d last week, a great sign after he missed almost all of last season with

A few years ago, Patrick Ferriday and Dave Wilson took it upon themselves to rank the 100 greatest Test hundreds. It was a meticulous and exhaustive exercise, one that provoked much debate. More importantly, whatever your view on matters ordinal, it was a collection of fine writing on some unarguably great batting. Now they have laboured lovingly over a follow-up, Supreme Bowling: 100 Great Test Performances, and the discussions can begin again.As with Masterly Batting, the original book, this is an immensely thorough and (as least as far as possible) scientific attempt to list crickets best Test-match bowling. Ferriday sets out the methodology in the opening section, taking into account seven key factors, such as wickets/runs (converted into relative value), opposition, conditions, and match and series impact. Of these, match impact is considered the most important - reflective of the adage that it is bowlers who win games - which is a notable tweak from the Masterly Batting formula, where the conditions and opposing attack took on greater significance.The cut-off point is a five-for, of which there had been almost 2800 in Tests up to the start of 2016 (the books other cut-off point, meaning Stuart Broads 6 for 17 in Johannesburg misses out). Quite a bit of sifting required, then. If magnitude is all you are after, that list already exists; in Supreme Bowling, Jim Laker is brought down to size - though the calm destroyer still takes his place in the pantheon.Once again, the Ferriday-Wilson ranking system is largely dispassionate. Lots of numbers are punched in - including, for instance, a precisely calibrated measure of each wickets worth using historical ICC batting ratings - and out burp the results. There is a category for intangibles, which takes into account first-hand reportage, but the attempt is to be as objective as possible. The authors, of course, know they wont be able to please everybody, noting in their introduction the reaction to Masterly Batting: almost every innings in the 100 was considered either too high, too low or a foolish inclusion and many outside the 100 were denounced as absurd omissions.From which quarters will the brickbats come this time? Shane Warnes boosters will doubtless contest the suggestion that only one of his 37 five-wicket hauls merits inclusion - especially when Phil Tufnell gets in twice. Malcolm Marshall, Wasim Akram, Abdul Qadir and Dennis Lillee, meanwhile, are among the illustrious names who fail to make the grade. (Akram and James Anderson are the only bowlers with 400-plus Test wickets not to feature.)However, its worth noting that the Wisden 100, which was compiled in 2001, came to similar conclusions: Marshall, Wasim and Lillee were again absent, while Warnes only entry was for his 8 for 71 against England in 1994-95 (in Supreme Bowling it is his 6 for 34 versus South Africa three years later). Perhaps sweeping up Poms by the bagful isnt necessarily the stuff of greatness.Both lists find agreement on the apex bowling performance in Tests too. Hugh Tayfield, the South Africa offspinner, is perhaps not as feted many of the names that come after him but he is one of only four players to have three or more entries in the Supreme 100 (Kapil Dev, Muttiah Muralitharan and Mitchell Johnson are the others). Of the big beasts, only Curtly Ambrose manages two appearances in the top ten. But all this is really parlour talk before sitting down to enjoy the banquet. The great strength of the book - as was the case with its predecessor - is the quality of the writing, in particular the Pinnacle section, which covers performances 25 to 1 and takes up two-thirds of the 300-odd pages. Ferriday and Wilson can call upon an all-star attack themselves: Rob Smyth channels Ezekiel 25:17 (and Pulp Fictions Jules Winnfield) to describe Ambrose as he struck down upon England with great vengeance and furious anger at Port-of-Spain in 1994; Dileep Premachandran relates Harbhajan Singhs turbanating of Australia in Chennai days after the Miracle of Eden - a far preferable destiny to driving long-haul trucks in Canada; and Russell Jackson summons some appropriately muscular prose for Johnson: The He-Man fitness freak with the Hells Angels moustache said bollocks to self-preservation and up yours to workload management.A particular favourite of mine was Rob Bagchis beautifully evocative piece on Sarfraz Nawaz - Pakistans swing-bowling dandy - which manages to reference Keyser Soze, Omar Sharif and Marlies Gohr while retelling the story of his match-stealing 9 for 86 at the MCG in 1979. Then there is Richard Hadlee and his talking ball at the Gabba, not to mention the Dylan-infused folk tribute to Bob Willis in 1981… I could go on.If the concept is a touch High Fidelity, the resulting collection is high quality. There should be no need for argument about that.Supreme Bowling Compiled and edited by Patrick Ferriday and Dave Wilson Von Krumm Publishing, 2016 321 pages, ￡15 (Kindle edition ￡4.91) NFL Jerseys Wholesale . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Wholesale NFL Jerseys 2020 . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. https://www.nfljerseys2020.com/ . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. Cheap NFL Jerseys China .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. NFL Jerseys 2020 Paypal . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. DETROIT -- The Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans have familiar looks.Detroit opened with a 39-35 victory at Indianapolis, its seventh win in nine games dating to last year.The Titans, meanwhile, started the season with a loss at home to Minnesota for their fifth straight setback since last December.The Lions seem to have a shot at extending their successful stretch against Tennessee on Sunday in their home opener.Matthew Stafford has simply been sensational since midway through last season, finding a groove with offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter. Stafford has thrown 22 touchdown passes and two interceptions in his last nine games as Cooter has coached him to get rid of the ball quicker in the passing game.I think its a whole sort of offensive philosophy, Cooter said. Were getting it to our best players, doing what they do best.The Lions lost their best player, Calvin Johnson, in the offseason to retirement. That has forced Stafford to spread the ball more, and it worked well in Week 1. Detroit had three receivers, two running backs and a tight end making at least three catches against the Colts.The show must go on, receiver Golden Tate said. So, we dont get caught up worrying about who we dont have. We just try to step up our game individually.Marcus Mariota, meanwhile, took a step back in last weeks game with a fumble and an interception in the second half that helped Minnesota win 25-16 after trailing by 10 points in the third quarter.Mariota, the 2015 No. 2 pick overall, insisted he has learned how to move on 24 hours after wins and losses. He hopes, though, that the Titans dont have to do much of the latter this season.You dont want to get used to losing, he said. You dont want to get used to the frustration. You want guys to kind of feel that burn a little bit just because it makes them hungry and motivated to not feel that way again.Here are some other things to watch when Detroit hosts Tennessee:ON THE RUN: The Lions were last in the league in rushing last season, averaging 83.4 yards a game. Detroits ground game seems to be much improved with Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick. The duo and an inexperienced offensive line should get tested more this week because the Titans limited AAdrian Peterson to 31 yards on 19 carries.ddddddddddddWATCHING WALKER: Tennessee coach Mike Mularkey wants to get tight end Delanie Walker more involved after he had just three receptions for 42 yards last week. It might be relatively easy to do against Detroit, which allowed Colts tight ends Dwayne Allen and Jack Doyle to combine for seven receptions, 88 yards and three TDs.Im sure hes probably smiling after he watched our film from last week, Detroit coach Jim Caldwell said.DECENT DEBUT: Detroit left tackle Taylor Decker, the No. 16 pick overall out of Ohio State, appeared to perform well in his first NFL game at a position that isnt easy to play for rookies.Its a good base to build off throughout the season, he said. They have some good pass rushers. It was good for me to play a full game to build some confidence.INJURY WATCH: Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy played last week, a great sign after he missed almost all of last season with a hip injury. Levy, though, missed practice Wednesday and Thursday this week because of a quadriceps injury.Titans linebacker Derrick Morgan couldnt finish the opener after going down with an injured left hamstring and did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. If Morgan cant play Sunday, Kevin Dodd, the No. 33 pick overall, is expected to get significant playing time. Dodd was limited this offseason after having surgery on his right foot and was on the physically unable to perform list until a month ago.WELCOME BACK: The Titans start offensive tackles who fans at Ford Field will recognize: Taylor Lewan, the 11th overall pick out of Michigan in 2014, and Jack Conklin, the No. 8 pick overall this year out of Michigan State. Like Lewan did with the Wolverines, he fills up reporters notebooks with unique quotes.If there were a Pro Bowl for mustaches, mine would be in the Pro Bowl, Lewan said.---AP Pro Football Writer Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.---Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Larry Lage at www.twitter.com/larrylage and follow his work at www.bigstory.ap.org/content/larry-lage ' ' '