Cricket Lovers: An article from The Hindu of today

from: Naval Patel
date:: 21 April 2009 16:20
subject: Above the eye line

I am attaching a scan of an article in The HINDU newspaper this morning.

The part I found fascinating was how Clarrie Grimmett, the masterly old Australian leg spinner, demonstrated the variations of speed perceptions.

I had long read that these are deceptive when the ball goes above batsmen's eye level, and I guess as a (very) slow bowler I had successfully benefited from these through my playing days, but this is the first mention I have seen of such proof being experimentally provided.

The other mention about the initial movement and position of the batsman's leading shoulder is a new insight to me.

How I wish such knowledge had come to us in our playing days!

Regards Naval

Thank you Naval for sending me this article. I did not use your scan but went to The HINDU and took the whole article, which I have reproduced below. (Copyright acknowledged.)

(I think I know the wife of the writer - a very lovely lady whom I met in 1999 and who is also a journalist in The Hindu covering environmental issues.)

Spinners have delivered the goods so far

S. Dinakar

Warne, Kumble, Vettori and Ojha have been impressive

Chennai: Spin has worked well in the Indian Premier League so far. Shane Warne’s mix of flight, deception and spin was captivating. Anil Kumble scalped five in his match. And, left-arm spinners Daniel Vettori and Pragyan Ojha have also been impressive.

Warne’s bowling took us to the heart of spin bowling. He made the batsman pick the ball from ‘above the eye level.’

Famous coach Vasu Paranjpe recounted a delightful tale about how Australian leg-spin legend Clarrie Grimmett taught former off-spinner Ashley Mallett, a budding bowler then, an important cricketing lesson.

“Grimmett took Mallet to a little hill and then asked him to judge the speed of the cars zipping through in a bridge below. Mallett’s reply was approximately right. Then, Grimmett told Mallett to look at cars moving on a road at an elevated level and the off-spinner found it very hard to assess the speed of the cars,” said Paranjpe.

When Warne flights the ball, he forces the batsman to pick it from above the eye level. To make things harder for the batsman, the rip and the revolution on the ball causes it to dip in the air.

“Since the batsman, on most occasions, has to gauge the flight from above the level of his eyes, he finds it extremely hard to judge the pace, and consequently, the length of the ball,” added Paranjpe.

Warne has the variety — including the quicker delivery such as the flipper, the top-spinner and the wrong ’un — to sow more seeds of doubt in the minds of the batsman.

Aggressive by instinct, he can dissect a batsman’s technique and zero in on the chinks.

Splendid dismissals

Warne’s dismissal of Virat Kohli of Bangalore Royal Challengers is a case in point. Kohli has a rather stiff front shoulder and such batsmen can have a blind spot on or just outside the leg-stump.

The Rajasthan Royals captain flighted one on the leg-stump, Kohli, stepping down for the leg-side whip, missed and the ball spun to hit middle.

Then, B. Akhil found a delivery pitching on the leg-stump, spinning past the bat and hitting middle and off. These deliveries were flighted and spun hard. “If the batsman makes a brief preparatory movement as the bowler is about to deliver, his elbow goes back, so does the shoulder. The batsman is better placed to stroke freely on the leg-side. But if his left shoulder is stiff and locked, he could have a blind spot on the leg-side,” said Paranjpe.

Warne’s skills have not waned with age. He still controls the extent of spin — high on the scale of difficulty — with the ease of a maestro.

Kumble’s wares

Kumble’s bowling is much about subtle variations in length and trajectory, relentless accuracy and an ability to surprise batsmen with bounce.

Attempting to slog Kumble can be counter-productive as Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja discovered the hard way. Kumble complements his control with clever use of the crease. If the batsman misses, he invariably hits.

The conditions favoured seam and swing bowling at Newlands but the ball gripped for the spinners.

Vettori’s knack of getting the ball to straighten at the right hander from a touch wide of the crease works to his advantage in the shortest form of the game; he denies the batsman width. Ojha’s drift posed searching questions to the men facing him.

Despite powerful willows and shorter boundaries, spinners continue to turn matches in Twenty20 cricket; the batsman is denied pace and the work on the ball compounds his problems.

“It is much about when you bring your spinners on. If you have a quality spinner, you should introduce him as early as possible, give him a greater chance,” observed Paranjpe.

Indeed, wickets win you matches…in any format.