Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2014 16:58:31 GMT
He hasn't been as effective as we hoped and I was trying to figure out why.
I suspect one of the reasons is that it is very difficult to perform at a high level if you are only bowling four overs per week in competitive conditions. How can you run in and deliver yorkers at 85 mph with pinpoint accuracy if you haven't had to bowl for a week except in a net? You're bound to be a bit rusty adf it's another downside of this ludicrously overlong competiton running from May until August which the ECB has saddled the counties with.
International T20 specialists like Arafat are used to playing three times a week in the other T20 comps aroud the world, and that keeps the engine ticking like a well-oiled machine. Playing once a week for two and a half hours on a Friday night with six days off between almost every game allows no opportunity to gain a rhythm or build momentum.
Kevin Pietersen says playing one evening a week for Surrey feels "like being a club cricketer again" and I suspect that's why he is not setting the world alight: there is no opportunity for him to get into a groove. It is probably the reason Glenn Maxwell is proving such a disappoiontmenrt at Hants, too.
I think the lesson for 2015 is either:
a) The T20 has to be restricted as before to an intense period of four or five weeks during high summer with counties playing three times per week.
As the ECB insists that (a) is not on the agenda, it has to be:
b) Signing someone like Arafat only to play T20 is a waste of time and money; it has to be a player who will keep sharp by appearing in all formats, like Finch at Yorks, Hastings at Durham, Ryder at Essex or Ajmal at Worcs.
The danger of O/S stars playing all formats , of course, is that the player breaks down (Bollinger) or gets called back by their home nation concerned about over-work (Siddle). But asking Arafat to bowl four overs a week appears to have blunted his effectiveness and I'd say is an idea that should not be repeated.
I suspect one of the reasons is that it is very difficult to perform at a high level if you are only bowling four overs per week in competitive conditions. How can you run in and deliver yorkers at 85 mph with pinpoint accuracy if you haven't had to bowl for a week except in a net? You're bound to be a bit rusty adf it's another downside of this ludicrously overlong competiton running from May until August which the ECB has saddled the counties with.
International T20 specialists like Arafat are used to playing three times a week in the other T20 comps aroud the world, and that keeps the engine ticking like a well-oiled machine. Playing once a week for two and a half hours on a Friday night with six days off between almost every game allows no opportunity to gain a rhythm or build momentum.
Kevin Pietersen says playing one evening a week for Surrey feels "like being a club cricketer again" and I suspect that's why he is not setting the world alight: there is no opportunity for him to get into a groove. It is probably the reason Glenn Maxwell is proving such a disappoiontmenrt at Hants, too.
I think the lesson for 2015 is either:
a) The T20 has to be restricted as before to an intense period of four or five weeks during high summer with counties playing three times per week.
As the ECB insists that (a) is not on the agenda, it has to be:
b) Signing someone like Arafat only to play T20 is a waste of time and money; it has to be a player who will keep sharp by appearing in all formats, like Finch at Yorks, Hastings at Durham, Ryder at Essex or Ajmal at Worcs.
The danger of O/S stars playing all formats , of course, is that the player breaks down (Bollinger) or gets called back by their home nation concerned about over-work (Siddle). But asking Arafat to bowl four overs a week appears to have blunted his effectiveness and I'd say is an idea that should not be repeated.