bowling.
Ex-Aussie paceman Glenn McGrath knows a bit or too about cricket, about bowling, about being damn good at it and about having a little dig at England before an Ashes, sledging for want of a better word.
He isn’t sledging though when he states, what has been posted here numerous times, that Jimmy Anderson is overrated and not the world class bowler his chums in the English media would have you believe.
McGrath, with 563 test wickets at an average of 21.64 – 157 of them coming in Ashes matches, where he knocks 10 off that average – has take more wickets than any pace bowler, is fourth over all in the wickets list so knows what’s what.
So when he says…
His average has just come under 30 and he has a fairly high strike rate. Those things surprise me because I thought he was a far better bowler than that.
I just think if the ball is swinging he is one of the best going around but if it doesn’t swing he does not know how to take wickets. Quality bowlers can take wickets in all different conditions on all types of wickets.
You can’t just be a great bowler in your own conditions and not be able to be able to perform in Australia and the subcontinent.
Jimmy has played over 100 Tests so he should have worked it out by now. His stats are getting better but when he averaged over 30 and strike rate over 60 I thought this guy could be anybody. ~ Glenn McGrath
…you know he’s right.
To be great you have to be able to do it when things aren’t completely in your favour. McGrath could, Jimmy disappears into wide long hops that luckily for him has got him wickets.
We’ll see what passes in Cardiff for the first Test, a ground where his test record is not that great. If the conditions don’t suit will he do anything?