Where are the legspinners?
Oliver Brett, writing in Firstpost, contemplates the lack of legspinners in international cricket and believes that young legspinners must be supported and encouraged in spite of the limited-overs format in youth cricket
ESPNcricinfo staff
28-Feb-2013
Oliver Brett, writing in Firstpost, contemplates the lack of legspinners in international cricket and believes that young legspinners must be supported and encouraged in spite of the limited-overs format in youth cricket, where winning a game is considered more important that nurturing bowling.
So much youth cricket is of a limited-overs nature, and when a game gets tight picking a leg-spinner is considered a gamble not worth taking. Winning the game becomes the over-riding mantra and the "millions of runs" that a young Mushtaq or a fledgling Warne might concede could be costly.
But the more a young leg-spinner is shunned, the more he doubts himself, and given that by its very nature the leggie's action is the most fragile, the most likely to break down, it seems to be so thoroughly defeatist to drain that player's confidence by turning to an off-spinner or a seamer for the sake of economy.