Lunchbox7

Im refering to the spin bowling of Cricket. First of all I was raised in the 80's where the windies were unbeatable with their four pronged pace attack. As a result spinners had no respect whatsoever. Spinners were genrally regarded as the bowlers who were there to hit for easy runs.

Being a off spinner this was horrible to me. My coaches and captains never liked giving me much of a go. But when I did come on for a bowl I would always get heaps of wickets really economically. Even though I would consistently come away with heaps good results (averaged around 4 runs per wicket), I would never get the respect that a pace bowler (even a seamer) would get when they had figures twice as bad as mine.

Come onto the scene Shane Warne, the infamous leg spinner. He is two wickets away from breaking Courtney Walshes highest wicket taker record at the moment. He came on to the scene and became our major wicket taker. Suddenly leg spin had so much respect that anyone who could roll a ball out of the bag of their hand thought they were a 'leggie'. They never appreciated the true art of spin. Even though Warney did wonders for the world of spin, for which I am eternally grateful, it was mainly leg spin. Again a leg spinner in my team would get preference over me even though I get better figures and consistenly take out the oppositions best batsmen. Saying this life as a spinner was heaps better than pre-Warne.

Come onto the scene Murali (cant spell or pronounce his full name), the infamous off spinner. He is only 1 or 2 wickets behind Warney. The race to break Courtneys record has been going on since Warneys return from his 12 month ban. They are both pulling out some awsome performances. Now Murali has had a lot of criticism over his action but you have to admit he is an absolute freak of a bowler. He has given respect to the world of off-spinning. Its a pity that this happened after I did my shoulder in and couldnt play anymore. But I still appreciate what it did for my art.

Saying all this I just want to emphasise how ironic it is that the art forms of bowling that have been ridiculed to the shadows for decades now are the two forms used to take the most wickets. Murali is earlier in his carreer and if he doesnt enter the same troubles as Warney he will surpass Warneys accomplishments by a pretty large degree. Both have quite a few years left in them so they should not only hold the record but by a huge margin. Spinners will be the two highest wicket takers of all time. Its great to see spinners get the respect they deserve.

Has anyone else been the subject of the predjudice against spin bowling? What are your stories?

Spartak

I suck at playing cricket, however when playing a casual game against some mates (they all play amateur club cricket) they always bamboozle me with some spin attack. Curse them >_<

Also, I think Warne will always be considered the better bowler, regardless of how many more wickets Muralitharan takes. Because the entire Aussie/England/NZ cricket fraternities will rubbish Murali off as a "chucker".

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bundy

exactly.
for all of Warneys off field disgraces, he's never been called a chucker.
he's (still) the best.

personally, i'd like to see a return of David Boons 'nude' spin bowling (also known as slow bowling, as oppose to medium pace and fast)... nothing quite like a spinner coming down and not actually being able to spin it.

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Strange Famous

I used to bowl a few off breaks but I never had the patience to learn - its easier to get results bowling fast, and as I have only ever played limited overs games bowling quick is normally more effective

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