There was a time when mystery was the buzz word in cricket. Spinners who bowled with unconventional actions and delivered a wide range of deliveries – which came in, went away or held their line – took the cricketing world by storm.
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It all started with the emergence of Sri Lankan tweaker Ajantha Mendis. Running with his bowling arm perfectly straight, Mendis bowled a mixture of off-spinners, straighter ones, quicker deliveries and a cunning carom ball that behaved like a leg spinner, all with an action that barely changed. Thus began the advent of the mystery spinner.
Pakistan produced their version of Mendis, the enigmatic Saeed Ajmal delivering his bagful of tricks from nothing more than three steps and a hop. India too had one such bowler to call upon.
Saeed Ajmal is back for Pakistan. Selected in the Test, ODI and T20 sides for Bangladesh tour
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) April 3, 2015
Ravichandran Ashwin developed into a handy limited overs cricketer who added the carom ball to his repertoire, finetuning his skills in the unforgiving world of the Indian Premier League.
The West Indies too were blessed with Sunil Narine, a bowler who delivered the ball in a similar fashion to Mendis. It seemed unless a spinner had such ‘variations’ he couldn’t survive in international cricket anymore.
Classical bowling actions and conventional spin were deemed too ‘old school’. But just like any fad, this too began to lose its sheen.
Mendis’ bowling was soon decrypted and batsmen began to play him as bowler who predominantly brought the ball back in and rarely took the ball away. He didn’t have many answers thereafter and is not a regular member of the Sri Lankan side anymore.
Ashwin, too, found out that being too smart with ones variations can backfire badly. During the home Test series against England in 2012, he concentrated so heavily on his mystery deliveries, Ashwin almost gave up the conventional off-break and failed to deliver the goods on some highly responsive wickets. India lost the series and Ashwin decided to go back to being a conventional spinner.
Both Ajmal and Narine were going along nicely until their bowling actions were reported as suspect. The duo had to take time off from international cricket and thus missed the boat for this recently concluded World Cup. All of a sudden, cricket was devoid of any spin mystique.
However, the absence of this craft was not felt one bit during the World Cup. Conventional spinners showed that if you impart enough revolutions on the ball and maintain a tight line, any batsman can be tied down.
The best example was the performance of Kiwi veteran Daniel Vettori. Using clever change of pace and a nagging line, he emerged as the best spinner of the World Cup, taking 15 wickets from nine games at a stupendous economy of 4.04.
#howzstat – Daniel Vettori is one of only 3 players to score 4,000 runs and take 300 wickets in Tests #ThanksDaniel pic.twitter.com/DCpsmc2FEg
— ICC (@ICC) March 31, 2015
South African leg-spinner Imram Tahir got appreciable purchase from the surface and ended up with 15 wickets from eight outings.
But the most striking show was that by Ashwin. Having put his variations on the back burner, Ashwin stuck to bowling conventional off-spinners with a generous dose of loop and it’s no wonder that he picked up 18 wickets at an economy of 4.28.
Even part-time spinners like Australia’s Glenn Maxwell and JP Duminy of South Africa proved to be a handful. It showed that no matter which surface or format you play, conventional technique is never out of place.
A batsman with a solid technique will eventually flourish, a fast bowler who can swing the ball will always be a handful and a spinner who gives it a rip will cause discomfort. Teams should keep that in mind when they chart their course across formats from here on.
Pakistan have recalled Ajmal for the tour of Bangladesh. He has worked on his action, which has been cleared. Narine too underwent tests on his action and has been given the green signal to play in the upcoming IPL. However, you don’t need to be an expert to forecast what will happen next.
Their actions will be under constant scrutiny from and their extravagant variations will come down drastically, in all likelihood. It has happened before and you just have to see how India spinner Harbhajan Singh came back in the fold after his doosra was declared illegal. He hardly bowled it thereafter and was never the same bowler again.
Everyone loves a good mystery. It adds a lot of spice to life. But on the cricket field, it seems to have run its course. It has been proved to a great extent that it is nearly impossible to bowl those wonder deliveries with a clean action because it simply goes against the principles of biomechanics.
What has also been established, during the World Cup Down Under, is that the virtues of a classical slow bowler can never be disregarded. Batsmen can always be beaten in flight and with turn off the pitch; the basics of the game are still the same. And anyhow, most mystery spinners have too many issues to deal with as far as their actions are concerned.
Conventional spinners are some much simpler. And as they say, simple is always better.
