You know what really grinds my cricketing gears?

[BoyBrumby]

How do you feel about Harbhajan's action?

Think it's mostly all right, actually. Doosra looks bad, but so does everyone's, don't they?

 

[vcs]

He hardly ever bowls it these days. Yeah, I agree with you in general though.

 

[Prince EWS]

Chuckers

Might come as a surprise to some () but they really do enervate me considerably. Now, for the purposes of CW atmos/sanity, I'll exclude Murali from the discussion as his crooked elbows and elastic wrists muddy the waters, but as far as I'm aware the likes of Botha and Ajmal have no congenital elbow malformations yet, blow me, if they don't look to be the filthiest of throwers.

One of the very basic tenets of our beloved sport is that we have bowlers rather than pitchers, yet the aforementioned (plus Shillingford, Shoaib Malik, Kane Williamson, etc) all seem to chuck with impunity.

Being reported seems to have very little effect and (I think) has only ever resulted in one meaningful ban for the egregiously awful Shabbir Ahmed.

Chucking is cricket's dirty little secret and it barely even draws comment anymore. Something needs to be done and done soon.

 

[social]

Totally agree

I have a 5 year old son and if he "bowled" like Murali or Botha, I'd correct his action

 

[ankitj]

My take on the whole chucking thing is that we should not be so hung up on the laws as they exist in rule books. Chucking or throwing was possibly outlawed to prevent bowlers from generating excess pace and thus making it unsafe for the batters. Spinners with a slightly more bending of the arm don't generate any threatening pace and therefore there's no logic behind applying this rule to them so strictly. They should let such innovations like the doosra flourish without worrying too much about extra half degree of arm bending.

 

[BoyBrumby]

My take on the whole chucking thing is that we should not be so hung up on the laws as they exist in rule books. Chucking or throwing was possibly outlawed to prevent bowlers from generating excess pace and thus making it unsafe for the batters. Spinners with a slightly more bending of the arm don't generate any threatening pace and therefore there's no logic behind applying this rule to them so strictly. They should let such innovations like the doosra flourish without worrying too much about extra half degree of arm bending.

Would respectfully demur.

Without rules we have no sport. Where does it end? "It's only half an extra degree of flexion, it's not a chuck", "It was only half an inch over the popping crease, it shouldn't be a no-ball", "It barely touched the ground, it should still be a catch."

I'm all for new innovations (UDRS for instance has demonstrably improved the game), but if they aren't within the agreed conditions of the sport then they're closer to sharp practice, IMHO.

 

[ankitj]

Would respectfully demur.

Without rules we have no sport. Where does it end? "It's only half an extra degree of flexion, it's not a chuck", "It was only half an inch over the popping crease, it shouldn't be a no-ball", "It barely touched the ground, it should still be a catch."

I'm all for new innovations (UDRS for instance has demonstrably improved the game), but if they aren't within the agreed conditions of the sport then they're closer to sharp practice, IMHO.

Glad that you disagree "respectfully". Many here disagree with smugness

My opinion is what I stated and it remains. There is always a logic behind any rule and I don't see the logic of stringently applying chucking rule to spin bowlers. No ball rule on the other hand is to prevent bowlers from taking an unfair advantage. No such 'unfair' advantage exists for spin bowlers if they chuck.

 

[Uppercut]

Don't really mind it, but more to the point, I see no solution even if it is becoming a big problem.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Glad that you disagree "respectfully". Many here disagree with smugness

My opinion is what I stated and it remains. There is always a logic behind any rule and I don't see the logic of stringently applying chucking rule to spin bowlers. No ball rule on the other hand is to prevent bowlers from taking an unfair advantage. No such 'unfair' advantage exists for spin bowlers if they chuck.

Well, I suppose that leads one to ask why, if it gives no advantage, they do it at all?

If you check the list of test bowlers called for chucking more than one is, in fact, a slow bowler (Madhusudan Rege, Tony Lock, Reg Simpson, Haseeb Ahsan, Jim Higgs, Roo Yardly, Grant Flower & Murali himself) and, as the names suggest, it isn't a recent phenomenon either.

 

[Top_Cat]

Whether it's an unfair advantage is for the rule-makers but giving a finger-spinner the ability to bend and flex at the elbow will definitely get you more spin.

Jim Higgs was called for chucking? I didn't think you could chuck leggies....

 

[Cruxdude]

Botha and Ajmal do look abysmal.

 

[outbreak]

Teams should be fined for letting players who get called for chucking play in the first place. Surely these coaching staff have seen the action themselves in the net and thought it looked dodgy (some are painfully obvious that even my cricket illiterate girlfriend has pointed out some bowlers). With regards to it not benefiting spinners i disagree as you don't know what sorts of things their gaining, they could get extra turn and it allows them to pull off their doosra in most cases.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Botha and Ajmal do look abysmal.

Williamson possibly worse than either. Not easy on the eye.

 

[Debris]

My take on the whole chucking thing is that we should not be so hung up on the laws as they exist in rule books. Chucking or throwing was possibly outlawed to prevent bowlers from generating excess pace and thus making it unsafe for the batters. Spinners with a slightly more bending of the arm don't generate any threatening pace and therefore there's no logic behind applying this rule to them so strictly. They should let such innovations like the doosra flourish without worrying too much about extra half degree of arm bending.

The issue I really have is with the way the rule was changed was that it advantaged the easiest of the bowling arts (finger spin) enormously while essentially providing no advantage to the most difficult arts (leg spin and express bowling). There is a noticeable increase in the number of finger spinners in the game while wrist spin has almost disappeared again.

 

[G.I.Joe]

The issue I really have is with the way the rule was changed was that it advantaged the easiest of the bowling arts (finger spin) enormously while essentially providing no advantage to the most difficult arts (leg spin and express bowling). There is a noticeable increase in the number of finger spinners in the game while wrist spin has almost disappeared again.

IIRC McGrath was found to have a 12 degree bend. The rule change therefore definitely didn't advantage the off-spinners anymore than the others.

 

[Debris]

IIRC McGrath was found to have a 12 degree bend. The rule change therefore definitely didn't advantage the off-spinners anymore than the others.

The traditional way to judge this was to allow a greater degree of bend in the arm, the faster you bowl which makes sense from my point of view. It is a matter of physics that the faster you move an object, the more it bends. Whipping a branch around at different speeds demonstrates this. Fast bowlers can't help straightening their arm, slow bowlers can.

And, of course, wrist spinners can't really bend their arms at all so it kinda sucks for them. Maybe it makes sense to just have a set rule for all but it does not mean I have to like it.

 

[Son Of Coco]

My take on the whole chucking thing is that we should not be so hung up on the laws as they exist in rule books. Chucking or throwing was possibly outlawed to prevent bowlers from generating excess pace and thus making it unsafe for the batters. Spinners with a slightly more bending of the arm don't generate any threatening pace and therefore there's no logic behind applying this rule to them so strictly. They should let such innovations like the doosra flourish without worrying too much about extra half degree of arm bending.

It spins more if you chuck it than it would if you didn't...

 

[bagapath]

It spins more if you chuck it than it would if you didn't...

and you can land the ball more accurately if you chuck, apart from generating additional spin.

 

[ankitj]

It spins more if you chuck it than it would if you didn't...

I put 'unfair' within quotes in my other post because I know people will differ on whether more spin is unfair or not. To me it's not. More spin is not what one really wants to shield batsmen from, it's the excess pace that can be threatning (therefore rules against bouncers and beamers).

I know there's going to be difference of opinion on this issue. I did not hope to change anyone's POV, just stated my "logic" for my opinion.

 

[Jarquis]

Chucking will also mean you can generate the same amount of spin with a quicker delivery I guess. So it's a combination.
Basically it allows you to do things you can't with a legal delivery and gives the bowler an advantage