England's fearsome foursome
I have no idea what Derek Pringle was thinking or drinking when he felt that England's quick bowling attack brought back memories of the West Indies' bowling quartet.
This quartet has been in operation for just over a year, since Simon Jones came back from injury to play against West Indies in March last year. Even excluding Roberts, who was at the fag end of his career when Marshall started making a name for himself, West Indies' fearsome foursome would have played together for at least a couple of years and more, with devastating impact a lot of the time. Pringle himself admits that for sheer pace, England's current quartet cannot hold a candle to the West Indian attack. In addition, when Roberts quit, there were chaps like Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose waiting to take over. Keep in mind the likes of Sylvester Clarke and Wayne Daniel who didn't get too many games or Colin Croft, who obviously got frustrated and flew to South Africa. With England currently pondering over whether to recall Gough or Caddick to replace Simon Jones for the Oval test, it gives you an idea of England's backup quick bowling resources.
If anything, the only reason I would even venture to think of this England attack being on par, if not superior to the West Indies attack, is that the West Indies didn't have a spin bowler of the quality of Ashley Giles. I am absolutely sure that he would walk into any all-time World XI. I am often flabbergasted when he doesn't. I was in fact in trauma when he wasn't named in the ICC World side to take on Australia in October.
I'm ashamed to think that India, which produced the likes of Bishen Singh Bedi, cannot find a left arm spinner of his ability. I need to know start checking if Giles has any Indian blood in him. We could entice him to play for India!
Labels: ashes, ashes 2005
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| Ashley giles .....Walking in to any world X1??? I must admit I find it hard to understand that....I have no idea what you were thinking or drinking
To be fair to Pringle, he does essentially admit that the comparison is nonsense toward the end of the article.
The question then is: why write it?
I don´t really get the point of this article. Maybe I just don´t get it.
First things First.
1)Ashley Giles is a good spinner alright but not in such a class to be walking straight into a World XI , noways.Not till Mars conquers the Earth .
2)I never quiet understand why on earth Ashley Giles has to bowl "around the wicket". It would be very very intresting to see his stats when he has bowled from "over the wicket" and "around the wicket". I have not seen him bowl a full quota of his overs over the wicket. Iam dead sure it has largely to do with his limitation as a bowler.Or for that matter i have not any bowler who consistantly bowls around the wicket. He is a lil coward , is Giles.
3)To even mention Giles and Bedi is a single breathe is the greatest insult the Indian Spinner can have. He have thousands of Giles like mediacore bowlers playing in the School , College and University circuits here in India.
4)If at all he comes over the wicket , he will have to resign that very day. Giles if you are reading this i dare you to come over the wicket when you to play here in India , in early 2006.
4)He has a big heart though, great batting skills(as compared to Bedi) and much more agile then anybody of that age.Likes to get on with the game and likes one on one battles.
5)Note for the Author: I don't know what dream you have been dreaming but please wake up and smell the coffee.Seems like a baseball following ardent fan got an assignment in Cricket. Get to read , watch and understand Cricket all round the world , before you could write anything.Please spare us.You have been commissioned to write a piece on cricket blogs for the 2006 Wisden Almanack ?????? God save those people who are gonna read it and God have mercy on the soul who gave you this chance.
By 
Vijayendra Darode (6 Sept 2005, 9:15:00 am)
I really do apologize to the likes of Vijayendra and the anonymous chap who just didn't get it. I apologize for not putting in my comments on Ashley Giles within <sarcasm> tags.
By Jagadish (6 Sept 2005, 1:04:00 pm)
I hope it is sarcasm. He is way too defensive to ever be considered a class spinner. he might actually take some wickets if went around.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By Jagadish (6 Sept 2005, 3:20:00 pm)
Alastair
We'll put up a post related to why we started off on this blog, but it may not differ substantially from what we wrote on our first anniversary on 29/Apr/2005.
There have been quite a few posts in the context of this summer's Ashes series as well as India v Pakistan earlier this year. You should be able to get to most of them through searching for "ashes", "england australia", "india pakistan" [without the quotes of course] in the "Search this site" option offered on the right hand side of the blog.
For e.g. for our posts on India & Pakistan, most of which would be related to the drawn series earlier this year check out these results.
Jagadish & Ganesh
By Jagadish (6 Sept 2005, 3:24:00 pm)
ashley giles into any world xi!!! ha! i think sunil joshi, maninder singh, dilip doshi, and even venkatapathy raju are better bowlers than giles. the only decent quality left-arm spinner these days is vettori.
By Ashok (6 Sept 2005, 4:16:00 pm)
oops. missed the earlier comment about sarcasm :)
By Ashok (6 Sept 2005, 4:24:00 pm)
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