TOPIC:

UNKA2 wrote: I cannot think of any country in the world that places sporting personnel as high on thier hero list as we do here. They play sport and entertain.

India, imagine what would happen if Sachin passed away.

Peter North wrote:

UNKA2 wrote: I cannot think of any country in the world that places sporting personnel as high on thier hero list as we do here. They play sport and entertain.

India, imagine what would happen if Sachin passed away.

India sprung to my mind as well with their love of cricket. I do not think this is solely an Australian phenomenon. Can you remember the scenes in Brazil when the great Ayrton Senna died back in 1994?

Perhaps i didnt word it that well and i Hear what yer saying guys, and i am not trying to demean the whole situation at all, but the 2 blokes that you both mentioned were absolute legends in thier chosen sport.

Freezin wrote: and BC they go at a tad faster speed than a cricket/base ball too.......Sam Groth was clocked at 260 km/hr from memory......imagine if a bowler could bowl at that speed?.....

Fastest baseball pitch 105mph (169kph) distance 60 feet 2 inches.
Fastest cricket delivery 100.23mph (161kph)

Cleary your confused BC, you don't take aim at the batters head, you bang the ball into the pitch, if there is high bounce like australian wickets then you may get hit in the upper body, however bowl the same ball on the sub continent and it won't get above hip height.

No one aims at a batters head, thats just where the ball ends up after being bowled short.......

clearly you're confused ph...if you don't anticipate a bouncer will be head height then why bowl it? you do it so the batsman will take evasive action and get his feet in the wrong place and make a false shot or get an edge in trying to get out of the way. I've bowled enough in my time to know that head height around off stump is where you want the ball to be. if it's a slow or low pitch then it hardly ever gets used but if you're on a green top then you watch how many get bowled with the aim being to fly the ball towards the batmans heads to force him into taking evasive action.

PH and BC the simple fact is it was a freak accident.

I have played cricket at a reasonably high level as both a fast bowler and an opening batsman. I have also coached at both junior and senior level. The biggest problem between players nowadays and previous is technique. Batsman technique has gone backwards since the advent of the helmet. Players are now taught to push forward rather than the back and across method. Back and across gave you more time and also allowed for back foot shots which is what a cut, pull or hook are meany to be not front foot shots.

Ricky Ponting was one of the greatest back foot players in the esrly part of his career when he went back and across, as he got older he implemented the forward press/lean and his hooking and pulling suffered to the point that he was no good at it on a a consistent basis.

Coaches need to teach the correct technique and get batsman out of this crap forward press.

Don't ban the bouncer it is a perfectly legitimate delivery.

Bundy 12 -- beautifully put indeed.

Bundy12 wrote: PH and BC the simple fact is it was a freak accident.

I have played cricket at a reasonably high level as both a fast bowler and an opening batsman. I have also coached at both junior and senior level. The biggest problem between players nowadays and previous is technique. Batsman technique has gone backwards since the advent of the helmet. Players are now taught to push forward rather than the back and across method. Back and across gave you more time and also allowed for back foot shots which is what a cut, pull or hook are meany to be not front foot shots.

Ricky Ponting was one of the greatest back foot players in the esrly part of his career when he went back and across, as he got older he implemented the forward press/lean and his hooking and pulling suffered to the point that he was no good at it on a a consistent basis.

Coaches need to teach the correct technique and get batsman out of this crap forward press.

Don't ban the bouncer it is a perfectly legitimate delivery.

Finally, the voice of reason. Have kept out of this, but the above is spot on. Too much has changed in favour of the batsmen, resulting in them not having to worry about playing off the back foot. That's not having a crack or being disrespectful towards Phil Hughes, it's a lost art. If you're not taught, then chanes are you won't learn.

Without the bouncer cricket is dead and the overreaction because someone died in a freak accident is astonishing!! I bet my left nut and hope Mitch Johnson bowls a quick bouncer in the first over on Tues and Phil Hughes wouldn't have wanted it any other way! The game must go on as Clarke said at the funeral