The greatest-ever left-arm finger-spinner

[neville cardus]

As I said - would be happy to believe Peate the best, but if he was he couldn't have been that much better than Rhodes.
And Rhodes is very possibly the greatest legend in Yorkshire history. Almost one of an exclusive club in that you pretty much never hear a bad word about him in the clubhouse.

What I found most intriguing was the wealth of support for Blythe, whom I had always passed off as a lily-livered pansy. Interestingly, none of my sources went for Rhodes -- which was very surprising, as, prior to settling on Peate, I had been one of Wilfred's most fervent disciples.

I do wish that Archie found this lot interesting enough to warrant a rummage through his collection.

 

[Richard]

Reckon he might be right at it this second TBH.

 

[neville cardus]

Reckon he might be right at it this second TBH.

In which case I'll be at his researching mercy.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Paul Harris.

 

[neville cardus]

"I really am probably the best left arm finger spinner ever, I'm quite serious." p4 Verity

That's a lovely quote. Thanks. Does the author of that book look into the matter at all?

I think it pretty much beyond doubt that Peate was the most accurate of the lot. Testimonies to his "hitting the spot" are legion. Lord Harris, for one, reckoned that he sometimes hit it so often that he rendered it bare.

Peate himself, however, had rather different ideas. "T'talk about 'findin' a spot' is orl Tommy rot!" he exclaimed. "Tha mun forgive t'expression, for Ah chuffin' can't call it owt else. Ah remembers once, on a soft wicket, it wor mentioned that Ah'd bowled 'un over in which each ball dropped exactly ont'same spot. Nowt o' t'sorts! There'd be a difference in t'pitch o' orl t'deliveries, though each meight be a good length."

 

[Smudge]

Paul Harris.

I see your Paul Harris and raise you a Murphy Su'a in the test where he switched to bowling left-arm finger-spinners...

 

[SJS]

I am amazed to see Underwood leading this poll. He would get into the top five of those listed here but thats about it.

I can see only one reason why he has more votes than his peers - he has more test wickets than them.

The power of statistics

 

[SJS]

That's a lovely quote. Thanks. Does the author of that book look into the matter at all?

I think it pretty much beyond doubt that Peate was the most accurate of the lot. Testimonies to his "hitting the spot" are legion. Lord Harris, for one, reckoned that he sometimes hit it so often that he rendered it bare.

Peate himself, however, had rather different ideas. "T'talk about 'findin' a spot' is orl Tommy rot!" he exclaimed. "Tha mun forgive t'expression, for Ah chuffin' can't call it owt else. Ah remembers once, on a soft wicket, it wor mentioned that Ah'd bowled 'un over in which each ball dropped exactly ont'same spot. Nowt o' t'sorts! There'd be a difference in t'pitch o' orl t'deliveries, though each meight be a good length."

Great stuff.

Here ia another quote. This time about Verity and from another left arm spinning legend.

Rhodes was once asked : "Was there any ball that Hedley Verity bowled that you didn't bowl yourself?"

The eternal Yorkshireman replied : "Yes, there was the ball they cut for four."​

 

[SJS]

Another of my favourite Rhodes quotes - this time about the legend himself came from his Yorkshire team mate, Roy Kilner.

"When George Hirst got you out, you were out. When Wilfred got you out, you were out twice becaue he knew how to get you out in the second innings too"

 

[shortpitched713]

In a bid to get the contemporaries' views on the matter, I've done a spot of research and found that Billy Murdoch thought Peate comfortably the best; Arthur Shrewsbury found Peel more difficult than Peate; Blythe was placed ahead of Rhodes by Ranji, Jessop, Hirst, Warner and Rhodes himself; old Yorkshiremen who saw them all from Peate to Verity went for Peate; while most who saw Ikey Hodgson dubbed him the greatest.

What make we of all this?

You couldn't find any support for Briggs in your dusty old pages?

 

[neville cardus]

"Of all bowlers," said Hammond, "Verity used his head the most."

 

[neville cardus]

"I think I know all about Grimmett," reckoned Bradman, "but with Hedley I am never sure. You see, there's no breaking point with him."

 

[neville cardus]

I am amazed to see Underwood leading this poll. He would get into the top five of those listed here but thats about it.

I think he was probably the most lethal of the lot on bad pitches.

I can see only one reason why he has more votes than his peers - he has more test wickets than them.
The power of statistics

Aye. A zillion curses on them.

 

[Poker Boy]

Vettori eight votes more than Wardle? Sorry you're having a laugh! I've always thought Wardle was unlucky as he would have had more tests but for Tony Lock (who people thought had a dodgy action) but considering his record in Tests (102 wickets at 20 in 28 Tests) and the fact he could bowl orthodox and unorthodox left arm spin I rate him behind only Underwood in the post war list of left arm spinners. I actually voted for Rhodes but I just think Wardle is underrated....(and definately above Vettori....)

 

[BoyBrumby]

Vettori eight votes more than Wardle? Sorry you're having a laugh! I've always thought Wardle was unlucky as he would have had more tests but for Tony Lock (who people thought had a dodgy action) but considering his record in Tests (102 wickets at 20 in 28 Tests) and the fact he could bowl orthodox and unorthodox left arm spin I rate him behind only Underwood in the post war list of left arm spinners. I actually voted for Rhodes but I just think Wardle is underrated....(and definately above Vettori....)

In Tony's defence, uniquely amongst those who've had questions asked about the rectitude of their delivery action over the years, he was one of them. After seeing film footage of his quicker ball he became convinced he threw it.

 

[Richard]

Never mind the quicker-ball, it was his stock delivery.

Lock, of course, started his career with as legit an action as anyone; he then "became a thrower after protracted bowling at the indoor school at Surrey, where the low roof caused him to abandon flight" (David Frith's words). He then saw said film in 1959, and reverted.

 

[Richard]

I am amazed to see Underwood leading this poll. He would get into the top five of those listed here but thats about it.

I can see only one reason why he has more votes than his peers - he has more test wickets than them.

The power of statistics

TBH I think it's far more a case of most-recent. Rhodes and Verity - never mind the preceding two - are of a time which most people have not heard of, and Underwood is just about recent enough to still be in the public consciousness.

That, of course, and the fact that he had a massive novelty-factor in the pace he bowled.

 

[Richard]

Great stuff.

Here ia another quote. This time about Verity and from another left arm spinning legend.

Rhodes was once asked : "Was there any ball that Hedley Verity bowled that you didn't bowl yourself?"

The eternal Yorkshireman replied : "Yes, there was the ball they cut for four."​

Always loved that one.

 

[Richard]

Vettori eight votes more than Wardle? Sorry you're having a laugh!

Pretty well the lot of them are from Kiwis though.

 

[neville cardus]

Vettori eight votes more than Wardle? Sorry you're having a laugh! I've always thought Wardle was unlucky as he would have had more tests but for Tony Lock (who people thought had a dodgy action)

As did Lockie when he saw it.

but considering his record in Tests (102 wickets at 20 in 28 Tests) and the fact he could bowl orthodox and unorthodox left arm spin I rate him behind only Underwood in the post war list of left arm spinners. I actually voted for Rhodes but I just think Wardle is underrated....(and definately above Vettori....)

Speaking of Wardle, has anyone else noticed the uncanny similarity between his action and that of Blythe?