Extreme Skill Bowlers who Weren't Very Good...

[social]

I vividly recall Kevin Emery who I've just looked up on Cricketarchive - in 1982 at 22 he took 83 wickets for Hants at 23 - looked a class act too as an opening bowler, although from my recollection calling him fast medium might create the wrong impression as he was far fro quick - next season it was 5 at 50 odd and then he never played again - imo that's what comes of having St John as a christian name

Rather better known example is Bob Massie - never ever seen swing like he produced at Lord's in 72, but he sunk with barely a trace within a year

I played club cricket with Emery in Oz after his succesful debut season and he had the worst case of the yips that I've ever seen - lucky to hit the cut portion 6 balls in a row

Seemed to have everything going for him in that he was tall with a nice action and briskish but just lost it when it came to releasing the ball and actually seemed scared to let it go

Unfortunately, it wasnt confined to match situations as it was the same in the nets

Half way through the season, I had to sit him down and give him a few choices

1. Go away and lie on the beach for a while as no amount of practice or advice was helping

2. Go home

3. Stay and play in the grade that his performances deserved

He chose to take a break but never recovered

Shame was that he was a very nice guy away from cricket but completely lost the plot when he even had to think of bowling

 

[social]

Another fast bowler from the same era was Hugh Wilson, who was touted as a potential tourist for England at one point

Unfortunately, as soon as the threat of higher honours loomed, he changed his bowling style to get more control and ended up retiring at 26

Last time I saw him, he was hurtling in about about 40 yards, stopping and bowling medium pace

 

[Senile Sentry]

Sreesanth

 

[Top_Cat]

Cricket - it's brutal.

 

[smash84]

Venkatesh Prasad. Bowled the best slower balls in the world. No one could tell which of his deliveries were intentional slower ones.

Mohammad Sami the obvious one, I suppose. Regularly over 90mph, which is a decent lick by any estimation, but sadly his average was nearly as high as his speed gun reading too.

.

Yeah Sami is probably one of the more obvious. How the hell did he manage an average of 52 in tests (for bowling of course) is a mystery. Well, after watching him bowl for so long it really isn't a mystery

 

[kingkallis]

Venkatesh Prasad. Bowled the best slower balls in the world. No one could tell which of his deliveries were intentional slower ones.

Thats cause almost all of his deliveries were slower, IMHO!

 

[kingkallis]

Ajantha Mendis?

 

[Daemon]

****s to stop naming players who just simply had a good start and then faded away, but weren't exactly 'skilled'.

 

[smash84]

mendis and Sami were skilled for sure.....prasad had the best leg cutter of all time

 

[NUFAN]

He did suffer from chronic fatigue, but also copped a stress fracture (spiral) in his left foot when he was in his teens. It hampered his bowling on and off for years after.

He also bought my XF Falcon from me about the time he moved from Sydney to Perth. Wonder what happened to it? I miss that car.

Nice story. Faulty clutch probs.

 

[Spikey]

cameron white

 

[Pup Clarke]

Paul Adams probably the obvious one nobody's mentioned. Bowling left-arm chinamen with that action would take considerable skill I'd imagine.

 

[vic_orthdox]

From a batting perspective, Douglas Marillier's use of the lap was outstanding, he didn't really amount to a heap as a player though.

 

[uvelocity]

cameron white

is there a guy called cameron white from the 1930's who could bowl?

 

[theegyptian]

Jimmy Anderson?

 

[Pup Clarke]

 

[watson]

Nice story. Faulty clutch probs.

It was an automatic with a column shift, and a bench sheet. Probably diff and drive-shaft probs since I had to get the axle replaced due to an foible in the wet near Wollongong.

 

[morgieb]

Tait the big one in Australian terms. Even Brad Williams to a degree - very fast but kinda ineffective.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Out of curiosity - I was out of the cricketing loop when Mendis fell from grace. What's the conventional argument for that? Did he just get ruthlessly analysed by opponents to the point where all of his variations were easier to pick?

 

[NUFAN]

It was an automatic with a column shift, and a bench sheet. Probably diff and drive-shaft probs since I had to get the axle replaced due to an foible in the wet near Wollongong.

Fair enough. I only mentioned the faulty clutch due to his left foot stress fractures.