What websites show cricket matches for free?
Also, this is a general cricket question that I ask at the risk of sounding very cricket ignorant: Are spin bowlers really just as effective as fast bowlers who are throwing the ball 40-50 MPH faster than them?
It seems like a ball that is only going 50 MPH should be fairly easy to hit for someone who is used to hit 90 MPH balls, even if it does spin.
Before Richard and SS (notorious anti-spin blokes 'round these parts) jump in, I'll first say one thing; the two top wicket-takers in the history of Test cricket are spinners.
That said, the effectiveness of spinners has changed dramatically over the years but particularly since pitches started becoming covered during period of inclement weather and after each day's play which was in the 60's(?). The reasons are many and varied, really, and I'll try to explain them later.
Spinners depend on a few things to be successful. Because they're bowling at a slower pace, though, a few more tricks become available to them; at a slower speed, the ball drifts sideways more, in the opposite direction of the way the ball spins generally.
The degree of spin is a big weapon, sure, but not the only one. Some spinners can spin the ball only one way, some both ways, depends on the player. Anil Kumble is the perfect example of a spinner who doesn't depends on freakish spin to get wickets.
Flight is a big weapon too. One example; bowling with a loopier flight seems like it'd make it easier to hit the ball but it can make it more difficult for batsmen because the ball can 'drop' before it reaches them so in going to take a swing at a loopy ball, suddenly the ball will land in a different place than the batsman thought it would and they might mistime a big shot or a defensive one.
Another big weapon is deception and both flight, drift and degree of spin come into this. A spinner might bowl a few loopy deliveries which spin and then shoot in a much faster one that doesn't. Of bowl some quicker deliveries then throw a loopy one to tempt the batsman to try for a big shot hoping for the mis-cue and pop-fly catch. Or they might bowl several straight ones then a big turning delivery or reverse that. Depends on the batsman a lot of the time. Top quality bowlers (like Muttiah Muralidaran and Shane Warne) can often spin the ball so far that they can just rip a delivery through the batsman's defence. Two examples, one from each bowler;
Warne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeLn8sEAKfE&NR=1
Murali
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnRbdfB2syw
These are all issues which the bowler him/herself controls.
Then there are the things which the bowlers have no control over which has led to a decreased emphasis on attacking spinners over the years with only the very, very best (Murali, Warne, Kumble) have prospered. The issue of covered pitches has meant that what used to be a great weapon for spinners, pitches affected by rain or wear-and-tear over the course of the first few days of a match, has been largely negated. Rain used to make pitches very uneven and this would affect bounce so as to make it less predictable. e.g. two deliveries landing in the same spot on the pitch would bounce/spin differently or at least less predictably. This, obviously, makes batting far more difficult. This also affects pace bowlers but their effectiveness isn't as dependent on uneven bounce as spinners. Pitches like these are called 'sticky wickets'.
Lack of wear-and-tear on pitches is also a contributing factor to the dearth of spinners in Test sides these days. If you watch an entire 5-day Test, you'll notice and hear commentators speaking about the wear-and-tear on pitches that happens just in using them for the game. Bowlers running into bowl, their sprigs take chunks of turf out of the pitch. As the match wears on, the damaged caused to the pitch becomes more pronounced. Spinners use these to get more spin and unpredictable bounce. For an example, see this ball from Warne;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBd_EZVuARk
You can't see properly where it lands but the puff of dust as it bounces indicates it hit one of these wear spots caused by the bowlers running in to bowl from the other end you can see how much this ball spun.
Anyway, with the covering of pitches, obviously there are no sticky wickets at Test or First-Class level any more and the effects of sprig wear-and-tear have been somewhat negated. So it's harder to be a spinner these days but not impossible if you don't rely external factors to do well.
Hope that helps.
) is a much easier game to follow then cricket, the same as Tennis, where as cricket can be very hard to explain.
