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[duzntmttr]

Now it is almost a trend. Every series , Laxman always gets out to an unplayable ball and all the commentators hail it as the ball of the day .Like it happened today.
Off the top of my head , I can recall similar "peach" of deliveries , Like the one Asif bowled in Karachi , or Umar Gul in Lahore in 2003-04 series.

Why does this happen to him alone ?
Is it bad luck or he somehow makes it appear like "a peach of a delivery " ?
I doubt the later because in replays you can clearly see that they are really good deliveries.

They say fortune favors the brave. In this case , he may be inviting misfortune , by not being brave enough and not playing attacking cricket. And letting the bowler settle into a line and eventually produce that unplayable one.

[duzntmttr]

Now it is almost a trend. Every series , Laxman always gets out to an unplayable ball and all the commentators hail it as the ball of the day .Like it happened today.
Off the top of my head , I can recall similar "peach" of deliveries , Like the one Asif bowled in Karachi , or Umar Gul in Lahore in 2003-04 series.

Why does this happen to him alone ?
Is it bad luck or he somehow makes it appear like "a peach of a delivery " ?
I doubt the later because in replays you can clearly see that they are really good deliveries.

They say fortune favors the brave. In this case , he may be inviting misfortune , by not being brave enough and not playing attacking cricket. And letting the bowler settle into a line and eventually produce that unplayable one.

And another thought. Why are all these guys , I mean Laxman , Sachin , Dravid not playing attacking cricket as they are capable of .

[justforkix]

SRT got a similar peach 2 overs later and played it very well.

[kban1]

Sometimes a peach of a delivery is a "peach" because the batsman's feet are not in the right position.

Today was one example -- as good as that delivery was, a better foot movement would have ensured a better result.

And same with Asif's delivery -- extraordinary ball, but had laxman had bat and pad close together, he probably could have avoided that outcome.

Having said that, there are players with equal or worse techniques who do not seem to get such good deliveries on a regular basis as VVS has --so from that perspective, he has been unlucky.

[fineleg]

There is one more -
Shoaib Akthar cleaned up VVS with a peach in the Pak series as well. That was a scorcher of a ball.

Its a combo - few of them are indeed actual peaches and scorchers.
I do think some of the dismissals maybe becos VVS is letting the bowlers get into a very good rythm, and he gets caught napping in the crease - rather than try to move his feet well. Once his feet is stuck, then such peaches will get wickets.

[kban1]

fineleg:

I thought the Akhtar delivery was a full toss. A swinging full toss, but a full toss all the same and VVS played all over it with no foot movement to get bowled.

It was straight, full, and fast, but not a peach.

[poondu]

From Cricinfo

26 - Number of times VVS Laxman has been bowled in Tests. He has suffered the most against Pakistan, castled six times.

[duzntmttr]

Sometimes a peach of a delivery is a "peach" because the batsman's feet are not in the right position.

Today was one example -- as good as that delivery was, a better foot movement would have ensured a better result.

And same with Asif's delivery -- extraordinary ball, but had laxman had bat and pad close together, he probably could have avoided that outcome.

Having said that, there are players with equal or worse techniques who do not seem to get such good deliveries on a regular basis as VVS has --so from that perspective, he has been unlucky.

I would like to agree with you , but then most of the experts dub them as "unplayable" .
Is it unplayable for Laxman or for anybody? 

Another point is that is almost alway from a  rookie . Gul , Asif and now Steyn.

On another note , did he kiss his WC chances good bye ?
At best he may play another innings and nobody knows under what kind of circumstances .  And so far we haven't seen his natural fluid batting

[kban1]

duzntmttr:

I find the term unplayable to be oft used and often used loosely, much like the term "great" is thrown about.

As jfk pointed out, SRT got a similar delivery just a few balls later and negotiated it well.

I shall give you another example.

Malcolm Marshall had the uncanny knack of making balls rear up from a good length, such that the ball would come between the batsman's chest - throat area while still swinging away towards slips. Batsmen would try to defend because there was no other option and be gobbled up at slips / gully / wicketkeeper. Marshall got numerous wickets bowling that ball including SMG & vengsarkar on the 1982-83 trip to India.

So lets take SMG as an example -he was dismissed by that kind of ball from Marshall during the series  --early on. Come Chennai, Marshal dismissed vengsarkar with the same delivery.

A few overs later, he bowled the same delivery to SMG --rearing up from short of length, swinging away and at SMG's throat. SMG played it, the ball landed at SMG's feet, not to slips / gully or wicketlkeeper.

Fast forward 1 year, Aussies in India, Bruce Reid, all of 6 ft 7 bowls a similar delivery to SMG (5 ft 4+) at Mumbai --except this delivery draws SMG into the defensive shot even as the delivery keeps rising past SMG's head. SMG makes contact around head height with a dead bat, but the ball falls 6 inches from his feet and barely bounces (like a tennis drop shot).

Now, this kind of delivery (many bowlers including Kapil have bowled it) is extraordinary and difficult to play, but unplayable ? Sorry, it isnt unplayable.

Thats the same argument I made -- a good delivery can still be countered if the basics are right. In VVS case, the minimal foor movement makes a difference between a satisfactory negotiation and losing the wicket.

Does not mean the delivery is bad, just means that there is a counter to it, therefore not unplayable, hyperbole by experts notwithstanding.

[fineleg]

fineleg:

I thought the Akhtar delivery was a full toss. A swinging full toss, but a full toss all the same and VVS played all over it with no foot movement to get bowled.

It was straight, full, and fast, but not a peach.

Kban - i dont think it was straight, it swung (even if full toss) right? Thought that was hard to play.
Will try to see if there is a Video - someone posted that video during that series in DG.
Will try to find that.

In the meanwhile...
All folks - LOOK AT THIS!
This is not that great a delivery - no feet movement whatsoever...see how he gets out -this is 100% vvs fault.
<a href="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=6895079262567328158" target="_blank">http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=6895079262567328158</a>

[kban1]

fineleg:

I said earlier in the same post that it was a swinging full toss.

What I was trying to empasize with straight in "straight, full, and fast" was that the ball was targetted towards the stump.


sorry for the confusion --poor choice of words by me.

[fineleg]

Good topic - I was thinking abt the same VVS bowled by peaches effect - so happy to see this thread to discuss that.

Other such topics:
RD falling over and getting bowled or LBW - we can't count how many times that has happened!?

Sehwag clean bowled (recent past many times) - through the gates or playing across the wrong line

Tendulkar - how many times in the recent past has gotten out trying to do cutesy, schmootzy, butesy, tootzy shots? Usually against spinners - he will try to get real cute and real fine, and oops...

Ganguly - well known - #1 short pitch at ribcage  #2  waft to the gully

[toney]

Why can't these deliveries be called grapes or even plums instead of peaches? I am not a huge fan of peaches. I can understand why these aren't called cherries as that may lead to a confusion because a cricket ball is sometimes referred to as a cherry(eg: 2 bites of the cherry).
That actually leads me to something else. Sometimes, deliveries are also called balls (eg: good ball, good delivery). So, it may be fine calling such peaches cherries too.

On an unrelated note which may be actually related to the above, I think commentators should stop using the word Jaffa for unplayable deliveries, at least in matches involving Wasim Jaffer.

Cricket is confusing.

[feverpitch]

ahem!

[ramshorns]

Ganguly - well known - #1 short pitch at ribcage  #2  waft to the gully

With his eyes closed anything bowled over 120kmph.  Thanks for bumping this.

[Cover Point]

Now it is almost a trend. Every series , Laxman always gets out to an unplayable ball and all the commentators hail it as the ball of the day .Like it happened today.
Off the top of my head , I can recall similar "peach" of deliveries , Like the one Asif bowled in Karachi , or Umar Gul in Lahore in 2003-04 series.

Why does this happen to him alone ?
Is it bad luck or he somehow makes it appear like "a peach of a delivery " ?
I doubt the later because in replays you can clearly see that they are really good deliveries.

They say fortune favors the brave. In this case , he may be inviting misfortune , by not being brave enough and not playing attacking cricket. And letting the bowler settle into a line and eventually produce that unplayable one.

I did not see last nights dismissal but in general since lakhan plays mostly from the back foot or from the crease and does not get forward much, the movement of the ball seems exaggerated.

[Cover Point]

Now it is almost a trend. Every series , Laxman always gets out to an unplayable ball and all the commentators hail it as the ball of the day .Like it happened today.
Off the top of my head , I can recall similar "peach" of deliveries , Like the one Asif bowled in Karachi , or Umar Gul in Lahore in 2003-04 series.

Why does this happen to him alone ?
Is it bad luck or he somehow makes it appear like "a peach of a delivery " ?
I doubt the later because in replays you can clearly see that they are really good deliveries.

They say fortune favors the brave. In this case , he may be inviting misfortune , by not being brave enough and not playing attacking cricket. And letting the bowler settle into a line and eventually produce that unplayable one.

I did not see last nights dismissal but in general since lakhan plays mostly from the back foot or from the crease and does not get forward much, the movement of the ball seems exaggerated.

Just realized this is an older discussion. So never mind.

[achutank]

please don't hurt somebody's feelings with this talk about peaches and getting out when the team needs it the most or age or falling utility or ramayan or telugu or andhra pradesh or goats or hypocrisy

[feverpitch]

Ganguly - well known - #1 short pitch at ribcage  #2  waft to the gully

With his eyes closed anything bowled over 120kmph.  Thanks for bumping this.

It takes Rambha and Finey to tango