Laker simply did not 'do' emotion
"The most remarkable bowling feat in the history of Test cricket, Jim Laker’s 19 for 90 against the might of Australia at Old Trafford in 1956, could have happened 100 years ago, not 50, for all the available pictorial evidence there is of it,"
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
"The most remarkable bowling feat in the history of Test cricket, Jim Laker’s 19 for 90 against the might of Australia at Old Trafford in 1956, could have happened 100 years ago, not 50, for all the available pictorial evidence there is of it," writes John Woodcock in The Times.
Unlike Muttiah Muralitharan, Laker bowled off breaks in the classic manner. Other than relentless accuracy and the fact that their stock ball turned from off to leg, the two have little in common. Laker was not a conjuror in the way that Muralitharan is. He relied entirely upon line, flight, length and pivot, although, to the young cricketer, he always emphasised the importance of spin. “Concentrate first,” he would say, “on learning how to spin the ball. Then hammer away to control it with length and direction.”
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo