CW decides the greatest test spinner ever. 43 names: Countdown/Rankings thread

[mr_mister]

#39. Bernard Bosanquet, 13 points

Featured on 2 of 35 lists
Highest finish: 11th (1 time)
Ranking within spin discipline: 14th of 16 (Leg Break Googly)
Test WPM ranking: 34th of 43 (3.57)


Best known as the inventor of the googly, Bosanquet must go down as one of the most influential cricketers of all time. He could pinpoint the moment the idea came to him and the first Australian wicket he took with it bowling a bemused Victor Trumper out with it in 1903. Bosanquet only played a mere 7 tests, the shortest test career of anyone on this list. 8 of his 25 wickets came in one innings. He averaged a very respectable 24(though maybe not for the time) but it's a bit of a wonder he didn't play more test cricket after inventing such a deadly weapon. I know there's all kind of reasons for short test careers back then ranging from loyalty to your county to not wanting ride a ship for 2 months. Either way he still goes down in history as the clearly identified originator of the googly and deserves a spot here for that honour alone.

 

[Starfighter]

Hmm, I think even Bosanquet himself would acknowledge he wasn't a very good bowler. Changed cricket history though. The reason he didn't play more was that he didn't have enough control and couldn't get the time off to play regularly. He played most of his later career as a batsman.

 

[mr_mister]

#38. Aubrey Faulkner, 14 points

Featured on 2 of 35 lists
Highest finish: 11th (1 time)
Ranking within spin discipline: 13th of 16 (Leg Break Googly)
Test WPM ranking: 41th of 43 (3.28)



One of the best all-rounders of all time, Faulkner was originally a bowler before his batting became arguably his stronger asset. A test average of 26 with the ball looks great but a lot of his peers in the golden age averaged much lower. Mind you that makes his batting average of 40 look even more impressive. His stats still make for interesting reading. He only took a little over 3 wickets per test, placing him near the bottom of this list but his strike-rate was a very solid 51. So I guess lack of overs in the later tests he played was a reason for that.

He averaged 21 against England but a whopping 50 against Australia, it seems Trumper and Hill could play him easily enough. His most successful year was 1910, where he took 32 wickets @ 24. This was also his best year with the bat averaging 66 and probably one of the nicest set of all-round stats ever produced across a calendar year.

 

[mr_mister]

Equal 36th. Bert Vogler, 15 points

Featured on 3 of 35 lists
Highest finish: 9th (1 time)
Ranking within spin discipline: 11th of 16 (Leg Break Googly)
Test WPM ranking: 16th of 43 (4.27)


The leg-spinning partner of Faulkner, Vogler was considered to be that slightly bit better with the ball. He featured in South Africa's first ever series win against England in 1906, but his best year came in 1907 where he took 15 wickets in a 3 test series against England and became in some circles known as the best bowler in the world. Not sure how that sat with Sydney Barnes. He had a brief test career of just 5 years and his FC career only spanned 7. Not much more for me to say but he ranks as South Africa's second best ever spinner.

 

[Starfighter]

Geez, who's last on the WpM? I mean, I've said over and over again (and will repeat here) that it's a rubbish measure, but I'm intrigued all the same.

 

[mr_mister]

Equal 36th. Arthur Mailey, 15 points

Featured on 2 of 35 lists
Highest finish: 12th (1 time)
Ranking within spin discipline: 11th of 16 (Leg Break Googly)
Test WPM ranking: 11th of 43 (4.71)


The millionaire is another favourite of mine and I feel very undervalued in this list. Prepared to buy a wicket at any cost, Mailey paid no concern to his average or economy rate, he just wanted to get his man out. A noble position to take but it probably resulted in him being slightly forgotten as bowler. He was the first of many legendary spinners Australia produced in between the two wars, a lot of them leggies. A lot of them averaged far better than Mailey too, but Mailey probably spun the ball more than any of them. A true leg spinner. The first war delayed his test debut to the extent he was 34 before he got to play one. He came onto the scene with a bang, taking 36 wickets in his first series, an Australian ashes record that stood for over half a century. And this was against a team starring Hobbs, Hendren and Woolley. He took 30 wickets in the last 3 tests of that series, including a 9 fer which is still the most any Australian has ever taken in a test innings. Despite taking 36 scalps he came fourth in the bowling averages for Australia, behind Kelleway, Armstrong and Gregory. Such was his style I suppose.

He didn't do too much else in his test career, playing a reserved but useful second fiddle to Gregory/McDonald in the next ashes series in 1921 which Australia won 5-0. 1921 ended up yielding him 55 test wickets, over half his career total. I believe the ying to his yang, the miser, Grimmett, was a factor in his test career coming to an end in 1926. A bit of an upgrade. Mailey was 40 by that time but Grimmett wasn't much younger. I've also read Mailey has issues with the Australian cricket board as well. Either way, despite an average of nearly 34 he took nearly 5 wickets a test, placing himself right near the top of that list.

One of the most interesting stories about Mailey is from a piece he wrote about the day he got to play FC cricket against his idol, Trumper. Or perhaps it was just a club game. Either way it happened before the war when Mailey was a young pup. He managed to snare his hero's wicket with one of the first balls he bowled to him, clean bowling him. He likened the bittersweet feeling he got from this as 'feeling like a boy who's just shot a dove'.

 

[mr_mister]

Geez, who's last on the WpM? I mean, I've said over and over again (and will repeat here) that it's a rubbish measure, but I'm intrigued all the same.

Thought it'd be quite obvious actually. I reckon you could guess it with a bit of thought.

 

[the big bambino]

Bradman said that Mailey's wrong 'un was the hardest to pick.

 

[Starfighter]

Thought it'd be quite obvious actually. I reckon you could guess it with a bit of thought.

I was gonna say 'not when I can't remember who's been picked and too lazy to look it up'. It's Rhodes isn't it?

 

[mr_mister]

I was gonna say 'not when I can't remember who's been picked and too lazy to look it up'. It's Rhodes isn't it?

yep and by a huge margin.

 

[mr_mister]

35th. AP 'Tich' Freeman, 17 points

Featured on 3 of 35 lists
Highest finish: 8th (1 time)
Ranking within spin discipline: 10th of 16 (Leg Break Googly)
Test WPM ranking: 3rd of 43 (5.50)


We've now had 7 leg spinners appear in a row and are already into the top 10 for that category.

Tich Freeman, if we based this purely on FC stats, would have to be one of the greatest bowlers of all time. He only stood 5'2, making him the shortest bloke on this list. But it didn't stop him from taking a bucketload of wickets on the domestic scene, including 300 in a season, a ridiculous stat. He comes in second for the all time FC record for total wickets at just under 4000. He got them in nearly half the amount of matches played as Rhodes who took more than him(but in fairness to Rhodes he played a large portion of his career as a batsman). Tich was the last pre WW1 player still playing FC cricket, lasting nearly til the outbreak of the second world war, finally wrapping his career up in 1936 at the age of 48.


Tich's test career was very brief but certainly effective. In only 12 tests he took an astonishing 66 wickets, placing him 3rd on the WPM rankings in this list. He wasn't a lone wolf either, his test career overlapping with both Tate and Larwood's. An average of 25 is very solid as well though he mainly played against South Africa and the West Indies. I can only think his age prevented him from playing more test cricket, making his debut at the ripe old age of 36(which seemed to happen a lot in the 1920s) and playing his last test at 41 which I suppose is definitely old enough to retire from internationals.

 

[a massive zebra]

During the 1920s some county sides were first class in name only, having being completely decimated by the Great War. No one could rout these mediocre county sides like Freeman, but he really was exposed as a liability when up against quality Test batsmen and he therefore struggled to make the England side for most of his career.

Top county batsmen and nearly all international players had the ability to completely nullify his flight and spin with their quick footwork and straight bats, and Freeman never had enough skill or variety to deceive these players. For an example of how massively his fortunes changed when up against completely different standards of opponent, note that Freeman took :

• 231 wickets @ 11.59 against Leicestershire and 253 wickets @ 11.71 against Northamptonshire, two of the weakest county sides of his time.
• 142 wickets @ 26.06 against Surrey and 153 wickets @ 25.86 against Yorkshire, two of the strongest county batting sides of his time.
• His average in Tests against Australia was a monstrous 57.37.

 

[the big bambino]

Freeman's average against Surrey is still pretty good. He had a wrong 'un and a particularly good top spinner that Bradman had trouble detecting. The SA side of the late 20s through the 30's in underrated here. Freeman's bowling basically won the 1929 series against them. Freeman's matches against Australia were all in Australia where spinners struggle. Pity he never got a chance against Aus in England. Still I'd rate him lower than Mailey.

 

[mr_mister]

That 57 stat was only from two tests though it should be mentioned

 

[Red]

#41. Jack Iverson, 10 points

Featured on 2 of 35 lists
Highest finish: 13th (1 time)
Ranking within spin discipline: 16th of 16 (Leg Break Googly)
Test WPM ranking: 19th of 43 (4.20)


I could only find one pic of Iverson bowling and it was too big. So we're going with this little gem, showing his uncanny and unique grip of the ball. This grip allowed him to be basically a mystery spinner, as he could bowl many variations from off to leg breaks without changing his grip and giving away the type of delivery to the batsman. I've still lumped in under Leg Break Googly as that's what cricinfo lists him as, though his bowling style was quite the anomaly. A WW2 vet who bowled pace before the war, he averaged 15 from his lone test series against England(at 36 years of age) and will forever be labelled a big what-if. Would his style have eventually been found out by batsman like others who have bowled 'mystery spin' ala Ajantha Mendis? Who knows. I'm not sure how much Mendis and Iverson's grips differed, perhaps Iverson's would have been more sustainable. But he suffered an injury in that single test series he played, never fully recovered from it and only played a few more seasons of FC cricket. No doubt his age was a factor in never bouncing back properly from this injury. His brief career landed him a solid place in history though and a place on this list.

Haigh's book "Mystery Spinner" is in my top two all time Cricket bios.

 

[AndrewB]

Equal 36th. Arthur Mailey, 15 points

He didn't do too much else in his test career, playing a reserved but useful second fiddle to Gregory/McDonald in the next ashes series in 1921 which Australia won 5-0.

They won the 1921 series 3-0; it was the 1920-1 series that they won 5-0.

As you say he's slightly forgotten as a bowler, but at least is remembered as a writer and wit.

 

[Starfighter]

Still the only Australian to take nine wickets in a test innings too.

 

[AndrewB]

Tich was the last pre WW1 player still playing FC cricket, lasting nearly til the outbreak of the second world war, finally wrapping his career up in 1936 at the age of 48.

His team-mate Frank Woolley was still playing pretty regularly in 1938 (as was George Geary). There were a few players (including another Kentish man, Bill Ashdown) who played at least one match before WW1 and after WW2.

 

[mr_mister]

Ah my bad. Went a bit out on a limb there

 

[mr_mister]

#34. Sonny Ramadhin, 20 points

Featured on 5 of 35 lists
Highest finish: 14th (2 times)
Ranking within spin discipline: 13th of 13 (Right Arm Offbreak)
Test WPM ranking: 30th of 43 (3.67)


Dunno about that action ha. Ramadhin and his spin twin partner Alf Valentine(who unfortunately didn't make the list at all) always sit equal in my mind despite being very different type of bowlers. They famously came to prominence as the spin twins in the 1950 series against England where they took a crazy 59 wickets between them. Ramadhin took a little less that series but ended up with the better record over the rest of their careers, which spanned the 50s and leaked into the early 60s. They were both known for bowling mountains and mountains of tight overs.

Ramadhin, the first West Indian with an Indian background to play tests, seemed to bowl an old version of the doosra. Or at least it's been written that he could produce both off and leg breaks with the same action. He often bowled with a cap and had his sleeves buttoned up to the wrist, a bit quirky. There's Gibbs, Ramadhin and Valentine and then there's daylight 4th for West Indian spinners, they really were a rare breed. But for a brief period in the 50s the Windies were producing some of the best spinners in the world.