Cricket

[Hassan TPAH]

Umar deserves praise not suspicion

Posted by Kamran Abbasi at 10 hours, 31 minutes ago in Twenty20 World Cup 2009







Why is that when a man in green produces something special the immediate reaction is to cast doubt on that achievement? © AFP


Umar Gul's outstanding performance against New Zealand was notable for his mastery of line and length. It wasn't notable for its extravagant reverse swing. Gul has every right to claim that he has become the leading exponent of Twenty20 fast bowling. He was formidable in South Africa two years ago and he is so again.
Gul's brilliance is his ability to bowl his chosen length at will, either yorker, back of a length, or on a good length. He rarely errs by bowling a half volley. At the death, this predominantly yorker attack has become almost impossible to plunder runs off. This is the result of years of hard work and battle against injury. Gul is an intelligent bowler with absolute control over his armoury.

Hence, the whiff of suspicion created by Daniel Vettori and some journalists is a disgrace. Why is that when a man in green produces something special the immediate reaction is to cast doubt on that achievement? If it had been another country then the issue would not even have been raised.

Grow up boys, we've had twenty years of this nonsense and we're sick and tired of it. Your sour grapes have become rancid.
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discuss :P :P :P

Australia mid table well, not necessarily midtable but their last two test series again India have resultd in one drawn, which India ought to have won and one win for India. While the Saffers, despite their shared series earlier this year, have proved to be the better team, imo... I would rate this team as third, mainly due to their lack of variety in bowling... This isnt the team even close to being as good as the Aussies under Waugh and the same team under ponting later.

England yes they are mis table but until proven otherwise Australia are the best test team in the world. well, their last two series against SA and India do prove otherwise, i thnk... and trust me I dont want India to do well... ever. Personally I also believe India's test record recently flatters them. Their bowling attack is not world class, while their batting is superb but I rate the aussies and s.africa higher. Well, not a lot worse than Australia's I think... the Saffers have the best pace attack... and a decent enough spinner in te ashley giles mode

For the 20/20 I put a bet on the west indies to win because I know they have talent. Gayle, Simmons, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Bravo, Ramdin are all good batsmen at this sort of game while Edwards is world class plus Bravo and one or two others and they have the ability to win this tournament. Edwards is world class only occasionally... Bravo is though... they have a great batting lineup for this form of the game, but I dont expect them to win much batting first.. this team is built to contain and then chase

The other team I fancy is the Sri Lankans. They have explosive batsmen, the player of the tournament so far in Sangakarra imo and the awesome bowling attack. of Murali, Mendis (IMO the next great bowling sensation) Malinga and Vaas. Vaas is gone... the three M's are unbelievable really in their unorthodoxy... I saw Mendis destroy the Indians last year, and considering his line and his variety he is bound to succeed no matter what

I hope India don't win it as their fans think they have a divine right. thank god someone else noticed it too

As for england well I don't believe they can win the ashes, but I do think it will be a close series. I am still dubious on Cook and believe KP should have had more time as captain because lets face it he was right about Peter Moores. Still Strauss has done a good job.

I do however think to beat the aussies we need 5 bowlers and not 4. I would only pick Flintoff if fit so I wouldn't play him first test.

My test team would be:-

Strauss
Cook
Bopara
KP
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Harmison

We need Harmison's pace and aggression against the aussies imo. Even though he is wayward. As I say I am still dubious about Cook but he did well earlier this year so we should stick with him as to disrupt the opening partnership now does not make sense.
Bopara is a friend of mine - we lived in the same street in London - so of course I am biased and will say Bopara is an excellent prospect. KP is crucial as he is our best player no doubt about that in my mind. When he plays well so do we and he needs to have a good summer.
Collingwood is another player in tests that I am still dubious about but I don't know why, just a gut instinct maybe. But he is a fighter and excellent in the field.
Prior as a wicket keeper alone sure he isn't the best in england (Read is and the overrated Foster certainly is not) but we need big runs in the middle order to really score high totals and Prior has shown he can score 40 plus on a regular basis.

Flintoff if fit then is our best bowler - any runs he scores imo is a bonus but we need his pace and aggression in his bowling. Swann can also bat and hold up an end with his bowling. I don't expect him to take many wickets in the series but I expect him to be economical and score an average of 20-25 - which can be very crucial runs at the end of an innings. Broad is the same though I expect him to take more wickets. But he is also a run scorer.
Anderson has been our best bowler this year and as I said I believe we need Harmison's pace and aggression against australia.

agree about almost everything about hte Ashes tho... I personally dont rate Broad as a great wicket taker... despite his height and talent he doesnt seem to have the agression of a fast bowler... sorta like morne morkel in this regard... Dont England have other pacers than Harmison... Whatever happened to Simon Jones, awesome bowler ...
Also is swann the best? He is a good line bowler but he isnt extraordinary... Sure he took wickets against the Windies but can he do it against this Aussie lineup... ?

Whatever, if you're English or Aussie then this series is all that matters. I can't see us winning even with the Aussies having lost all their old stars, they are still a solid side and England have all kinds of problems in the bowling attack which will be found out.

Simply a Little Englander then? :P

I thin that you have the bowlers to do the job for you... but you will need Flintoff and somebody else with real pace (Harmison is just weird...)

Whatever, if you're English or Aussie then this series is all that matters. I can't see us winning even with the Aussies having lost all their old stars, they are still a solid side and England have all kinds of problems in the bowling attack which will be found out.

Simply a Little Englander then? :P

I thin that you have the bowlers to do the job for you... but you will need Flintoff and somebody else with real pace (Harmison is just weird...)
I dont think that the Aussies have a great attack either... I do rate Johnson but him and Lee arent all that, despite their reputations... Clarke is just a poor man's mcgrath... and they dont even have a decent spinner...

england's big problem is all their genuinely class pace bowlers seem to break down with injury (flintoff, jones, sidebottom). and their batting (KP aside when fidel edwards isn't playing) is notoriously unreliable. the aussies have more of a winning mentality although without hayden they will suffer at the top of the attack.

2020 is awesome. I mean it's completely retarded, but great fun. south africa are a machine but of course are also arch-chokers, so that may come into play. I fancy a west indies/sri lanka final with south africa and new zealand/pakistan being losing semi-finalists. dunno who would win that final. you'd think sri lanka as they've got more class. but the west indies have chris gayle. so you never know.

Australia's openers arent even close to the Hayden and Langer level, but Warner looks promising... Its the Aussie middle order that England have to be afraid of... Punter, Clarke and Hussey... probably the best middle three in the world...

SA are chokers but under Smith they have improved considerably... Just look at how they chased down the scores versus Australia in Oz...

About the Windies, as I said, I still have to be convinced about htem when they are batting first... they'll rely on the toss... I would think that SL and SA should be finalists... but keeping my fingers crossed for Pakistan...

as for the pacers, all your better pacers seem to be made of glass...

As for T20 an Tests... I love both of them... The sheer agression and innovation in T20 is the thing that I have grown up in Pk with... but Tests really seperate the men from the boys... mentally you have to be at the top of your game for hours upon hours... plus all the subplots in a test are what really makes cricket what it is... a fast bowler to a dogged batsman is just priceless...

[JALJM]

I love test cricket and don't really like 20/20, but since it's the only format the Windies are remotely good at, I have to follow it now...hopefully we smash you english!

[Metaphysical]

can't believe NZ have tried the ol' england trick "shit! he's bowling brilliantly! MUST BE BALL TAMPERING! LOL PAKI CHEATERS" fuck off you bespectacled cunt.

[antonnn]

20/20 is good to watch every once in a while, but bowlers slugging at it gets boring after a while. ODI's aren't bad, they have a good amount of action and aren't as short and gung ho as 20/20.

Can't wait for the Ashes to start, not that I'll be watching a whole lot of it since it'll be on in the middle of the night. How come there were no Ashes last year? England needed extra recovery time or something?

[AnfieldEd]

Well when you blatently cheat once, its hard to get rid of that tag.

Anyway here is my t20 team of the tournament so far:-

1) Gayle
2) Bopara
3) Dilshan
4) Sangakarra
5) Kallis
6) Bravo
7) Steyn
8 ) Parnell
9) Gul
10) Malinga
11) Mendis

The ashes is every 2 years. Every 4 years in England and every 4 years in aussie land.

[antonnn]

Ah yes, just looked up how it is. It's on for 2 years, then have a 2 year break, then back on for 2 years, then 2 year break.

COME ON AUSSIEEEE. No Symonds is always good news for England, though who knows what his form would have been like if he had played.

[Cule Angles]

I see the Pakistan team is back to form, light is shone on something doubtful and it's straight for the racism/xenophobia card. They'll never change.

[Poor_Sunyol]

Gul is obviously cheating. Them Paki's can't help it, it is in their blood. Just ask any good Indian out there.

My brother has literally just sent me a text...guess who is off to Lords for the 2nd Test!

[AnfieldEd]

Allah?

[Poor_Sunyol]

Well that is kind of you to suggest that I may be as mighty as Allah, but I don't want to upset our resident sand-monkeys. You know how excitable they are.

[Cule Angles]

I look forward to the video of your ritualised beheading.

[Metaphysical]

I see the Pakistan team is back to form, light is shone on something doubtful and it's straight for the racism/xenophobia card. They'll never change.

"light is shone on something doubtful"

by that, you mean "unfounded suspicion is cast on a great bowling performance because of the nationality of the bowler" right?

you know I've noticed that despite being a rational chap you ain't half a racist bastard when it comes to asians and arabs.

[Poor_Sunyol]

I think he was defending them actually.

[Cule Angles]

"light is shone on something doubtful"

by that, you mean "unfounded suspicion is cast on a great bowling performance because of the nationality of the bowler" right?

you know I've noticed that despite being a rational chap you ain't half a racist bastard when it comes to asians and arabs.

Racist? Me? Never.

Anyway, who says that the accusation was made because of nationality? People of the same nationality, playing the same tactic that they always do in this situation. Caught ball tampering, cry racism, questions regarding bowling action, must be racism. It's the same story over and over again.

[Cule]

Gul is obviously cheating. Them Paki's can't help it, it is in their blood. Just ask any good Indian out there.
My brother has literally just sent me a text...guess who is off to Lords for the 2nd Test!

i can post around 20 vidoes from the days of abdul qadir till now