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Turning the ball away from the batsmen - A new thing?

srbhkshk

International Captain
It seems to me that there is an enormous emphasis on bringing spinners who can turn the ball away from the batsmen in current times, teams almost avoid bowling spinners who bring the ball in, from what I remember this really wasn't a thing even 10 years ago and was a rather minor consideration.

Am I not remembering this correctly or am I correct and there is a genuine reason for this?
 

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
DRS has made a big difference with this, as the spinners who turn it away from the bat are now getting more LBWs than they used to.
 

cnerd123

likes this
Hasn't this become more of a thing since T20? More batsmen becoming adept at hitting the ball across the line into the legside, so hence the need for spinners who take it away.
 

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
Hasn't this become more of a thing since T20? More batsmen becoming adept at hitting the ball across the line into the legside, so hence the need for spinners who take it away.
Not really - supposedly the left arm spinners are actually the worst of the spinners in T20 cricket nowadays, they've always relied on the fact that they spin the ball away from the right hander and haven't got the tricks that right arm spinners have had to develop for longer.

There was always a bit of a preference for spinners to take it away from the majority of the opposition, but think it's been heightened in the post-DRS world. For example, Swann's average vs right handers/left handers, from memory was a very large differential.
 

Spark

Global Moderator
Yeah I think people started to really tend towards this around 2010-12 when Swann was murdering left-handers in basically any conditions.
 

AndrewB

International Vice-Captain
In "Spinning Round the World", Jim Laker says "There are times when off-breaks are more successful than the left-hander's natural leg-break: but day in and out, the left-hander has the better chance of taking wickets in good cricket, with the ball leaving the bat. If the ball is turning several inches, the off-spinner can be most deadly. But we do not strike many pitches where the ball can be turned so appreciably. Where it will turn only the bare inch or so, however - and such pitches occur frequently - the left-arm spinner is in his element."

(Note that he's talking about bowling in England - in the 50s - here, and clearly talking about bowling mainly to right-hand batsmen).
 

thierry henry

International Coach
DRS has made a big difference with this, as the spinners who turn it away from the bat are now getting more LBWs than they used to.
I would've thought that the spinner who turned it away ("straightening it down the line") traditionally got more LBWs though.

The biggest difference has been balls not turning much at all or coming into the batsman, which DRS has shown are not actually missing leg. The old cliché was "it has to straighten" but DRS shows that's not always the case.

Either way, surely the bloke pitching and straightening always had the best chance of an LBW before and after DRS?

Or are you saying that away-spinners always had more legitimate LBW shouts (whether given or not) and DRS has led to LBW being more of a thing in general?
 

Immenso

International Vice-Captain
I would've thought that the spinner who turned it away ("straightening it down the line") traditionally got more LBWs though.

The biggest difference has been balls not turning much at all or coming into the batsman, which DRS has shown are not actually missing leg. The old cliché was "it has to straighten" but DRS shows that's not always the case.

Either way, surely the bloke pitching and straightening always had the best chance of an LBW before and after DRS?

Or are you saying that away-spinners always had more legitimate LBW shouts (whether given or not) and DRS has led to LBW being more of a thing in general?
I assumed he was talking about eg off spinners bowling round wicket to RH batters.

Post DRS. This is common.
 

thierry henry

International Coach
I assumed he was talking about eg off spinners bowling round wicket to RH batters.

Post DRS. This is common.
But that's still turning it into the batsman, vic was talking about spinners turning it the other way being more likely to get LBWs.
 

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
I would've thought that the spinner who turned it away ("straightening it down the line") traditionally got more LBWs though.

The biggest difference has been balls not turning much at all or coming into the batsman, which DRS has shown are not actually missing leg. The old cliché was "it has to straighten" but DRS shows that's not always the case.

Either way, surely the bloke pitching and straightening always had the best chance of an LBW before and after DRS?

Or are you saying that away-spinners always had more legitimate LBW shouts (whether given or not) and DRS has led to LBW being more of a thing in general?
Yeah, the end part. The umpires would find an excuse (too far forward, didn't straighten, a lot of pad bats were given the benefit of the doubt) that on replay are now given
 

andmark

International Captain
I expect Abdul Qadir and Murali may have influenced this a lot with their variations of turn. T20 also with batsmen needing to score at high run rates also make variation of turn an attractive asset for a spinner to have.

Edit: welcome to the forum by the way Starkcasey.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I remember realising how much more effective my offies were to lefties when I was like 12 in club cricket. I'm sure it's been known and valued for decades
 

TheJediBrah

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I remember realising how much more effective my offies were to lefties when I was like 12 in club cricket. I'm sure it's been known and valued for decades
It's been taken to new levels lately though. So much so that a crappy part time offie will bowl 3 overs in a T20 because there are left-handers batting and a quality left-arm spinner will hardly even bowl.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
when a finger spinner turns the ball away from the batsman they tend to bowl round the wicket as well, creating potentially a more challenging angle from wide of the crease, as well as making it easier to get into a good position during the delivery action, allowing them to put more work on the ball - there was a time for a while when Nathan Lyon bowled round the stumps to both left and right handers exclusively for much the same reason
 

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