Bob Dubery: Ashley Mallet addresses the SA Cricket Society (Aug 28 1996)

Spin bowlers are often referred to as the "conjurors" of cricket, and so it was entirely appropriate that Australian test spinner Ashley Mallet should follow in the footsteps of countless showbiz magicians and ask for a "volunteer from the audience" when he addressed the Cricket Society of South Africa on August 28th.

The game volunteer was asked to keep wicket whilst Mallet showed his audience the various spinner`s grips and the resulting balls. Bowling on a carpet with about 5 meters between himself and the erstwhile `keeper, Mallet moved the ball several feet in either direction and also produced top spinners and not one but two different flippers.

"This is Shane`s regular flipper", he said - showing us the grip and then bowling the ball which bounced rather more than expected, "And then THIS one is the one he gets Darryl Cullinan with".

Earlier, Mallet was introduced by South African test spinner Clive Eksteen, who described the Australian, bought out by the UCB every year to coach both the experienced spinners as well as the aspirants, as the best spin bowling coach in the world. Judging by the various party pieces that Mallet performed he knows more than a little about what he described as "an art".

Mallet described himself as a spin revivalist. He was coached by the great Clarrie Grimmett and is steeped in the history and folklore of spin bowling. And he considers that the cricketing world is becoming richer as spin once again assumes prominence.

Asked why spin bowling had nearly disappeared from international cricket, Mallet placed the blame squarely with Clive Lloyd`s hugely successful West Indian team: In his opinion, Lloyd needed to slow the over rate down to 12 or less an hour in order to keep his pack of fast bowlers fresh and that meant that spinners and medium pacers would have very few opportunities.

Mallet had the figures to back up his contention: "In Bradman`s day if a test team scored at 3 per over they`d have over 500 runs on the board at the close of play. In the 1980s against the West Indians you could score at the same rate and get less than 220!"

He also spoke of the roles that TV commentators play in the devaluation of spin bowling. "Alan Donald bowls a long hop to Mark Waugh", he said "and Mark cuts it for 4 then that`s great batting. If Paul Adams bowls it wide and goes to the boundary then it`s poor bowling".

Ashley Mallet is probably best remembered for a single over that he bowled against Western Province. He went for 31 runs off of those 6 balls - 30 of them accounted for by 5 sixes from Mike Proctor. What is not perhaps as well remembered is that in his next over Mallet drew Proctor forward and dismissed him. In between those two overs Doug Walters took him aside and said "well, Ashley. that`s got rid of the reds, now he can start on the colours".

Advice for aspirant spinners? "Bowl it from above your eyes", he said "If the ball comes down from a height then it`s harder for the batsman to judge the flight than if he can look down at the ball from the moment it leaves your hand." This principle had been impressed upon him by Grimmett who urged Mallet to master the basics and to keep his own technique simple: "Cricket`s a hard game to play when you keep it simple", said Mallet, "but when you complicate it then it becomes impossible".

He also advised that the spinner should develop the skill of varying the the degree of spin and especially the speed of his deliveries, but that these variations should be kept subtle. "The minute a batsman can pick your pace then he can dominate you".

Mallet is in South Africa to coach spinners of all ages and levels of experience - including the unorthodox Paul Adams. Mallet said that he was not going to try and change Adams "frog in a blender" action, but that he thought that a small change in that bowler`s hand position at delivery time would render him more effective.

Mallet took 693 wickets in his first class career. He enlarged upon that statistic by noting that he took 692 with off-spin and one (Lawrence Rowe`s) with the only leg break that he bowled in test cricket.