Invasion of the lefties

[Matt79]

This might have been discussed previously, but I saw a Peter Roebuck article a few weeks ago that made an argument that the rules of the game were biased towards left-handed batsmen and that this is evidenced by the everincreasing numbers of lefties in the top orders of teams around the world, especially openers, ie strauss/trescothick, hayden/langer, smith, etc etc

Do people have any thoughts on the validity of this theory, or what rules changes might address the situation (lbw perhaps)

 

[Robertinho]

Firstly, what is so biased towards left handers? Sorry, just wondering how it helps them...

 

[archie mac]

This might have been discussed previously, but I saw a Peter Roebuck article a few weeks ago that made an argument that the rules of the game were biased towards left-handed batsmen and that this is evidenced by the everincreasing numbers of lefties in the top orders of teams around the world, especially openers, ie strauss/trescothick, hayden/langer, smith, etc etc

Do people have any thoughts on the validity of this theory, or what rules changes might address the situation (lbw perhaps)

I am not sure what the problem would be, but lefties have to put up with the rough outside the off-stump.

 

[Matt79]

I think he was arguing that lbws were more difficult for a right arm/over the wicket bowler against left handers, plus perhaps that as they were rarer, bowlers didn't learn how to bowl at them.

 

[superkingdave]

Well Roebuck is an idiot

 

[andyc]

I did mention this a month or two back. Given that they're something like 10% of the population, there does seem a disproportionally (sp?) large amount of them going well in cricket. Langer, Hayden, Hussey, Gilchrist, Lara, Strauss, Trescothick, Smith, etc. I think it may have something to do with bowlers generally bowling more to right handers and not properly learning how to bowl to a leftie.

 

[archie mac]

I did mention this a month or two back. Given that they're something like 10% of the population, there does seem a disproportionally (sp?) large amount of them going well in cricket. Langer, Hayden, Hussey, Gilchrist, Lara, Strauss, Trescothick, Smith, etc. I think it may have something to do with bowlers generally bowling more to right handers and not properly learning how to bowl to a leftie.

Well then is it not logical that if there are more lefties, bowlers will become better at bowling to them and so the problem will fix itself?

 

[GotSpin]

Then you could say the game is biased towards right handed batsmen against left handed bowlers, as it is almost impossible to get a LBW bowling over the wicket

 

[Jamee999]

Well then is it not logical that if there are more lefties, bowlers will become better at bowling to them and so the problem will fix itself?

I've played kids/youth cricket for about 7 years now, and I can remember seeing 10 left-handed batsman at best.

We've got a left-handed bowler with us though.

Strange

 

[Emcee]

How many people that are considered to bat left handed are actually left handed when they write and so forth, as I know many international players bat what is considered to be the opposite way traditionally. On this point if you were taught to do it from an early age, dosnt it make sense to bat with your strongest hand at the top of the grip as your top hand is where all of your control comes from in a shot??

 

[Matt79]

How many people that are considered to bat left handed are actually left handed when they write and so forth, as I know many international players bat what is considered to be the opposite way traditionally. On this point if you were taught to do it from an early age, dosnt it make sense to bat with your strongest hand at the top of the grip as your top hand is where all of your control comes from in a shot??

Well I'm not an international player but I bat/bowl/throw right handed and write left handed. Of course, that inconsistency might explain why I suck!

 

[adharcric]

Well there are 1 LHB/LHB, 1 RHB/LHB and 3 LHB/RHB (two of them all-rounders) in my club at the moment. They aren't as rare nowadays. Personally, as a seam bowler, for some reason I enjoy bowling to lefty batsman more because coming around the wicket and angling the ball in with some bounce just turns me on.

Plus, even as a righty over-the-wicket bowler you are going across the line of the lefty batsman so you can extract edges there without too much difficulty if you're accurate.

 

[Steulen]

Well I'm not an international player but I bat/bowl/throw right handed and write left handed. Of course, that inconsistency might explain why I suck!

Despite never having played cricket in my life, I can honestly say I would be a right-handed batsman and left-handed bowler. I am a left-handed writer, play baseball, hockey and guitar right-handed, but all racket sports left-handed.

And I suck at all the aforementioned activities.

 

[honestbharani]

As was stated earlier in the thread, Roebuck is an idiot, though at times, he can talk good cricketing sense.

 

[aussie]

As was stated earlier in the thread, Roebuck is an idiot, though at times, he can talk good cricketing sense.

more of the latter though i remember during the VB series when sky didn't bring coverage for a period of one of AUS games vs SRI i was listening to ABC radio and he wasn talking a load of garbage.

 

[steds]

I've heard of dads who've taught their children to bat left handed so that their stronger (right) hand is the top hand.

 

[Richard]

I did mention this a month or two back. Given that they're something like 10% of the population, there does seem a disproportionally (sp?) large amount of them going well in cricket.

Left-handed batting is a misnomer.
It's not like bowling, throwing, writing, whatever - you can teach yourself to bat either way you want - many "left-handed batsmen" are in fact people whose natural style was the other way but realised that batting "left-handed" might just be useful, so taught themselves to do it.
Mark Butcher is one such example.
I, in fact, tried, but I can't bat left or right-handed, so it didn't really matter.

 

[Richard]

Then you could say the game is biased towards right handed batsmen against left handed bowlers, as it is almost impossible to get a LBW bowling over the wicket

Good bowlers are equally good at bowling at lefties and righties.
The only problem, and even that's pretty uncommon, is left-right combinations when you have to keep changing your line.
Many right-arm bowlers relish bowling over-the-wicket at lefties, because of the fact that they can get what is inswing (would be outswing to a rightie) and have a great chance of bowled\lbws. I know I am of this extraction.
Equally, there are bowlers who can bowl the ball that moves away from the left-hander, in which case they are best-served going around-the-wicket. Craig White was one such superb example. However, he was generally less effective at right-handers because almost invaribly, new-ball and old, his stock-ball was the inswinger. In my estimation he'd have been better served at times going around-the-wicket and imitating a left-arm-over bowler.
Andrew Flintoff, too, is very good at it - he, though, can get it to go both ways so can also bowl well at right-handers from over-the-wicket.