Dr Paul Hawkins, inventor of Hawk-Eye
If as a young boy James Ormond dreamt about making his Test match debut, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been at The Oval on a perfect batting track. However, Hawk-Eye can console him and show that the quality of his bowling is not completely reflected by his figures.
Firstly, Hawk-Eye can confirm that he can swing the ball. His average ball swings away from the right hander 19.9cm after pitching. To put this into context, Caddick’s average swing was 8.7cm and Gough’s only 4.2cm. Though unlike Caddick and Gough, Ormond is unable to bowl the ball which swings the other way.
Also, after a slightly wobbly start his accuracy to the right-handers was at least as good if not better than both Caddick's and Gough’s, as shown in the left-hand graphic. However, his consistency to the left-handers was less impressive, as shown in the right-hand graphic.
Ormond is also not that far from being genuinely quick. During his 1st spell he averaged 86.2mph, but lost a bit of speed later in the day.
Finally, Ormond does have the other string to his bow of being able to bowl spin. It mat not be a real sign of quality, but Ormond did turn it as much as Phil Tufnell!
24 Aug, 2001
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