Imagine Dazzler's Value In Today's Market
The sight and sound of Indian Premier League franchises chasing the promise of wonder kid Jofra Archer underlined just how highly prized quality death bowlers are in T20 cricket.
Fair play to the 22-year-old Sussex man for landing a deal worth £800,000 to play for Rajasthan Royals and for performing well enough for Hobart Hurricanes in this season’s Big Bash to earn it.
No disrespect to him, for he can also field like a whirlwind and he bats well enough to have averaged 45.57 in the County Championship last season, but the size of his pay packet in comparison to what he has actually achieved in his short career makes you wonder what England‘s best ever exponent of the art of closing out an innings might have been worth in today’s market.
In full flight, everything about Darren Gough the bowler was compelling to watch; his bustling sprint to the crease, the classical side-on action, the away swing it generated and his ability to surprise the best batsmen with late movement back off a seam that he deliberately sent down just off the upright, all from a top speed of 90 mph, from which he could also unleash a devilish skiddy bouncer.
When you add reverse swing, perfectly-pitched yorkers and a slower ball you rarely saw coming, it is no wonder the Yorkshireman many compared in his early years to a young Harold Larwood was considered the most feared sub-6ft paceman of his generation, and one of England’s best ever.
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