1st Test: South Africa v Australia at Centurion Feb 12-16, 2014

[madunit]

There's an element of truth to it no doubt and I'm not dismissing it but most of it comes with for once in his life he's consistently bowling at 150km/h at the right line and length. No matter how good or bad the bowling at the other end is when that is happening he's going to be a handful and have batsman caught in between two minds.

His stock wicket of bowling 1 metre across the right hander being caught at third slip has been replaced by 150km/h bouncers being aimed at the head caught behind the wicket or square.

The fact that the others (Lyon the most impressive IMO) have bowled so well has allowed him to be used in aggressive burst spells. But it's also clear he's not the mentally fragile basket case he had been in the past when things didn't go his way.

There is also the aura that has now emerged about him. In the past he's been put in his place after a good test but midway through the Ashes it was evident the poms were shitting themselves and now the South Africans clearly were rattled. If he rolls through them in the next 2 tests it'll take a brave batsman to stand up to him. I've never seen a bowler transform themselves like he has recently.

I'm certainly not saying he hasn't improved. Mentally he has vastly improved as you stated.

His line and length is still not consistent. But given that theres 3 other blokes bowling tight, he can get away with it, in fact, its his inconsistency that helps him get some of the wickets and instill that fear into the batsmen.

 

[JJ]

It's one poor test after 46 wickets in his last nine, it's acceptable for now

Yep, was just meaning I think he's an outstanding bowler... obviously Johnson is doing something special atm, but I think Harris is up with STeyn and Philander as day in day out the best quicks in the world

 

[hineyrulz]

Siddle's your Ewen Chatfield...

Harris is disappointing me a little - he is a wonderful bowler, but I imagine his body is troubling him, just doesn't seem quite as good as he should be at the moment

Gee you must have been really dissappointed in Philander then..........

 

[JJ]

Gee you must have been really dissappointed in Philander then..........

Definitely...

 

[Twizzle]

funny how Smith says Notch only gets tailenders out, I wonder if he classes himself as a tailender

 

[madunit]

Smith does have a bit of a point.

In the Ashes, Johnson took 37 wickets, 20 of which were batsmen batting at 7 or below (and Anderson when he batted at 3)

 

[bazza]

Smith does have a bit of a point.

In the Ashes, Johnson took 37 wickets, 20 of which were batsmen batting at 7 or below (and Anderson when he batted at 3)

So just over half of his wickets were batsmen in the bottom half of the batting line-up
I would imagine this statistic would be the same for 95% of bowlers

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Of the 12 wickets he took in 1st Test, only 2 were tail enders.

He got Smith, Peterson, de Villiers and Mclaren both times.

 

[TheParraboy]

Smith does have a bit of a point.

In the Ashes, Johnson took 37 wickets, 20 of which were batsmen batting at 7 or below (and Anderson when he batted at 3)

I have two points to make

The poms tail is probably one of the stronger ones in world cricket, Prior, Broad, Bresnan, Swann could all bat.

It also points out, with all this talk that harris/siddle/lyon are setting up wickets for Johnson, could be the other way round as well?

 

[benched tiger]

Smith has a typical Sth.African trait,he struggles to give credit to any opposition team or player.His bowlers are ranked 1&2 in the world, why didn't they exploit the pitch to the level that Johnson did ?blaming the pitch is one thing but how does he explain the ordinary fielding,batting and sending the Aussies into bat first on a suss wicket....!

 

[TheParraboy]

Of the 12 wickets he took in 1st Test, only 2 were tail enders.

He got Smith, Peterson, de Villiers and Mclaren both times.

Yup Smith has a point all right :lol:

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

If it were 30 wickets of batsman from the lower order and 7 from the top order then Smith would have a point but he doesn't have a leg to stand on considering against South Africa he took 5 of the top 7 batsman in both of their innings.

17 from the top order and 20 from the lower order is hardly a statistic to snigger at. Even enough against as PB mentioned a strong tail that has in the past regrouped against Australia in bad situations.

 

[benched tiger]

Any team whose tail wags is a huge bonus,having a bowler who can prevent that happening only bothers one team !

 

[Bigfella]

Lol. 20 out of 37 wickets were tai lenders is a criticism?

You need 20 wickets to win a game. The tailenders are as important as any.
In many cases they are the most important as they are the winning wickets.

Plus if he does the maths he may find it's only slightly less than fifty per cent? What does he want? 85% to be top order before he rates him?

Anyway the stats were skewed by Peterson being owned by siddle so he wasn't up for grabs.

 

[typicalfan]

Smith is in denial but what he says publicly may not be what he thinks behind closed doors.

It was a farce that Morkel was allowed to bowl so quickly due to a loophole which isn't really a loophole. They were outplayed with bat and ball and Smith had worse fields than Cook did.

 

[madunit]

I'm not defending Smith's comments, he just said that most of Johnson's wickets in the Ashes were tail enders, which is a correct statement.

The stats prove it.

Thats all.

 

[bazza]

Another thing about tail-end wickets - if your strike bowler gets wicket #6 or 7 - he will stay on for a few more overs and get a few more quick ones
Similarly if the lower end batsmen have been in for a while - the captain will toss the ball to his best bowler

 

[madunit]

You guys have all been trolled by Gumpy Smith

 

[herbert henry1908]

I'm not defending Smith's comments, he just said that most of Johnson's wickets in the Ashes were tail enders, which is a correct statement.

The stats prove it.

Thats all.

You must be reading some funny stats then.


22 of his 37 wickets were batsmen or wicket keepers. ( and yes prior was out of form but he still averages 40)


Only 15 then against tail enders.