How Good Is Timothy Bresnan?

[meninblue]

Bresnans bowling in ODI this series has been very impressive in first ODI .However,his fielding is getting worse now as he has put down two wicket taking chances offered by West Indies.

Who is England's fielding coach?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Richard Halsall. Now Colly is coaching, maybe he'll have some influence.

If the players are doing their drills and the players aren't bored by them, I don't see what the coach can do. Isn't it more likely that fielding will be influenced by confidence?

As I've said before, in the T20 era, the best fielders are looking to go in the ring and make a reputation as a run saver. Catchers are hardly needed. All of England's new players, notably the batters, like to field in non catching positions.

[meninblue]

Richard Halsall. Now Colly is coaching, maybe he'll have some influence.

If the players are doing their drills and the players aren't bored by them, I don't see what the coach can do. Isn't it more likely that fielding will be influenced by confidence?

As I've said before, in the T20 era, the best fielders are looking to go in the ring and make a reputation as a run saver. Catchers are hardly needed. All of England's new players, notably the batters, like to field in non catching positions.

Thanks for the info.

Yes, it is up to the player really to field well and i do agree that fielding too is influenced by confidence to a certain extent.I have seen Bresnan dive in outfield before.So he is not afraid of all that.The problem though as we have seen in these two ODI's is his picking up the ball and dropping a catch, which were reflex related mistakes/taking eye off the ball or not cupping the hands properly on time.A fielding coach (Richard in this case) can work on the problem areas.We see instruments like "Slip catch trainer" , "Katchet" and the "rebound nets". I have tried the "Katchet " and the "rebound nets" and it is awesome to practice various types of fielding depending on how you throw the ball.Offcourse to use the "Katchet" two people are required so the coach (Richard) can come very handy for that.So the fielding coach can still help to get his fielding back to expected international standards using the fielding kits which are used at all levels.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I'd guess that Bresnan was only in a catching position because he is slow, not because he's the best catcher. Which shows the priority. Even so, it was good of the skipper to have the fielder positioned there.

[meninblue]

I'd guess that Bresnan was only in a catching position because he is slow, not because he's the best catcher. Which shows the priority. Even so, it was good of the skipper to have the fielder positioned there.

He was a slow mover compared to many England fielders in this team.But at least he was a decent enough catcher and fielder before.Not any more.Apart from being slow he is now probably your teams worst fielder in this playing 11.Broad/Cook or whoever the captain is will have to hide him in field nowadays just like the way some captains hide their weakest fielders.But then the ball follows them who are not fielding well as we have often seen with bad fielders of other teams.That exactly is happening with Bresnan as well no matter where the captains are trying to hide him.

[Arthur Crabtree]

He's not throwing so well either which was his strong point. He wasn't a good fielder when he started, but made himself useful, which was impressive. Maybe he'll do the same again.

[meninblue]

Losing the power in throw after elbow injury and operation is understandable imo.However, failing to pick up the ball and cupping it properly are basic fielding technical errors imo.With Collingwood who imo is ATG fielder , ECB have at least ensured the England cricketers cannot complain about ECB not providing them high class fielding coach.The onus is on players only to be up to the expected standards.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Fair enough. He may have lost his bullet arm to injury. Obviously a shame.

[D/L]

Bresnan is stil a fine fielder, especially in the deep, and with a very accurate and powerful throwing arm.

It is not surprising, though, that some will seize upon any error.

[andy]

haha your one to talk D/L!!!!!!!!!!!

(your not biased towards him because he's a yorkshire player at all..


He's not the player he was before his elbow problem, which is no suprise!

[D/L]

It would seem that the selectors disagree.

If you seized upon relatively minor errors made by all players, your keyboard would wear out.

[meninblue]

He's not the player he was before his elbow problem, which is no suprise!

I have read statistics which showed that his bowling has gone bad post injury.

Just checked the bowling performances of England pacers in series versus Australia

ENG - AUS ODI series.jpg

The competition for 3rd pacer was between Bresnan and Jordan as those two did not have better bowling figures than Ben and Broad. Bresnan has plenty of ODI experience as compared to Jordan,so it is not surprising to me that Bresnan merited selection for this ODI series.So far in this ODI series, Bresnan has done good by picking 4 wickets in 2 matches.

The problem though he is nowhere near the expected fielding standards set by England fielders barring Monty.It would have been okay for past era cricketers to fail to pick up the ball and then drop a catch in very next match.However, nowadays that is unacceptable and the frequency at which he is doing fielding errors it is certain that he has become a bad fielder due to high proportion of missed chances.He also deflected a ball over boundary against Netherlands.The other reason why he must be fielding in inner circle could be to put lesser stress on the elbow which was injured. But then two of his fielding errors have happened in the inner circle - one of which was a run saving position and the other being catching position.

[D/L]

We’ll have to agree to disagree on the quality of Bresnan’s fielding. It is clearly not a concern to the selectors and there seems no sensible reason to think it should be.

Failing to pick up a ball happens frequently but is noticed more if it may have resulted in the loss of a run-out opportunity. When it happens with no consequence, as it often does, it tends not to register or is certainly soon forgotten. It is no surprise, however, that this particular instance has been seized upon here. The conclusion formed from it, and other minor errors, is as predictable as it is ill-informed.

The bowling statistics from Oz are just that, statistics, and take no account of other factors at play. No selector would be swayed by them no matter how fervently it may be wished.

[KipperJohn]

To answer the question.

He's a decent 3rd or 4th seamer who will sometimes help apply pressure and also take a key wicket or two - but has not shown that he can sustain spells which will produce a clatter of wickets. Similarly he's a fairly sound No. 8 batsmen and capable of providing useful late order runs, or holding an end up. An average fielder, who used to have a very good arm but compared to someone like, for example, Bell, who is older than him and a world class fielder, he's a carthorse.

A very useful player but not a certain pick by any means.

[D/L]

The selectors would seem to disagree with that last point and his efforts throughout the series in West Indies would show why.

There is nothing wrong with Bresnan's fielding other than it seeming to attract more criticism than other's. I doubt he (or many others) would have dropped the sitter that Broad did today and to describe him, as someone else has done, as the worst when Panesar is not in the field, is laughable, especially when Tredwell is in the team.

Batting at #8, he at least shows an awareness of the match situation at the crease, unlike a recent #7 and a current #9. Most criticism of his bowling is rather lazily, or ignorantly, based only upon statistics, but students of the game know that there is far more to bowling than just returning good figures, particularly when to do so may be down mostly to good fortune.