Tagged with leg spinning …

Sep 23 2010
12 Comments
poms

England discriminate against Adil Rashid

For too long this has gone on, and no one in the media has had the courage to speak out.

I can’t stand by anymore, I need to talk about it.

We all know the reason Adil Rashid is not playing for England, and it shouldn’t be hidden away.

It is because England discriminate against leg spinners.

Talk to anyone in English cricket and they talk about legspinners like they all have an attitude or behavioural problem.

The coaches say they are hard to deal with.

The other players say they can’t be trusted.

And the selectors believe they are weak under pressure.

This sort of ugly discrimination is doing nothing for English cricket, and the ECB should act.

English cricket should be for everyone, and not just for those who happen to be born as non leg spinners.

No one should be treated differently just because it comes out the back of their hands. That aint right.

These legists need to be outed from the English cricket culture, so that all players, regardless of their wrist spin, can make it to the top level.

This sort of institutional bigotry should not be tolerated, and if the ECB won’t clean out these old school idiots, then the ICC should ban them from the world of cricket for a few years until they learn to use all their players, and not just the non wrist spinning ones.

If you have a son or daughter in England right now who bowls wrist spin, tell them to switch to cricket’s rubbish skill, finger spin, because I can’t see how this archaic cricket institution will ever change.

Cricket is not a game for everyone in the UK, just the lucky few.

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May 25 2009
ashes

ashes fact 44

Chris Lewis always wanted to be a leg spinner.

He was sick and tired of being a medium paced all rounder.

Chris wanted to bowl leggies, flippers, wrong ones, and sliders; he believed he was pre ordained to practice the dark arts of cricket.

It was an all consuming obsession, and when all the English captains refused to let him bowl leg spin, a little piece of Chris died.

We all know what happened next; the consequences of restraining people from bowling leg spin is almost too much to handle.

Let us hope this tragedy will never happen again.

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Mar 10 2009
general balls

the long hop

The chances are you don’t understand legspin.

That is ok, unless you are part of the brethren, you were never meant to.

It is a magical dark art that probes at the inner depths of your soul, and then bowls a long hop.

You, a mere mortal, assume this is a mistake, and try and slap this ball away, but this is all part of the magical web we leggies weave.

This is why even a part time leggie is a weapon.

Leg spin is actually quite easy to land it where you want it, most leggies,  even the part timers, can land the ball on an atom, if they so desire.

That wouldn’t build up the intrigue though.

The long hop is a vital part in the dance of legspin.

And for some legspinners, the only wicket taking delivery.

This should not be seen as a flaw though, as the long hop has taken more wickets than the flipper, and for most, is easier to bowl.

For someone like Shane Warne, the long hop was not a real option, but he worked on a higher plane than most of us.

He would have had to go against muscle memory to land a long hop, where most leg spinners can land one without a discernable change in their action.

The long hop, just another weapon for leg spinners, the coolest mother fuckers in cricket.

Tagged
Feb 21 2009
general balls

Potchefstroom: where legspinners go to die

In most parts of the world leg spinners are feted as the Gods they are.

In Paris I received an extra mustard sachet upon the staff learning I was a legspinner.

Whilst in Northern Mexico (LA) I received a bus ticket with a smile, after a brief discussion about wrong’uns, as I left she said “Salga aquí de usted del mal uno” which means, live long and prosper oh god of the googly.

And I am not an internationally renowned legspinner, the higher up you go, the better your service.

7 years back Shane Warne was in St Petersburg service station trying to get some change, and the attendant blew him, Warne was so happy he signed an autograph for the young man.

However there is one place in the world that bucks the trend, Warne being the prince of legspinning knew this, and when he was supposed to go stay there for the best part of two months he decided to be take a one year ban for taking drugs.

That place, Potchestroom.

When translated into English means “You leg spinners are a bunch of shit eaters”.

I stayed away from potch when I was there, there were enough prejudices in South Africa, and I didn’t need any more.

Two young (um) legspinners didn’t have a choice this week.

They are my two favourite leg spinners in world cricket, and neither of them has played a test.

Cricket With Balls Own Nice Bryce McGain, and the Alice Banded Freak Imran Tahir.

My love affair with Bryce has been well documented on this site, but if you want to take a walk down memory lane, feel free.

Imran may be lesser known to you guys, he is on my players I like list, and from the first time I saw him I liked what I saw.

But the day he jumped onto the list was when I saw him destroy Nottingham’s county title hopes in one spell.

Samit Patel had been slapping him around, and Imran was bowling beaten up babies. Then Patel went out, and Tahir went through the Notts middle and lower order like they had never seen bats before.

It was wonderful.

Now he and Bryce are trying to play for test spots, Bryce for his country, Imran for his hot wife’s country.

And Potchy is fucking up their universe.

So far both men have been pummelled Robyn Given’s style.

It’s been brutal, heartless and unnecessary.

They have 4 wickets between them, two of which are contentious according to cricinfo.

Both men have gone at over 6 runs an over most of the time; Imran only saved by North and McDonald both battilng it out for the number 6 spot.

What sort of evil fucking pitch is this?

It’s an evil one, a evil fucking one.

Burn it.

And it shows that even today there are still prejudices in South Africa, this time against my kind, I say they should be banned from world cricket again.

At the very least Imran should be taken from them, fancy getting a ball tearing legspinner and then making him play at Potchy.

Bastards.

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Sep 23 2008
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Imran everywahir

Danish Kaneria is sort of like Monty.

No not because they are both brown.

No not because they are both people who follow religions that are very Indian.

That they are both pretty boring to watch.

For Monty it is ok, because he is an English spinner, and that is what we expect.

But for Danish this is a huge crime.

Being a boring pakistani spinner is like being a straight and sober child of a celebrity in America.

It is not right.

Especially when there is a more exciting Pakisani leggie with a slightly better first class record and a brooding look.

Meet Imran Tahir.

You may know him from, Hampshire, Lahore, Middlesex, Pakistan A, Redco Pakistan Ltd, Staffordshire, Sui Gas Corporation of Pakistan, Titans, Water and Power Development Authority, or Yorkshire.

As these are his first class teams.

Imran is what is known in sporting parlances as a journeyman.

We prefer to think of him as a well travelled gentleman with an alice band and a killer wrong un.

Don’t get us wrong Imran is no Mushie or Qadir, but he has a swagger, and he has a certain sumtin sumtin that you can’t help but like.

I don’t even call him a girl because of the head band.

I have only seen him play for Hampshire, which obviously shouldn’t count for too much, as leg spinners succeed like welathy men in brothels in England.

Then again Kaniera has never looked that potent in county cricket.

For whatever reason Imran has never sought fame or glory by playing for pakistan, instead he has traveled the globe for a quid.

If Imran comes back to England next year I want to interview him, i want to know why he has chosen paltry pay as a professional first class cricketer, when he could be playing for his country, and making sure Kaniera doesn’t annoy us.

Pakistan obviously don’t rate form in county cricket, otherwise Mushie would have been reinstated and given a ton of virgins for his trouble.

Now that Mushie is gone, Tahir is the best Pakistani legspinner that i know of.

And instead of playing for pakistan, well assuming they still play, he is playing for something called a titan in the Evil Empire.

Such a shame.

Kaniera has never been written about on this site before, a leg spinner, on this site, from Pakistan.

This just shows what a colossal bore he is.

Danish, superstar that he is, has his own website, go here for the “your questions” section.

Things i learnt about Danish in this hard hitting section.

Salman Butt is married now.

And Danish enjoys Emirates, because he has travelled with them alot.

www.cricketwithballs.com… We constantly get sodomized down the legside
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Sep 21 2008
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Peter has a point

Peter Roebuck occasionally gets something spot on.

At other times he is clearly speaking out of of his bleached asshole.

This is one of those former times.

He is talking about two leg spinners, and how alike they are.

Anil “he of the straight one” Kumble.

And Cricket With Balls Own Nice Bryce McGain.

Roebuck gets leg spinning, and in this case he even gets the men involved ever more so.

“Put them alongside each other and try to guess which man until recently worked in a bank.”

He has a serious point type point here, although i would say that Anil looks more like an accountant.

But why split hairs.

Leg Spinning is a harder art than making it as a professional yo yo er.

Somehow through his haze on nonsense Roebuck has always understood this.

Leg Spinners are a weird bunch of crazy mother fuckers.

Like writers.

Worst combination ever, a writer who bowls wrist spin, they make crazy people look straight.

www.cricketwithballs.com… We constantly get sodomized down the legside
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Aug 27 2008
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Goodbye Mushie

The great little man has left the building.

Grand Master Mushtaq has quit Sussex and we will never see that double arm twirl again.

Mushtaq was more than a bowler to me, he was leg spin.

I even have the unnecessary double arm twirl in my action.

While the whole world was going crazy over Warne, I was a Mushie fan, in Melbourne that never went over that well.

Mushie bounced in, he was magical, like a leprechaun on ice.

Warne was the leg spinner you liked if you knew nothing about leg spinning.

Mushie was the leg spinners leggie, a performance artist who relied on enough leg spin to beat the bat without being ridiculous about it.

He was a pure leg spinner.

His weapon was the wrong’un, and what a weapon it was, it didn’t spin back in at the stumps, it honed in on them like a heat seeking missile.

His toppie was so simple you could almost discount it as a great ball, which is why it was so good.

Every one waited for the wrong’un to destroy them, but more often than not the toppie got them first.

His leggies may not have spun sideways, but they span, they bounced, and they fizzed, oh how they fizzed.

Quite often the most simple of cut shots seemed impossible as Mushie would drag you into the position he wanted, and then plan your demise.

He was not a one ball wicket taker, he could plan a batsman out of several overs until he had them just where he wanted them.

At the 92’ world cup he showed that spinners weren’t just window dressing in one day matches, they could be kings.

And he was king in that world cup.

Over the years Pakistan politics, Saqlain’s doosra, and old age meant that his genius was not shown on the world stage any where near enough.

Instead he found himself embraced in County cricket.

There his legend actually grew, as he took Sussex and put them on his shoulders.

Even from Melbourne I would follow Mushie at Sussex, and just marvel at the shear weight of wickets the little man with the huge heart would take.

Chris Adams, Sussex’s captain gushed about Mushie as a cricketer, but he even went a step further.

“He is simply a great man.”

One of the things I wanted to do when I first got to London was watch Mushie one last time, and selfishly I am angry that those little knees of his couldn’t keep him out long enough for me to see one last spell of magic.

His body knew it was time to leave.

To me he was more than a bowler.

He was a hero, an idol, a God, and I am heart broken to see him go.

Thanks for the magic Mushie.

www.cricketwithballs.com… We constantly get sodomized down the legside
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Jul 10 2008
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A field for legspinners part two

Following on from last nights epic, here is my field.

This is my field, for my bowling, so it is written for leg spinners, not captains.

As I am a leg spinner who bowls a leg stump line, and relies on flight and drift, it may not suit everyone.

But it’s not meant to, just me, and one day my padawan learner.

1 The wicket keeper, very important you have him there.

2 The leg spinner, you, the run up should be with 6 to 10 steps of varying speeds.

3 Short fine leg, you need this guy there so you can attack the stumps, but unless you are bowling drivel put your worst fielder there.

4 Slip, Always suggest to your captain that he should field at slip, he will feel honoured that you have faith in him, and he will not be in your ear at mid off.

5 Forward Square leg, in professional cricket, deep square leg to a spinner is mandatory, but you will find in club cricket one in ten batsman play the sweep shot, so deep square is pointless. Keep him in close to cut off the singles to mid wicket, so you will need a quick player in there.

6 Deep midwicket, always put someone out there that no one else likes being around. It doesn’t matter if he can catch or not, because in my experience everyone at deep mid wicket drops catches. The reason you have a deep midwicket is because although 1 in 10 club batsman can play sweep shots, 9 out of 10 play the slog or slog sweep.

7 A wide mid on, why a wide mid on you ask, basically because mid on is the hardest place to hit a leg spinner who is getting drift and spin. It’s also a mental thing, you have set your field for a miss hit and for a slog, the batsman needs to think his way through this. You crafty devil.

8 Shortish straight mid on, more of your craftiness on display here. This is for the full ball on leg stump that the batsman tries to force away. Put your favourite fielder here, cause he will be near you. Helps if he can catch, or sledge. Also if the batsman wants to score on the leg side you have left him one gap, through midwicket, if you keep the ball full, he has to play across the line.

9 Mid off, someone quiet there who doesn’t feel the need to give you advice. Trust me on that, as for the position it self, I usually adjust it based on where I need my cover.

10 Cover, I usually start with the cover in close enough that no singles are on offer, and then change it depending on the batsman in question, moving it in to silly mid off if required.

11 Backward point, Someone who can catch, 1 out of 3 slogs end up somewhere near backward point.

There you have information on tactics, and how to handle personalities in your side.

What more can a young leg spinner ask for?

Nothing.

www.cricketwithballs.com… We constantly get sodomized down the legside
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Jul 09 2008
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A field for legspinners part one

Someone typed this into google today.

a field for a leg spinner

And I thought, why not help them out.

Jrod’s field for his hybrid bubbly Pakistani/club leg spinning deliveries.

Actually this is a weird one I found on the net.

It was odd, and had rude words in it.

So I thought you would like it.

Coming up with my standard field was hard.

Actually coming up with the field was easy, explaining why this is my field, and where to put people there was hard.

I’ll do that tomorrow.

www.cricketwithballs.com… We constantly get sodomized down the legside
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May 28 2008
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The most important leg spinners ever

Abdul Qadir . His action is still the sexiest thing you have ever seen on a cricket field. Part Ballerina, part Saber Toothed Tiger, he single handedly kept the art alive in the 1980’s. Big angry fast bowlers tried to kill it and batsmen in general, but Abdul just kept whipping himself into the crease and confusing the batsman with his magical deliveries. Statistically he had no real impact on cricket, but anyone who saw him bowl will never forget him.

Richie Benaud. On the field Richie’s contribution to leg spinning was moderate as he came after two greats in Tiger Bill and Clarrie. But in the commentary box Richie has done as much for leg spinning as any one human could. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be Richie? The man sold leg spinning like a magic potion that could fix what ails ya.

Shane Warne. Abdul may have kept the artform alive, but Shane Warne shoved it down the world’s throat with such force it would be hard to see it ever leave us again. The man, who looks more like a plumber than an artist, had such an effect on leg spin that children may be excused for thinking he invented it. He transformed leg spinning from an on field mystery to a tabloid grabbing media whore.

Clarrie Grimmet. The New Zealand born Australian leg break bowler took 20 years to make it to international cricket. When he did so he did so with a click of his fingers, and the flipper was born. Remained the hardest ball to bowl in cricket until Saqlain Mushtaq invented the doosra. Also is the quickest bowler to 200 wickets, and he got there with just a click… No, I won’t go there, again.

Bernard James Tindal Bosanquet. A surprising choice on this list as he is English, and we all know that the English have almost no leg spinners of any acclaim. But Bosanquet invented the goodly, wrong’un or bosie playing with a tennis ball on a table. Now a staple of almost all leg spinners, but back then it was so shocking he was lucky he didn’t get burnt at the stake.

www.cricketwithballs.com… We constantly get sodomized down the legside
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