phantom005

Since we all like to see a circus mainly the shows where the ring masters tame the lions and lionesses. How humans gain so much control of the carnivore beasts!..the king of the jungle!
So its the same way the googly masters in cricket have exceptional skill like no other.
In my childhood days i tried very hard to spin the ball legspin, offspin is easy. But legspin is impossible. So in cricket even in local cricket very few like to bowl leggie.
In international cricket however, there are few 'googly masterjis' who turn on the revolutions of the cricket seam ball. And beat the batsmen at all ends.
Like once i had seen a special program in 1999-2000, where it was paul strang on a local club pitch he was demonstrating various types of leg-spin deliveries like leg-break, wrong-un, flipper, flight and the google all pitched perfectly and clipped the off-stump.
But in the real matches paul strang had difficulties with the pitch as many a times the ball seam used to wobble and lose direction in flight. So after pitching some deliveries bounced thwack high while other were dead balls which mainly were hit for fours. While on his day paul strang sometimes used to get a straight line to limit the batsman scoring area and hence used as a stock bowler in ODIs.
Then there is world number uno, the wizard Shane Warne who bowled mainly with flight techniques and skids. But the skill was that his revolutions seam perfectly pitched to speed and turn dust!
When i was watching cricket in 1994-1995 i used to watch mushtaq ahmed in leg-spin. Who bowled consistently leg-breaks for five overs and then a googly was bowled. The funnier aspect was that the batsman used to get just stunned by the googly bowled so deceivingly. Then there was also a loose flipper.
I tried bowling leg-breaks with a tennis ball but there is hardly any turn and zip. And with a seam season ball its impossible to spin leggie. Maybe the pitch might be small or their spinning fingers are too strong!
Others masters of the universe, rajindra dhanraj, narendra hirwani in slo-mo, sachin tendulkar, shahid afridi, stuart mcgill, anil kumble, abdul qadir, chris harris, ian salisbury...etc
So the thing is, in international cricket one can cheat to become a batsman, one can even cheat to become a fast bowler, one can even cheat to become an off-spinner, but leg-spinner are not cheater cricketeers. More like the lion tamers- ring masters!

phantom005

I came to know about spinners from australia, jim higgs a legspinner and bruce yardley a offspinner!

phantom005

Watching IPL matches and it seems a lost art for spinners getting hit for sixes again n' again. I too would like to bowl offspin in international cricket if i ever get to play. But i don't know which bowling action of offspin would be lethal? I would like to make innovations in world of offspin other than fast bowling. But when i try it practically there is hardly any turn and spin. If the pitch were short then i like to impart spin, but on long wickets the spinned ball looses angle deviation (unlike shane warne leggies) and goes straight after pitching. Many good offies like shane thompson, a.khan, m.muralitharan, s.mushtaq, r.kalpage....are proven offspinners.
I like the bowlers' sight when bowled a offspin the ball revolves deviates in the air and pitches outside the off-stump. Then it bamboozles the batsman eyesight and turns quick at an angle knocking down the middle-stump!

phantom005

The objective of right -handed offspinner is just like a left - handed offspinner. Though left - handed offspinners had their perfection shown in cricket, correct outwards loop bowled towards a left handed batsman. The spin imparted then after pitching turns and speeds even going at a circular angle like a banana swing! The prominent left handed offies being phil tufnell, s.joshi, d. Vettori, jimmy adams. A perfect left handed spinner was seen named zimbabwean raymond price who troubled sachin tendulkar 's batting!
The right - handed offspinners though doesn't follow like the left hander offies. The right - handers infact rely on other techniques like looping ball flight inwards, using wide crease and pitching short. Most of the times the delivery is bowled with speed, which never spins inwards to a right handed batsman and goes straight. Many right handed famous offies like john emburey, muthiah muralitharan, saqlain mushtaq...etc Of which i like the bowling of peter taylor. But still the perfection of a perfect right handed offspinner who would loop the delivery outwards to a right handed batsman and turn the ball inwards spin is never there.

phantom005

With the just concluded india vs england spinners match, i remembered anil kumble legspin bowling. What i think is spinners like fast bowlers know how to hold the ball while bowling rather than how to grip it for spin. Anil kumble used to bowl flight straight at middle -leg to frustrate the batsmen in playing wrong stroke or by giving room for playing. Funny that even turners slow bowlers take edges and get caught. Anil kumble then used to bowl his loose flipper to get a batsmen blindspot lbw!!! And he even went on to take ten wickets in an innings, even when the deliveries weren't even turning!

Leading wicket takers | Cricket365 | Cricket News, Live Cricket Scores, Eng v Ind, SA v Aus, SL v NZ, Bang v WI

So leading wicket takers are surprisingly are spinners, m.muralitharan, shane warne and anil kumble!!!
Rather than fast bowlers as the trend used to be that spinners weren't much wicket taking bowlers. So they came in from behind in snail's pace and caught hold of the snakes n' ladders game. With the dice rolling in the blind man's buff.
Another surprise is offie harbhajan singh whose bowling neither turns nor gathers speed has taken now more than 400 wickets!!!