England's best new ball pairing of the last 20 years

Who in your opinion formed the best new ball bowling attack for England in the last twenty years, and why?

Some suggestions to get you started:

Gough and Caddick
Hoggard and Harmison
Anderson and Broad (Only joking - is it only me that despairs at the fact they keep giving Broad the new ball?)

Gough and Caddick where very good. Mind you Gough carried Caddick at times.

They keep giving Broad the new ball and he keeps failing with it! He got, bowled rubbish and they gave it to Onions then when Onions got injured Broad got it again and he bowled RUBBISH! Give it to Tremlett!

I think Hoggard and Harmison of the partnerships that I can remember. They had a great mix of pace and bounce from Harmy and then the swing of Hoggard. It was a great combination whilst it was together, their styles just blended so well. That is why I think that Tremlett and Anderson would work so well, because their styles would just blend well and hopefully gel and offer the batsmen different problems.

Agree Hoggard and Harmison were good at times, but only when Harmison was firing which unfortunately was very often.

Harmison had his two years/18 months where he was an absolute world beater. There is nothing better than watching a genuine fast bowler in full flow, and sadly there are very little of them around anymore.

He actually peaked before the 05 Ashes, with his spell at Sabina Park in his 7-12 which was absolutely devastating. Spell binding stuff. And he was on the wane as it were by the time England went to SA in the winter of 04/05, but he was still a very good bowler. Then his spell on the first morning at Lord's set the tone for that series. Along with Tres's brutal 90 at Edgbaston it set the tone for that series. So, thinking of Harmison in that year where he was unplayable, I would definitely back him and Hoggy as the best opening partnership of the last 20 years.

Good points JDizzle.

What about the likes of fraser surely he must have opened with Gough a few times?

harmy and hoggard!

Sorry LivinginItaly, I am not old enough to remember that far back! Vague memories of Caddick and Gough are it for me. I always rated Caddick quite highly though, maybe just because I am a Somerset fan though. But he when he got it right he was nigh on unplayable. One of my earliest memories are his 4 wickets in an over against the West Indians and, in my opinion, he was a quality bowler.

Not that old myself , was referring to Fraser's second spell in the test team in the late 90's sure he opened a few times in the home series victory over SA (99 if my memory serves me correctly)

Hoggy, Harmy

Gough, Caddick

Malcolm, Fraser



If form and fitness had allowed them a proper go.

Freddie and Jones

Gough and Headly

Don't even remember that series I am afraid!

All a little to early for me... All you people keep going about some guy called The Don? I didn't know about any Mafia involvment in cricket.

Headley was a good bowler. How effective was Jones with the new ball?

LivinginItaly wrote:Headley was a good bowler. How effective was Jones with the new ball?

Probably not very but it was a wistful thought of what might have been if Freddies knees and Jonesy's - most of him actually , had stood up to the wear and tear of bowling.

jones bowled first change cos he was good with reverse swing, and harmy and hoggy were better with new ball

I remember the the opening pairing of Gough and Caddick and Caddick on his day was fantastic. Gough was brilliant too, and had such desire.

For me it has to be Hoggard and Harmison. For me Hoggy is one of the best swingers of the ball and I remember in Australia in 2006 he bowled Hayden a peach first ball. Harmison roughed up the batsmen and Hoggy blew them away with swing.

Broad is not an opening bowler. He is better in spells with an older ball when he bowls line and length. When given a new ball, he sprays it everywhere and his length goes to pot.

Anderson and Tremlett

LivinginItaly wrote:Who in your opinion formed the best new ball bowling attack for England in the last twenty years, and why?

Some suggestions to get you started:

Gough and Caddick
Hoggard and Harmison
Anderson and Broad (Only joking - is it only me that despairs at the fact they keep giving Broad the new ball?)

Has to be Gough and Caddick considering of how bad England were back then (pre the Duncan Fletcher era of the 1990's) and how all much better the rest of the test teams were including even Zimbabwe. What about the deadly duo of Devon Malcolm and Angus Fraser whom as a new ball pair almost helped England to beat the then still mighty West Indies team in 1990.

Probably Hoggard and Harmison. For a brief time.

Given a decent uninjured run I wouldn't be surprised to see Anderson and Tremlett surpassing the others. (Assuming Tremlett does get the new ball as he should)

Think it has to be Gough and Caddick.

Hoggard and Harmison weren't bad, but Harmison didn't have many consistent days. As a combenation, Gough and Caddick were more effective I felt. Of course those were not the best of days for English test cricket one should remember.

England Test Team of the last 20 years

Trescothick
Cook
Trott
KP
Thorpe
Bell
Prior(wk)
Swann
Tremlett
Gough
Jones

Anderson just misses out.It was a marginal call between him and Tremlett but since I already have two swing bowlers in the form of Gough and Jones I thought a tall hit the deck type seamer would be a better option.
The most controversial ommission is Freddie Flintoff but I dont think he was consistent enough with the bat to bat in the top 7 particularly with such a long tail.And he is not as good a bowler as Gough,Jones,Tremlett or Anderson IMO.

Some interesting selections Shanky

Don't think I am with you on Fredye Flintoff, even Ian Bell can't have very strong claims of being consistent throughout his career. and the averall package that Flintoff was, don't England produced anyone of that kind in the last 20 years.

Trescothick
Cook
Vaughan(C)
Pietersen
Thorpe
Flintoff
Stuart(WK)
Swann
Gough
Anderson
Caddick

Yes shanky you can make a decent argument for any of those

BUT : * Tremlett has had a great run over , what , 6 matches ? Bit early...
* No Vaughan? At his peak he was awesome. Against arguably better attacks than are around now. You probably remember his later "struggle "years, but he'd be a major candidate as a bat and surely the best captain.
* Prior is doing well but Stewart was a far better bat and comparable as a keeper.
You could also say Jones is there on three and a half games - he (sadly) was cut down before he got a chance to prove he could do it over the long term.

I hate these "best of the XXX" things but just for fun I'll play your lot with this:

Strauss
Gooch
Atherton
Vaughan
Collingwood
Stewart
Flintoff
Giles (!!!) (light on for spinners)
Anderson
Hoggard.
Harmison (Having one of his good days )

Gooch
Strauss
Vaughan
KP
Thorpe
Collingwood
Stewart
Giles
Caddick
Gough
Anderson

Close calls being Freddie, hick, ramps, swann and jones

taffy crisp
Strauss ahead of Cook?Cook has almost the same no of tons in less matches and a much higher average than Strauss.

Giles ahead of Swann????????????????????????????Colly ahead of Bell???????????????????????????

Giles ahead of Swann at the most can be a sentimental move. Don't think there is much cricketing logic to it. Swann is one of the best spinners in the world at the moment, and like Giles, he can also make pretty decent contributions with the bat. As a bowler he's ways ahead of Ashley, and their batting is not much different in terms of the eventual impact.

shankythebiggestengfan wrote:taffy crisp
Strauss ahead of Cook?Cook has almost the same no of tons in less matches and a much higher average than Strauss.

It was actually between Strauss and trescothick for the opener, I could have said athers lol. As fir swann or giles, it was a very close call on either, if i picked swann I'm sure someone would have asked why not giles? Again, could have been worse, I could have picked Peter Such lol.