they maybe. Pakistan always bowled badly with the new ball, even during the times of legends (with the exception of Asif). We need someone who can work on this aspect.
 
First session was poor and overall bowling effort could have been better but, while the wicket is but supportive it surely is very playable. I would say its a pretty good test wicket with value for good shots and enough for the bowlers to keep them in the game.

Overall there is no denying that Pak bowlers need to work on their accuracy irrespective of the conditions, Naseem and Shaheen will improve further with time and Shinwari was also playing his first match. Abbas has enough skills but is lacking his rythm big time, while his pace was never a lot but he used to by early 130s to late 120s kind of bowler but with perfect lengths. He is currently bowling low to mid 120s and struggling to find the perfect length, still he is experienced enough to maintain a decent line but that isnt enough to create his usual impact.
 
Happens when your playing without a coach instead have two cheerleaders.
 
Happens when your playing without a coach instead have two cheerleaders.

Hahaha! I guess you dont rate Waqar as a bowling coach at all? So what did Wasim Khan see in him? Cheap to hire? Would Azhar have been any better?
 
Inexperience and bowling poorly with the new ball in the first session helped Sri Lanka. Once the the pace trio found their groove, it became difficult. However, the frequent delays later in the next 2 days didn't help the bowlers to get into rhythm at all.

I would sincerely advise PCB to get a bowling coach from England or New Zealand instead of picking ones from Pakistan, however great they maybe. Pakistan always bowled badly with the new ball, even during the times of legends (with the exception of Asif). We need someone who can work on this aspect.

Great point about hiring from the SENA continents especially the modern day bowling of swing and seam. Would Azhar have faired any better considering his stint at Surrey?
 
"Fast" bowling at 120 km/h doesn't bother batsmen, whatever the conditions are.

I have no idea why Abbas is trundling in at that pace, maybe an injury? But he has definitely lost some pace which helped him get wickets off the seam.
 
Abbass and Shinwari were rubbish

Naseem is too raw

Shaheen is still learning
 
Hahaha! I guess you dont rate Waqar as a bowling coach at all? So what did Wasim Khan see in him? Cheap to hire? Would Azhar have been any better?

Azhar seems like a genius compared to Waqar right now. I actually miss him
 
Great point about hiring from the SENA continents especially the modern day bowling of swing and seam. Would Azhar have faired any better considering his stint at Surrey?

I don't think so. Pakistanis have always been masters with the old ball but somehow never really worked out the new ball. Amir lost all his swing and became a one line wonder during Azhar's stint. He should be kept away as far as possible from our budding bowlers.
 
Naseem on another day could have had a fiver going by the amount of play and miss against him also one catch fell short since rizwan was standing deep.

Shaheen is inexperienced and bowls a bit short which looks good but does not yield many wickets while Abbas has no rhythm and shanwari is plain rubbish.
 
Shaheen is learning, Naseem is raw, pitch is too normal for Abbas and Shinwari's mood was off, otherwise Pak would have bowled them out for nothing. Add to that, bowlers know that no matter how good they bowl Pak bats will always let them down so they are demotivated by default. So batsmen are responsible for this performance and yeah Misbah too should be blamed for not making faces in the dressing room to show passion.
 
Pakistan needed 5 bowling options. 4 bowling options means that some of the bowlers are going to get over bowled and ineffective in their subsequent spells
 
Pakistani bowlers not bowling on the right length, that is more fuller.

Completely wasted the new kookaburra. Blame lies with the thinktank, the bowlers under Waqar look underprepared and not match fit.
 
Yes.

What's wrong?

It's the youngest and most inexperienced pace attack in the world. What are you expecting? Run through the sides under 150?

Some fans are never happy.

It's a young bowling attack and we don't have better options. They will not develop and become masters overnight.

They'll learn on the job. Bowled poor first session but brilliant second session.

We don't have Wasims and McGraths in the pipeline.

Developing talent is a good strategy.
 
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Yes.

What's wrong?

It's the youngest and most inexperienced pace attack in the world. What are you expecting? Run through the sides under 150?

Some fans are never happy.

It's a young bowling attack and we don't have better options. They will not develop and become masters overnight.

They'll learn on the job. Bowled poor first session but brilliant second session.

We don't have Wasims and McGraths in the pipeline.

Developing talent is a good strategy.

I understand its raw and young and maybe a touch one dimensional but surely Waqar being the coach and having the credentials that he has must have a trick or two on seam and swinging conditions to bring this strong BUT fragile SL team to an end, on home conditions too?

Maybe the interruptions hasn't helped the cause or maybe its just lack of discipline in hitting the sweet spot over and over again to snatch a wicket?
 
When Abbas at 120 km/h is wasting the new ball, what do you expect?

Why not give Naseem and Shaheen the new ball at a consistant 140 km/h+ attack, surely that would do more damage...
 
Get 5 full time proper bowling options and you will see the difference. All the bowlers will be fresh and ready to go at 100% in all their spells
 
Pakistan Cricket is finished, mates.

Not yet bhai - this is the start of a new chapter in Pak cricket with Wasim Khan coming on board to sort the grassroots mess out.

Yes we have inexperience attack and its raw but this SL batting line up isn't on the same level as the AUS line up was so they're not doing the basics of discipline and attacking to get the wickets to earn rewards.
 
PCB should negotiate with Amir and bring him back for 3-4 series while playing Naseem and Shaheen. On the bench they should have Ammad Butt, Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Hasnain.
 
Mohammad Abbas, Imran Khan and Shinwari are useless. Also Yassir should not be there, someone young in 20's should be groomed (Couls be Shadab Khan ). Wqar Younis is not a good teacher, Azhar Mahmood was better even Mohammed Akram was good.
 
If PCB honesty wanted to save money they should not appointed joker like Waqar as bowling coach. Similarly our cricket would be better off without current head coach.
 
I understand its raw and young and maybe a touch one dimensional but surely Waqar being the coach and having the credentials that he has must have a trick or two on seam and swinging conditions to bring this strong BUT fragile SL team to an end, on home conditions too?

Maybe the interruptions hasn't helped the cause or maybe its just lack of discipline in hitting the sweet spot over and over again to snatch a wicket?

You really think Waqar isn't telling them how to bowl?

He has a lot of experience himself, I'm sure he's guiding them. But once on the field it's the bowler who has to execute that plan.

They're not bowling well. Can't land the ball in the same area consistently. Length also all over the place.

Too raw at this stage. Will learn.
 
You really think Waqar isn't telling them how to bowl?

He has a lot of experience himself, I'm sure he's guiding them. But once on the field it's the bowler who has to execute that plan.

They're not bowling well. Can't land the ball in the same area consistently. Length also all over the place.

Too raw at this stage. Will learn.

Waqar can easily stand at deep fine leg on the boundary to talk to the pacers and tell them if they are doing something wrong or to make an adjustment. No good just siting in the dressing room, waiting for 30 overs to go by and to then deliver your message to the bowler. He needs to be more proactive.
 
Naseem should open the bowling with Shaheen. Abbas didn't move the ball at all. Naseem is consistently hitting the seam and moving the ball from good channels. Luck hasn't been with him though, he has beat or hit the inside edge so many times.
 
The bowlers havent been great but lets give them some leeway based on inexperience.

Or would those moaning rather have rahat or imran khan jnr back in side :facepalm:
 
Mishab is useless but Waqar is good at his job. Waqar will shape up our fast bowling attack in 1-2 years.
 
Rather average pace-bowling resources these days. Shaheen and Naseem need time.

We were spolit, the 2 Ws were amazing, ridiculous talents.
 
Waqar can easily stand at deep fine leg on the boundary to talk to the pacers and tell them if they are doing something wrong or to make an adjustment. No good just siting in the dressing room, waiting for 30 overs to go by and to then deliver your message to the bowler. He needs to be more proactive.

It's all theoretical sitting in front of a computer.

They must be communicating with the bowlers somehow. But bowlers are not able to execute the plans all the time.

Especially not the bowlers who are this raw and inexperienced.

You either stick with them or throw them out, bring more trash from the domestic.

It's natural for fans to want immediate results. But context is important. There's some tough time ahead for us in terms of bowling, and our only option is to develop these youngsters.
 
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It's all theoretical sitting in front of a computer.

They must be communicating with the bowlers somehow. But bowlers are not able to execute the plans all the time.

Especially not the bowlers who are this raw and inexperienced.


You either stick with them or throw them out, bring more trash from the domestic.

It's natural for fans to want immediate results. But context is important. There's some tough time ahead for us in terms of bowling, and our only option is to develop these youngsters.

Who picked these raw, inexperienced bowlers unable to execute the plans - a farishta ?
 
Who picked these raw, inexperienced bowlers unable to execute the plans - a farishta ?

They are the only choices we have, and there's no one better.

We have to develop our youngsters and inexperienced folks.
 
Who picked these raw, inexperienced bowlers unable to execute the plans - a farishta ?

We will just have to be patient.
Naseem and Shaheen can become world beaters if they're given the time. In a year or two, they'll have improved a lot and our patience will bear fruit.

If bowlers like Hazelwood, Cummins start weren't given the matches to prove themselves just because they were "inexperienced", Australia would have not had these two world-class bowlers
 
Its an inexperienced bowling attack so we have to be patient.

Yes, there are guys in FC who have more matches under their belt, but Shaheen and Naseem are both very promising. They both have shown great signs and its just simply about hitting the right lengths consistently, which they will grasp over time.

Abbas' slump is more concerning- we need him to get his touch back asap as there needs to be somebody who can ease the burden on these younger seamers.
 
Rather average pace-bowling resources these days. Shaheen and Naseem need time.

We were spolit, the 2 Ws were amazing, ridiculous talents.

Don’t forget S. Akhtar - when fit he was unplayable! :)
 
Shaheen and Naseem need a senior bowler to guide them and carry responsibility Abfss has to step up or bring Amir back.
 
Shaheen and Naseem need a senior bowler to guide them and carry responsibility Abfss has to step up or bring Amir back.

There is no senior bowler in test, they will fast track to "seniority" in 1-2 years, particularly Shaheen. In white ball cricket they have Amir and Wahab and few others.
 
Has anyone who's moaning about the bowling actually bothered to watch the match?

On the first day, the bowlers were fractionally short in the first session (so were Australia in the first session of the first test), but Shaheen was excellent. Unlucky to not get a dismissal.

After lunch, all 4 pacers were quite superb. Maintained line and length, built-up pressure and all 4 were rewarded with a wicket each with a bit of swing or seam. Naseem then bagged Mathews close to the eventual end of play, and the early stumps due to bad light was quite unfortunate. He had a really lovely rhythm going and was getting through the crease really nicely.

Dhananjaya edged the bowl numerous times but the bowl didn't carry to the keeper throughout Day 1 and Day 2, and the most prominent one was off of Naseem when the bowl just fell inches short of Rizwan's gloves. Dickwella, was almost bowled 3-4 times by Shaheen and Naseem during that spell, with the ball hooping around but just marginally missing the stumps. After a period pressure was built, he succumbed to a wide one and fell. The wicket wasn't impressive, but the set up was magnificent.

Day 3, there wasn't much of it. The conditions changed quite a bit due to the overnight rain. The bowl wasn't swinging off the full length as it did on Day 2, but our bowlers didn't shy away and persisted with the fuller length in search for any hint of swing and hence wickets, even if it did mean getting driven for a boundary. The likes of Amir in these conditions would be just happy to nibble away at a length and try to contain runs. Not the kind of approach we need.

All in all, I don't think people realize it takes time to accumulate rhythm, and the constant and start and stops do distort your focus. Couple that with the ball rolling on the wet outfield and it becomes exceptionally difficult to maintain perfect lines and lengths. The pacers were pretty good, and Naseem & Shaheen, in particular, have been excellent. Matter of time before the wickets start coming.

It's quite astonishing that some people want Amir back. So you would rather have a guy who doesn't have space for test cricket in his heart, has visibly held back in previous test matches, was bowling in the high 120s & low 130s in South Africa of all places, who is most likely past his peak and hasn't been delivering as a spearhead should? His pace and swing only come to the fore when he's playing in Windies or England (with the Dukes ball). I would much rather have hard-working youngsters that have the passion for the format and who are willing to run in and give it their all regardless of the outcome, clock 140+ and make the ball talk while they're at it. I really liked Amir as well, but as he has admitted himself, I think it's to move on. His pace has dramatically declined in the last 18 months and even his reasonably successful World Cup run was mainly down to his slower balls. That won't work in Tests.

Also, I like how some people make full circles in their opinions. Regarding Mohammad Amir the Test bowler and Azhar Mahmood the coach especially. Very fickle...
 
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