Cricket Technique: Spin Bowling
In cricket one of the fundamentals is bowling and one of the most interesting types of bowling styles is spin bowling. Most of the interest around bowling tends to stem from the very quick paced bowlers who throw the ball into the stumps at great speed. But spin bowling is an art and a skill that only the truly great bowlers can perfect. There are many different types of spin from off-spin to googly and over the years there have been many amazing spin bowlers from many different countries. Spinners will continue to evolve this specialised bowling style with new techniques with each coming year.
It is not known exactly when spin bowling emerged in the sport of cricket but it seems it was not very popular in England around the time the game started to become popular. It was not seen as gentlemanly to spin the ball away from the batsman and deceive him. Spin bowling did not gain in stature until it was introduced in Australia.
While he was not the first spin bowler in history, the Australian Clarrie Grimett was one of the first bowlers to make the bowling style popular amongst other bowlers. His claim to fame was his accuracy and his desire to add different spinning styles to his repertoire. He invented a new delivery that rushed onto the batsmen of the time and he called it the flipper. Over his career he helped to cement spin bowling’s place among cricket’s more established bowling styles.
Next in the line of spin bowlers was another Australian, Richie Benaud, who was able to confuse batsmen with his changing pace and varying degrees of turn. After his retirement, leg-spin bowling was replaced by more traditional finger spin but that changed with the emergence of Pakistan’s Abdul Qadir. Recognising his talents, Imran Khan promoted the bowler and brought leg spin bowling back into popularity. From there spin bowling grew and became more popular until today, when it is a formidable attacking weapon in any team’s arsenal.
There are many different types of spin bowling that are used today. The most popular is the leg-spin which has a spin variation of 30 degrees. It is pitched outside a batsman’s line and then spins inwards. It is used to great effect by many bowlers today. The flipper is another impressive and very difficult delivery to get right. It pitches low onto the batsman with under-spin. The off-spin is another interesting delivery, it is basically the opposite of the leg-spin because it is pitched into a batsman and then spins inwards. It is a very effective delivery if a bowler can get it right. The top spin delivery is the opposite of the flipper because it is bowled low and then rises up towards a batsman with over-spin.
The googly is one of the most dangerous deliveries in spin bowling. The googly or wrong ‘un as it is also called is a deceptive delivery that looks like a leg-spin but then suddenly changes and behaves like an off-spin, it can completely deceive even the most confident batsman. A new and devastating spin bowling style is called the doosra. The doosra which translates as the second one is the off-spinners version of the googly, a delivery that looks like an off-spin ball but turns into a leg spin in flight. The inventor of the doosra, Saqlain Mushtaq is working on a new type of style called the teesra which means the third one. These different styles have produced some very talented bowlers over the years.
One of the best spin bowlers in the world is Australian Shane Warne. This amazing leg-spinner has taken over 700 test wickets with his confusing deliveries. He also bowls a very good flipper and it is his accuracy and perfect line and length that make him such a powerful weapon for the Australian cricket team. Another phenomenal bowler is the recently retired Sri Lankan, Muttiah Muralitharan. He holds the record for having taken 800 test cricket wickets, a feat which is unlikely to be challenged anytime soon. He was regarded as the world’s best off -spin bowler and his unorthodox bowling action has spurned controversies but he managed to overcome them and reach the top of his field.
In the future we will see many new styles emerging in spin bowling and we will see many great new bowlers emerge as well. This bowling style technique has revolutionised the way the game is played and a lot more strategy and thought goes into spin bowling. It will continue to change the game in the future.
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