Jerome Taylor's hat trick

We didn't really know much about Jerome Taylor before this. We like his style though: A hat trick against Australia with the match in the balance.

Fast bowling's back in fashion.

Shane Bond flies the flag

With Shoaib Akhtar potentially banned and Steve Harmison spraying the ball about with reckless abandon, we need every fast bowler we can get.

Fortunately Shane Bond's still flying the flag. He touched-up the lowest ever bowling average in one-day internationals by taking 3-45. Crucially, he removed Mohammad Yousuf for 71 and the dangerous Abdul Razzaq shortly after.

That's two games in a row that Shane Bond's played now. It must be some sort of a record. They should LITERALLY wrap him up in cotton wool between matches. He shouldn't be allowed cutlery to eat with either. You never know.

Makhaya Ntini does some strike bowling

We forgot about Makhaya Ntini when we said that Shane Bond was flying the fast bowling flag the other day. Give the flag to Makhaya, Shane.

We became an Ntini convert in April when he seemed to have completed the transition into a fully-fledged strike bowler. He took five wickets in five overs today utterly demolishing Pakistan. It was clearly Ridiculous Pakistan who had turned up, as opposed to Sublime Pakistan, but still. Well played that man.

Pakistan were all out for 89. Earlier in the day South Africa were 42-5, so it was quite a comeback to post 213 and then defend it with ease. It partially vindicated their policy of batting down to number nine. Although as we see it, Ntini's performance vindicated the policy of selecting your best bowlers.

Devon Malcolm v South Africa, 9-57 – ten great bowling performances

The story goes that while batting against South Africa at the Oval in 1994, Devon Malcolm was hit on the head by a bouncer. “Right,” he said. “You guys are history”.

This story came about because somebody asked Devon something like: “So, Devon, you took 9-57. It was an amazing performance. Did it have anything to do with being hit on the head while batting? Did you say: ‘You guys are history’?”

Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it’s certainly one of those romantic stories where a player’s spurred into great deeds by some specific incident that probably isn’t true. Whatever the case, Devon Malcolm knocked seven shades of something out of South Africa’s long batting line-up in a series of high-paced three over bursts. It was proper fast bowling.

10 Great Bowling Performances.

10 Great Bowling Performances

We're doing a series of posts. It's got a start and an end and things will appear regularly, so you can look forward to stuff rather than just arriving at King Cricket and going: 'Oh, they've not bothered writing anything.' Or: 'My word. They've written about twenty things in the last half hour. I can't be bothered reading that much'. So, starting tomorrow, we're going to look at 10 great bowling performances.

Now let's get a couple of things straight: These are OUR 10 great bowling performances and as such they are massively influenced by our prejudices. Here are things that we like: England, fast bowlers, weird spinners. Bad news for New Zealand's Chris Harris. Good news for Steve Harmison. In truth it means that most, although not all of the 10, feature England, as those are the matches which we have inevitably taken most interest over the years. Often England are on the receiving end. We probably love cricket more than we love England.

Secondly, there's no sort of transparent ratings system. This is always the case with King Cricket - you know that. It's just based on 'feel'. We could grade our 'feel' from one to 100 if you wanted, but frankly we'd be making it up to keep you quiet.

Links to the full 10 will appear below. There's no order to them. It's just 10 Great Bowling Performances.

Steve Harmison v West Indies, 7-12.
Glenn McGrath v England, 5-53.
Andy Caddick v West Indies, four wickets in an over.
Muttiah Muralitharan v England, 16 wickets in a match.
Darren Gough v Australia, hat trick.
Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis v England, a collapse every time.
Matthew Hoggard v New Zealand, 7-63.
Shane Warne v England, 4-31.
Devon Malcolm v South Africa, 9-57.
Curtly Ambrose v Australia, 7-1.

Lasith Malinga's bowling action

Lasith Malinga's bowling action is first-class. He slats it. He whangs it. He slings it. He doesn't chuck it. Better not use the word 'chuck'. No, what Lasith Malinga does is what all of us used to do when we were kids. He just tries to propel the ball as fast as humanly possible. It looks pretty weird, but it's effective. There are pros and cons.

Pros:

Lasith Malinga's action uses every part of his body in generating pace.

The ball is released from an unusually low point, which can catch out batsmen used to more conventional actions.

If he swings the ball in, it will also dip, due to the angle of the seam. Waqar Younis's inswinging yorker did this. Waqar Younis's inswinging yorker was just about the best delivery there's ever been.

If he swings it out, the ball will also rise, pitching fuller than the batsmen anticipates. This is likely to lead to false strokes.

Cons:

Accuracy. If Lasith Malinga releases at the wrong moment, the ball will either go full and down the leg side, or short and on the off-side.

Those of you with modern internet connections or at work can see a video of Lasith Malinga bowling against the West Indies here.

Go on Lasith Malinga. You fire your tennis ball into that piece of wood propped up with a brick. Your bowling action's purer than any in international cricket.


Read our latest stuff about Lasith Malinga
Read our latest stuff about Sri Lanka

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Fast bowling a go go

The phrase 'a go go' always reminds us of the old Amiga game, Nebulus 2: Pogo a go go. We were always struck by how the dark, barren imagery of the word 'nebulus' was entirely negated by the word 'pogo'.

We haven't actually seen much of the Test cricket that's taken place in South Africa since England were last there, but we get the impression that it's one of the few places left in the world where bowlers can come out on top.

Shoaib Akhtar returned to Test cricket today with 4-36. South Africa were all out for 124. In reply, Pakistan are currently 135-6. Makhaya Ntini has the exceptional figures of 4-18 off ten overs.

This will make us a tiny bit happier for the duration of the weekend. Go bowlers, go!

Fidel Edwards shows what speed can do

Paul Collingwood took a fearful battering yesterday, getting hit on a number of occasions, but Liam Plunkett's wicket was the only reward for Fidel Edwards.

On Test Match Special, Viv Richards immediately perceived Plunkett as being intimidated. Viv's seen some of the greatest ever fast bowlers from a position in the slips. He can see a lack of stomach much sooner than less seasoned eyes.

According to Viv, Plunkett was making a subtle movement towards the leg-side. It wasn't even that pronounced when we watched the replays, but Viv was certain: Plunkett would rather the timber took the force of the ball than himself - at least to some degree.

A ball or so later, Liam Plunkett was as bowled as bowled can be. We mention this because it was perhaps an example of what we said about how a fast bowler can influence a batsman's behaviour. A quick ball at middle stump wouldn't have bowled Plunkett but for the balls that preceded it.

Later in the day, Fidel Edwards rang one on Steve Harmison's helmet. Steve Harmison loomed over Edwards, having run a bye and gave him the most evil of smiles. We hope that's a sign of intent for when he comes to bowl.

England v West Indies, third Test, day one at Old Trafford
England 296-7 (Ian Bell 77 not out)

Fidel Edwards' progress

The West Indies should definitely play Fidel Edwards at Old Trafford. He's mighty quick and the Old Trafford pitch is rock hard. West Indies' other bowlers haven't looked like bowling England out. Wickets are sorely needed.

The West Indies have long been trying to relocate the line of great fast bowlers that seemingly ended when Courtney Walsh retired. When we watched Fidel Edwards bowl at Marcus Trescothick in the first Test of the 2004 series at Sabina Park in Jamaica, we thought they'd succeeded.

The first ball of Edwards' fourth over was an absolutely searing bouncer. It passed near enough to Trescothick's head for him to know about it, carried on rising and went for four byes. The next ball was full and quicker still - well over 90mph. It feathered Trescothick's bat before meeting his stumps head on, sending them spearing into the crowd, like homicidal javelins.

Okay, so we don't really remember where the stumps went. We do remember those deliveries however. It was classic fast bowling.

If you think that cricket's just a technical game that's all about bowling more consistently than the opposition and making fewer batting mistakes, you clearly didn't see how rattled Trescothick was.

The point is that you can influence your opponents and that's part of the game. That's why Shane Warne has so much to say when he's bowling and that's why fast bowlers can sometimes get batsmen out with bad balls.

Fidel Edwards was 22 then. He's 25 now and he's made precisely no progress. The West Indies are currently picking Corey Collymore ahead of him - an opening bowler so slow that the wicketkeeper can stand up to the stumps.

Fast bowling longevity

Do any other England supporters feel like we're not getting our money's worth out of our fast bowlers?

Steve Harmison had his brief period of glory in successive series against the Windies and has since irked us again and again with his inability to once again reach those heights.

Andrew Flintoff's ankle sabotages his every step. Or at least every other one. The latest news about it requiring further surgery seems to bring about in us an awareness of the passage of time and how both his and our glory days might be long gone. At least Flintoff's glory days were just that.

Then there's the daddy of them all: Simon Jones. A man whose entire reputation is built on three and a half Test matches and a complete lack of evidence as to whether these were a flash in the pan.

Contrast this with Glenn McGrath - not fast, but still a strike bowler who managed to appear in 124 Tests, playing until most people's middle-aged spread prohibits standing for any length of time. Once he found his feet at Test level, he never lost them again. Steve Harmison's feet must have been stolen and buried on Easter Island or somewhere.

Shaun Pollock's no longer quick, but he's made up for it with accuracy. Wasim Akram went a similar way, but marrying accuracy with unmatched skill. Waqar Younis went out all guns blazing, obviously. Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh are probably still the best bowlers in the West Indies, just as they were when they retired.

In contrast, England's bowlers can't seem to maintain a lengthy period of high-level performance. The reasons are varied, the effect is the same.

Except the Hoggster, of course. He's exempt.

Squad rotation: It’s going to happen.

With a fixture list that’s fatter than a TV-loving, chip-munching hippo with an abnormally slow metabolism, cricketers need more and more rests. We predict the onset of ‘squad rotation’.

Late last year, the All Blacks walloped Wales with one team and then changed every single player in the starting line-up before walloping Ireland. This is taking things too far, but essentially this is what international cricket teams will have to do.

To prevent injuries and to keep players fresh, they will need resting. With match after match after match, soon you won’t see the same XI twice. Coaches will have to build a pool of international-standard players and then ensure that none are overplayed.

If it makes fast bowlers fast again, we’re in favour.

9 - Steve Harmison

What? What’s the problem? Shoaib Akhtar? Are you kidding? Glenn McGrath? No way. When Steve’s on song, he’s like Glenn McGrath only faster and therefore better. Plus he got Michael Kasprowicz out at the end of the BEST TEST EVER and made us emotional even though we are a boy and our only emotions are ‘hate’ and ‘hungry’.

Fast bowlers should be fast. Proper fast. They should hurt people. That’s what fast bowlers do. They don’t care about accuracy except for aiming at people’s faces. Hooray for Steve.

Anyway, he’s English and we don’t pretend to be anything other than outrageously biased. If you really love Steve Harmison, you can sing: ‘Steven. Steven Harmison’, to the tune of ‘Go West’ by the Pet Shop Boys. We do. Even in winter when we're just driving to work and there’s no cricket on anywhere in the world.