Cricketers who have had a lasting impact on how the game is played.

[Debris]

Holding reckons he was reversing at the Oval in 76.

Yes, but was it deliberate or an accident?

 

[Manee]

Have a straight a fairly straight seam at any pace is key really. The ball wouldn't reverse if the release the seam is titled (maybe slightly) or scrambled.

Not entirely true. At least, I think so, based on reading this article:

The science of swing bowling | Cricket Features | Global | Cricinfo.com

 

[aussie]

Not entirely true. At least, I think so, based on reading this article:

The science of swing bowling | Cricket Features | Global | Cricinfo.com

Ahhhh fantastic article. Im shocked i never came across this before.

I dont question what he says, but of all the bowlers who i have seen master the art of reverse-swing/bowl it well over long spells in my time of watchign cricket i.e Akram, Waqar, McGrath, Gillespie, Kasprowicz, Steyn, Gul, Akhtar, Flintoff, Jones, Hoggard, Lee Hilfenhaus, Tait, Z Khan, Sharma (vs AUS 08), Pathan (vs AUS circa 2003-04 in the SCG & Bangalore tests). They all bowled reverse-swing certainly have never seen one do so without having a fair straight steam @ the point of delivery.

 

[bagapath]

never seen mcgrath swing the ball prodigiously. i dont think swing - conventional or reverse - was part of his repertoire.

 

[GotSpin]

Bart King FFS!

Yeah for sure with the 'Angler'

 

[Manee]

Ahhhh fantastic article. Im shocked i never came across this before.

I dont question what he says, but of all the bowlers who i have seen master the art of reverse-swing/bowl it well over long spells in my time of watchign cricket i.e Akram, Waqar, McGrath, Gillespie, Kasprowicz, Steyn, Gul, Akhtar, Flintoff, Jones, Hoggard, Lee Hilfenhaus, Tait, Z Khan, Sharma (vs AUS 08), Pathan (vs AUS circa 2003-04 in the SCG & Bangalore tests). They all bowled reverse-swing certainly have never seen one do so without having a fair straight steam @ the point of delivery.

Waqar got a pretty big tilt on it, iirc. The round arm slingy variety of reverse swing must rely on a tilted seam. I don't understand how you can have an upright seam if your arm is at the eleven or ten o'clock point. This would mean that bowlers like Akhtar, Johnson, Tait, Malinga rely on the type that requires 85mph+ speed.

 

[shankar]

That article has been the best available explanations in terms of the fluid mechanics involved in reverse swing. However the biggest problem with it is that it predicts that the swing is always (except in one case) away from the shiny side - conventional or reverse. But all the international players talk of swing towards the shiny side as the key characteristic of reverse swing. So if his explanations are correct, then the reverse swing that the players talk about must be contrast swing only.

 

[aussie]

never seen mcgrath swing the ball prodigiously. i dont think swing - conventional or reverse - was part of his repertoire.

YouTube - Glenn McGrath inswing LBW

Plus i've seen him do it many other times.

Waqar got a pretty big tilt on it, iirc. The round arm slingy variety of reverse swing must rely on a tilted seam. I don't understand how you can have an upright seam if your arm is at the eleven or ten o'clock point. This would mean that bowlers like Akhtar, Johnson, Tait, Malinga rely on the type that requires 85mph+ speed.

This is not reverse-swing, but this video (got the 1:40) shows Waqar bowling with a fairly upright seam: YouTube - Waqar Younis 7-36

But i dont doubt that Waqar may have gotten reverse-swing with a tintled seam.

Plus this Akthar delivery from 2005: YouTube - Shoaib Akhtar Yorker To Ahsley Giles - Amazing

That youtube video is fairly blurry. But i do have that series taped & that test specially & i can asure you the seam was fairly upright on the much clearer video i have @ home here. Plus IIRC in recent ODI series vs ENG, those big inswingers he was getting was with a fairly straight seam too - but i dont doubt again some may have been slightly titled.

I'm trying to remember also if those reverse-swing deliveries Tait bowled to dismiss G Jones & Collingwood in the 05 Ashes, where titled or straight seam. Gotta check back the Ashes series DVD & get back to you on that one.

Johnson cant reverse-swing the ball BTW.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Anyone mentioned the best ever leg-spinner Gupte.

 

[bagapath]

YouTube - Glenn McGrath inswing LBW

Plus i've seen him do it many other times.

Isn't that seam bowling? doesnt look like swing to me. anyways, as i said before, mcgrath was never a prodigious swing bowler even if he occasionally managed to swing the ball. it was not one of his strengths whereas akram, younis, hadlee, and lesser bowlers like kapil and alderman relied on swing to get their wickets. lillee and mcgrath are probably two of the greatest pacers ever who didnt, dint need to, swing the ball big time.

 

[aussie]

Isn't that seam bowling? doesnt look like swing to me. anyways, as i said before, mcgrath was never a prodigious swing bowler even if he occasionally managed to swing the ball. it was not one of his strengths whereas akram, younis, hadlee, and lesser bowlers like kapil and alderman relied on swing to get their wickets. lillee and mcgrath are probably two of the greatest pacers ever who didnt, dint need to, swing the ball big time.

Nah that was reverse swing. McGrath even when he got swinging conditions never got the ball to swing that big conventionally.

Another example: YouTube - Glenn Mcgrath reverse swinging yorker

 

[bagapath]

McGrath even when he got swinging conditions never got the ball to swing that big conventionally.

agree.

and what a ball! thanks for the video.

 

[Ikki]

Another example: YouTube - Glenn Mcgrath reverse swinging yorker

Wow, I really miss that run-up.

 

[aussie]

Wow, I really miss that run-up.

We all do.