The seamers who spun

[Richard]

An off-the-cuff comment from myself about Ashley Giles, who was forced to turn from seamer to spinner by weakness in his back in his late-teens, has thrown-up more examples than I'd imagined of those who made the transition, in either direction. Let's see how many more we can get. They don't have to have been players who bowled either style to any outstanding degree - just those who tried and met with some measure of success.

We have so far:

Seam-to-spin:
Giles, Tom Goddard, Ian Folley, Colin Miller, Michael Yardy, Mike Watkinson, Mark Waugh, Malcolm Nash.

Spin-to-seam:
Bill Voce, Gary Sobers, Craig White.

 

[_Ed_]

Daniel Vettori was a seamer until his early teens IIRC.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Daniel Vettori was a seamer until his early teens IIRC.

I think that you'd find that a lot of spinners are like that, especially in non-subcontinent countries.

Reckon drawing the line at about 16, where most youth systems are well underway, is a pretty good point to say that you are a late "switcher".

 

[_Ed_]

Yeah that's a fair point.

Vettori is worth mentioning though considering he was only 18 when he made his Test debut.

 

[Goughy]

Which way did Symonds go. Medium to spin?

 

[Richard]

I seem to remember reading that seam was his first style, but he may have always bowled both.

 

[Top_Cat]

Bevvo was a left-arm pace bowler in under-age rep cricket, I believe.

 

[Richard]

I think that you'd find that a lot of spinners are like that, especially in non-subcontinent countries.

Reckon drawing the line at about 16, where most youth systems are well underway, is a pretty good point to say that you are a late "switcher".

Yeah, Monty Panesar, that most "natural" of spinners, bowled seamers up until the age of something like 12 or 13.

 

[Richard]

Bevvo was a left-arm pace bowler in under-age rep cricket, I believe.

Yeah, that'd make sense - like Giles, his action always seemed to suit a seamer more than a spinner.

Up to what sort of age are we talking though?

 

[sanga1337]

Mark Waugh used to be a seamer and become an off spinner

Edit: sorry already down, should read before I post

 

[sanga1337]

Murali changed from medium pace to spinner when he was 14 and Daren Powell apparently used to bowl off spinners when at school

 

[viktor]

Kumble used to be a seamer, his brother suggested he change to spin..

 

[NZTailender]

Mark Waugh used to be a seamer and become an off spinner

Used to bowl at a pretty quick pace too.

 

[pup11]

Which way did Symonds go. Medium to spin?

Tbh he still goes both ways, whichever he finds convenient!

 

[readie]

Yeah Bevan begun to bowl spin due to the fact his body namely his back couldn't withstand the strain of pace bowling. I read about it in his autobiography, but it was a while ago so I can't be specific on when etc.

 

[fredfertang]

Tony Greig latterly adopted a very jerky action and claimed to be bowling offies rather than seamers with, to be fair, some succes in the Caribbean

 

[pup11]

Kumble used to be a seamer, his brother suggested he change to spin..

That still shows.

 

[fredfertang]

I believe Maurice Tate was another of the spin to seam brigade - no doubt Mr Zaremba will be able to confirm for us in due course.

 

[Prince EWS]

Johan Botha's an obvious one. He played First Class cricket as a batting allrounder who bowled medium pace - now he's South Africa's ODI spinner.

Colin Miller was a similar case but he was even more pronounced as he was a specialist.

Michael Clarke was listed in the ABC cricket book as bowling "Left Arm Medium Fast" before he'd bowled for NSW - whether they just had wrong info or he actually changed is something I'm not aware of, though.

Oh, the details are a bit sketchy on this, but Hamilton Masakadza was definitely a promising leg spinner in his late teens and he now finds himself mostly bowling rubbish seam-up stuff. Whether that's because he thinks it's more suitable for ODI cricket or not I'm not sure, but he seems to be in the process of a change.

 

[Richard]

Michael Clarke was listed in the ABC cricket book as bowl "Left Arm Medium Fast" before he'd bowled for NSW - whether they just had wrong info or he actually changed is something I'm not aware of, though.

I'd have thought the most likely thing was that they mixed him up with Michael Clark?