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A Twist Of Adrenalin

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A Twist Of Adrenalin
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Over the years, tweakers have spun deadly spells over the best of bats-men. The greatspinning duos such as Grimmett and O’Reilly, Ramadhin and Valentine, Laker and Lockand Bedi and Prasanna or individual terminators like Johnnie Wardle, Richie Benaud, HughTayfield, Lance Gibbs, Abdul Qadir and, more recently, Anil Kumble or Shane Warne havewoven magic around the world. The advent of one-dayers in the 1970s and their progressionthrough the razzmatazz of the Packer era to the intense excitement of the World Cup haveall combined to condense the role of the spinner, further increasing his significance.

The 1996 Cup affords the spinner a fine chance to play a dominating role. An intriguingcontest is likely between a wide variety of spinners who will thrive on thesubcontinent’s slower responsive pitches. One-day cricket is all about psychology andthe spinner’s role is to create as much pressure on the batsman. The principal way topsyche batsmen is to peg down the run rate as much as possible. Mastery of the four basicsof spin-bowling—line, length, flight and spin—is essential, together with theflexibility to vary all four as and when occasions demand. There’s no room forinaccuracy or inconsistency: a short wide ball or a full toss can result in a crucial lossof the initiative.

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Till the 1992 Cup, spinners were entitled to have over five leg-side fielders. Thisaided some bowlers, particularly off-spinners, usually with six fielders on the on-sidesplit equally between the inner and outer rings. The present restriction of no more thanfive leg-side fielders has opened up the game and made it easier for batsmen to pick holesin a spinners’ field. This has compelled the spinner to attack more, longer, eitherby having three men in the inner-ring or by varying length, flight and spin moreeffectively.

The spinner can no longer fire the ball at leg-stump in the block-hole and hope tocontain a quality batsman. Line, flight and spin variation have to go with a constantvigil —watching the batsman, anticipating his next shot, looking at his feet for anyclue of movement and at his glovesfor any tightening of grip or shift of hands for areverse sweep.

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Perhaps the most significant product of one-day cricket is innovativebatting—shots that utilise all possible angles, such as the reverse sweep that alarmthe purists. Ian Botham was one of its earliest exponents and England captain Mike Gattingwas widely criticised for using it in the 1987 Cup final which Australia won.

The last three Cups saw spinners playing a key role. In 1987, most teams had at leastone spinner, if not two. Martin Crowe employed off-spinner Dipak Patel with the new ballin the 1992 Cup. After success in the opening ties against Australia, he used the tacticalmost throughout the Cup with telling effect. Patel took wickets, and at the mosteconomical figures of 3.10 runs per over. This went beyond the traditional role of merecontainment, designed to achieve pressure. The spinner’s attacking role becamepronounced as batsmen saw him as a target for easy runs, and employed unorthodox shots. InJaipur in 1987, Viv Richards was bowled by a flighted one from England off-spinner EddieHemmings after having hit two huge sixes. Courageous spin bowling at its best. Again, onmany occasions spinners took up the challenge and suffered. Navjot Sidhu responded insparkling fashion when "taken on" by spinners—his record of six-hittingearned him legendary status.


The spinner, thus, provides a twist of adrenalin—bringing into play the batsmanwhose attack strategy is designed to increase the run rate and/or to destroy the spinner.Too much width at this stage is criminal: it opens up areas square of the wicket. Ideally,a fuller length is preferable as it restricts the batsman to playing straight down thewicket. The yorker is a vital weapon that cramps the advancing batsman but it can bemeat-and-drink to the deflector and the reverse sweeper. Maximum turn should be utilisedbut never at the expense of the basics of line and length.

The stage is now set for an enthralling battle between the over-the-wristspinners—Paul Adams, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Mushtaq Ahmed—and the batting ofBrian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin and the Waugh brothers.

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