The Fast Bowler's fast Bowlers

[SJS]

Oxford (1973 to1975) - Pakistan’s tour of England - 1975 World Cup
This was the very first time that I watched genuine fast bowling of such high caliber and I found it very exciting…..
My cricket continued to improve at Oxford and the mental challenges involved in studying helped me in my attitude to cricket. I became more logical and analytical about my game....

Worcestershire didn’t think enough of me during that 1972 season.
By the end of it I was only marginally better as a cricketer – my new action was an improvement in my eyes. Though not to everyone else, and I could now actually bowl the out-swinger on occasions. I was slower but more accurate and all the experienced players at New Road had dismissed my chances of ever bowling fast. Their verdict was chastening to me because my ambition to bowl fast had been fuelled by the sight that summer of two of the greatest of their kind – John Snow and Dennis Lillee. During the England-Australia series my eyes were glued to Snow and Lillee. About that time it became an ambition of mine to bowl fast. This was the very first time that I watched genuine fast bowling of such high caliber and I found it very exciting…..

In my first season with Oxford…. My bowling was for the most part, only medium-pace; partly because I had to do a lot of bowling. Indeed I used to complain bitterly if my captain tried to take me off! Now and then, I would slip myself and let one or two fast deliveries go – despite being a medium pacer, I had the temprament of a fast bowler and hated being hit to the boundary – and when it all clicked for a couple of overs, the effect was exhilarating. My team mates always egged me on to bowl fast and although I sprayed it al over the place, I was encouraged enough by my progress by the time the term ended.

….elected the 1974 Oxford captain and…responsibility made me a better player. At least I managed to bowl fast for constant periods…….. my good friend Guy Waller, kept urging me to bowl quicker and after the brainwashing I’d experienced at Worcester, I had my misgivings. I felt that I gave away too many runs by tearing in like Lillee, and using too many slips and gullies but other considerations swayed me – I got bored bowling tightly at county batsmen who came (to Oxford) to just polish up their batting averages and we needed a strike bowler to retaliate after our batsmen had been given the bouncer treatment. I also knew that I had the temperament of the fast bowler rather than the cunning ‘line and length’ stuff, so I kept attacking….

My form with Oxford was sufficiently impressive to earn a recall to the Pakistan side in the latter part of the 1974 season.

His (Majid’s) advice on fast bowling was invaluable to me on that 1974 season. He told me I now had a perfectly good action and to take no notice of the Worcester attitude of just bowling line and length. His advice was to put more emphasis on pace and to remember that batsmen didn’t get out to accurate medium pacers all that often especially outside England. I also knew that Pakistan lacked a genuine pace bowler and that just possibly I could fill that gap.

The following year I was still raw and wayward in my bowling, When I occasionally took the advise of the older players at Worcester, I bowled accurately and managed to swing the ball – yet I was extremely sharp sometimes, even though I wasn’t tight enough and sometimes lost my swing. Gifford and D’Oliviera were happy enough with the improvement in my bowling but were much more enthusiastic about my batting…

Although sadness accompanied the end of my time at Oxford*, I shall always look back with fondness to those three years….My cricket continued to improve at Oxford and the mental challenges involved in studying helped me in my attitude to cricket. I became more logical and analytical about my game and the discipline of scholastic work stood me in good stead later on when I later needed to sit down and sort out where my cricket career was going.

At the end of that 1975 season I went back to Pakistan for the first time in four years….The cricket was very competitive, partly because our national side had been faring well in recent years and also because all the top players were playing in Pakistan in the absence of a Test series that winter. Initially I was written off by most journalists….Eventually I bowled fast and straight on the hard wickets and managed to swing the ball enough to claim 33 wickets in the four Pentangular matches. I realized that I would get nowhere bowling on the hard, wickets by bowling English style medium pace to a defensive field; the only way I was going to get men out was through sheer speed. That trip to Pakistan made up my mind – from then on, I would be a fast bowler or nothing at all. The days of compromise were over. I would continue to work on my action, to modify it in certain areas, but it would all be geared towards blasting the batsmen out.

​

* refers to Pakistan's close defeats at the inaugural World Cup in 1975

.... to be continued​

 

[SJS]

Back in England - stronger/faster (1976)
I have always hated taking a beating lying down - something essential to a medium pacer. Consequently I would find myself on various occasions being hit, forgetting about swing, line and length and just seeing blood in front of my eyes

I returned to England a much better all round player.... I was top of the bowling averages and at last Basil D'Oliviera and Norman Gifford had stopped nagging me about keeping things tight - every now and then I managed to bowl a genuinely fast spell and I could see that they were impressed! The hot dry summer meant that I could bowl on some fiery wickets and I sent down many bouncers that season.... I must admit I overdid the bouncer those days, I would regularly bowl four in my first over of a new ball spell just to let the batsman know that I was quicker than before. I wouldn't have been able to do that a year earlier.

One of the reasons I was changing from a medium pacer to a fast bowler was my temperament. I have always hated taking a beating lying down - something essential to a medium pacer. Consequently I would find myself on various occasions being hit, forgetting about swing, line and length and just seeing blood in front of my eyes. It was during such moments of anger that an increase of adrenalin would add an extra yard or two to my pace. Somehow my action began to change to accommodate that extra pace.....

Yet I knew I had much to learn. My bowling action was not yet properly co-ordinated...but... I knew I had improved as a cricketer.​

New Zealand at home – Australia away (1976-77)
To my intense embarrassment, favourable comparisons were being made between the pace of Lillee and myself – a travesty and an insult to a great bowler – but I must admit I felt very good in that test…. I got quickly into rhythm and felt very much in control. In those days, I relied heavily on rhythm in my run-up, much more than I do now. If I struggled to run-up properly, I would look very ordinary indeed. In Sydney that day, it all fell into place as I bowled non-stop for almost four hours.

Looking back I would love to bowl on that Melbourne wicket again it was seaming and swinging all over the place, and I didn’t know whether to go flat out and risk wasting the new ball or slow down, pitch the ball up and try to control the swing. In the end I fell between two stools and was hopeless

The New Zealand series was a one-sided affair.... I dismissed my old mentor, John Parker, four times out of six and he was kind enough to remark on the improvements in my bowling - a far cry from the winter evenings in the school gym at Worcester with a tennis ball!....

By now I was quick enough, although I seemed to specialise in in-swingers and bouncers. My run up was getting better and every now-and-then it slipped into place. I now had the desire to dominate batsmen - that killer instinct I had picked up from Sarfraz - and my body was fit enough to with stand the burden of fast bowling. I learnt a lot from bowling on those dead Pakistani wickets and the experience set me up for the tough assignments in Australia and West Indies.

The 1976 tour to Australia was the most exciting one I've ever been on. I've never felt my adrenalin flow so much, either before or since....

Initially I bowled the wrong line; I was used to bowling at the stumps in England and Pakistan, but that just went straight on and was played away through the legside by the Australians…. I was murdered. I needed to bowl outside the off stump, make the batsmen play at the deliveries and hope that the extra bounce would get them caught in the slips…..

By the time of the Melbourne test we were all under pressure…The Australians chose to bat first….we bowled very badly in helpful conditions. The ball swung a great deal but I just couldn’t control it and with each successive over, I felt under extra pressure because I was letting the team down. I finished with 0 for 115 …. Looking back I would love to bowl on that Melbourne wicket again it was seaming and swinging all over the place, and I didn’t know whether to go flat out and risk wasting the new ball or slow down, pitch the ball up and try to control the swing. In the end I fell between two stools and was hopeless.

(The) second innings was one of the major turning points in my bowling career. I had been so disappointed with my efforts so far that I vowed to go out and risk being taken apart. In the absence of Sarfraz. I was the main strike bowler in the team, so I gave it my all. After all I had been thrashed while striving for line and length in the first innings, so I had nothing to lose. ….in the absence of cloud cover, I somehow found it easier to control my swing and length. I managed to hit on the off stump line and felt aggressive towards the batsmen… I gave Rodney Marsh a fright with a bouncer that hit him on the forehead.

Where did you get that extra yard of pace from” he asked me…

It’s a funny thing how such insignificant reamarks have such significant effects; after that innings, I was an authentic fast bowler in my own eyes. It had all come together and I would spend the rest of the tour striving to regain that rhythm and control…. I was driven to all-out attack by my own desperation and the fact that the match was out of our control – sure enough we collapsed tamely in the second innings…

…the match against Queensland proved to be a significant one for me. I took five wickets and bowled faster than at any previous time in my career. Admittedly the Brisbane wicket was fast, but I got into such a good rhythm that my confidence was boosted immensely. I bumped into Geoff Boycott and he gave me some good advice; he said that I must bowl fast in Australia when the ball is hard and new, because it soon gets soft and the batsmen flourish, when the shine has worn off. He said that I definitely had the capacity to bowl fast and I set out to prove him right.

I had decided that fitness has to be a crucial element in my efforts to be a fast bowler at the highest level, so I doubled up on my training programme before the final Test. To me the issue was a simple one…. I had to be supremely fit…..

Sarfaraz and I proceeded to bowl almost all day in sultry conditions (in the second innings) but my extra training had paid off. I managed to get a lot of bounce from the wicket and several of their batsmen got out to the hook shot against my bouncers. My reward was twelve wickets in the match and we won by eight wickets…

To my intense embarrassment, favourable comparisons were being made between the pace of Lillee and myself – a travesty and an insult to a great bowler – but I must admit I felt very good in that test…. I got quickly into rhythm and felt very much in control. In those days, I relied heavily on rhythm in my run-up, much more than I do now. If I struggled to run-up properly, I would look very ordinary indeed. In Sydney that day, it all fell into place as I bowled non-stop for almost four hours.​

.... to be continued

 

[SJS]

West Indies (1976-77)

As soon as I arrived in the West Indies, I realised the folly of the comparisons between Lillee and myself. In the Carribean, a club bowler is quicker than the fastest from Pakistan, and I took my time to find a proper rhythm. The great Sir gary Sobers took one look at me and announced dismssively; "If he is as quick as Lillee, then Lillee must have been bowling at half pace!"

I was reasonably happy with my bowling during the three test series of 1976-77. I had taken 57 wickets in eleven test matches and fared well against some of the world's best batsmen....it seemed my main value to the team was as a strike bowler. Once and for all I decided that my strength lay in my bowling, not my batting. Now I had to improve my bowling to survive at the highest level.​

.... to be continued

 

[silentstriker]

This is absolutely fantastic stuff.

 

[SJS]

The Kerry Packer "academy" - Professors Snow and Proctor and Imran finally graduates (April 1977 to April 1979)
it was very painful but the consolation was that it had resulted from my efforts to get side-on. The injury convinced me that my action was changing for the better

My two years with World Series Cricket turned me into an infinitely better fast bowler. When I signed in April 1977, I was still fairly raw, able to generate pace at times but with a predominant in-swing and an over-reliance on the bouncer. By April 1979, I had more or less got it right - I was getting closer to the stumps, which made me more side-on at delivery, enabling me to move the ball away from the right hander. I now used more discretion with the bouncer and had more variety,

In county cricket during that period, I experimented most of the time with minor alterations to my action. I went round the wicket, which helped me stand up straighter at the moment of delivery to avoid falling in front of the umpire's line of vision. ..... Now my action was more stabilised and my run up smooth. I felt more confident of putting the ball where i wanted it.

Without World Series Cricket, I probably would never have been able to improve so dramatically. It gave me the chance to observe atclose quarters the classical bowling styles of men like Lillee, Snow, Roberts and Holding and to analyse why they were great technical performers. The superb quality of Channel 9 coverage also allowed me to dissect my action, thanks to those superb close-ups and excelent slow-motion sequences. I would sit for long periods watching where my feet landed at the crease, examining the position of my body at the time of delivery.

The competition for places in the World XI was so intense that I just had to improve, otherwise I would be an also-ran.

I was lucky to have the advise of two great fast bowlers, John Snow and Mike Proctor. I respected their achievement and was gratifyed to learn that they were ready to offer advice and encouragement. I still had an inferiority complex about appearing alongside so many great fast bowlers, knowing that I still had much to learn, despite my encouraging performances in Tests.

Proctor worked on my run-up, telling me that I must make it more fluent and less of a strain, while Snow emphasised the necessity of getting side-on and closer to the stumps, thereby making the in-swinger more effective. Snow told me that it took him a long time to get into the side on habit; in his early days, he used to be open chested.

I was determined to do the same and the first signs that I was achieving this came in the English season of 1978. I tore a side muscle when bowling - it was very painful but the consolation was that it had resulted from my efforts to get side-on. The injury convinced me that my action was changing for the better; I then had to toughen up the muscles that hadn't been stretched very much in my old action.​

 

[SJS]

Javed Miandad too in his autobiography acknowledges the role of John Snow in Imran's education as a fast bowler. He calls him "a mentor to Imran" and admires him for passing on "the skills of his craft to an able pupil"

 

[social]

Unbelievable transformation in space of 2 years - obviously talented and disciplined as many have attempted far lesser changes and emerged as worse cricketers

 

[Manee]

Great stuff, SJS, this is really gripping and fascinating stuff.

 

[Fusion]

Thanks SJS, it has been fascinating reading. I've been meaning to buy that autobiography of Imran, after reading these passages, I am even more enthusiastic about purchasing it.

 

[SJS]

Great stuff, SJS, this is really gripping and fascinating stuff.

Thanks SJS, it has been fascinating reading. I've been meaning to buy that autobiography of Imran, after reading these passages, I am even more enthusiastic about purchasing it.

You are welcome guys. Now to get back to the thread title

 

[SJS]

Okay. Here is a batsman's perspective, Javed Miandad on the fast bowlers of his times.

The West Indians

...there has been no better bowling side than the famous West Indian battery of 1970's and 80's, which included names like Holding, Roberts, Croft, Garner, Marshall, Daniel, Clarke and Benjamin. Later, Ambrose and Walsh were added to this phenomenal list. I have played all of them and rank them among thevery best.

I was particularly uncomfortable against Colin Croft who had an unusual bowling action in which the bowling arm whipped around over his head before delivery. He was a tall man with long arms and his unwieldy action made him very awkward to face.

Hodling and Roberts had smooth run-ups and easy, effortless bowling actions; all very deceptive, because the ball came at you like a thunderbolt. Garner had the advantage of height which gave him extra bounce.

Malcolm Marshall ran in like a rocket and bowled with great nip and bite; of all the bowlers I faced he was the fastest off the pitch. A big part of his bowling success was his rhythm which never wavered. He kept up a steady tempo in his run-up and delivery from start to finish. He would run in with the same super speed whether he was bowling at the start of a day or at the end of it. When you were facing Marshall, you knew there would be no let up. He was also an exceptionally clever bowler. I pride myself in being able to outthink the bowlers and predict their deliveries, but I always had a hard time trying to fiure out what Marshall was up to. He was so good mentally that he could trick you into thinking you had his bowling plan all figured out, and he would ten invariably surprise you.​

England

Of these, Botham and Willis stood out. from the rest. Their great strength was that they could bowl anywhere in the world, under any conditions. Other English bowlers like Old. Arnold. Hendrick and Peter Lever needed English conditions to be effective...

I also had the greatest regard for England's John Snow. We never faced each other in Tests but I tasted Snow's bowling many times in the nets during my days with Sussex. He was a class bowler, one of England's very best. As a fast bowler, Snow was also a mentor of Imran Khan and I admire him for passing on the skills of his craft to an able pupil.
​

New Zealand

New Zealand had Richard Hadlee, an outstanding bowler by any standards. Hadlee's greatest asset was his accuracy. He always aimed at the stumps and forced the batsman to play every ball he bowled. He became even more effective after he shortened his run up, which gave him laser like accuracy without appreciably diminishing his speed. I especially admired Hadlee for his composure; he never used overt hostility or used abusive language. Even when he was hit about, Hadlee always managed to remain icy cool It was quite remarkable.

Another New Zealander who impressed me was Ewan Chatfield. Chatfield came as close to being a bowling machine as any human I know. He would pick a spot and keep pitching at it, delivery after delivery. He was tireless and remained seemingly unmoved by the procedings of the game itself. He would just come into bowl, then go back to the top of his run-up and come in again to repeat an identical delivery. all very machine like. He was a very good natured fellow and I used t joke with him about this. "Come back with me to Pakistn. I need a bowling machine" and he would laugh.
​

Australia

Australia enjoyed the services of many good fast bowlers those days. Bowlers like Max Walker, Len Pascoe and Gary Gilmour had great comand over swing and were never easy to get away. Rodney Hogg was also an exceptionally fast bowler with a natural hostility for whom I had great respect; his 123 Test wickets do no justice to his capabilities. Inlater years Terry Alderman and Geoff Lawson were the leading Australian bowlers. Lawson was the quicker of the two but Alderman bowled a terrific out-swinger.

DENNIS LILLEE
If I could chose one bowler That I would have liked to always have avoided playing against, it would have to be Australia's Dennis Lillee. He is one of history's greatest bowlers. The recipe of quality fast bowling has many ingredients - speed, swing, line, length and human psychology - and Dennis had mastered all of these. He could swing the ball more than anyone I know. And he was brilliant at out-thinking the batsman. On his day, he was simply lethal.

Dennis's greatest asset, I believe, was consistency. His ability to deliver at the peak of his craft never waivered. He always sent down top-notch stuff, giving nothing away. Whenever I think back on batting against Dennis, I remember how frustrating he could be. Delivery after delivery, he would pitch at a perfect length on middle and off and move the ball away late with speed and lift. There was hardly ever a chance to go forward and attempt a drive, or find room to cut. He always kept the batsman pegged back, never giving an inch.​

Pakistan

Pakistan's quick bowlers Imran, Wasim and Waqar...mastered swing bowling - especially reverse swing - better than anyone else. ....The theory behind reverse swing remains straight forward, but it remains an art not everyone can practice.

By the late 1970's Imran Khan was practicing reverse-swing quite skillfully. In our 1982-83 series against India, Imran used reverse swing to great effect and kept knocking Indian wickets over like nine pins. Towards late 1980's. Wasim and Waqar became masters of this art and dominated world cricket.

Had the great West Indian and Australian fast bowlers understood reverse swing the way the Pkistani bowlers did, they may well have ended up with over a thousand career wickets.

One highly talented Pakistani seamer whose contribution tends to get overlooked is Sarfraz Nawaz, who was for many years Imran's new ball partner. Though not genuinly fast, Sarfraz was very nippy and could be awkward to bat against. He once bowled an amazing spell taking seven wickets for one run (innings analysis 9-86) in a test against Australia at Melbourne. A highly intelligent bowler who bowled according to a well thought out plan, Sarfraz could swing the ball both ways, and could also bowl reverse swing. If he head more speed he could have been as deadly, with reverse-swing, as Imran, Wasim and Waqar.​

Interesting, yet another player who rates Lillee as the top bowler.

 

[subshakerz]

Here's a more recent Imran interview, and his top three fast bowlers ever:

If I can take you back to your playing days. From then until now, will you rank fast bowlers? You can keep yourself in one category.

"Well, there were three greats, you know. There were so many fast bowlers during the time I played, but there were three I would say were outstanding. One was Michael Holding, who I thought was the most outstanding fast bowler. Then there was Dennis Lillee, who had a lion’s heart. And then, of course, there was Malcolm Marshall, who I again thought had the ability to do anything with the ball, could bowl for long spells, and who proved himself over a period as someone who could adapt to any conditions."

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6655970360163878119&hl=en

 

[SJS]

While on the subject of fast bowling, I recently came across an artcle by Neville Cardus on the English bowling in the Bodyline series and Bradman's tackling of it. It is well worth a read.

'Nobody will deny the better side won the rubber'
Neville Cardus
The Observer
5 March 1933​

When the English team left these shores last autumn, our hopes and prayers went with them - especially our prayers - but not our unbounded confidence. We had seen the players in action every day during the season of 1932, and though we all knew of the beneficial effects of the sea-voyage, none of us expected sun and ozone to transform good cricketers into great cricketers.

Larwood, in particular, was 'suspect'; we doubted his stamina. We had seen him more or less impotent in the Trial match at Old Trafford, and also during the Duleepsinhji-Pataudi stand at Lord's in the Gentlemen v Players match: on these occasions he was unable to get the ball higher than the stumps, and he languished. When Bowes was rushed into the England side at the last minute, there were people who saw in this a vote of no-confidence in Larwood. Again, the question was asked, 'Why four fast bowlers?' It really did seem a strange notion. Years ago, an England XI could have chosen Lockwood, Kortright, Richardson and Mold - four of the swiftest bowlers that ever lived. But in those days the general idea was that one fast bowler was ample for a Test match combination.

We did not know what we were talking about last September when we questioned the composition of Jardine's attack. We were in the dark. For a deep strategy had been connived to bring about the downfall of Bradman and Woodfull. It was, as Smee might have said, a sort of compliment to these two great batsmen. To cope with genius, you must put forth special and uncommon measures. The fast leg-theory attack had been tried at Trent Bridge - and also in a mild way at Kennington Oval last August. Not everybody who saw it admired it - but it was a likely specific for the Australians, the very thing to solve the Bradman dilemma.

The cricketer who is always scoring double centuries is a pest to the game; he must be done something with, as the Brothers Cheeryble said of Tim Linkinwater. Fast leg-theory has won England the rubber; as Hobbs has said - and he ought to know all about fast leg-theory - it was the strange method and wonderful accuracy of Larwood that reduced Bradman's average from more than 100 to a respectable 50 or so.

We have all praised Larwood's achievement. Yet for many of us it has been a mystery how he 'did it,' and also how Verity and O'Reilly managed to spin the ball on the second day of a great match on an Australian wicket. For years and years the Australian turf in good weather has been all against the rising fast ball and slow bowler's spin. Even McDonald could not bump the ball breast high in Australia, and Cecil Parkin, the cleverest spin bowler of our time, was reduced by Australian turf into a more or less up-and-down bowler. It has usually needed the wrist and the fingers of a Mailey to break the ball at Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne in recent years. Last summer, when H.W. Taylor, the great South African batsman, told me we could win the rubber this time, by means of a concerted plan based on fast bowling, I replied that the Australian wickets in the past have invariably broken the hearts of fast bowlers. Obviously he knew a secret; he was playing in Test matches in Australia last winter.

The truth had been revealed in an article by J.W. Trumble, which recently appeared in the Melbourne Argus . Australian wickets today are not what they were: different soil is used in preparing them. The new turf does not 'produce the polished glossy surface developed by the old Bulli and Merri Creek soil. The ball now gets a grip on the ground. This enables the spin bowler to turn the ball and also enables the fast bowler to "lift" more than formerly.' Australian turf nowadays is full of 'bounce' at the beginning of a match; then, after a constant pounding away by the fast bowler, the soil becomes loose - and then the spin bowler 'comes in'. If it is a fair question - did H.W. Taylor let our Intelligence Department know that our fast bowlers would find it easier to bump the ball in Australia this winter than in England last summer? Anyhow, the plan of campaign has worked out skilfully; and a strong man was put in charge of it, a captain of cricket with an iron will and a superb disregard of the noise of the Australian crowd.

Jardine's determination was needed to carry out the new fast bowling experiment; had he been a weak man, all the energy of Larwood might have proved as vain a thing as it did in 1930.

It is true that Allen, who did not bowl leg-theory, took 21 wickets in Tests. It is true, too, that Larwood was always hitting the stumps, but it was leg-theory which unsettled the mind of Bradman, and compelled him to readjust his machine. The point I am trying to make is that on the old reliable Australian turf Larwood and Voce would have toiled in vain to bump the ball much higher than the batman's hip. The rubber has been won by a perfect blending of executive and strategical forces; an Intelligence Department must have got to work early in the day, else why the four fast bowler 'brain wave' last autumn? Surely it was not a mere gamble? Larwood and Jardine did the rest, backed up, of course, by capable all-round assistants.

There seems yet some difference of opinion in this country about the way our fast bowlers have exploited leg-theory. Our esteemed and beloved editor of Wisden writes of fast leg-theory as a method of play which has often been practised in the past by Australian as well as by English bowlers. For my part, I have never heard of fast leg-theory being exploited in a Test match until this present series. And by fast leg-theory I mean the sort of bowling described by reliable writers in the Australian newspapers in their accounts of the methods of Larwood and Voce.

The Sydney Referee denies the English view that 'there is nothing new in this kind of bowling,' The Referee says: 'It is new. It has never before been practised in a Test match between England and Australia - Gregory and McDonald never bowled a body attack with a packed leg-side field. The fact is that the present English 'shock' bowler is deliberately bumping short balls.' Again the Referee says: 'Nobody objects to fast bowling and nobody objects to legitimate leg-theory, but the Larwood-Voce attack is a planned attack by means of short pitched kicking balls aimed at the batsmen with a leg-field.'

Hobbs has gone so far as to suggest that Bradman has been reluctant to take chances with the fast leg-theory attack for fear of getting hurt and damaging his career. 'So he took no risk of injury - and in view of his slight physique I do not blame him.' I am not discussing this leg-theory in any vein of moral indignation. I am simply attempting to get to the real cause of Australia's defeat, and at the cause of Bradman's transformation into an ordinarily great batsman. Someday it will be necessary for somebody to write a dispassionate history of the 1932-1933 Test matches.

Have Bradman, Woodfull and thousands of Australian lovers of the game, not all of them 'squealers' and 'hooligans' been the victims all winter of an optical delusion? And, of course, I am not belittling the achievement of Larwood. A bowler needs unfailing accuracy and brilliant pace to pitch anywhere near leg-side and not suffer punishment.

Bradman is reported to have fallen from grace because his average has fallen. His strokeplay has plainly been dazzling. Yet such is the modern conception of batsmanship, that a cricketer is supposed to be playing badly if he takes a chance and cracks the ball in the manner of J.T. Tyldesley. Bradman was the only Australian, I gather, really to counter-attack Larwood. He moved away to the leg-side and hit the ball audaciously to the unprotected off-side. As a consequence of this piece of superb resource, even his best friends accuse him of recklessness; indeed they say he 'ran away'. But how on earth is any batsman going to tackle fast leg-side bowling (to a crowded leg-trap) unless he hits it to the off? And how can you hit leg bowling to the off-side unless you do move away and get on the proper side of it for the stroke?

Against Larwood, Bradman was beginning to reveal his genius in a more gallant light than it has ever been seen before: given a few more innings, he might have mastered it. And for all his pains and imagination he is called 'reckless'. J. T. Tyldesley would be banned from modern Test cricket, evidently.

Nobody will deny that the better side won the rubber, even in Australia, where, despite the 'rumpus' about the fast bowling, the newspapers have, on the whole, been fair and generous to the England cricketers. Paynter has won high praise for his fielding and batsmanship: Verity is already acclaimed the successor to Rhodes as a slow left-handed bowler who can bat. The reputations of Sutcliffe and Hammond have lost nothing of their lustre. Both countries, though, are likely soon to want an amount of new blood; Australia indeed, want it at once. More than anything else they want all-round players. The Australian 'tail-end' in this rubber has been long enough to wag the dog clean off the field.​

 

[Richard]

A fascinating piece indeed.

Someone remind me again - why did Cardus not travel in '32/33?

 

[neville cardus]

Pick up James Agate's Ego 8. You will find in it a few crusty missives (dated, admittedly, after 1932) in which I say how very much I despise that country.

My first visit, if I recall correctly, was also C.B. Fry's. We had a breach in relations for a time on the voyage out after I mocked his insufferable raconteuring. He, incidentally, did not cover (or even know about) the bodyline series because of a lengthy bout of insanity.

 

[neville cardus]

Oh, and check your inbox. I have decided to admit you to the guild.

 

[SJS]

Excerpts from the second article of ten great fast bowlers listed by Arlott

MAURICE TATE
by AA Thomson

For all those who played with him and watched him, the picture remains vivid and clear; a bulky figure ambling up the crease in half a dozen easy strides; an action that is dead sideways on to the batsman as the right arm sweeps over; the ball is delivered at seemingly medium pace and, the instant it lands, it shoots past the batsman like a hissing snake. Tate has taken another wicket.

My mathematically minded friends assure me that this notion of a ball gathering speed off the pitch, like a boosted aero-engine, is completely illusory. It may be so but when you consider the number of wickets that Tate took in his first class career, there must have been 2,783 victims of the same illusion, because to the end of their days they believed, or will believe, that the ball that got them out flew up off a length with all the maignity of the original serpent of Eden,.

(In 1919 after the war) he hit his 1000 runs and this...he was to do a dozen times without a break.

In the fine summer of 1921 he scored a massive double century, gaining the reputation of being the country's most promising young batsman for a long time..... a form master's report card might have read ; Batting excellent; bowling fair..... but in the following season a vital change occurred.

...Phillip Mead was carrying on a typical wwar of attrition against the bowlers..Tate grew exasperated (and) stung by the sight of his best off-breaks mocked and murdered, released partly in exasperation and partly by accident, a venomous ball which pitched on the off stump and, at a heightening speed before Mead could move over to cover it, spun wickedly across and took his leg stick. The impossible had happened. For an ordinary off-spinner to have penetrated Mead's defence was about as likely as a pea-shooter piercing the armour plate of a battleship, it was that lightening spurt, that uncanny accelration that had done the trick.

.. in that same innings Tate took three more wickets, two of them with the same monstrous 'accelrator'. A new bowler had joined the Sussex ranks.

An even more vital event took place at the beginning of that season. Gilligan had been selected captain of Sussex...for Tate ... it was an introduction to greatness.

From the moment of that devilish freak ball at Eastbourne, Gilligan was anxious to have it launched again. At the earliest opportunity Tate was hailed to the nets at Hove. A few 'unloaded' off-breaks came down and then - the projectile. Gilligan's middle stump not merely shot back but shot back right through the net itself. Three times the faster ball came down, like a poison-pill disguised in a confection of conversation lozenges .. and three times the stumps were spreadeagled.

By the end of the season he had doubled his takings, passed his 1000 runs and completed the first of his eight doubles.​

..to be continued

Comparison between Barnes Tate and Bedser

He will always be compared with Barnes, who came before, and Bedser who came after. They fall naturally into a trinity of high powered fast-medium bowlers, easily the finest of their kind and, strictly as far as batsmen are concerned, an unholy trinity.

Each of these three has admirers in and outside his own generation. The sweep of history, after we are gone, may put Barnes first, if only for the tremendos scope of his career. Bedser with his 236 Test wickets, his brave battles with Bradman in 1946-47 and 1948, and his wonderful , bag of 39 wickets in 1953, will remain the man who restored the hopes of England's bowling after the war but any comparison is tricky business and, as always, there are too many imponderables.

Do figures help ? Again imponderables get in the way.

[B]Bowler	FC Wickets	Test wickets[/B]

Barnes	719 at 17.09	189 at 16.43
Tate	2783 at 18.16	155 at 26.13
Bedser	1924 at 20.41	236 at 24.89

For Tate there will always be a place in the affection of warm hearts and the intelligent appreciation of cool heads. He bowled against famous batsmen over a period when it was the universal pride for the groundsmen to make the life of the batsman one grand sweet song. Flip through your Wisden's from 1923 to 1936 and note how often you will liht on the phrase, introducing some fantastic feat; " Tate, with no apparent assistance from the pitch...."

If the three are to be measured on points, as at a show, I could not claim to be a competent judge, except to sat that each was supreme in his era and that now abide these three....​

His technique

What was the secret of Tate's technique? The secret was that he had no technique. If he told you that he had and explained it with a wealth of 'sesquippledan verbojuice' he would be pulling your leg. The fact is that, granted his change to the faster ball, he was a natural bowler in that he did not consciously, still less self-consciously, work out a scientific bowling policy. As he came up to the swing, he leant back on his right leg with his left arm stretched out in front. As the right arm came smoothly over, the fu; weight of his heavy shoulders was behind it. He used the seam in a way in which no bowler had done befre and many without success have attempted since. Ian Peebles says that he placed the ball with the seam between and parallel to, his first two fingers, and let fly. It was that let fly that was characteristic and wholly natural.

Those who played closely with him appreciated him most.

• Hendren believed that he made batsmen play five out of six balls.
  
• Strudwick, who had more reason than most to know, called him the best of all the length bowlers, in the class of Barnes and Frank Foster
  
• SC Griffith, a former Sussex captain and a thoughtful student of the game, thinks that if modern field placings were in vogue in Tate's heyday, he would have taken hundreds of more wickets. Shots that went harmlessly down the legside would have ben short-leg catches today.
  
• CB Fry : "He could make the ball swing away very late outside the off stump. and even the best batsmen were often beaten by him. He would make the ball rear off the pitch like a snake striking..."
  
• MA Noble described him as a shock merchant. "He indulges in a sewries of shock-delivering periods which invariably prove fatal to several batsmen. The ball gets up... quickly and venomously when bowled a good length - Tate always bowls a good length - and is a great source of danger to the batsman, especially in the opening stages of his innings..."

....to be continued

 

[SJS]

Another of my favourite books on fast bowlers is one that is co-authored by two fast bowlers from England - Trueman and Bailey.

From Larwood to Lillee (first published 1983) covers all the bowlers between and including the two greats named in the title. Either or both the authors saw all the bowlers covered and write in details about them except the first three (Larwood, Voce and Bowes) whom they saw late in their careers). Its great reading.

I start with Alec Bedser because its one of my favourite chapters in the book but before that a bit from the introduction to the book. There are great bits here about Tate, attributes of fast bowlers and the classification of fast bowlers by action. The comments on how the fast medium, express and exceptionally tall bowlers bowling is affected by these attributes makes for fascinating reading.

MAURICE TATE
We have deliberately included only those new ball bowlers whom we, or one of us, have seen in action, or played with or against. This explains the ommission of Maurice Tate, one of the finest fast-medium bowlers of all time; arguably after Sydney Barnes, the finest.

Maurice used a very short run up, combined with a classic 'rocker's' action, which led to opposing batsmen being surprised by his pace off the pitch. It was even claimed that he 'gained pace off the pitch', but that was an illusion. The only delivery that could possibly gain pace after pitching would be a top-spinner from a very slow wrist-spinner. Tate's explosive body action and very powerful physique meant that he made the ball hurry off the wicket, so that any batsman who played a long innings against him would carry the evidence of the same for some time. This would take the form of a bruised and tender 'v', formed by the thumb and first finger, which had been jarred by the bat handle as a result of the ball constantly hitting the bat.

He was a great bowler under all conditions, as underlined by his performances against some very strong Australian batting sides in 'timeless' Tests on their pitches. In those days, Australian pitches were rock hard: they had so little grass that they literally glistened in the sun, and the shine on the ball would last only a few overs.

At his home ground, Hove, on a 'green top;', and further encouraged by the sea breeze, Maurice was the ideal destroyer....while his accuracy of line and length made life possible for his wicket keeper, whom he had standing up to the stumps.

WHAT MAKES A GREAT BOWLER

1. PACE
The best new ball bowlers....wil vary between fast medium and very fast.

Fast Medium : To reach the top as a fast-medium bowler (Tate or Bedser) its necessary to be quick enough to make a class batsman hurry his stroke and to combine extreme accuracy with the ability to obtain some movement, both in the air and off the wicket. The fast-medium bowler can not afford the long hop or the full toss although the half-volley. provided it swings late. is a potential wicket taker. as Botham* has demonstrated admirably on so many occasions.
* Notice that they classify Botham as fast-medium and consider the pace of Bedser and Tate to be the same as Botham's. This should be of interest to some people.

Express Pace : In contrast the bowler who is exceptionally quick, a Frank Tyson or a Mike Holding, will find that many o his loose deliveries go unpunished because the batsman has so little time to make up his mind. Indeed, Frank Tyson picked up a number of wickets in Australia with a straight full toss that the batsman was unwisely attempting to smash to the boundary, only to discover that the ball was through him while he was still on the down swing. It is impossible to underestimate the value of excessive pace. It is like the knockout punch in boxing, a sudden match winner. It creates fear, so that some batsmen become more concerned about the possibility of being hit than about making runs. Even on a feather bed the really fast bowler can be effective, as Holding demonstrated so beautifully and so devastatingly at The Oval in 1976.

2. HEIGHT
Height too is an important factor.

Exceptional Height : Joel Garner and Vincent van der Bijl, both exceptionally tall, are not exceptionally fast, but they are two of the most effective and feared seam bowlers in the world. West Indian Garner, 6'8" tall, has secured a large haul of Test wickets, while van der Bijl, 6'7" tall. certainly would have if South Africa hadn't been banned from international; cricket.

The key to their success is their height. which makes the angle of delivery steep and unusual. Their yorker is more difficult to dig out while they are able to make the ball lift unpleasantly from only just short of a length. Because they do not need to strive for extra pace, they have excellent control and can keep going for long spells. They are the type every captain would like to have: the dual purpose bowler who can be both shock and stock.

3. MOVEMENT
...also contributes to the effectiveness of a fast bowler. The left arm new ball bowler is able to obtain a different line and make the ball leave the bat by simply bowling over the wicket. Although the same could be said to apply to the right armer who went round the wicket, he (however) cannot (or should not) get an lbw decision with a good length ball - unless it was a prodigious in-swinger.

To capitalise full on the advantage of making the ball leave the right handed batsman as a result of the angle of line, the left arm bowler needs to know how to bring one back from on, or just outside, the off stump. Having this ability transformed Alan Davidson from a proficient international class seamer to one of the best bowlers in the world.​

..... to be continued

 

[SJS]

TYPES OF BOWLERS BY ACTION

1. The Rocker
The first, and most commonly encountered action we have (for convenience) termed the 'rocker'. The quick bowler who uses this particular action will, at the end of his run up, jump. turn sideways and land on his right foot. The classical action, the right foot would be parallel to the bowling crease. Before coming down on a braced left leg, he will 'rock back' with his body and bowling arm. He then releases the ball off his left leg and moves in to a follow through which will take him several paces down the pitch but clear of the batting area.

Maurice Tate, Wes Hall, Alec Bedser, Ken Farnes and Ian Botham all come in this category, as indeed do the vast majority of pace bowlers, yet in detail their actions could be different.

2. The Runner Through
For want of a better name, we have called the second group the runners through: those fast bowlers who depend to a great extent on their run up for their pace than the rockers. They tend to storm up to the wicket from some distant point on the horizon and virtually 'run-through' their action with little or no pause, or rock back, before banging the ball down. They are usually open chested...with their left foot pointing up the pitch rather than towards fine leg, but their right arm will be very high.

Bob Willis, Neil Adcock and the legendary Charles Kortright, generally regarded as the fastest bowler never to be capped for England, are to be found in this category.

3. The Hopper
The third, and also the rarest, is the the hopper... seldom encountered outside junior cricket. (He)... hops from right foot to right foot in his delivery stride before releasing the ball of his left, a method which does seem to provide a youngster with extra whip and nip. On the other hand.. (he) must be open chested, while his left arm plays only a minor role in the action. ....this method puts a considerable extra strain on the knees and back muscles.

Its only successful exponents at the highest levels have been Mike Proctor and Max Walker. Mike's great success makes us wonder what would have happened had he been brought up in England.

4. The Slingers
From a standing position he is able to generate greater pace than any other type, because his bowling arm goes further back and his leading arm goes further round; in fact, his bowling arm can almost touch the ground. Being less dependent on his run up, the slinger is normally measured and restrained in his approach, but because his bowling arm reaches so far back and his bosy has such a pronounced and prolonged swivel, he is bound to be less accurate than most bowlers, in both length and direction. Jeff Thomson, for example, has always been liable to stray well off target, but Les Jackson showed that it was possible to groove effectively what was essentially a slinger's action.

5. Toe Draggers

The right arm version is the bowler who comes down on his right foot, turns it and drags the toe of his boot along the ground before coming down on his left foot and delivering the ball. He does not achieve as much lift as the 'rocker', because his delivery stride is longer. Therefore, he depends more on pace, while he employs his body action to assist him to swing the ball. Although there have been exceptions, he will normally have a compact, not too tall, athletic build.

The 'toe-draggers' clan includes Ray Lindwall, Frank Tyson and , of course, Fred Trueman.
.....to be continued
​

 

[Manee]

I disagree somewhat with the classification of 'toe dragger' as a type of bowling. I believe that it is a legitamate technique for all but 'The Hopper' to add pace. Wes Hall bowled the ball with a toe drag, for example, yet he is described as 'The Rocker'.