What is Neil Wagner's secret?

[Tigers_eye]

He is a change bowler for crying out loud. He can't bowl fast like Boult. Nor can't he swing like Southee. Yet he gets loads of wickets in test. Can we not get him as a coach already?

Since July 15, 2012 (his debut), playing 30 plus matches, only Steyn (31) and Starc (34) have better strike rate (SR) than Wagner (33). (Rabada didn't play 30 matches in that time frame)

Anderson (64), Hazelwood (33), Broad (62), Morkel (40), Southee (40), Boult (44), Philander (39), Stokes (39), Yadav (30), Gabriel (30), Lakmal (30) none can match Wagner's SR.

42/4 v. Eng Dunedin
64/5 v. BD Dhaka
64/4 v. Ind Auckland
62/4 v. Ind Auckland
64/4 v. WI Bridgetown
106/6 v, Aus Christchurch
41/6 v. Zim Bulawayo
86/5 v. SA Centurion
151/4 v. BD Wellington
39/7 v. WI Wellington

As a change bowler he is better than most strike bowlers. So what is his secret? Why can't our bowlers copy him? Is it Williamson's brilliance in field placing? That can't be the case.

[aklemalp]

Short ball barrage, almost reminiscent of the 'Bodyline' series.

He keep bowling em consistently, against batsmen who are not too good with short balls.

An all time great he is

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by aklemalp
Short ball barrage, almost reminiscent of the 'Bodyline' series.

He keep bowling em consistently, against batsmen who are not too good with short balls.

An all time great he is

So why can't others do it? Isn't short ball Taskin's staple "spank me" ball?

[aklemalp]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
So why can't others do it? Isn't short ball Taskin's staple "spank me" ball?

This is a problem at the quantum level.

[aklemalp]

I think most of Taskin's balls are away from the batsman (note that I say batsman and not stumps)...

WAGner does have a potent yorker as well...but his primary mode of attack is short pitched bowing aimed at the batsman at an uncomfortable length...

[tiger1000]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
So why can't others do it? Isn't short ball Taskin's staple "spank me" ball?

Taskin when he bowls bouncers he does well, when he attempts to bang it in short and sticks to it and attacks the body he does well, what he does wrong is he often gets stuck in two minds, when he's got a good captain it helps him think straight

What you often get when he doesn't and when he's on poor form he bowls short and wide, he bowls length full then bowls short on purpose, that's not bowling to a gameplan, he needs to back himself to do one thing, since Walsh has come in, he's looked to add variety to his attack... That's only good when you've mastered the basics, taskin hasn't

Taskin has talent, he just needs to back a gameplan and stick to it, in tests rahim sets poor fields and he struggles to attack. Wagner bowls wells because he sticks to gameplan and backs himself, he's limited but solid mentally

Physically it's also difficult, anyone who's bowled at any level as an opening bowler or as the enforcer of the team, knows bouncers are difficult to bowl, Wagner is well compact, short but big, not everyone can do it, taskin could, with better guidance, more consistency, higher IQ - in new zealand taskin bowled like a world class bowler one innings, but didn't keep it up

[aklemalp]

^^ top post

Also, I've read in the Cricinfo article about the YoYo test that Kiwi players are the fittest in the game.