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[A-Swing-And-A-Miss]

The best English bowling attack of the last decade was that which won the Ashes in 2005.

That was the best pace attack we have ever had, no way could you say Ashley Giles is anywhere near the best spinner we have had. I think even Kevin Pietersen is a better spinner than Giles was..

Vic, saying Anderson is average is the perfect example of someone who spends too much time looking at stats and not enough time watching cricket. His high average is due to the way he was handled at the start of his career(when he was rushed in to the team due to Jones' injury) however these last few years he has been very good and one of the main reasons why England got to number 1. I'm not saying he is as good as Steyn or Jones however he is crtainly far better than "Mediocre"..

[tim2000s]

That was the best pace attack we have ever had, no way could you say Ashley Giles is anywhere near the best spinner we have had. I think even Kevin Pietersen is a better spinner than Giles was..

Vic, saying Anderson is average is the perfect example of someone who spends too much time looking at stats and not enough time watching cricket. His high average is due to the way he was handled at the start of his career(when he was rushed in to the team due to Jones' injury) however these last few years he has been very good and one of the main reasons why England got to number 1. I'm not saying he is as good as Steyn or Jones however he is crtainly far better than "Mediocre"..

We've had this discussion before - I think it was prior to or round about the last Ashes series....

[Johnny]

The notion that Anderson is a mediocre bowler is borderline delusional

[Vic Nicholas]

The notion that Anderson is a mediocre bowler is borderline delusional

Anderson can join Flintoff and Harmison as English bowling legends - all with + 30 bowling averages.

Anderson WILL retire with a bowling average the wrong side of 30.

Ditto Swan and Broad.

Steven Finn and Tremlett are the best of your bowlers with Bresnan not far behind them.

[PedalsMcgrew]

This Anderson bashing looks desperate to say the least! So, he had a bad game? So what? He's allowed one or two occasionally and seeing as how, these days, it is very occasionally I think we just have to accept it! His average over the last 2/3 seasons has actually been the equal of Steyn's if memory serves me correctly...

I think people are forgetting the conditions this test was played under. England batted on the first day, scored 280 something for 3 and never looked in trouble. They come back the next day to black cloud, floodlights on and the ball going sideways and get rolled out. SA bat, Pietersen gets done by an inswinger from Jimmy A. Sun comes out, ball stops moving, stays like that, SA score 600 odd.

Pressure is then on England, we bat poorly and it's all over.

Things could have been very different with the toss of a coin...Smith said he'd of batted as well. Would a reversal of this result make Steyn overrated? Philander? Morkel? Tahir? No, thought not.....

[Alvaro]

Vic, I agree Tremlett is a massive miss.
I also think that there are mitigating factors to Anderson's average being over 30, but I don't think that anyone really thinks that he is great - he is very skilled, very professional and very driven to be the best he can.

No one thinks Harmison is a legend and personally I think Flintoff had 18 months as an inspirational cricketer who found himself in a run off form and ran with it.

This is the difference, England's skilled worthy cricketers have used discipline to get where they are. It's just that the South Africans are the most disciplined, boring team in the world and always will be.

[A-Swing-And-A-Miss]

Anderson can join Flintoff and Harmison as English bowling legends - all with + 30 bowling averages.

Anderson WILL retire with a bowling average the wrong side of 30.

Ditto Swan and Broad.

Steven Finn and Tremlett are the best of your bowlers with Bresnan not far behind them.

You really need to stop judging the quality of a player purely by their average, stats don't tell everything. Harmison would put the batsmen on the backfoot with the bounce he got which meant although he was expensive, it softened them up for the likes of Jones and Hoggard to take wickets. Flintoff had the effect of encouraging the crowd and the team, without him they almost certainly wouldn't have won the 2005 Ashes.

Anderson doesn't have the brute pace of the likes of Steyn but he can trouble the batsman and has done this regularly to some of the best in the world over the last few years. Also seeing as how you love your stats so much, he averaged 22.96 in 2010, 24.85 in 2011 and 28.67 in 2012 which aren't the stats of a "mediocre" bowler..

Did you watch Finn against the West Indies? He struggled against an average at best West Indian batting line-up and his stats are boosted by getting tons of wickets against Bangladesh and Pakistan when they both toured England, against the worst Australian team in living memory he only averaged 33..

Tremlett on the other hand is a good bowler however due to injury he has hardly played any First Class cricket for Surrey so he is almost certainly ruled out of selection.

[petehosk]

It's obvious that vic enjoys trying to wind the the Brits up!! Cos if he had the slightest notion of what he was talking about, he'd know the stats already!

Anyway, onto more important things! Amla.....how class did he look! He is one of my favourite batsman to watch!!
And heaven knows we have had enough time to watch him bat this week! 

[Number4]

It's obvious that vic enjoys trying to wind the the Brits up!! Cos if he had the slightest notion of what he was talking about, he'd know the stats already!

Anyway, onto more important things! Amla.....how class did he look! He is one of my favourite batsman to watch!!
And heaven knows we have had enough time to watch him bat this week! 

Amla is an A class tradesman

[petehosk]

Yep - the guy just keeps getting better and better!!!
I prefer to watch him against other teams though 

[Number4]

Hope he is injured against Australia 

[petehosk]

I hope he's injured for the rest of the tests against England! 

[trypewriter]

The A team - Anderson - class act - the number of times that he bowls superbly but doesn't enjoy the luck that all sportsmen need seems to pass under most folk's radar.

Amla - arguably the best no. 3 bat in the World - and it's the position where you probably want your best bat technique and temperament wise.

[Vic Nicholas]

It's obvious that vic enjoys trying to wind the the Brits up!! Cos if he had the slightest notion of what he was talking about, he'd know the stats already!

Anyway, onto more important things! Amla.....how class did he look! He is one of my favourite batsman to watch!!
And heaven knows we have had enough time to watch him bat this week! 

No, I am deadly serious Hosk.

Mitchell Johnson was shithouse for fully the last 2 years of his test career, yet he has a compareable average to Anderson and better than Broads.

I am not making excuses for MJ and I will not make excuses for Brett Lee who also finished his test career with a 30+ bowling average.

In Australia we call these players what they are - mediocre.

In England if you finish up with a test bowling average around 30 you are annointed an all time great and punters make excuses that you "soften batsmen up for others", "excite the crowd", or the one that I keep hearing for Flintoff and now Anderson "they always bowl without any luck".

All these platitudes scream out "mediocre career".

Both Siddle and Hilfenhaus have averages circa 28...but I would never call them anything other than serviceable. Just honest toilers really.

[wilkie113]

Vic have you been in the pub?

Comparing Mitchell Johnson to Jimmy Anderson is utterly outrageous, Johnson bowled with out control and completely erratic, he, was a terrible test bowler, not just mediocre.

People do bowl without luck, if you personally bowl 6 jaffas in an over, and 3 of them find the edge and get through slips for 4, would you not feel hard done to and think you've had no luck?