Who is England's Greatest Left Arm Spinner?

[a massive zebra]

England has a long history of producing high quality left arm spinners, but who is the best of the lot?

 

[Socerer 01]

Verity but lol at Giles being an option there

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Verity with Underwood a clear 2nd in my view. Verity has to be our greatest spinner ever, the fact he was so highly regarded by Bradman shows how good he must have been.

 

[Starfighter]

Lol at the last five. Where's Norman Gifford?

Also, Lock hardly counts as a bowler.

 

[a massive zebra]

Lol at the last five. Where's Norman Gifford?

Also, Lock hardly counts as a bowler.

I just picked the guys with 100+ Test wickets, plus Leach who will almost certainly get there. Gifford was nowhere near 100 Test wickets. If we go by first class form, Charlie Parker should be in ahead of Gifford surely.

 

[chris.hinton]

Underwood

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Sir Derek by the length of …….. a very long thing.
Nothing to do with anything much, but I used to live next door to Nick Cook’s cousin and he was with the in crowd long enough to arrange for them to meet Steve Davis.

 

[Slifer]

Verity
Underwood
Lock

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

Verity by some distance.

 

[Migara]

Who would be the best left arm spinner in test cricket?

Verity, Lock, Underwood, Bedi, Shakib, Vettori, Herath . . .? Who would it be?

 

[GIMH]

Also, Lock hardly counts as a bowler.

?

 

[a massive zebra]

Who would be the best left arm spinner in test cricket?

Verity, Lock, Underwood, Bedi, Shakib, Vettori, Herath . . .? Who would it be?

Rhodes and Wardle would be ahead of Lock in my rankings, for sure. Lock's overall average is very misleading. He took 47 wickets @ 7.80 against New Zealand who at that time were amongst the weakest Test sides ever seen. Against all the other sides, he took 127 wickets at 32.15. He averaged over 25 with a strike rate over 74 against every other side. Given the favourable era in which he played, when compared with contemporaries like Laker, Wardle and Appleyard who all averaged under 22, this is a relatively run of the mill bowling resume; despite what his overall average may suggest at first glance from a modern perspective.

 

[trundler]

?

Chucker.

 

[a massive zebra]

?

IIRC, Lock was called for throwing and had one of the most filthy actions ever. Upon reviewing footage of himself, Lock agreed his action was disgusting and endeavoured to remodel it.

 

[a massive zebra]

The throwing controversy

November 3, 1960, will go down as a momentous day in cricket

www.google.com

The attitude to this was summed up by one West Indies writer who, when I suggested that in the best interests of the game he ought to oppose such bowling, replied: "Why should we do anything while you permit Tony Lock to throw?"

..........................

As for England, they have by no means been free of criticism. Tony Lock, the Surrey slow left-hander, for a long time had a suspicious action, particularly when sending down his faster ball. Indeed, he was no-balled for throwing by Fred Price in 1952, yet in 1953-54 he was chosen to tour West Indies where he was again no-balled, three times in one day against Barbados and also in the first Test at Kingston.

To Lock's credit he realised his problems and set about remedying them. Twice he changed his action completely and he obviously made a tremendous effort to put himself right.

 

[Starfighter]

?

Chucker

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Who would be the best left arm spinner in test cricket?

Verity, Lock, Underwood, Bedi, Shakib, Vettori, Herath . . .? Who would it be?

Don't encourage the Jadeja fans to wreck this thread. And as a Kiwi definitely not DV.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Rhodes and Wardle would be ahead of Lock in my rankings, for sure. Lock's overall average is very misleading. He took 47 wickets @ 7.80 against New Zealand who at that time were amongst the weakest Test sides ever seen.

The 1958 NZ side (despite having 2 world-class players in Reid and Sutcliffe) is considered our weakest ever side in over 90 years of test cricket. From what I've read it was a particularly wet English summer and Lock was unplayable.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

The 1st 8 are definitely better than the last 5.

Possible top 5
Verity
Underwood
Blythe
Wardle
Rhodes

 

[BazBall21]

Verity.