Peach or Pie?

I’ve always loved Ashley Giles as an English bowler, he was so brilliantly useless and provided much glorious banter at various Ashes Tests over the years. “Hey Ashley, bowl the one that goes straight the other way” “Show us your googly” and “Nice Doosra” were all heard whenever the wheelie bin threw the arm over as Shane Warne spun our way to yet another Baggy Green victory.

Following upon Perth it was our view that we really did need to be maintaining more pressure through the spin bowling at one end, so we could use the fast bowlers in shorter spells

This quote from chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch makes very little sense to me. If we truly wanted a spinner to maintain the pressure, surely Ponting could have given Andrew Symonds a single over during the 414 run chase where his off-spinners may well have fulfilled that role. He’s still an all rounder right?

Krejza has a genuine wicket taking ability. It was just two tests ago that Krejza took 12 of the finest spin bowling players around. One should also note that he took as many wickets as both Lee and Siddle at the pace friendly WACA.

I’ve done a Peach/Pie analysis (c) of his bowling from the cricinfo commentary, whereby I identify each delivery as either a Peach, a Pie, or a “Pressure Ball”.

1st Innings Analysis

25 Overs, 151 Balls, 1 Wicket, 102 runs
12 Peaches, 16 Pies, 124 Meh
Peach to Pie ratio: 11/16
Peaches per over: 12/25 = 0.48
Pies per over: 16/25 = 0.64
Pie-Runs: 54
Average Pie Punishment: 54/16 = 3.375

Looking at the distribution of his balls it can been seen that Jason’s 1st Innings performance started very strongly and fell away after his 10th over (37th of the Innings). This period of bowling co-incides with the start of a 124 run partnership between Kalls and DeVilliers. Many factors could explain the drop in performance, among them Krejza’s fitness and Pontings fields/instructions.

2nd Innings Analysis

24 Overs, 144 Balls, 0 Wickets, 102 runs
15 Peaches, 7 Pies, 122 “Pressure” Balls
Peach to Pie ratio: 15/7
Peaches per over: 15/24 = 0.625
Pies per over: 7/24 = 0.29
Pie-Runs: 20
Average Pie Punishment: 20/7 = 2.88

From my analysis he bowled markedly better in the second innings, this being the innings where South Africa scored 414 and Krejza took the fall for releasing pressure. In fairness to Kreyza I feel that one pie every third over is quite acceptable for an attacking spinner, especially with recent history telling a story of Macgilla who was a renounded pie chucker but so long as he took wickets no-one seemed to care too much.

Cutting back on the pies is something he’ll need to work on, but sending him back to shield with the message to trade in some peaches for accuracy and Gilesness is not the message we want to be sending.

The Pies and Peaches

Peaches

10.3 Krejza to Smith, no run, Krejza forces the false shot from Smith, he tried to close the face of the bat too early to play on the leg side but was beaten by the flight and got a leading edge towards the off side
10.4 Krejza to Smith, no run, loud shout for lbw as Smith strides forward to defend and gets hit on the pad, not out says Aleem Dar, that was pretty close but Smith was a long way forward
10.6 Krejza to Amla, no run, good ball! Amla goes back to defend but gets an inside edge on to the pad, Krejza’s first Test over in Australia is a good one
25.1 Krejza to Smith, no run, turn and bounce! Smith moves back and plays an unconvincing shot, he could have easily edged that to slip
29.6 Krejza to Smith, no run, Smith drives away from his body at one that spins away from him and gets an outside edge behind point
31.1 Krejza to Amla, OUT, bowled him! Lovely ball! Krejza loops the ball up outside off stump, drawing Amla forward with the flight, he beats the batsman in the air, pitches the ball outside off stump and spins it through the bat pad gap as Amla tries to whip it on the leg side, that turned a long way to hit the stumps
31.6 Krejza to Kallis, 1 run, that’s mighty close! Krejza gives the ball air outside off stump, Kallis sees the width and tries to play the big cover drive, the ball dips on him and spins into him, it hits the inside edge and whizzes past his stumps
33.3 Krejza to Kallis, no run, Kallis moves back and across to work the ball on the leg side but misses and gets hit on the pad, the impact was outside off stump
33.4 Krejza to Kallis, no run, huge appeal for the catch at slip, Kallis got down on one knee to sweep but the ball lobbed off the forearm towards Hayden at first slip, the Australians thought it was off the glove
35.6 Krejza to de Villiers, no run, Krejza thinks he has a case for lbw after de Villiers pads up to one outside off stump, Asoka de Silva disagrees
37.3 Krejza to Kallis, no run, Kallis moves back and across outside the line of off stump and tries to play the ball on the leg side, he misses and gets hit on the pad

Pies

25.5 Krejza to Smith, FOUR, Smith gets down on one knee and sweeps Krejza against the turn towards the square leg boundary, he hit that with a lot of power
27.2 Krejza to Smith, FOUR, too short outside off stump, Smith waits and waits before cutting the ball hard through point, Hussey sprints after it but even his desperate dive can’t stop the four
27.5 Krejza to Smith, FOUR, that’s another long hop from Krejza, Smith moves back and pulls the ball from outside off stump between midwicket and mid-on for four more
35.1 Krejza to Kallis, 2 runs, Kallis leans forward to drive a low full toss through point, Kallis runs the second to get back on strike
37.5 Krejza to Kallis, FOUR, that’s a freebie, a nice and friendly full toss and Kallis capitalises by lofting down the ground for four, Krejza’s visibly annoyed with himself
39.3 Krejza to Kallis, FOUR, that’s too short outside off stump, Kallis is quick to move on to the back foot and cut the ball through cover point for four
41.1 Krejza to de Villiers, 2 runs, too short from Krejza and de Villiers moves across his stumps and pulls to deep square leg
41.4 Krejza to de Villiers, SIX, that’s an awesome shot! de Villiers steps out of his crease, gets to the pitch of the ball, swings his bat like a golf club, and smashes the ball with the turn over the deep midwicket boundary
43.6 Krejza to Kallis, FOUR, that’s a terrible long hop outside leg stump, Kallis gets inside the line and pulls towards the long leg boundary
53.4 Krejza to de Villiers, FOUR, that’s too short again from Krejza and de Villiers moves back and across and pulls the ball firmly to the deep
55.4 Krejza to de Villiers, FOUR, another long-hop, and de Villiers dismisses it towards the deep midwicket boundary with a pull off the back foot, Krejza bowls a long-hop every once in a while
57.2 Krejza to de Villiers, 1 run, that’s a full toss on middle stump and de Villiers swats it towards wide long-on
57.3 Krejza to Kallis, no run, Kallis moves back in his crease and defends a flighted delivery towards leg slip
57.4 Krejza to Kallis, 1 run, that’s too short again and Kallis has the time to move back and work the ball past the man at leg slip
59.6 Krejza to Kallis, SIX, that’s one of the longest long hops of the day, Kallis waited an age for the ball to get to him, he got under it and heaved it over the deep midwicket boundary, that ball deserved nothing less, even Chris Martin might have fancied his chances against that
69.1 Krejza to Kallis, FOUR, South Africa haven’t hit a boundary in a while so Krejza gives Kallis a full toss outside off stump, Kallis responds with a powerful cover drive for four

2nd Innings

Peaches

20.1 Krejza to Smith, no run, flighted on leg stump, flicked away towards a close in catcher on the on side
20.6 Krejza to Smith, no run, turn and bounce for Krejza! He drifts the ball into the left-hander from round the wicket and spins it away from the outside edge of Smith’s forward push
24.1 Krejza to Smith, FOUR, Smith moves back towards leg to make room and cuts the offbreak fine past the fielder at slip, that’s a risky shot but he gets four for it
28.4 Krejza to Smith, 2 runs, Dangerous shot, Smith gets down on one knee and sweeps a ball from off and middle towards long leg, he brings up 50 with that shot, well played! South Africa need much more from him though
38.3 Krejza to Smith, no run, Smith moves deep in his crease and plays the ball, he misses and is hit on the pad, Krejza appeals but that also pitched outside leg stump
40.6 Krejza to Smith, no run, oh brilliant! Krejza draws Smith forward and drifts the ball into him, Smith tries to defend but the ball beats him in flight and spins past the outside edge
91.1 Krejza to Duminy, no run, loud appeal for lbw! Krejza tosses it up outside off stump and Duminy strides forward to defend, he was a long way forward when the ball hit pad
93.2 Krejza to Duminy, no run, Krejza tosses it up on leg and spins it across the left-hander, Duminy goes to defend but the ball hits the pad and lobs towards the off side
95.1 Krejza to de Villiers, FOUR, caught? No it’s past Lee! de Villiers charges and smashes Krejza flat towards mid-on, he hit that extremely hard and Lee didn’t time his jump, the ball flew over his head, tough chance
95.2 Krejza to de Villiers, 1 run, de Villiers comes out of his crease and defends, the ball bounces off his bat behind him and Haddin comes forward and flicks the ball back at the stumps, he concedes an overthrow but it was worth a rty
97.1 Krejza to de Villiers, no run, Krejza spins the ball into the right-hander from outside off, de Villiers was caught on the crease as he tried to defend, he played the ball towards short leg
97.6 Krejza to de Villiers, no run, that nearly rolled back on to the stumps, de Villiers moved forward to defend and didn’t do a very good job of it
99.1 Krejza to de Villiers, no run, de Villiers gets down on one knee to sweep but gets on the pad, Krejza appeals but the impact was outside off
106.1 Krejza to Duminy, no run, nice flight and dip from Krejza, Duminy moves forward and defends
106.2 Krejza to Duminy, no run, Duminy defends on the front foot, shouts of “catch!” as the ball falls towards the short leg region

Pies

26.4 Krejza to Smith, 2 runs, full toss on middle and leg, driven wide of midwicket for a couple
30.2 Krejza to Amla, 1 run, too short from Krejza and Amla moves back to play the ball behind square
36.2 Krejza to Smith, FOUR, that’s a dreadful long hop and Smith helps himself, he moves back and pulls the ball powerfully along the ground for four
62.1 Krejza to Kallis, FOUR, Kallis is on fire at the end of the day! Krejza gives him a long hop and Kallis rocks back to pull the ball towards the wide long-on boundary, South Africa now need less than 200
62.2 Krejza to Kallis, FOUR, full toss outside off stump and Kallis moves forward and drives powerfully through cover for four, what’s going on? Kallis has exploded, he’s decided to hurt Siddle and Krejza for the short-ball treatment given to him by Lee and Johnson
91.6 Krejza to Duminy, 1 run, that’s short and wide outside off stump, Duminy moves back and cuts the ball towards cover where Hussey mis-fields
104.4 Krejza to Duminy, no run, Krejza drops short outside off stump and Duminy uses the width to cut towards point where Hussey fields
106.3 Krejza to Duminy, FOUR, JP Duminy! He moves back and takes advantage of the short length by cutting the ball powerfully through point for four