ARTISTS AMONG ARTISANS
There is no finer sight in cricket than the contest between a top class batsman and an exponent of that most revered and mystical of bowling arts, leg-spin. In cricket’s Victorian age being able to spin the ball was well down the list of pre-requisites for success, behind a gentlemanly demeanour, an Oxbridge degree and a kempt moustache. The devilish act of spinning the ball away from the batsman was tantamount to winking at his wife or bluffing in a game of poker. It just wasn’t cricket, I suppose. So it is quite fitting that leg-spins’ first superstar was from that land that loves to fly in the face of convention, Australia. Clarrie Grimett was by no means the first leg-spinner but he can claim to be the avuncular forebear of a succession of quality, professional international leggies. What marked him out was his accuracy, nigglyness (if such a word exists) and his eagerness to add to his armoury. Several years into his career he invented a new delivery that rushed onto the batsman, the nightmare of many a batsman’s restless night, the flipper.
Clarrie Grimett
By modern standards Grimmett was something of a veteran when he made his Test debut, at Sydney in 1925, aged 33. By the time he made his swan song 11 years later, at an age when most club cricketers have long since put down the ball and picked up the remote, he had taken 216 wickets in 37 Tests. He had entered the annals of cricketing legend.
Richie Benaud
The baton was passed to one of the sports most recognisable and respected figures. Richie Benaud was a thinking cricketer who rose through the post war ranks of the Australian team to become a successful all-rounder and greatly respected leader. He bought nuance to the art of leg-spin, beguiling batsmen with subtle of changes in pace and degrees of turn. While not a savage turner of the ball he showed how, complemented with an attacking field, the leg-spinner could out-think a batsman and draw them into an injudicious shot. His silken voice, keen eye and sparkling bonhomie has imbued him with almost saint like status in the cricketing world. It is sometimes easy to forget that before the pressed linen and ‘Morning Tony, morning everyone’ routine he was himself a player of undoubted talent and rare distinction who developed an art-form. After Benaud’s retirement leg-spin dimmed from public view as orthodox finger spin once more became the stock trade in slow bowling. Indeed, when Abdul Qadir burst onto the scene in the late seventies younger batsmen would have been at a loss to describe what he was bowling let alone safely negotiate a devilish over on a turning, biting wicket. Qadir demonstrated once again what a potent weapon leg-spin could be on the international stage. It was quite simply a more versatile, venomous and virtuous art than finger spin. Imran Khan, as astute as ever a cricketer has been, recognised Qadir’s ability to burst through batting defences and run through a team.
Abdul Qadir
Other countries were quick to see the value of such a weapon in their ranks and unveiling a new leg-spin sensation became the Holy Grail throughout the cricketing world. By his retirement in 1991 Qadir had successfully re-invigorated the art of leg-spin and become the third leggie to claim more than 200 Test victims. That very year a young, scruffy, floppy-haired Aussie made the Australian squad. Cricket would never be the same again.Shane Warne had only modest success in his first series. His talent was still raw, irascible and lacking composure. But the following year be bowled what has become recognised as the best delivery in the history of the game. Picture the scene if you will; an ageing, stocky, pugnacious Mike Gatting setting his guard, tapping his bat in the crease, looking intently as the bowler approaches. Seconds later a stoic, prodding forward defence is followed by the ‘death rattle’ as the ball spins viciously past the edge and hits off stump. Gatting is bamboozled. The crowd is aghast. The commentators are describing history in the making. The ball had turned several feet, from outside leg-stump to hit the off-bail. Judged by all established wisdom, over a hundred years of precedent and practice it was quite simply unplayable. So on that fateful day Gatting trudged off and every batsman in the world trembled with fear.
Over the fifteen years of his Test career Warne became the first bowler to claim 700 victims. But stats alone cannot begin to explain his contribution and his legacy to the game. Here was a dynamic, out-spoken, larger than life character who appealed to all who liked drama in sport and he should therefore be credited with captivating a new generation of cricket supporters and disproving that tired old cliché that cricket is a dull, slow and uneventful spectator sport. Such was Shane Warne’s superstardom that another fine contemporary leg-spinner has not perhaps been given the recognition and column inches he deserves. Anil Kumble is a fellow leg-spinner but there the similarities with Warne end. Kumble is quiet, modest, reverential, never seeking the limelight. Not for him the brash, combustible showmanship of Warne. Kumble is a markedly different bowler too. Not a large turner of the ball, he bowls it quicker and hits the deck to extract disarming bounce from a driving length. As his career matured he used the classic leg break less and less, instead using a disguised googly as a stock delivery. ‘The gent’ is now captain of India and as potent as ever at the age of 37. He has now passed 600 Test scalps, only the third cricketer to achieve the feat.
So who are the up and coming members of this exclusive and elusive magic circle?
Danish Kaneria - Pakistan
When this gangly Pakistani made his test debut he looked like a nervous schoolboy; skittish, awkward and in awe of his more experienced compatriots. But the selectors’ faith has been vindicated and he has recently became another member of the 200 club. He perhaps lacks the fight and abrasion that Warne bought to his bowling but has proved a consistent performer for his country. His upright stance perhaps limits his ability to replicate Warne’s swerve and dip, two key elements of a leggie’s armoury, but his accuracy and persistence keep batsmen tied down and encourage them to take risks. It is then that he strikes.
Mansoor – Pakistan
A young leggie yet to break into the Pakistani team but is considered to have a bright future ahead of him. Enjoyed a successful stint with Leicestershire in 2007.
Shahid Afridi - Pakistan
Afridi is known for his bombastic batting and is one of the few players on the international scene that will literally attempt to smite every single delivery out of the ground. With such a mentality it is no surprise that he is the proud holder of the fastest century in international cricket. With a ball in hand Afridi can be a fearsome prospect to face. He bowls very quickly for a leg spinner; his arm-ball can be delivered at 80 mph, and can get the ball to bounce with spite from a decent length. At times he can struggle for rhythm and bowl a clutch of rank long-hops in a spell but he has knack of removing established batsmen when well set.
Rawl Lewis
Rawl Lewis – West Indies
Lewis has the un-enviable task of being a specialist spinner in a nation renowned for grooming fearsome quicks. Sporadic, inconsistent and often ill-considered selection, which has been the hallmark of Caribbean cricket for a decade, has limited Lewis to only 5 caps in a decade. A leg-spinner, perhaps more than any other type of bowler, relies on developing rhythm predicated on a run in the side. It is perhaps not surprising then that Lewis has made limited impact taking only 4 wickets in his five appearances to date. In truth he does not bowl with enough guile and consistency to trouble class batsmen at test level.
Stuart MacGill – Australia
In any other era MacGill would have been an international star. However, cursed with being born within a few years of Warne he was destined to remain an understudy to his more illustrious teammate. However, when the selectors chose to play him alongside Warne he responded with a better strike rate and wicket tally. When Warne retired he was primed to finally enter centre stage from the wings but with his fitness closely scrutinised and his form patchy he lost his place to ‘chinaman’ Brad Hogg. On his day there is no bigger turner of the ball than MacGill, and it is just that he too has joined the ‘200’ club despite his limited opportunities.
Malinga Bandara – Sri Lanka
Being a spinner in Sri-Lanka who is not Murali is like playing for Los Angeles Galaxy when your surname isn’t Beckham; you are destined to remain in the shadows. However, this stocky leg-spinner has performed creditably when being given the chance to play for his country. He is consistent and capable of genuine turn but perhaps lacks the hostility and variation to be considered one of the finer exponents of the art.
Mustaq Ahmed
Mushtaq Ahmed –Pakistan
‘Bowling Mushy, Mushy’, was a familiar refrain from Pakistan wicket keeper Moin Khan when Mushtaq danced in to bowl. He terrorised batsmen in the mid to late 90’s with huge turning leg-breaks, with eager fieldsmen waiting expectantly for bat-pad catches from injudicious prods. Discarded prematurely from his country he has proved a revelation for Sussex in county cricket bowling them to several championships in the last few years. His cunning and control are simply too much for many county stalwarts and it was only perhaps a slight dip in his bowling speed that negated (at least partially) his menace on the international scene.
Piyush Chawla
Piyush Chawla – India
As if England weren’t hapless enough in the face of a spin challenge provided by Anil Kumble and Harbaghan Singh, the selectors decided to taunt the tourists further by blooding this exciting young leg-spin prospect. That was in 2006 and the following year he showed his calibre by bowling a mesmerising spell including the dismissal of Pieterson, one of the only deft players of spin sporting three lions, with a beautifully disguised googly. He is a confident young man who is not afraid of giving the ball some air and teasing in the flight. If it were not for the resurgent form and promotion to captaincy of Anil Kumble, he would surely already be a fixture in the side. He is certainly one to watch.
Adil Rashid
Adil Rashid – England
Rashid found himself thrust into the national limelight when he took seven wickets in the first innings of his first class debut for Yorkshire. Given England’s propensity to get twitchy and excitable at the mere prospect of a half decent leg-spinner it is little wonder that he didn’t earn himself a Test call on that performance alone. He proved at the tail end of the 2006 season that he was not a flash in the pan by commanding a regular place in the Yorkshire XI and bowling with admirable control. At Under 19 level he was a revelation scoring a century and taking 8 wickets in a ‘junior’ test against India. In 2007 he won more plaudits for his composed and compact batting. He made a first class century and averaged 44. However, his bowling was steady rather than destructive and it is likely England selectors will assess his obvious talent in the performance squad, away from the glare of Test cricket. This strategy appears to have worked for Rashid has been selected in the England squad for their tour of the West Indies in early 2009.
Daan van Bunge
Leg spin at Associate level
Bowling at Associate level is often criticised for lacking guile and for a paucity of wicket-taking deliveries. You would imagine then that leg-spin could prove a panacea for any captain scratching his head wondering where the next wicket will come. It is ironic then that the Associate leg-spinner with the most exposure to the wider cricketing world was the unlucky Daan Van Bunge who had the misfortune of coming up against serial run-bully Herschelle Gibbs who promptly dispatched him into the stands for six consecutive sixes, the first time the maximum of maximums had ever been achieved in a ODI. Van Bunge was in truth only a part-time spinner and did have some success with the ball when fewer people were there to appreciate it. In terms of spin bowling the Associate scene has been blessed with some decent left arm-spinners in Hiren Variaya and Dwayne Leverock and also some crafty off-spinners in Kyle McCallan and John Davison. Top quality leg-spinners have been conspicuous by their absence. By way of explanation for this dirth of Associate leg-spin it should be recognised that it is a difficult art to perfect and that without professional coaching to nurture and advise it is perhaps not surprising that smaller cricketing nations have only unearthed the odd player. Traditional finger spin is, put simply, easier to develop, to hone and to bowl with control and consistency. It can only be hoped that with the development of better facilities, coaching structures and a broadening player base that the Associate nations will begin to unveil more leg-spinners. There is little doubt that any game of cricket, at any level, benefits from their artistry. There are, however, some leg-spinners currently playing at Associate level. Let me introduce them:
Greg Thompson - Ireland
Thompson returned from Malaysia in early 2008 where he represented Ireland at his third Under 19 World Cup. He has already won his senior international cap and has also played a handful of games for Lancashire. He may need to be protected from the rigours of Twenty20 but will in time turn competence into confidence on the international stage. Ireland will be hoping he and Gary Kidd can pick up the spinning mantle when Kyle McCallan calls it a day.
Bobby Chawla – Denmark
Denmark has traditionally been known for producing quality seamers, several of whom including Ole Mortenson, Tom Hansen and Amjad Khan have starred at first class level in England’s county championship. However, at the recent WCL2 tournament in Namibia it was this young leg-spinner the Danes had to thank for clinching qualification to World Cup qualifying tournament in the UAE next year. His talent had been spotted at a young age and he spent several years under the watchful eye of Paul Farbrace at the Kent academy. Indeed he made his international debut while still a fresh-faced seventeen year old. His performances in Namibia may prove to be the catalyst for him to reach his potential. With their seamers looking distinctly ordinary it must have cheeredKlokker senior that in Chawla and Bashir Shah he had a spin partnership beginning to flourish.
Mangesh Panchal
Mangesh Panchal – Holland
The Dutch introduced this veteran leg-spinner of Indian descent into their international line-up after the failure of their young slow left arm triumvirate of Raja, Kashif and Seelar to look a consistent threat on the international stage. He was one of their leading performers in the Intercontinental Cup taking four wickets in an innings against Canada before claiming his maiden five-wicket haul against Bermuda. He has only played one ODI to date and went wicketless but looks set to bed into the team over the next couple of seasons.
Lakmal Kasturiarachchige – Austria
This young leg-spin talent of Sri Lankan origin was one of the pick of the bowlers at the 2003 European Cricket Council Trophy taking 12 wickets including a five-wicket haul. In 2005 he was a member of the MCC Young Cricketers squad in England’s 2nd XI Championship. He enjoyed a memorable debut capturing five wickets including England starlet Ravi Bopara and the prodigal Dutch all-rounder Ryan Ten Doeschate. The following year he played a game for Worcestershire 2nd XI but failed to take a wicket in eight overs. His performance for the MCC clearly shows he has latent talent and still only 22 he has a bright future ahead of him. The concern will be that without regular competitive fixtures he will not be able to develop his game.
Collins Obuya – Kenya
Collins Obuya
Obuya was one of the stars of the Kenyan team that qualified for the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup. Against Sri-Lanka, Obuya ripped through the batting order claiming 5-25, including the notable scalps of De Silva, Jayawardena and Sangakarra. He finished the tournament with an impressive haul of 13 wickets. His performances earned him a county contract with Warwickshire. However, their decision to make him their overseas player backfired. He only played three first class and four List A games for the county, spending much of the season in the 2nd XI. In truth his selection as an overseas player represented a considerable risk. After all, other than an impressive World Cup campaign he had only taken 7 ODI wickets in 16 games prior to the World Cup. His first class experience was limited to eleven games for Kenya. It was perhaps an example of an over-optimistic chairman believing he had made a discovery on county crickets’ messianic search for a leg-spinner. Sadly for Obuya his bowling had badly fallen away by the end of 2003. He had fallen victim to that most virulent of spinner’s diseases, the yips. He only took 5 wickets in Kenya’s Carib Cup campaign in January 2004. In four years in the Inter-continental Cup he has only taken eight wickets. Indeed, in 21 ODI since 2004 he has only bowled 15 overs claiming a solitary wicket. He attempted to arrest this decline by attending Terry Jenner’s leg-spin bowling clinic in Australia but no avail He has now re-invented himself as a middle order batsmen, though in truth looks out of his depth batting in the top six. Spin duty for Kenya now rests with the impressive Hiren Varaiya with support from Tikolo and Kamande.
