Starfighter
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Anyone else noticed this? You used to see them all the time, but now it's relatively rare. Doug Walters was probably the most well-known one we had, and was succeeded in that stead by Greg Chappell. New Zealand was always a big producer, with guys like Congdon, Coney, R Latham, Crowe (when he had younger, better knees), and Astle turning their arms over when needed. For England Woolmer, Gooch and Butcher all had the odd go. Some of them were quite useful - Ted Dexter arguably took enough wickets to be considered an allrounder, and was regularly used as third pace bowler so England could pursue their (stupid) strategy of selecting two finger spinners. Hansie Cronje was the fifth bowler in SA's ODIs quite often too. But even the more definitely 'part-time' guys like could have their moments.
Part time bowler use - both spin and pace - has certainly declined a lot in ODIs. Thicker bats, more enterprising batsmanship and two new balls is probably to blame. But you don't see part time medium pacers in tests very often either. It's always a spinner - like Root twirling away for England, or Head, Labuschagne and Smith for Australia. And while finger spin is certainly a lot less taxing than trying to bowl over over 120 km/h, I'd be surprised if slow Coney-esque medium pace was significantly more tiring than spin, especially wrist spin.
I suppose effectiveness - perceived or actual - might be a factor. You can definitely be reasonably effective in certain conditions bowling gentle finger spin, whereas it might be perceived that part-time medium pace will only be effective in conditions where you'd select sufficient fast bowling anyway. But of course than cuts against the common employment of part-time spinners in seam friendly conditions where teams have loaded up on fast bowling.
I'd also say there are more quicker bowlers around than there used to be and teams are more willing to pick them and less likely to rely on spinners outside of definitely favourable conditions. For example, Walters took his best match figures in a game in Guyana where had only Walker and Hammond to bowl fast-medium and had both of O'Keeffe and Jenner. Whereas now we'd be more likely to pick a third seamer. But I still do find it surprising how little you see it, especially in tests where there's less danger of being tonked.
Part time bowler use - both spin and pace - has certainly declined a lot in ODIs. Thicker bats, more enterprising batsmanship and two new balls is probably to blame. But you don't see part time medium pacers in tests very often either. It's always a spinner - like Root twirling away for England, or Head, Labuschagne and Smith for Australia. And while finger spin is certainly a lot less taxing than trying to bowl over over 120 km/h, I'd be surprised if slow Coney-esque medium pace was significantly more tiring than spin, especially wrist spin.
I suppose effectiveness - perceived or actual - might be a factor. You can definitely be reasonably effective in certain conditions bowling gentle finger spin, whereas it might be perceived that part-time medium pace will only be effective in conditions where you'd select sufficient fast bowling anyway. But of course than cuts against the common employment of part-time spinners in seam friendly conditions where teams have loaded up on fast bowling.
I'd also say there are more quicker bowlers around than there used to be and teams are more willing to pick them and less likely to rely on spinners outside of definitely favourable conditions. For example, Walters took his best match figures in a game in Guyana where had only Walker and Hammond to bowl fast-medium and had both of O'Keeffe and Jenner. Whereas now we'd be more likely to pick a third seamer. But I still do find it surprising how little you see it, especially in tests where there's less danger of being tonked.
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