In his first 70 ODIs Jacob Oram took 83 wickets at 28.57 and an economy rate of 4.01. At the end of the 2004/5 season he was ranked number 5 on the ICC bowling rankings.
Since he returned from injury in the first match of this season (against Zimbabwe) Oram has taken 7 wickets at 51.14 and has conceded an average of 6.29 runs per over. What on earth has happened? He doesn't appear to have lost much pace, but his action - rebuilt after the injury - seems to have made it impossible for him to put two balls in a row in the same spot (unless that spot is full and on leg stump) and seems to have done for his once devastating bounce and seam movement.
Accuracy is clearly the top priority which Oram is trying to fix, but the loss of bounce and seam movement seems to indicate to me that there is a problem with his release of the ball as well. And this makes me wonder what on earth he is doing bowling for his country when such fundamental parts of his game need so much work.
(Oh dear, the "focus on the positive" campaign did not run for long did it?)
Monday, 12 December 2005
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And this morning's DomPost pointed out that, just when he needs game time the most to get back into a rhythm, he's about to head into the gym for restrengthening! Accuracy doesn't come from lifting weights...
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