Sri Lanka in England/Netherlands

[aussie1st]

I wouldn't put Vettori as the 3rd best spinner in the world. He does well against Aus but other than that he hasn't been as great as Singh, Warne, Kumble, Kaneria, Murali and co.

 

[irottev]

Murili and Warne are better. Kumble is only great in India/Wickets which spin lots. Kaneria is new on the scene and has potential, he isn't in Vettori's league and Singh would challenge him but in my biased opinion, Vettori is better. But I don't want another spin bowling discussion.

 

[Sureshot]

My spinners list:

Warne
Murali
Harbhajan
Kumble
MacGill

Then Vettori.

 

[James219]

I dunno about that; you have to consider the context with which each player lies in. Vettori has been, for most of his career due to lack of fast-bowling depth and injuries, the only dangerous option with the ball for NZ, and quite often he's been forced into situations where supporting bowlers would be ideal to have, for example, he sometimes gets a relatively new ball as the pacemen can't apply the pressure, or has to stray from his gameplan to cater for the shortcomings of the Black Caps. He's underrated- the job he does for NZ cricket is superb, his variety and subtle deceptions are genius at times, but go unnoticed as he bears most of the workload. It's tough to judge this sort of thing, but in my opinion he'd be right up there with Singh, and MacGill is a different bowler entirely- he has all the support in the world, and doesn't have to pre-occupy himself with ecocomical thoughts, as aggression is a priority.

 

[nightprowler10]

Another example is Afridi who is pretty successful with the ball. It's all about variation and Giles does vary his deliveries pretty well.

I always thought Afridi can get quite a bit of spin.

 

[Sureshot]

The problem with Giles though, kodos, is that his job is to be the containing bowler yet he quite often bowls one ball well outside the off stump an over.

 

[andrew_nixon]

Maybe Giles does occaisonally bowl well in county cricket, but averaging nearly 60 with the ball in a 5 match series when you're supposed to be a front-line bowler is just plain crap. You'd be disapointed if a part-time spinner averaged that.

 

[Sureshot]

Ollie Rayner has his hundred! \o/

 

[puddleduck]

Maybe Giles does occaisonally bowl well in county cricket, but averaging nearly 60 with the ball in a 5 match series when you're supposed to be a front-line bowler is just plain crap. You'd be disapointed if a part-time spinner averaged that.

That's 40 less than one of Australias premier seamers managed.

Giles role was to allow the quicks to rest and then come back fired up, which considering how the quicks bowled, worked well. He also had a knack of picking up settled batsmans wickets. His role in the Ashes was a more than useful one. Especially when you take into account that with the bat he provided one of the defining partnerships when England could have wilted. Clearly you have something against Gilo, and the fact that he has been a loyal servant to England who has contributed in many ways, on more than a few occasions is lost on you.

Noone could ever say he is on the same plain as Warne, and his turn is not his biggest asset, especially when at every ground the groundsman said "This pitch won't turn at all" to try and counter Warne (obviously didn't work unfortunately).

Just looked up his stats in FC cricket, and he averages 26 with the bat with three 100's and twenty-two 50's, also a career high of 128*. As well as 29 with the ball with career best of 8-90 and 536 wickets. Twenty-Six 5-fors and three ten wickets in a match. None too shabby if you ask me.

 

[evertonfan]

Giles role was to allow the quicks to rest and then come back fired up, which considering how the quicks bowled, worked well. He also had a knack of picking up settled batsmans wickets. His role in the Ashes was a more than useful one. Especially when you take into account that with the bat he provided one of the defining partnerships when England could have wilted. Clearly you have something against Gilo, and the fact that he has been a loyal servant to England who has contributed in many ways, on more than a few occasions is lost on you.

Noone could ever say he is on the same plain as Warne, and his turn is not his biggest asset, especially when at every ground the groundsman said "This pitch won't turn at all" to try and counter Warne (obviously didn't work unfortunately).

Just looked up his stats in FC cricket, and he averages 26 with the bat with three 100's and twenty-two 50's, also a career high of 128*. As well as 29 with the ball with career best of 8-90 and 536 wickets. Twenty-Six 5-fors and three ten wickets in a match. None too shabby if you ask me.

Couldn't have put it better myself! Also, most of the batsmen primarily attacked Giles, because they couldn't score too many off the seamers.

 

[gary0808]

Evertonfan

They only attacked Giles to get him out of the attack because they knew how dangerous he could be if Giles gets in a rythm.

 

[Sureshot]

That's 40 less than one of Australias premier seamers managed.

Giles role was to allow the quicks to rest and then come back fired up, which considering how the quicks bowled, worked well. He also had a knack of picking up settled batsmans wickets. His role in the Ashes was a more than useful one. Especially when you take into account that with the bat he provided one of the defining partnerships when England could have wilted. Clearly you have something against Gilo, and the fact that he has been a loyal servant to England who has contributed in many ways, on more than a few occasions is lost on you.

Noone could ever say he is on the same plain as Warne, and his turn is not his biggest asset, especially when at every ground the groundsman said "This pitch won't turn at all" to try and counter Warne (obviously didn't work unfortunately).

Just looked up his stats in FC cricket, and he averages 26 with the bat with three 100's and twenty-two 50's, also a career high of 128*. As well as 29 with the ball with career best of 8-90 and 536 wickets. Twenty-Six 5-fors and three ten wickets in a match. None too shabby if you ask me.

Gary Keedy and Jason Browns career figures won't differ too much from that in the bowling stakes.

Giles is a good county bowler, and can play a role for England in ODIs, but in Tests, he's been rubbish since the end of our summer 2004.

 

[irottev]

LOL Sangakara bowled

http://nz.cricinfo.com/db/NEW/LIVE/frames/SL_SUSSEX_18-21MAY2006.html

Malinga took 5 for, 4 were ducks. He should be included because his action takes some getting used to and he can get you out pretty quickly through surprise. And the young fellow I picked got a 130, well thanks for getting that this game and not the last one lol. Looks like I made a good selection but it didn't pay off. He has talent. Tharanga another big score, nice stuff.

 

[aussie1st]

Malinga definitely should be picked. Thats what they were missing when all of the English top order got starts. His action definitely should cause problems for the English batters.

This tour match has given a number of the SL batsmen a chance to get into form just wonder if they can carry that on against England.

 

[James219]

That's 40 less than one of Australias premier seamers managed.

Giles role was to allow the quicks to rest and then come back fired up, which considering how the quicks bowled, worked well. He also had a knack of picking up settled batsmans wickets. His role in the Ashes was a more than useful one. Especially when you take into account that with the bat he provided one of the defining partnerships when England could have wilted. Clearly you have something against Gilo, and the fact that he has been a loyal servant to England who has contributed in many ways, on more than a few occasions is lost on you.

Noone could ever say he is on the same plain as Warne, and his turn is not his biggest asset, especially when at every ground the groundsman said "This pitch won't turn at all" to try and counter Warne (obviously didn't work unfortunately).

Just looked up his stats in FC cricket, and he averages 26 with the bat with three 100's and twenty-two 50's, also a career high of 128*. As well as 29 with the ball with career best of 8-90 and 536 wickets. Twenty-Six 5-fors and three ten wickets in a match. None too shabby if you ask me.

Yeah, that's pretty well said. Ricky Ponting's Ashes Diary actually mentioned how they planned to attack Giles as much as possible from one end, so Vaughan would be forced to use his pace bowlers more frequently and in longer bursts than he would have liked to. At times it worked, most notably in the second innings of First Test, where Vaughan didn't have the luxury of his constant service at one end whilst the pacemen rotated and attacked in short intervals at the other, but the Australian bats weren't able to build partnerships or establish themselves throughout the series to the extent that they ended up dictated terms. Every spinner plays a different role in the set-up of a side, and Giles may not be the best option with regards to the 'frontline' man, but he did fulfil his individual task pretty well, and that resulted in a massive contribution to England's success, if you read between the lines.....
And even though it may not be the best mentality to select players on this basis, he was relied upon to do a job with the bat and to pose a threat in the field, and he did that very well.