Bradley Pryce and Gavin Rees need to get there act together

I have had a go at leggies (well, left hand chinamen to be correct) but can only bowl the wrong-un with any consistency..... but still without any 'zip'.

Rugby was my preference...... was pretty handy either in 13's or 15's

 

Lucky sods, instead of recognising my talents the games teacher (junior school) used to make me field all the time.

The odd occassions I got to bat no kid could bowl me out. In the end the games teacher would bowl at me and I would make him look silly by just playing his over with block shots and laughing at him.

 

Cricket at school for me was a nightmare. Firstly because only a view people were interested, and secondly because other than about five of us, everyone else was crap.

 

I am **** at football, whether it be 5 aside or 11's.....

I don't mind either league or union - probably prefer union in truth if played properly, but the standard across Europe (and worldwide generally) has dropped markedly over the past five years so watch league instead.

Played both, was probably better at union in truth but played league at a higher level - it is much harder to get spotted playing union up north, especially in Leeds which is a league mad city. It has taken over so much that kids don't give a **** about football anymore.

 

Rugby league all the way. Whenever RU was on television on Saturdays (especially 5 nations) it used to make me depressed.

I was never a teachers pet, *******s did not even recommend me for grammar school even though I beat all their favourites in the annual exams (in fact I used to **** all over their favourites when it came to exams).

I was good enough to be put on report in junior school and one teacher told my old man that I would either make lots of money using my brain or end up in prison (I have not managed either of them to date :|). Oh and they never caught me robbing the tuck shop ever, me and my mate were excellent at getting maximum value for our 10p tuck money. Mischief always got the better of me and still does.

 

Weird.

When I try them they either hit a flying seagull or get dragged 1/4 of the way down the pitch.

But I could bowl a leg spinner with reasonable accuracy.

 

M'Baye threw that Rees fight FO SHO !!!

 

The way I grip the ball means that when I flick the wrist over, the little finger ensures the ball spins the other way.

The wrong 'un is the 'natural' delivery for me if you like - a standard one would be the variation.

 

You're not Robert Croft are you??

 

That is old school. I think the South Africans bowled like that in the early 20th century.

I held it in a more traditional way, trying to emulate everything about Warne. Problem is my arm always got too round so it was really difficult to bowl anything but a leg-spinner. Got some nice side spin and drift though, that always gives more margin for error I found.

 

Therein lies the difference.

My action is much higher, perhaps like Mushtaq Ahmed, but not as perpendicular as Anil Kumble. For some reason my left arm (the bowling arm) comes down almost inside out, which takes away the drift but makes the sidespin more pronounced - my theory is that the drift sometimes kills the spin.....

I suppose I am the complete opposite, but persist with it to generate the largest amount of margin for error, which is key. When bowling over the wicket googlies you can draw the batsman forward because they see the ball going across them - if the keeper is sharp a stumping is a chance. When bowling round, you can spear in towards middle (ish) and know the ball will deviate.

 

I don't think drift kills the spin, its just turning against a much sharper angle if you think about it. But its much more dangerous over all, as there is far greater chance of the batsman misjudging the line or length of the ball, thus any spin is more useful rather than just tossing the ball straight forward and spinning it well wide of the stumps (from a right hand bat and bowlers perspective).

I think drift is more about getting good seam position than anything. I think you can achieve it with any type of action. It's the friction between air and ball, I think the ball needs to be fairly well balanced with the seam pointing towards slip to get most chances of drift.

All the bowlers you mention got drift. In the case of Kumble, it was all about drifting the balls into the pads.. and then not much turn to get LBW's. Warne obviously got the most due to revs and seam position. Now if you think about Murali, often bowling with a scrambled seam so the batsman can't pick it in the air...it does not tend to drift.

 

I agree - though my arm is so inside out it does eliminate drift. This (as you say) means the ball simply spins away, or you can aim for the pads and rely on sidespin......

Because of the way I bowl..... left arm googlies round the wicket (basically an orthodox leggie) my natural angle takes away the ability to trouble lefties without going over the wicket, but then it just spins in and is easy to work away to legside - because of the sidespin an LBW is taken away.

On Murali...... do you think he is a chucker?

 

I just bowled leggies over the wicket when I was in school in the UK. I always tried to flight them and spin it as hard as I could, even when I got hammered and bowled the occasional pie. It's a shame kids are taught in a negative manner that eliminates this. Towards the end I worked on a slider that bounced a little lower to get LBW's. Never masted a googly or anything else.

Murali was illegal under the old laws. But then they changed it to accomodate him and supposedly others, although it stunk of appeasement. It depends on whether you think that rule change is correct. If he's legal under the current laws of the game, he's legal. He's been tested and he's okay. I certainly wouldn't say he's any more illegal than Shoaib Akhtar who is a blatant thrower. I don't care if you are disabled in your arm.