Non-spinners nowhere near non-effective

From Matthew Davies, United Kingdom

Recently, Graeme Swann stated that spinners who don’t attempt to spin the ball should be “banished from the first-class game”. Spinners who don’t spin the ball have often been criticised, such as the criticism that fell on former England trundler Ashley Giles, especially when he was selected for the 2006-2007 Ashes instead of Monty Panesar, and the results of that series seemed to vindicate all the criticism. Yet, are spinners that don’t turn the ball really as bad as all that?

Swann may have been thinking more of finger spinners when he made his comments, but 619 Test wickets would seem to rebuke Swann’s sentiments. Anil Kumble relied little on spin, especially in later years. Daniel Vettori is another great bowler who depends more on changes of pace, flight and unrelenting accuracy, especially in the one-day game. Vettori’s Test bowling average of 33.98 might not look excellent, but it has to be remembered Vettori often bowls with not much pressure at the other end, a factor someone such as Shane Warne could always rely on when partnered with great pacemen such as Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.

Yet there is some truth to be extracted from Swann’s words. It is not in the first-class game where spinners who don’t really turn the ball are most effective. It is the advent of the one-day game, and especially twenty-over cricket, that has seen them really come into their own. Looking at the 2011 World Cup, there were three spinners who stood out who do give the ball a rip: Swann himself, the legendary Muttiah Muralitharan and new boy to international cricket Imran Tahir. Yet the leading wicket-taker in the tournament was Shahid Afridi, a man who relies again more on variation than big spin. Sulieman Benn, Robin Peterson and Yuvraj Singh also took 42 wickets between them. Tillakaratne Dilshan also took eight wickets, with what was termed by many as “straight-breaks”, at just over four runs an over, and who can forget the trouble he caused Andrew Strauss in the quarter-finals?

Going back to the World Twenty20 of 2010, George Dockrell, Nikita Miller, Ray Price, Johan Botha, Vettori and David Hussey all had economy rates under six, which is very handy in that form of the game, and none of them give it a rip like Swann. Spinners who don’t really turn the ball are an effect of limited-overs cricket, and have become an essential part of the game, as shown by statistics showing their effectiveness. In a form of the game where it is paramount not to bowl loose deliveries, it doesn’t matter how much you turn the ball if you cannot find the correct length and lines or are too predictable, and this is true from the highest level of the game to the lowest. So Swann might have to wait until one-day cricket implodes in on itself before he gets his wish.

It is mostly classicists who criticise this breed of bowler, but it should be recognised that pitches are giving less and less help to spinners, especially those of the finger variety (Jim Laker himself might struggle a bit to take 19 wickets at Old Trafford nowadays), so there is less encouragement to give the ball a rip if the pitch isn’t going to aid your cause. It will take a radical change of direction if we are to see the death of non-turning spin bowlers, and we might as well encourage them while they’re around.