England Unconcerned By Ajmal's Action: Prior

[DonJee]

Day 1 and they are at it again....booo hooo NOW GROW UP U ENGLISH MUPPETS!!!

It was as inevitable as it was regrettable that another absorbing day's cricket between Pakistan and England should be tarnished by more controversy. At a time when Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal should have been talking about the career-best bowling spell that had earned his side the initiative in the first Test, he was instead forced to defend the legality of his bowling action in the post-play media conference. It appears that games between these sides will always be plagued by one issue or another. Ajmal, utilising all his skill and variation, claimed 7 for 55 as England were dismissed for just 192. Though Ajmal gained little turn from a sluggish surface, there was just enough movement in each direction to send confusion through the English ranks. It was a masterful performance from a fine cricketer. There were no complaints from the England dressing-room. Matt Prior, the England wicketkeeper, could not have made it clearer. "It's not something we're concerned about," he replied when asked what the England team thought of Ajmal's action. "It's not something we talk about. It's nothing to do with us." But there were murmurs from former players and members of the media that suggested the issue could well dominate the headlines in the coming days. A waft of sour grapes, perhaps? The debate was sparked by the former England captain turned pundit, Bob Willis. Willis made the point, a quite legitimate point in context, that England are putting themselves at a disadvantage by not encouraging their young cricketers to bowl the doosra, a delivery that is harder to bowl while maintaining the legal margin of 15 degrees of arm straightening. There's some truth in Willis' complaint. Very few English coaches encourage the doosra and one of the very few county players who could bowl it with any degree of control and bite, Maurice Holmes, was recently suspended from bowling and released by his county after doubts about his action were raised. "The delivery that I have a problem with is the doosra," Willis said. "The ICC have accommodated this delivery; they changed the rules to allow these bowlers to bend their elbow 15 degrees, which is what makes it so difficult for the batsmen. "The authorities are now allowing these mystery spinners, unorthodox offspinners to bend their elbow to a degree. If they are going to be allowed to do that then England have to address this and decide whether we should be teaching our young spinners to bowl like that as well." Prior, whose performance stood head and shoulders above his team-mates, refused to encourage talk about Ajmal's action. Instead he thought his side had to take responsibility for a poor display with the bat, while acknowledging that any bowler with the ability to turn the ball both ways always presented extra difficulties. Neither did he think that Ajmal's talk of a mystery new delivery - the teesra - had proved to be a successful mind game. "We have to hold our hands up," Prior said. "We had a bad day at the office. It was a pretty good batting surface and the ball wasn't really turning. We just played a few cross-batted shots when we should have played straight. "I don't think Saaed got in our heads at all. Any spin bowler who spins it both ways is tricky. His wrist is pretty quick when he delivers the ball so it's pretty difficult to pick him at times and that obviously plays on a batsman's minds, but we have to deal with him a lot better than we did today. Ajmal also chose to rise above questions on the issue. "I'm just going to concentrate on my bowling," he said. "Umpires and referees are responsible for judging my action. Such questions were raised with Saqlain Mushtaq [the former Pakistan offspinner], too, but we both played county cricket and there were no problems. It's no problem for me that someone in England has questioned my action. "This was the best performance of my life. I just bowled wicket to wicket and, while I had a good day, England had a bad one. They are all good players and it would be wrong to say that England doesn't play spin well. Andrew Strauss should have played off the front foot rather than the back, but I've worked hard on my bowling against left-handers and I'm very happy to have dismissed four left-handers today."

Source

[James]

Who's at it again? Bob Willis? One senile and slightly loopy old pundit?

As a general comment to PakPassion - I've read some of today's threads, and my advice is to grow up and stop tarring everyone with the same brush. The England team have held their hands up. They have given Saeed the due credit for a special, special performance, and not questioned his action. Move on please thanks bye

[ninjafirstslip]

Credit where it is due, well played by prior. Most of the English Journos and commentators have actually defended Ajmal.

[Monsee]

^^^No, no, not that quick Whippy, first Malakian has to be named and shamed for his chest thumping for the last month or so...I guess he is alseep again; does he sleeps for a living too

[James]

Originally Posted by ninjafirstslip Credit where it is due, well played by prior. Most of the English Journos and commentators have actually defended Ajmal.

Precisely, so some of today's posters can do one!!

What a performance by Ajmal, seven wickets on the first day, surely one of the best displays by a spinner in recent history. ooooof. lots of praise for him from me in other threads too.

[James]

Originally Posted by Monsee ^^^No, no, not that quick Whippy, first Malakian has to be named and shamed for his chest thumping for the last month or so...I guess he is alseep again; does he sleeps for a living too

malakian is a good lad, he just passionately supports his team, nothing wrong with that! and he was one of the first to praise Pakistan today in one of greekscavenger's threads, we have a good mix of fans here

[pakistanbest]

One annoying thing about PP is PP'ers tend to get excited too quickly, excellent day for the boys but all three results are still possible but Ajmal's performance should be cherished by all.

Roll on to day two and am back at work

[ninjafirstslip]

Originally Posted by Whippy Precisely, so some of today's posters can do one!! What a performance by Ajmal, seven wickets on the first day, surely one of the best displays by a spinner in recent history. ooooof

In all honesty I dont think any of the posters on here could have predicted the scoreline or Ajmals figures today. Marvelous effort, too bad its been hijacked. Pakistani media will give further oxegen to what Willis said and the cycle will just keep turning.

[shahrukh619]

Most Pakistani Fans are ignoring the fact that Ajmal's arm kept on bending alot. Ajmal should stop bowling like that, or else he might be reported.

[the Great Khan]

mnnh...lets see how things go if the series is lost..I think england will come back hard tomorrow, anderson and broad will open the bowling and swann will bowl quite alot tomorrow..I think strauss will use tremlett to block the runs...Pakistan must get a decent lead in this match..!! Tomorrrow is a crucial day for us..

Ajmal bowled like a legend! but I dont think england will make the same mistakes in the second innings..need Gul to step up to the plate too!

[insaftak]

Bob Willis Phir Ro Raha Hai!

[Monsee]

Originally Posted by shahrukh619 Most Pakistani Fans are ignoring the fact that Ajmal's arm kept on bending alot. Ajmal should stop bowling like that, or else he might be reported.

Maybe you should personally go and tell him that...

I have seen Murrali, Harbhajan, SA Watta Off Spinner (Name escapes me), and a few more in my time; to me, Ajmal is not looking as bad as you are trying to say here

Let ICC be the judge of whether his action has deteriorated as much as you seem to be implying...remember everyone who watches the game on TV (especially from Pak) is an Arm Chair Expert

[Ruri]

Originally Posted by ninjafirstslip In all honesty I dont think any of the posters on here could have predicted the scoreline or Ajmals figures today. Marvelous effort, too bad its been hijacked. Pakistani media will give further oxegen to what Willis said and the cycle will just keep turning.

Yeah, all of us England fans have a bit of bluster (like you lot), but we've all credited Ajmal, gs, malakian, whippy and I have. The other few are very sensible as well. We're not making an issue about the action, nor is the England team.

And from what I can tell, Bob Willis isn't attacking Ajmal so much as bemoaning that the English haven't gotten on the doosra train for their offspinners.

[Gotham Cronie]

Originally Posted by pakistanbest One annoying thing about PP is PP'ers tend to get excited too quickly, excellent day for the boys but all three results are still possible but Ajmal's performance should be cherished by all. Roll on to day two and am back at work

There are 4 results.

[W63L35]

Originally Posted by insaftak Bob Willis Phir Ro Raha Hai!

Check his passport ....must be an Indian.

[Khan6575]

Link for this article please.

It seems this time around Pakistanis are the one making a big deal out of what a old grumpy old man said about Ajmal. Stop whining and making an issue of something which doesn't exist. By harping on this issue we are only making it more relevant which it really isn't.

[insaftak]

Originally Posted by W63L35 Check his passport ....must be an Indian.

Nahi Nahi!

Indians to England Waloon ke Janazay pay jashan mana rahey hein per bhul gay hein ke sajna (india) ve Eik din maar jaana (probably on 26th Jan 2012)

[James]

Great posts from Ninja, Ruri and Khan on this thread! Mostly I can see PP has a very good rapport for this series, long may it continue

[Zamee]

Originally Posted by Whippy malakian is a good lad, he just passionately supports his team, nothing wrong with that! and he was one of the first to praise Pakistan today in one of greekscavenger's threads, we have a good mix of fans here

Agree. There is nothing wrong in it

[C.E.S]

Originally Posted by Whippy As a general comment to PakPassion - I've read some of today's threads, and my advice is to grow up and stop tarring everyone with the same brush.

True to character, a glaring contradiction in the same sentence. PakPassion is not a monolith of like-minded opinion - after all, you're part of PakPassion too. You'd do well to listen to your own advice.

With regard to the English media's relentless persistence in trying to play down controversy: amusing, given how mentioning a new controversy every day to play down (spot-fixing, chucking, et al) only serves to fan the flames.

[Looney]

That is classy from Prior

[SunnyE]

hav u guys thought abt it this way.....

they probably think the teesra is a marketing gimmick to put pressure on english batsmen...

so

the commentators are indirectly talkin abt the doosra suspesious action

result = ajmal in pressure n performs bad in the rest of the series...

hes the one man who had been in the headline way b4 the series started...

[ash 68]

Originally Posted by Whippy Who's at it again? Bob Willis? One senile and slightly loopy old pundit? As a general comment to PakPassion - I've read some of today's threads, and my advice is to grow up and stop tarring everyone with the same brush. The England team have held their hands up. They have given Saeed the due credit for a special, special performance, and not questioned his action. Move on please thanks bye

just look at the front page of cricinfo

"unconcerned by Ajmals Action-Prior"

Articles leads with controversey

Im sick of it - If its no concern then why is it given so much importance?

[malakian]

All this crying about Ajmal's action is ridiculous, just play the ball ffs, i normally like Bob Willis but he's acting like a complete ****.

[Itachi]

Ow.... English fans are eating humble pies now.... I wonder where was was it for the last few months.

[malakian]

Originally Posted by Itachi Ow.... English fans are eating humble pies now.... I wonder where was was it for the last few months.

I've never had an issue with Ajmal's bowling.

[James]

Originally Posted by ash 68 Im sick of it - If its no concern then why is it given so much importance?

Maybe to report to the world that the professionals think Ajmal's action is fine, in spite of the criticism from some pundits!! Seriously, get a grip

[ash 68]

Originally Posted by Whippy Maybe to report to the world that the professionals think Ajmal's action is fine, in spite of the criticism from some pundits!! Seriously, get a grip

It was as inevitable as it was regrettable that another absorbing day's cricket between Pakistan and England should be tarnished by more controversy.

At a time when Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal should have been talking about the career-best bowling spell that had earned his side the initiative in the first Test, he was instead forced to defend the legality of his bowling action in the post-play media conference. It appears that games between these sides will always be plagued by one issue or another.

Please read the above -These are the kind of articles which create animosity

I dont buy the Tabloids -are they praising Ajmal or what?

[James]

No idea, I'm not a news stand - just relax, stop presuming everything is a conspiracy, and enjoy the match! Saeed doesn't care about the questions over his action so why do you? Storm in a teacup.

[ninjafirstslip]

^This, the more you give it oxygen the longer it will last.

[malakian]

Well, this is an article from The Sun, the very definition of a redtop rag. It supports Ajmal.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...dly-spins.html

The only person i've seen asking questions about his action is Willis, that's it.

[Random Aussie]

Well said by Prior and the English have given due credit.

This thread ignores the elephant in the room though, it's no media conspiracy but journalists watch the game and well, he looks like he chucks it sometimes. To think they wouldn't write about it after he takes 7/55 is a bit naive.