Quote:
Originally Posted by watson
I've been watching some archive footage of Larwood and Lindwall in action on a video I bought recently (thanks Monk for the recommendation - it's excellent).
What struck me was how similar their respective bowling actions were. If Lindwall didn't have such a long drag with his right-foot then I'd say that they had identical actions. Even in slow motion it is very difficult to tell Larwood and Lindwall apart at the point of delivery.
Anyway, the point being that it is possible that Larwood and Lindwall could have had similar stat's if Larwood's was left uninterupted by Bodyline and injury. It is a big assumption to say that similar bowling actions translate into similar stat's. But it's not a bad assumption. Larwood could have quite easily ended up being England's version of Lindwall if fate had been different. But no better or greater than Lindwall because their bowling actions are almost identical.
Just a thought.
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Lindwall actively modelled his action on Larwood's. At one point some Notts fans (IIRC, read it a few days ago and can't remember all the details) had a crack at him for copying Larwood. Lindwall shrugged his shoulders - saying something along the lines of "Why not copy the best?"