Is global spin bowling about to decline?

[trundler]

Nah, Flower, Gilchrist, Sangakkara and Dhoni era is gone. Could add Srewart too.

Now Pant, Bairstow and QdK are the ones who make headlines. Chandimal is also pretty good keeper bat, but none of these are as good as above four.

Rizwan and Liton. Dickwella is good too. Watling retired last year and he's ATG.

 

[subshakerz]

That's a very long period of time though. Mushtaq was good for about 2.5 years in the early to mid 90s. May as well lump the current lot with Herath, Swann, Ajmal and suddenly things look much different. Lyon, Ashwin, Maharaj and the 3 guys from the early 10s are all better than Harbhajan away from home. You're lumping together guys from different eras and comparing them to guys active at this exact instant. Of course the latter look worse.

I include Ashwin, Lyon, etc. as part of this modern era, the peak period being with Warne, Kumble and Murali. I just wonder if we are at the beginning of a phase where worldclass spin as an attacking option declines

 

[subshakerz]

No. The "modern era" of spin bowling was a myth, and if there was something of sort it started with Kumble.

60s - Gibbs, Underwoood
70s - Underwood, Chandra, Bedi, Gibbs
80s - Qadir
90s - Kumble, Warne, Murali and Saqlain

Sri Lanka even in 60s had some amazing spinners. Somachandra de Silva played only after 35 years of age, but still averaged 36 with the ball. He was as good as Qadir in his youth.

In the 80s, outside of Qadir, spin wasn't seen as an attacking option unless it was a rank turner. So the 90s era when spin became an attacking option everywhere to me began with Warne, but Kumble was around the same time.

 

[Shri]

Harbi was pretty good away towards the end of his career once Kumble retired

what the ****

no

but if your idea of good away from home is leg stump trash that cannot get wickets but once every 100 overs then sure

 

[Shri]

I just wonder if we are at the beginning of a phase where worldclass spin as an attacking option declines

why the **** would you think this when drs has made spinners better everywhere in the world? lbw decisions that were almost never given circa 2008 are being given these days and batters cannot get away with technical flaws against spinners like they used to in the past

huge turners of the ball will look good and exciting but will not be successful anymore

accurate spinners who turn it a little bit to hit the pads or get the outside edge will do great in the coming generation.

 

[subshakerz]

what the ****

no

but if your idea of good away from home is leg stump trash that cannot get wickets but once every 100 overs then sure

Harbajan in the Dhoni years was a quality away bowler. He had very good series in NZ and SA and was an important factor for India doing well in these series.

 

[Starfighter]

huge turners of the ball will look good and exciting but will not be successful anymore
accurate spinners who turn it a little bit to hit the pads or get the outside edge will do great in the coming generation.

I think I'm going to ignite a firestorm of controversy here, but looking at today's spin bowlers I don't think this is true. I've watched a variety of matches going back to the fifties, albeit with a strong English bias (that's what's available) and I'd say the successful finger spinners these days turn the ball rather a lot. Bowlers like Emburey, Titmus and V. Raju who rarely turned the ball against the round-the-wicket angle even in favourable conditions seem to be rare. This doesn't mean such bowling doesn't take wickets (Roston Chase 8/60 anyone?), but I don't think today's successful spin bowlers are of that type. Even Herath did his best work in conditions where his spinning ball could turn rather a lot.

With modern techniques where batsmen press forward, commit early (and have hard hands) they often seem to miss straight deliveries by a long way, rather than it sliding just past the edge.

 

[Shady Slim]

I think I'm going to ignite a firestorm of controversy here, but looking at today's spin bowlers I don't think this is true. I've watched a variety of matches going back to the fifties, albeit with a strong English bias (that's what's available) and I'd say the successful finger spinners these days turn the ball rather a lot. Bowlers like Emburey, Titmus and V. Raju who rarely turned the ball against the round-the-wicket angle even in favourable conditions seem to be rare. This doesn't mean such bowling doesn't take wickets (Roston Chase 8/60 anyone?), but I don't think today's successful spin bowlers are of that type. Even Herath did his best work in conditions where his spinning ball could turn rather a lot.

With modern techniques where batsmen press forward, commit early (and have hard hands) they often seem to miss straight deliveries by a long way, rather than it sliding just past the edge.

i put to you that turning the ball a lot is good for wickets when you turn it into the batsman and good for show only if you turn it away tbqh

 

[Starfighter]

i put to you that turning the ball a lot is good for wickets when you turn it into the batsman and good for show only if you turn it away tbqh

Considering the strong preference for away turn from bowlers I don't agree. As long as the potential for one to hurry on straight is there it creates doubt.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I include Ashwin, Lyon, etc. as part of this modern era, the peak period being with Warne, Kumble and Murali. I just wonder if we are at the beginning of a phase where worldclass spin as an attacking option declines

If Lyon were around in the 90s/00s he would be held alongside the likes of Dan Cullen, Brad Young, John Davison and if he's lucky Gavin Robertson

he got super lucky that he got given a debut on a dustbowl where any spinner could have taken 5-for and the rest is history. SOK was always a much better bowler

 

[Shady Slim]

Considering the strong preference for away turn from bowlers I don't agree. As long as the potential for one to hurry on straight is there it creates doubt.

nahhh see my thing is with away turn you want your away turner to be turning big enough to just graze the edge of the bat

because if you're pitching it on a good line and length and then there's huge away turn, any batsman who's better than Jason Roy can leave the thing harmlessly

 

[TheJediBrah]

nahhh see my thing is with away turn you want your away turner to be turning big enough to just graze the edge of the bat

because if you're pitching it on a good line and length and then there's huge away turn, any batsman who's better than Jason Roy can leave the thing harmlessly

This isn't true, natural variation m8. Even Warne would bowl leg-breaks that just didn't turn once in a while and got a ton of lbws. It's always a risk leaving any ball that's pitching on the stumps.

Warne got a lot of his wickets because of the threat of massive turn away from the bat. It's a big deal.

 

[Starfighter]

nahhh see my thing is with away turn you want your away turner to be turning big enough to just graze the edge of the bat

because if you're pitching it on a good line and length and then there's huge away turn, any batsman who's better than Jason Roy can leave the thing harmlessly

The amount of turn to catch the edge not a fixed quantity, it depends on where the ball is pitched and how it's played.

What we do see these days is the ball pitching on middle and off and ripping away. What we don't see is guys like Titmus who turn the ball about the width of the bat.

 

[Line and Length]

If Stuart MacGill played in an era other than the Murali/Warne era, he would have been a superstar. If he was playing when Nathan Lyon was selected, Lyon would be a virtual 'nobody' in Test cricket.

 

[Heboric]

Does the advent of DRS help / hinder spinners today ?

 

[andruid]

I feel like with the short sharp career of Ajantha Mendis, and the rise of T20 cricket, there has been something of a revisioning of what spin bowlers are and what they do.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Nah, Flower, Gilchrist, Sangakkara and Dhoni era is gone. Could add Srewart too.

Now Pant, Bairstow and QdK are the ones who make headlines. Chandimal is also pretty good keeper bat, but none of these are as good as above four.

Pant is basically better than everyone not named Gilchrist already…

 

[subshakerz]

If Stuart MacGill played in an era other than the Murali/Warne era, he would have been a superstar. If he was playing when Nathan Lyon was selected, Lyon would be a virtual 'nobody' in Test cricket.

Yeah, I think the fact that Lyon has played a decade without any competition tells something about how exceptional the Murali/Warne era was.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Last time I checked it was a pace bowler that got belted for 35 runs in a over not so long ago.

We can say that trundlers are on the ascension (Kyle Mayers).

 

[Flem274*]

The worth of a spinner is directly controlled by his batting talent.

#KWthoughts #JustGarySteadThings #PostmanAlwaysDelivers(TrashSelections)