Weird or wonderful? The cricketing ambies
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By Kersi Meher-Homji, 14 Oct 2009 Kersi Meher-Homji is a Roar Expert
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- Cricket, Greg Matthews, Jack Gregory, kepler wessels, Richard Hadlee, Vinoo Mankad
Australia's Michael Clarke belts a six from a Muralitharen ball, Australia v Sri Lanka first test - AAP Image/Tony Phillips
By “ambies” I do not mean the ambulance men who save our lives and properties. Michael Clarke is one. Richard Hadlee was another. So were Jack Gregory, Vinoo Mankad, Greg Matthews and Kepler Wessels. And about 140 others.
I mean the ambidextrous Test cricketers who batted right-handed and bowled left-arm, or the other way about.
I’ll start with Michael ‘Pup’ Clarke, who scored a century in his Test debut against India at Bangalore in October 2004 batting right-handed. A month later, in the dusty Mumbai Test, he captured 6 for 9, bowling left-arm spin.
Although they did not bowl in the above series, the Australian left-hand opening batsmen Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden have bowled right-arm at Test level. Same for England’s left-hand opening bat, Marcus Trescothick.
It’s not always black and white, nor left or right, when it comes to cricketers’ dexterity.
Some instances:
* Champion Indian right-handed batsman Sachin Tendulkar signs autographs left-handed and plays table tennis both right and left-handed.
* Master bats Brian Lara of the West Indies and Australia’s Mark Taylor batted left-handed but bowled and write with the right-hand. Taylor also plays golf right-handed.
* The West Indies greats Clive Lloyd and Alvin Kallicharran and England’s elegant David Gower batted left-hand but write with their right-hand.
As an occasional spin bowler, Pakistan’s prolific right-handed batsman Hanif Mohammad could bowl right-arm and left-arm. Against Somerset at Taunton in 1954, Hanif reverted to left-arm spin to claim his maiden first-class wicket, clean bowling Roy Smith.
And for sheer inconsistency, have a look at Zimbabwe’s Flower brothers, Grant and Andy. Grant batted right-handed and bowled left-arm orthodox, Andy batted left-handed but bowled right-arm off-break (when he did not keep wickets).
Here is a country wise break up of ambidextrous Test cricketers:
RHBat-LABowl = right hand batsmen who bowled left arm.
LHBat-RABowl = left hand batsmen who bowled right arm.
The ambidextrous cricketers who have achieved the Test double of 1000 runs and 50 wickets are listed below:
Have I missed anyone? Are these cricketers weird or wonderful or just versatile?
They certainly add to the appeal of cricket.
These days, some batsmen (notably England’s Kevin Pietersen) play the reverse sweep shot, confounding the bowlers, fielders and the fielding captain.
Is this fair? Is it life-threatening for one fielding at silly point if the batsman changes his orientation without warning?
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Freud of Football said | October 14th 2009 @ 5:02am | Report comment
Kersi, you’ve missed the most ambidextrous of them all!
Ian Harvey, former Australian all-rounder who possessed that wicked slower ball. He batted right handed and bowled his medium pacers right handed too but he is fully “ambie”.
I was at a game at the MCG and remember he had to chase a ball, the batsmen thought with the ball on his left side they’d get one on the arm and he picked it up and ripped it in with his left hand, all in one fluid motion affecting the runout from the boundary. Now THAT is ambidextrous, they didn’t call him “The Freak” for nothing.
And if you ever run out of ideas Kersi I have a request if I might. Most people know that Warne played AFL for St Kilda as a junior, the Waugh brothers were pretty handy footballers and from memory, Ponting plays his golf off a pretty impressive handicap but I’m sure you could find some more interesting talents away from the sport than that, I’d love to see what you could come up with.
Brett McKay said | October 14th 2009 @ 7:41am | Report comment
Kersi, you have missed another pair of inconsistent brothers: MIke and David Hussey are both right-handed, and the story goes that Mike switched to being a leftie after watching Allan Border. Both throw and bowl right-arm. Adam Gilchrist, I have a sneaking suspicion, throws and writes right-handed, but clubs bowling left-handed.
This a great piece by the way, thoroughly enjoyable read…
If you’re starting a list of ambidextrous Roarers, then you can stick “B.McKay” at the top of your list. Like Mark Taylor, I am right-handed for everything in life expect batting, putting on the golf course, and swinging an axe. I can only put my left-handed batting down to possibly having my left-handed uncle standing behind me holding the bat when I was first learning the game.
Funnily enough, a long term club team-mate of mine, who has done a lot of junior rep coaching is actually of the opinion that I’m going about it the right way, and that naturally right-handed people batting right-handed are wrong. His theory is that by being naturally right-handed batting left-handed, my dominant hand (my right) is the top hand in my grip, and therefore I “should” have more control than would someone whose dominant hand is their bottom hand. It’s a very sound theory, but I debunk the theory with a love of using the bottom hand. I’ve also fallen into the typical leftie trap of enjoying the sight of the ball disappearing over midwicket, and so perhaps my bottom hand is having a little too much say..
As for golf, well my first round as a 15yo comprised playing the front nine left handed, and the back nine right handed. The back nine was two shots better, so I play golf right handed. However, just to confuse people, I’ve stuck with putting left handed, because it’s very similar to my batting grip and stroke.
And for some reason, I swing an axe left-handed. I have no idea why…
Freud of Football said | October 14th 2009 @ 5:15pm | Report comment
How strange, at school it always seemed so cut and dry. Learning your left from right with the kids who wrote with “the wrong hand” always seemed weird but it seems everyone does certain things weird.
I learnt to write left-handed and after breaking my arm while I was still learning I changed to write right-handed and I do so quite well.
I consider myself a right-hander, I bowl and throw right handed but can bat with either hand, a particularly useful skill in baseball I found as once you start playing at a higher level and coaching begins to take over from individual talent this is something they love having at their disposal.
I can kick a footy (footy should only ever be used for AFL btw, it’s the only code where you score with your feet) with both feet quite well but a football (now we’re talking soccer if that wasn’t clear) only right-footed.
Further I shoot left handed, play golf-right handed but putt left-handed and write text messages with my left hand.
deft touch said | October 15th 2009 @ 12:36am | Report comment
Brett, your team-mate is definitely correct. By having your dominant hand at the top of the bat you play much better on the front foot. You also play better off your pads if the ball is full. The bottom hand adds the extra bit of power in those strokes but it’s the top hand that does all the work. I too love the bottom handed hoik over mid on, but the cover drive is just as good, surely?
Brett McKay said | October 15th 2009 @ 7:55am | Report comment
Deft, I’ve always been a front footer anyway, I’ve always preferred playing straight. And yes, deep mid-wicket is straight!!
Kersi Meher-Homji said | October 14th 2009 @ 10:23am | Report comment
Thank you Freud and Brett ‘Ambi” McKay, for your additons and encouraging comments.
Freud, I’ll start researching on your idea of Double internationals. Test cricketers who represented their countries in other sports, viz. Brian Booth represented Australia in the 1956 Olympic hockey.
Watch this space next week for Dual internationals.
Freud of Football said | October 14th 2009 @ 5:18pm | Report comment
Very good Kersi. We need a space for suggestions for you. No-one researches like Kersi!
Chris said | October 14th 2009 @ 10:30am | Report comment
It is not always black and white. I write left handed, bowl left handed, play tennis left handed (with a two handed backhand), kick left footed, play table tennis left handed and – in the extremely unlikely event I will ever have to engage in a sword-fight – sword-fight left handed. On the other hand I am a Right handed batsman and right handed golfer (which is lucky as my fellow lefties require more expensive equipment in that sport!). By comparison one of my left handed friends does all of these things left handed – except he kicks with his right foot.
Spare a though for Rafael Nadal – he is naturally right handed in everything (including tennis) but his uncle forced him to play left handed to develop his forehand. He now plays left handed professionally.
Chris said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Update: I borrowed my friend’s left handed golf clubs the other day to see how I would go. Turns out I am a much better putter left handed (although everything else is about equal).
sheek said | October 14th 2009 @ 11:11am | Report comment
Apparently, arguably the greatest left-handed batsman of all, South African Graeme Pollock, did everything else bar hold a cricket bat, right-handed!
He bowled right-arm, wrote with his right hand, played golf right handed, etc.
Kersi Meher-Homji said | October 14th 2009 @ 11:49am | Report comment
Chris,
My elder son is like your left-handed friends. He is a complete left-hander in everything but kicked the football with his right foot.
Sheek,
I remember reading in a book that Graeme Pollock’s mother would teach little boy Graeme how to hold the bat right-handed. But before she would go back to the bowling crease, Graeme would revert back to his left-handed stance.
What a pity, his country’s apartheid policy robbed Graeme Pollock of breaking all Test records. He was a marvellous batsman. I saw him score a magnificent century on TV in the Adelaide International for World XI against Australia in early 1972.
Kersi Meher-Homji said | October 15th 2009 @ 8:13am | Report comment
Freud,
I was delighted with your compliment, “No one researches like Kersi”. I must give some credit to my friend Rajesh Kumar, a noted cricket statistician from India.
Also being a research scientist (now retired) helps. A Virologist, I have done research on polio, small-pox, HIV and hepatitis viruses in Mumbai and Sydney.
So in a way I am an ambi (ambivalent) too, a Virologist and a cricket writer / statistician. Wish I was a good cricketer! I tried.
Whiteline said | October 19th 2009 @ 11:27pm | Report comment
Brett
you are right. The marvelous A.C Gilchrist is right handed in everything else except batting. Even plays golf right handed.
Professor Rosseforp said | December 5th 2010 @ 3:33am | Report comment
Some people are ambidextrous and could bat or bowl with either hand.
Some people are very left- or right-sided, others are mixed up and use left for one activity and right for the other.
Leonardo da Vinci could draw with left and right hand simultaneously!
But batting has always been a two-handed activity, and I suspect it has less to do with handedness than with preference for forehand or backhand strengths.
You don’t hear it as often now, but when I grew up, it was axiomatic that left-handed batsmen were strong hookers and pullers and leg glancers and they tend to drive on the onside, i.e. they were playing backhand shots. I bat “left-handed” and at tennis my strength is backhand. At table tennis I play no forehand shots at all. The lefthanded batsmen who could cut or square drive were often really left-handed off the field.
The other interesting part of this is that many people have a dominant eye, and this may determine their choice of stance. In some test cricketers, you can see that one eye is much more developed than the other one, after years of concentrating on the ball. The most obvious recent case is Mark Taylor — although I can’t remember which is his big eye! I think Botham may have been another.
Kersi Meher-Homji said | December 5th 2010 @ 7:44am | Report comment
Thank you, Professor,
Very informative.
When I see Mark Taylor in the Press Box during the Sydney Test next month, I’ll try to observe his bigger eye and keep you informed. Taylor bats left-handed but plays golf right-handed.