Why a relative lack of great left arm pace bowlers?

[OverratedSanity]

Cricket has always produced lots of ATG left handed batsmen (Sobers, Lara, Harvey, Sangakkara, Pollock, etc) and plenty of very very good ones too. It's a similar case with slow left arm bowlers, with Verity, Rhodes, Bedi, Wardle, Herath, etc among plenty of others.

But on the pace bowling front, you have Wasim, Davidson, and then.... Johnson? Zaheer? Sobers? Even if I'm missing a few names, it's clear that it's slim pickings compared to other disciplines. What makes it that hard to succeed at?

 

[harsh.ag]

Approx 10% of the people are lefties. So we have 2 leftie ATG pacers. Right arm ATG pacers are probably around 20. Makes sense.

Saffer - Steyn, Donald, Pollock, Procter
Windies - Marshall, Garner, Ambrose, Holding, Roberts, Walsh, Hall
Aussies - Lillee, McGrath, Lindwall
England - Trueman, Larwood
Pakistan - Imran, Waqar, Shoaib
NZ- Hadlee

Although, network effects are probably a good reason for the proliferation of right arm bowlers. Early coaching bias et al.

 

[cnerd123]

Generally speaking International Cricket has always had a higher % of left-handed cricketers compared to lower levels.

This is explained by the theory that Lefties have a lot of success by simply being left-handed. The novelty of their skill gets them quite far, and compensates for a lack of actual skill at times.

This to me suggests that left arm quicks bowl their way into National level almost purely on the novelty of being left handed, and once there get found out for a lack of tools/variations/consistency

It's kinda similar to how many left handed batsmen tend to be quite aggressive - they are used to a buffet of bad bowling from bowlers not used to bowling at a left-hander as they climb up the ranks, and thus develop a more attacking mentality than the average right handed batsman. Likewise, many left arm orthodox spinners are pretty terrible against left handed batsmen due to not really bowling to many throughout their career, while right arm offspinners have to figure out how to bowl to right handed batsmen in order to survive.

I have literally 0 statistical evidence to back this theory tho. I heard it somewhere once and it seems to make a lot of sense, but I've not tried to actually verify it.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Approx 10% of the people are lefties. So we have 2 leftie ATG pacers. Right arm ATG pacers are probably around 20. Makes sense.

Saffer - Steyn, Donald, Pollock, Procter
Windies - Marshall, Garner, Ambrose, Holding, Roberts, Walsh, Hall
Aussies - Lillee, McGrath, Lindwall
England - Trueman, Larwood
Pakistan - Imran, Waqar, Shoaib
NZ- Hadlee

Although, network effects are probably a good reason for the proliferation of right arm bowlers. Early coaching bias et al.

But you have so many great /very good left handed batsmen and spinners.

Great left handed batsmen : Sobers, Lara, Sanga, Pollock, Harvey, Chanderpaul, Hayden, Morris, Border, Langer, Cook, Kallicharan, Gower, etc

SLAs: Rhodes, Verity, Bedi, Underwood, Wardle, Peel, Herath, Lock, Jadeja ()

The pacers cupboard is relatively barren, so it's not just a natural left vs right thing.

 

[harsh.ag]

Perhaps it's because pacers require coaching more than batsmen and spinners. Maybe kids are being turned towards right arm bowling early on.

Sounds like a bad guess tbh.

 

[cnerd123]

Might also have something to do with the LBW law tbf.

All spinners can bowl around the wicket to batsmen of the opposite hand and bring both LBW and catches at slip into play from that angle.

Very few fast bowlers can do that - swing/seam/cutters are a lot harder to control and produce on demand.

Fast bowlers can't do what spinners do and exploit the around-the-wicket angle to batsmen of the opposite hand. Right hand fast bowlers do have plenty of right hand batsmen to bowl to at Nat level. Left arm fast bowlers don't have many left handed batsmen to bowl to. And so when they make it to that level, not only do they get exposed for a lack of relative skill, but they also don't have the easy go-to card of bowling around the wicket that their spinning counterparts have.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Cricket has always produced lots of ATG left handed batsmen (Sobers, Lara, Harvey, Sangakkara, Pollock, etc) and plenty of very very good ones too. It's a similar case with slow left arm bowlers, with Verity, Rhodes, Bedi, Wardle, Herath, etc among plenty of others.

But on the pace bowling front, you have Wasim, Davidson, and then.... Johnson? Zaheer? Sobers? Even if I'm missing a few names, it's clear that it's slim pickings compared to other disciplines. What makes it that hard to succeed at?

How is Sobers a great left arm bowler?

 

[OverratedSanity]

He's a pretty good one. And that's my point. There's not many even really good left arm pacers throughout history. It's basically two ATGs (Wasim, Davidson) and a handful of very good ones.

 

[honestbharani]

@Agent:

That is your take away from that post?

He mentioned Zaheer there too, TBF...


And I think one of the other reasons is that a lot of right handers can bat left handed but for a bowler, it has to be your natural stronger arm and I am assuming amongst the cricketing public, that will be a much smaller percentage compared to the right handers.

 

[morgieb]

Well a lot of left-handed batsman aren't naturally left-handed, but bat in a top-handed grip manner. You'd imagine given the lack of left-handed bowlers it's a bit of an advantage to bat left-handed. The actual amount of left-handers playing cricket is far smaller.

As for spin vs. pace, my theory is that it's easier to bowl left-arm finger spin than right-arm finger spin, so a lot of naturally left-handed people would gravitate towards spin than pace. Probably way off though.

 

[harsh.ag]

He's a pretty good one. And that's my point. There's not many even really good left arm pacers throughout history. It's basically two ATGs (Wasim, Davidson) and a handful of very good ones.

Reid being one of them.

***** makes a good point. Hard to get LBWs with the pitched outside leg stump rule. If there was a way to check out the record of right arm pacers to left hand batsmen, we could have a decent answer.

If that holds, it would answer their relative lack of good record, and not their skills per se. But taking less wickets tends to keep you out of the team.

 

[hendrix]

Left arm angle makes inswing a more common tool to right handed batsmen. Inswing is simply not as effective as outswing against most test level batsmen - it's partly the mode of dismissals (hard to get caught off the inside edge, for example), and partly that test level batsmen's technique revolves around getting in line with the ball. This is also why left handed batsmen are often particularly susceptible to left arm swing bowlers - Sangakkara being a notable example, but plenty others too.

In ODIs I believe the situation is in reverse as batsmen often try to make room. Hence the astonishing careers of the likes of Shane Bond (primarily right arm inswing) and Mitch Starc (left arm inswing to the right handed batsmen).

If you want to be a truly great left arm swing bowler you're either going to need reverse swing skills and/or the ability to swing the ball the other way, consistently. Both of which apply to Wasim.

 

[Furball]

But you have so many great /very good left handed batsmen and spinners.

Great left handed batsmen : Sobers, Lara, Sanga, Pollock, Harvey, Chanderpaul, Hayden, Morris, Border, Langer, Cook, Kallicharan, Gower, etc

SLAs: Rhodes, Verity, Bedi, Underwood, Wardle, Peel, Herath, Lock, Jadeja ()

The pacers cupboard is relatively barren, so it's not just a natural left vs right thing.

Left handed batsmen aren't really left handed.

 

[Starfighter]

Firstly, I don't think the disparity is that great considering the relatively small proportion of left handers generally.
But I do think that left handers are turned towards batting at a relatively early age. It wasn't uncommon when I was playing junior cricket to have the team leftie open the batting just because they were left handed and it forced the field to be changed, especially because some people would infuriatingly force everyone to swap over to stay in the same position (walking RH deep square to LH deep square was fun). A left handed batsmen means a considerable change is needed in the field and bowling tactics.
Also anecdotally the lefties I played with were often much less coordinated when bowling, but that's working off a sample size of about three.

The other point is that lefties will suffer the disadvantage the inswing has in general. A left armer does have some advantage compared to the right arm inswing bowler in that they tend to swing the ball down the line of the stumps while a right armer tends to slip down leg, increasing LBW chances, and will tend to bowl from a 'blind spot' where it's a little harder to pick and play the ball (or is that just me?). Lastly there's the unfamiliarity factor, both against inswing (as most right armers go away) and left arm bowling in general.
But it's accepted, and I think well proven, that moving the ball away from the batsman is a better strategy than moving it in because it makes catches more likely, whereas a batsman mainly has to guard his stumps to inswing. Most bowlers seem to be taught to swing the ball across their body (outwards to the same handed batsman), but the right armer will swing the ball away from most batsmen while the left armer has fewer opportunities to do so, as there's fewer leftie batsmen. The inswing can be counteracted with a slightly open stance, and the left armer will have trouble getting LBWs as the ball will only swing enough for a few overs unless it's favourable (cloudy English conditions etc). A right handed batman can leave much more safely than against a right armer. So basically the left armer is left employing an unfavourable strategy unless they can cut the ball away from the right hander or swing it both directions. Look at Mitchell Johnson's 8/51. It's not the stereotypical lefty performance of big inswingers but rather a modest amount of cut and lift away from the righties.
Overall there simply aren't many lefties and only the best can rise above the limitations of a inswing based strategy to the predominating type of batsman.

As an aside, I think that many right armers have the wrong approach to bowling to leftie batsmen. I think unless it's really boomeranging you should try move the ball away modestly and reserve the inswinger for an occasional surprise. Look at Dean Headley in the 97' Ashes cutting the ball from leg to off. Yes it reduces LBW somewhat but forces the batmen to play more and increases the chance of catches. There's no reason why the common strategy used against same handed batsmen (move the ball away, occasionally back in) shouldn't work against the opposite hand. The only problem is it requires practicing moving the ball in both directions.

 

[SeamUp]

Left handed batsmen aren't really left handed.

I've thought about this too. How many of them actually write/throw or bowl right-handed ?

 

[Furball]

I've thought about this too. How many of them actually write/throw or bowl right-handed ?

Lots.

I naturally bat right handed even though I'm left handed.

 

[mr_mister]

Chaminda Vaas IMO is the third best left arm quick

 

[vic_orthdox]

The number of left arm bowlers who are right handed in other matters is very low.
The number of left hand batsmen who are right handed in other matters is much higher.
A greater percentage of the population to choose from = more greats.

 

[mr_mister]

yeah didnt hussy literally just decide to bat left handed coz his fave player was a leftie(forget who maybe AB)

pretty funny how good he became at it was still right handed at everything else

 

[cnerd123]

yeah didnt hussy literally just decide to bat left handed coz his fave player was a leftie(forget who maybe AB)

pretty funny how good he became at it was still right handed at everything else

de Villiers bats right handed mate