Naseem Shah vs Jofra Archer: A Detailed Analysis
I know they have a big age difference and it is probably a disservice to Naseem to be comparing him to a guy who is older and much more experienced. However, the point of comparison is that both of them are relatively fresh on the international scene, but are already box office draws, and are being billed as potential superstars.
Archer has already made his mark in last year's World cup with a great super over and the subsequent ashes series, while Naseem is in his first year of international cricket with already a fiver and a hat-trick to his credit.
So let's analyze the key attributes that may go on to decide this contest in the years to come.
Sustainability of bowling action:
To start it off, I believe that Archer is a supreme athlete, and it is this supreme athleticism that allows him to bowl that quick and not necessarily his bowling technique/action.
While Archer does look effortless in his action it has to be noted that bowlers with a predominantly front-on action, with no pivid, put a lot of stress on the lower back. And in Archer's case, he barely uses his left side much and totally relies on his lower core strength to maintain his extension. That explains why his pace declines so much over the course of a test series or a season. In Ashes, he even touched 154 kph and against Pakistan, he hasn't even touched 145 kph.
On the other hand, a guy like Naseem can sustain his pace much better because his side on action allows his oblique muscles as well as his hips to share in the burden with his back.
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Watch how Archer's left arm just aimlessly rests on the side, while Naseem's is way past his back since he uses the slingshot method; pulling it down with force, using it to catapult his right side.
In the past, Naseem has had back issues but they were more a result of
counter-rotation or in other words a mixed action where his upper half was front on, with the lower being side-on.
Ever since that has been fixed, he hasn't had any complaints with his back. However, it remains to be seen whether he can retain the muscle memory and doesn't fall into the older bad habits.
Attacking skills with the new ball
Naseem's natural swing is to bring it back in to the right handers; similar to Bond and Donald. However, he also has the ability to shape it away from them and his outswing happens very late. It is also not as exaggerated as it is with somebody like Amir, which means that there is more likelihood of him hitting the edge than the ball beating the bat.
Archer on the other, because of his front-on action and minimal use of his left side, doesn't shape it away from the right handers and predominantly tries to bring it back. He can get it to straighten, but that has everything to do with the wrist which makes it harder to execute when not in optimal rhythm.
His biggest weapon is how he gets the ball to rise from a length, which makes him a very awkward customer to handle.
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As it can be seen from this image, his upright extension and extremely high release means that he gets the most lift/bounce out of all the bowlers playing international cricket at the moment.
Naseem doesn't have a shoddy bouncer either as Imam and Abid Ali (who were both made to retire hurt in the practice matches) and obviously Chris Woakes yesterday will testify.
Although a good three to four inches shorter than Archer, and sometimes dismissed as being particularly short for a fast bowler, Naseem surprisingly still generates very good lift and the answer is in the image below.
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A look at his elbow tells us that he gets extra leverage because of having
hyperextensible joints, particularly in his arms. This is a similar attribute that has allowed relatively shorter bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Shoaib Akhtar(both under 6 feet) to generate bounce that would characterize a much taller bowler.
Accuracy
This is an attribute where both the bowlers surprisingly do very well, given the pace that they bowl at. They both have very good control of length according to their experience and age.
Old ball skills:
This is where Naseem can really leave Archer behind. So far, from what we have seen, Archer does not get much tail or movement with the older ball, and the reason is his action, which is very perpendicular at release and lacks a slingshot, which most bowlers use to get their arms lower when bowling with the old ball. Some great examples include Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar. In contemporary times, I have even seen
Umesh Yadav use this method very effectively and get his arm lower with the old ball to generate a lot of reverse swing.
Naseem doesn't have to worry about this though, as his side-on, slingshot supported action allows for arm angle adjustment. He isn't great with this at the moment, but over time, I expect him to develop this facet of the game, particularly with Waqar on his side.
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HUGE shoutout to 'Pacy with Wisdom' for helping me out with this.
Let me know what you guys think of this.
