Hello and welcome back to my blog
Spin bowling is the most difficult art to master and equally the most brilliant to watch when practised by a good artist. Thus it doesn't come as a shock that the difference between the good spinners and the great makes for interesting discussion.
Daniel Vettori of New Zealand falls into the good category. Much as Black Cap fans would like to think he is a great, stats do not lie and his have not been great against the best teams of his career. Averages of 35 against Australia (over 50 in his last two series against them), 69.7 against South Africa (he doesn't have a 5 wicket haul yet) and Indian wickets have come at 54.8. Even English batsmen have cost 36.6 runs for their wickets (although Vettori did take 10 wickets @ 25 in the 1999 series win and 12 @ 27 in 2008).
His career average was almost 39 in 2004 before tours to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe lowered it again. The worsening record is due to teams recognising his talent and defending against him. This plan would not work against great spinners like Warne, Benaud, Singh or even Murali due to the great turn they extract and better fast bowlers to support them. Vettori's talent as a good spinner therefore appears when batsmen try to attack him in ODIs and 20/20 games
This brings me to my opinion of the NZ squad for the 20/20 World Cup. The inclusion of O'Brien is my main complaint as this is the one form of the game where your best cricket XI is not always the winning formula. I believe (without insulting his skills) he could be left out for either Southee or Elliot who might be better suited for the tournament. Both these players excelled in England last year and in particular Elliot's cool head and Southee's lower order hitting provide additional skills. The squad is an exciting one and I think at least a semi-final spot is beckoning.
Continuing on the 20/20 note I make my picks for the upcoming IPL tournament in South Africa. With Kevin Pietersen to captain and bat alongside exciting talents Ryder and Taylor plus Steyn and Bracken to lead the bowling the Bangalore Royal Challengers should be the favourites. However I will be supporting the the Daredevils once again due to the inclusion of Glenn McGrath and Daniel Vettori (two of my favourite bowlers) although the pick of Sehwag as captain is disappointing.
Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again
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I think you're wrong in belittling Vettori's abilities. First of all, it's unfair to compare him against wrist-spinners in Warne and Murali. Finger-spinners clearly don't have the ability to turn the ball square or get a lot out of flat pitches; their role is more to contain the batsmen and force errors, and that's reflected in their stats. Vettori actually compares reasonably well with Harbhajan, especially when you consider that Harbhajan has played more than half of his tests on spin-friendly pitches in India as opposed to the green seamers in NZ.
ReplyDeleteAnother point you identify without going into much detail is the lack of support that Vettori has had compared with other 'great' spinners.
Warne had great fast bowling support (McGrath, Lee etc) for most of his career, as has Murali to a lesser extent (Vaas has been a more than able support). Throughout Vettori's 92-test career, he has only had the support of one true world-class bowler, whose test career was only 17 tests (I think you know who I'm talking about). If Warne had had to toil without support, his figures would likely have been equally 'average'.
That's evident when you look at the details behind Vettori's average of 63 against SA in SA(I'm ignoring India because Mr SK Warne averages 47 against them, while I think an average of 35 against Aus is perfectly respectable). In the first of his two test series in SA, Dan was 'supported' by Martin, Franklin, Patel, Styris and Oram. Bond was in instead of Franklin for the second series, but Vettori still had to shoulder a lot of the workload by himself.
Saying that Vettori less than great because other teams avoid attacking him whenever possible is just stupid - it shows just how much respect other teams have for him. If teams had had the luxury of defending against Warne and picking up runs off mediocre fast bowlers, I imagine his stats would have been nowhere near as good.
Regarding the T20 team, I think the team has more than enough batting depth to accomodate O'Brien at 11. With Butler, N McCullum, Mills, Vettori, Franklin and Diamanti among the bowling options, we don't really need to worry about a tail.
Southee is liable to be tonked when (as often happens) he doesn't swing it. Elliott is an adequate 50 over player but an awful T20 player - he just doesn't have the ability to clear the field consistently, he relies more on working the singles.
I'm far more concerned about carrying the old-timers in Styris and Oram. Pig is well and truly past his prime, while I think we have to stop sweating on Oram's fitness and look for a new all-rounder to take his place.
I would have taken Canterbury's Shanan Stewart over Styris, as he is a good youngish batter and we don't really need Styris's bowling. The selection of Diamanti is a good step, and Oram probably deserves his place as a batsman, so I don't mind that too much.
Also, how on earth can a team that finished second last in the inaugural IPL be described as favourites for the next year's comp?
ReplyDeleteRyder and Pietersen are good signings, but they can't do the job all the time for what is otherwise a pretty weak T20 batting lineup. And if Steyn and Bracken couldn't do the job last year, what makes you think they can this time?
Chennai must be a good bet, with Oram, Flintoff, Albie Morkel, Dhoni, Mike Hussey and Hayden to hit the ball around. I daresay Fleming may have a few tricks up his sleeve as the coach too.
I'd expect Kolkata to do far better than last season, with Gayle there for most, if not all, of the season. Their only concern is bowling, but if Ishant delivers and Mendis is in form they should be able to go all the way.