The history of innovations in cricket

[Deja moo]

Who first played the reverse sweep ?

 

[SJS]

Warne for making appealing an art.

For incorporating in the mundane act of asking a question the technique of bringing psychadelic melodrama (hurt innocence *** oppressed-conspiracy-victim *** oh-how-could-you-you-moron *** why-must-it-be-me *** you-must-be-joking *** blah blah blah) and for showing why ICC must send a few clips to the Oscars for the 2005 nominations.

 

[greg]

Can't really go past Imran and Sarfraz Nawaz for inventing reverse swing.

Well of course this has been disputed...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ma...g19.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/07/19/ixcrick.html

Although it sounds like the two methods are different. Heavily wetting the ball is supposed to cause the ball to reverse by making the "shiny side" heavier, the modern way is to ensure one side of the ball gets roughed up.

 

[benchmark00]

Can anyone remember that song?

... bowl that mystery ball now Warney, bowl that mystery just once

 

[a massive zebra]

Incidentally has a left-arm orthodox bowler ever developed a doosra? I have heard that Vettori has the ball but isn't yet proficient enough to use it in matches.

I believe Johnny Wardle and Tony Lock bowled it (the latter with a very dodgy action) in the 1950s. No idea who invented it though.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Tony Greig, who was the first man I can remember who took guard with his bat several inches off the ground. A style adopted with great success by Graham Gooch.

 

[J.Coney]

innovative captain: martin crowe used dipak patel (off spin) inside the first 15 overs, to good effect during the 92 WC caught all teams off guard, never seen it repeated.

also greatbatch and latham played extremely aggressively from the outset. sri lanka prefected this style which awarded them a wc champs 96

 

[honestbharani]

innovative captain: martin crowe used dipak patel (off spin) inside the first 15 overs, to good effect during the 92 WC caught all teams off guard, never seen it repeated.

also greatbatch and latham played extremely aggressively from the outset. sri lanka prefected this style which awarded them a wc champs 96

Srikkanth did that as well and started it in 82/83... I guess Chennai has an innovator after all.

 

[SJS]

The first bowler to spin the ball deliberately (underarm) was Lamborn who played five seasons for Surrey and England 1877-1882. No one knew his first name and he was always called the Little farmer

He invented the off break by bowling for hours at a time against hurdles while tending his fathers sheep.

 

[open365]

Santha Jayasuria made pinch hitting popular,though i'm not sure if he was the first person ever to do it.

 

[Pratters]

Santha Jayasuria made pinch hitting popular,though i'm not sure if he was the first person ever to do it.

Greatbatch did it with success in 1992.

Speaking of that New Zealand team and the captaincy of Crowe in 92, how about bringing Patel to opening the bowling!

 

[TIF]

Not only in bowling, we have also seen some new innovations in batting as well -

Reverse sweep by Andy Flower
That scoop shot over the wicket-keepers head by Douglas Marillier
Hitting 6s over point by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag

 

[Sanz]

Did anyone bowl 'Toe Crushers' like Waqar ?

 

[FuzzyDuck]

Santha Jayasuria made pinch hitting popular,though i'm not sure if he was the first person ever to do it.

I think Ian Botham was 1986/87 in the B&H World Series Cup game 7 against Australia. He opened and got 45 from 87 balls. Then in the first final match (against Aus again) he got 71 from 52 balls (he was first out with the score on 91!), and in the second 25 from 31 balls (first out with the score on 36).

 

[luckyeddie]

Hitting 6s over point by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag

I watched Basil D'Oliveira do that many times in the 1960's and 1970's

 

[Tom Halsey]

Not only in bowling, we have also seen some new innovations in batting as well -

1) Reverse sweep by Andy Flower
2) That scoop shot over the wicket-keepers head by Douglas Marillier
3) Hitting 6s over point by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag

1) No, Mushtaq Mohammad invented the reverse sweep.
2) Not sure on this one, but I reckon this might have been tried before.
3) I refer you to LE's post.

 

[a massive zebra]

The first bowler to spin the ball deliberately (underarm) was Lamborn who played five seasons for Surrey and England 1877-1882. No one knew his first name and he was always called the Little farmer

He invented the off break by bowling for hours at a time against hurdles while tending his fathers sheep.

No offence SJS but the bolded passage is completely wrong.

Lamborn played for Hambledon in the 18th century, being immortalized in John Nyren's legendary 1833 book The Young Cricketers Tutor, and his first name was William.

 

[Pratters]

Lamborn played for Hambledon in the 18th century, being immortalized in John Nyren's legendary 1833 book The Young Cricketers Tutor, and his first name was William.

Yeah I was quite surprised when SJS mentioned 1877 as the year. Thought it would have been MUCH earlier but didnt go into details of it.

 

[Dissector]

"No, Mushtaq Mohammad invented the reverse sweep."
Actually it's credited to Hanif Mohammed (as I mentioned in my first post). Mushtaq picked it from him.

Still no suggestions for fielding innovations? In particular the sliding stop after chasing a ball and the relay throw (ie. when two fielders chase the ball and the first fielder flicks it to the other). I imagine it was either the South Africans or Australians who pioneered this but does anyone know the details?

What about wicketkeeping innovations? Who made wicketkeeping a specialist position distinguished from general fielding?

 

[marc71178]

IIRC wasn't the relay throw something the Kiwi's adopted?