Medium Pacers in Tests

[Cricketman]

Why are medium pacers so mediocre in test matches? They are amazing in ODI's, probably because of their military line and length and the pressure on the batsman is to score runs.
But, isn't this also kind of the case with spinners?
Look at Nathan Brackan. He's Australia's best/second best bowler in the 50 over game. But give him the whites, he's average.

Have their been any successfully medium's in the long format?

By medium-pacers, I'm talking of the Praveen Kumars, Paul Collingwoods, Nathan Brackans, not the Zaheer's, ect. (Not Medium-Fast).

Is pace required in test matches to claim wickets?

 

[mattfb]

I think there more successful in ODI's because the batters have to try go after the bowlers and medium pace is a pretty awkward speed to try hit away.

Thats my guess.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Ya..I think Batsman don't care to score fast in tests thats give disadvantage to bowler in comparisons to ODIs.
I have Example of C Vass,who lost his pace recently and now he is target for batsman to score in test cricket.
So I think you must need little bit of pace..Even to get swing you need medium pace..

 

[surendar]

Well, medium pacers are generally more successful in ODI levels. They irritate the batsman at times and hence they(batsmen) tend to make mistakes and getting out But when comes to test, class batsmen usually have great patience and hence I don't think that medium pacers will create any sorts of troubles.

Chris Harris & Ian Harvey are the best examples.

More pace along with genuine swingers and great movement is always going to be more dangerous with red balls than a medium pace with predictable swings and movement of the ball.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Wasn't Chrish Harris a spinner??
I think he used to bowl leg spinner??

 

[surendar]

Wasn't Chrish Harris a spinner??
I think he used to bowl leg spinner??

He is Right arm medium with leg cutters as his special delivery. He has frustrated Tendulkar many times in ODIs.

 

[Cricketdude]

Glenn Mcgrath

 

[jordox]

Nathan Bracken can bowl up to 140kph, I wouldn't call him a medium. However his role in one day cricket is important because of the changes of pace and those little swingers and cutters he bowls, it's nothing to do with his pace.

In response to geniune mediums, like Collingwood, the reason they are more effective in the ODI arena is because batsman are more pressured to score runs, thus try a stupid shot. In test matches they'd just wait and wait until the bad ball and he wouldn't look like taking a wicket.

 

[SciD]

Wasn't Chrish Harris a spinner??
I think he used to bowl leg spinner??

He bowled like leg spinner action but was medium pacer. 120ks. All his bowls came in and in that time NZ had bunch of these guys Chris Harris, Nathan Astle, The Postman Gavin Larson and Craig McMillan. They frustrated batsman with the lack of pace.

But in test matches batsman dont get frustrated for lack of runs. Also there are gaps to score runs which are not there in ODIs.

 

[manee]

The bowlers who can extract more pace off the pitch tend to be the most successful bowlers in Test matches because the slightest movement can catch the edge or defeat a solid defence. With a medium pace bowler, a batsman can get forward and negate movement, to an extent.

It all boils down to what bowlers have to do to get wickets in Tests and ODIs and the differing mindsets of a batsman. Ignoring the obvious fact that batsmen will tend to try and hit medium pacers out of the park more often than fast bowlers; let us take a look at how two different paces of bowlers get caught behinds, as a case study.

A fast bowler will push a batsman back in his crease and catch an edge off a solid defence shot. This will happen more often in Test matches but less often in ODIs, when batsmen will be more inclined to hook or cut or even to leave and wait for the bad ball, which is easy to dispatch when there is pace on the ball.

A medium pacer will get an edge with a batsman who is rooted to his crease, looking to nudge and nurdle (or stand there and whack it) or one who is getting forward (or walking down the pitch) to negate the slowish movement. In a Test match, a batsman can happily can slightly forward and block the ball, but in an ODI, one of the aforementioned will occur, which is how the medium pacers catch the edge. Incidentally, batsmen getting rooted to their crease can also cause LBWs and bowleds too.

Nathan Bracken can bowl up to 140kph

This has always peturbed me. I would class Nathan Bracken as a medium pacer for a number of reasons. Firstly, he relies on cutters as almost a second delivery in ODIs, which means that he spends just as much time in the 110s as the 130s. It does not matter what somebody can do, it matters what they do do (lol). Secondly, I feel that a bowler like him should go down as a medium pacer simply due to the lack of carry that he gets; I am not one to disregard the speed gun all together, but he will rarely, if ever beat even a club batsman, with pace alone. He is like Irfan Pathan, but to a lesser extent, batsman play him like a bowler who is 10kph slower simply due to the lack of bounce and pace that is extracted off the pitch. If Bracken (and Pathan) bowled an exclusively full length with the bouncer as a surprise ball, then this would be a moot point, but both tend to bowl short of a length far more often than they should.

 

[Leggie]

Its a simple reason IMO. Medium Paces can gain more accuracy due to the fact they put more effort into line and lentgh, so thats why in ODI's they are successful, because batsmen go after them and get out, whereas in Tests batsmen need not got after them and can just pick them for singles.

 

[shravi]

Medium pacers are not going to get the edges in tests. There are generally 2-3 slip fieldsmen in test matches. They can't generate edges off the batsmen's bats as easily as faster bowlers. This in turn makes it easier for batsmen to utilise the attacking fields set to their advantage.

 

[Leggie]

Medium pacers are not going to get the edges in tests. There are generally 2-3 slip fieldsmen in test matches. They can't generate edges off the batsmen's bats as easily as faster bowlers. This in turn makes it easier for batsmen to utilise the attacking fields set to their advantage.

Good point Shravan-Bhai. Also there are not many pitches that would suit that kind of gentle medium pace.

 

[manee]

Its a simple reason IMO. Medium Paces can gain more accuracy due to the fact they put more effort into line and lentgh, so thats why in ODI's they are successful, because batsmen go after them and get out, whereas in Tests batsmen need not got after them and can just pick them for singles.

You are missing the point, they need not pick the good balls for singles; they can simply wait for the ball which can be picked for runs.

 

[Sureshot]

Bracken isn't a medium pacer.

Remember the true medium bowlers often come in when batsmen are set or the ball is doing nothing. I think Colly has done okay in Tests of late (considering when he first got his 1st test wicket). http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/player/10772.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling Take those last two averages in the Seasons section. 32 and 25 isn't bad.