The Ashes

[Scott7 2,764]

Australia have made Pat Cummins captain with Steve Smith vice. I suspect in reality the roles will be reversed. Not many fast bowlers make Test captains. They need to rest between overs, not wrestle with conundrums like field placing, bad light, enticing the opposition to declare, over rates etc.

 

Bob Willis is the only speed merchant I can think of without delving into Wisden.

[Bill 9,019]

30 minutes ago, Scott7 said:

Australia have made Pat Cummins captain with Steve Smith vice. I suspect in reality the roles will be reversed. Not many fast bowlers make Test captains. They need to rest between overs, not wrestle with conundrums like field placing, bad light, enticing the opposition to declare, over rates etc.

 

Bob Willis is the only speed merchant I can think of without delving into Wisden.

I can think of Wasim Akram and Shaun Pollock, who did OK. You're right though, not many come to mind. Was Kapil Dev fast or spin, I can't remember?

[Scott7 2,764]

Kapil was medium fast all rounder. 
 

Akram and Pollock are testing my theory.

[Bill 9,019]

17 minutes ago, Scott7 said:

Kapil was medium fast all rounder. 
 

Akram and Pollock are testing my theory.

Did Sobers captain the WI?

[Scott7 2,764]

5 minutes ago, Bill said:

Did Sobers captain the WI?

Successfully many times although with his teams I think I could have done all right despite doing nothing with bat or ball and conceding runs in the field.

 

Sobers didn’t keep wicket but he did everything else. Fast medium, two kinds of slow left arm, high scoring batsman and an ace in the slips. What a cricketer.

 

I suppose I’m thinking of outright pace, the 85-90 mph stuff.

[Bill 9,019]

3 minutes ago, Scott7 said:

Successfully many times although with his teams I think I could have done all right despite doing nothing with bat or ball and conceding runs in the field.

 

Sobers didn’t keep wicket but he did everything else. Fast medium, two kinds of slow left arm, high scoring batsman and an ace in the slips. What a cricketer.

 

I suppose I’m thinking of outright pace, the 85-90 mph stuff.

I wasn't sure. His pomp was a little before my attention was fully fixed on cricket and I think he came a little before the all conquering WI side that dominated test cricket for so long. What about Waqar Younis, did he ever captain Pakistan ... or Imran Khan even? Or possibly Richard Hadlee of New Zealand, did he captain the team? 

[stewarty 1,301]

Imran Khan definitely captained Pakistan.  Not sure about Hadlee for NZ.

 

To further the analogy of fast-bowlers not making great captains, I would add Andrew Flintoff.  

[stewarty 1,301]

Suspect we will see Smith back as captain before the end of the ashes.  Frontline quick bowlers pick up niggles so much these days that I expect pace attacks to evolve throughout a series, especially with back-to-back tests and the like.

[compo 3,669]

Cant wait for a bit of sledging, remember watching Sobers hit Malcolm Nash for six consecutive sixes 

[Scott7 2,764]

2 hours ago, Bill said:

I think he came a little before the all conquering WI side that dominated test cricket

Correct. He captained “second raters” Hall, Griffiths, Gibbs, Kanhai, Kallicharan, Lloyd. Interestingly they were in the twilight of their careers except Clive Lloyd who was just starting. Still managed to be unofficial world champions.