Sydney Barnes - The Bradman of Bowling?

[fredfertang]

Sydney Barnes - The Bradman of Bowling?

In this feature Martin tells the remarkable story of Sydney Barnes, a true all time great.

[Eds]

Absolutely fantastic. Always love reading about Barnes. Top effort.

[watson]

Something else had happened in 1903. Barnes had finally perfected the leg break, a delivery that swung into the right handed batsman at pace before pitching and cutting away whilst rising sharply. No other bowler had mastered it before and none has been able to do so with any consistency since. Quite how he did it remains unclear although one theory goes that there was something freakish about the muscles in the fingers and wrist of his bowling hand. Certainly a number of his contemporaries commented that they were able to hear the snap of his fingers from mid-on or mid-off as he produced his most venomous deliveries. Neville Cardus christened the delivery the Barnes ball, but it appeared for some years that only club cricketers, minor county players and league professionals would be exposed to it.

Wow, so much spin delivered at such a pace. No wonder he picked up so many wickets so quickly.

Fabulous essay - thanks.

[LongHopCassidy]

Tremendous article, although have come to expect nothing less from our Martin nowadays.

Massive tragedy for cricket that he refused to swallow his pride to play among uppity patricians and spent his glory days bashing sub-FC teams. So we can only speculate on the revs he put on the ball.

[Migara]

Something else had happened in 1903. Barnes had finally perfected the leg break, a delivery that swung into the right handed batsman at pace before pitching and cutting away whilst rising sharply.

Not possible. must be a fast leg break that drifts in and dips and then spins away

[wellAlbidarned]

It's possible to bowl inswingers which hit the seam pretty regularly, especially if you backspin the **** out of the ball like it sounds like Barnes did.

[Spooony]

Spin is the accessory after flight. Batsman get fooled by flight then spin takes them down when they are in two minds. You can bowl at 150km's hour the ball reach the batsman at around 80km's once it hit the pitch. Spin bowler is way to slow to beat a batsman by reflexes and if you get your flight wrong then the batsman do not lose sight if it and comfortable can choose to go forward or back. You can turn the on glass you will get played around easily because you will not fool anyone.

Originally Posted by wellAlbidarned

It's possible to bowl inswingers which hit the seam pretty regularly, especially if you backspin the **** out of the ball like it sounds like Barnes did.

Well that is swing bowling not spin and if the ball is bowled at a speed greater than about 85 mph, then the ball curves to the left.

[Daemon]

contemporaries commented that they were able to hear the snap of his fingers from mid-on or mid-off

right...

[Midwinter]

CL James wrote a nice piece about watching a veteran Barnes playing in a League game

[smalishah84]

Originally Posted by Daemon

right...

What? He was suffering from arthritis

[doesitmatter]

strange thing is when mid-off or mid-on could hear the finger snap while bowling the leg-break i am sure batsmen would have heard it too and should have known what is coming and play better but they didn't from the looks of it..may be he snapped for every ball

[Daemon]

Would've been called a dead ball in today's game for distracting the batsmen imo

[Migara]

Originally Posted by wellAlbidarned

It's possible to bowl inswingers which hit the seam pretty regularly, especially if you backspin the **** out of the ball like it sounds like Barnes did.

Backspinners don't spin and jump. They just slides and deviates only little.

Example carrom ball vs doosra

[Spooony]

^What he explained there is the exact method how to swing a ball but he only left out the 20 degree part

[a massive zebra]

Another great article as usual.

Originally Posted by fredfertang

In the three matches against South Africa he was all but unplayable, taking 34 wickets at 8.29. The last act of his Test career came in the 1913/14 series in South africa, where he followed that performance up with an astonishing 49 wickets at 10.93. Without the redoubtable Taylor, who averaged over 50 despite his teammates travails, and had he not had to miss the final Test through injury, who knows what Barnes might have achieved.

I always thought he refused to play in the final test after a quarrel with the team management over their refusal to pay his wife's hotel expenses.

Originally Posted by fredfertang

Barnes, who lived on into his 94th year, was still bowling at 80, and although I have never seen it there is film of him bowling at that age. Apparently it is included on a compilation video issued many years ago under the sponsorship of tobacco giant Benson and Hedges.

This, along with some more extensive clips of him bowling league cricket after the war, are shown on this video.