A question we should be asking at the moment is not,'who is Eoin Morgan?' but 'what is Eoin Morgan?'.
He's the newest manifestation of the evolution of batting. He made an amusing remark after his slightly awe-inspiring hundred yesterday about 'knowing your areas' - amusing when you consider one of your areas to be backward point, through which you hit by reverse-sweeping balls wide of leg stump.
In the last five years, it's evident that batting has changed, become heightened, responded to the new challenges more quickly than bowling has. So it's interesting to consider what the response of bowling and bowlers will be. Because for a while, just before T20, it was bowling that had all of the edge in innovation, from reverse swing to slower balls to doosras. People like Malinga actually reinvented ways in which you could do it.
One prediction I will make: there will be a return to extreme pace, and quicker than it's ever been bowled before. Brett Lee's retirement provided the clue. Imagine what he would have been like if he was just asked to bowl four overs, flat out. Nothing else but fast at the ribcage.
Within the next couple of years, a freak will emerge who bowls 100mph for four overs a night and goes home. That will re-set the bar once again.
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Or alternatively, exceptionally slowly. So slow that it actually comes to a stop two inches past the wicket. But very, very high.
I want to know how it's linguistically possible to bowl six 'slower balls' in an over.
That Morgan is a bit good, isn't he?
Brit, I'll have to refer you to Mr Conan Doyle and 'Spedegue's Dropper'. Great short story- you can probably find it online...
And to Jeremy Snape's semi-legendary 'moon ball', of course...
Beat me to it OB.
From the same stable as 'Herecombe v Therecombe' with the unfeaibly long run up!
Surely changes of pace are more effective than raw pace.
No, I'm thinking of a new kind of pace, quicker than anything before in intense, short spells to replicate the impact of Lillee and Thomson in 74 or the WI quartets. Just raw speed, hit it if you can. Leave the slower balls to the 85mph merchants.
Brit in answer to your slower balls question, the only way I can think of is if each is slower than the last...
Going back to your point about conservatism, I doubt it'll be Team England that innovates with your superfast bowler.
"Sure he can bowl at 120mph, but what's his fielding like?"
Could Pat Cummins of Australia be that freak?
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