10 Comments

Marnus taking to the bowling crease. Better a different person as Captain to adjudicate on the need for that in any given moment.

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I have to side with my fellow Taswegian on this one. It’s an unwarranted risk considering how valuable Marnus is to the nation as a batsman. Much less risky to bowl the odd leggy. We also seem to be spoiled for choice when it comes to spinners around the country.

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It's probably foolish these days to suggest that state games mean anything, but I think it's okay him (Marnus) bowling seam, if he wants to do it as captain of his state if it helps his team's cause. If your gonna worry about getting injured when you play you may as well not play. It may also help improve his seam bowling doing it in a competitive environment like a Shield game rather than just in the nets. I sincerely hope he doesn't hurt himself, especially if it keeps the "I told you so" brigade quiet.

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I think between Head, Marnus (bowling leg spin) and Marsh. You can get 10-15 overs per 80 overs. Giving the big 4 the required rest to survive the workload of the series.

India will score at a relatively fast rate, so I think we won’t see many innings going that 120+ overs that will be an issue. Have to ensure our batsmen’s stand up and last that 80 overs plus each innings, to give our bowlers the requested rest.

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In club cricket every batter thinks they can bowl and many try to impress at training so they might get a few overs on a Sat'dy arvo. It always seems odd to me that even at Test level they try it on, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Agree Greg Chappell was an excellent medium pacer, particularly in ODI's, as was Steve Waugh a much underrated bowler. Going way back they always used to say Ian Chappell and Keith Stackpole were reliable fill-in leggies but I don't remember them ever bowling in a Test.

Can anyone give me a definition of "seam" bowling? Why or how is it different to pace bowling?

And much as I agree with most commenters on here, I wont "like" anyone who refers to him as Marnus. It's Labuschagne or nothing. Why is he so special he gets the overpersonal and chummy first name treatment?

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Apart from his attempted bouncers, Marnus bowled a few decent overs of slow medium for a part time leg spinner!

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I'm not doubting his ability. Batters get uptight when one of their own bowl to them, they're so keen not to hand over bragging rights they can make mistakes.

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I'm doubting his ability. Can you see the Indians quaking in their boots against Marn ... sorry, Labuwhatnot's ... slow medium dross? He's far more likely to cause problems with leg spin on days 4 and 5, provided he keeps himself in proper practice. He's taken 83 wickets at about 48 in first-class games (including his 13 in Tests, of course). I'd like to know the breakdown between spin and seam. I'd have my money on the spin. I suspect he picked up the seam habit at Glamorgan.

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I have a theory about Marnus, who is certainly not lacking in self-belief, and his bowling.

I imagine that, when he's in the field, it would take no more than a dozen overs before he starts on at the skipper, "Can I bowl, can I bowl, can I bowl, please let me bowl", etc, etc (Should that be "et al, et al" now?). Generally speaking, when a skipper finally lets him bowl, it's to shut him up and get a bit of peace and quiet.

I tell myself too that the reason he is captain of Queensland is because nobody else could face the annoyance of having to deal with his constant nagging to let him bowl, so he got the job by default. No other captain would ever have bowled him for 4 overs before lunch on the first day of a Shield match, but sadly, Marnus deludes himself that he is another Garfield Sobers, rather than the 5th back-up bowler that we all see! Suggestions of a comparison with Dougie Walters' are, frankly, grossly overstated, as the figure prove. No doubt his sense of achievement was boosted by the couple of tail-end wickets he picked up at the WACA last week, but watching him bowl was, frankly, sad.

He's the boy who tries too hard, and needs someone to pull him into line!

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Any bowling from Marnus is all good as long as his batting is doing the job. This is the series of series coming up against India. Australia need at least three or four batters to play high scoring series.

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