It’s the eternal question posed to Shane Warne. Where did all of those kids go who were supposed to be inspired by the leg-spinning wizard?
You know the ones.
Australian backyards were meant to be filled with kids mastering the art of wrist spin.
They’d toss the ball from right hand to left hand a couple of times before walking in, ripping it as hard as possible and then staring at their opponent with a look that said “that one didn’t get you, but the next one will.”
His career was supposed to leave a lasting impression on Australian cricket.
Australia’s spin stocks should be bulging at the seams, but instead we’re left with just a few to choose from and among them a right arm leg-spinner is hard to find.
This week, while pumping up the tyres of the looming Big Bash League and his role with the Melbourne Stars, Warne was asked about that missing generation again.
If answered properly, he said, we’d need 30 minutes to understand, but put simply it boiled down to a lack of support at a crucial stage of development.
“You need encouragement and I think sometimes the captaincy at junior level, that I’ve found with a lot of the kids with my kids getting older and a lot of kids playing junior cricket, that when they do get to 14 or 15 or 16 and they get smacked around the park, they bowl a few double bouncers the encouragement isn’t there,” he said.
“They get taken off and the captain says this is a bit hard lets just go with a medium pacer.”
“So, a lot of people that had a lot of talent around 15 or 16 and want to do it they’re going to lose interest.”
Now, that may seem like over-simplifying what is a complicated problem.
Not every kid who bowled a half tracker that bounced three times before spinning only with the aid of the edge of the synthetic pitch was going to be the next Shane Warne, but it’s not the first time I’ve heard stories of young spinners getting sent for an extended thumb twiddling excursion after a few bad overs.
Leg-spin isn’t easy. In fact, it’s the hardest thing to do in the game.
Unfortunately, patience at all levels is in short supply.
Not many captains will persist with any bowler who is getting belted.
Just how many kids lost interest and as Warne went on to say found going to the beach easier and more enjoyable is impossible to calculate.
Still, the fact is that there’s never really been a stand-out heir to the throne.
It seems too easy, even a little bit absurd, to lay the blame at the feet of a series of mid-teen captains across the country.
Instead, what was formerly head office, must take some of the blame for the shortage.
Whether it be through a lack of talent identification, a lack of coaches skilled in spin at different levels throughout the game or just a general lack of foresight while the good times rolled on, Australia remains without a genuine leg-spinner today.
The debate has now moved on to whether we need one in the future.
The depth in Australia’s pace stocks has never been better and whether Australia’s selectors load-up with gun slingers and include another batsman who can bowl a little bit of spin will be interesting to see.
It might just be easier to blast teams into submission than persist with spin.
Then again, isn’t that what Warne was talking about?
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Oh, on that topic ... Ricky Ponting is absolutely one of those inept, damaging and incompetent captains.
ted
Guest
ha ha gold
Jason
Guest
You can probably add Macgill and Mailey to that list of strong individuals with an up yours attitude which pretty much covers the entire list of outstanding to great Australian leggies.
Bayman
Guest
Sheek, I'll be there!
lolly
Guest
Spin bowlers are very useful in T20, that is why they frequently open the bowling. Sure they get smacked around from time to time but that happens to everyone.
Dingo
Guest
I thought we had the AIS cricket academy there to identify and train, up and coming cricketers, they surely would have been given a memo to do their utmost to uncover another Ken doll ...............I mean Warne. The chance of finding another Shane Warne is almost as remote as finding another Don Bradman though. Also, can you imagine the pressure and expectations placed on someone the media and public alike would instantly dub "the next Shane Warne". At least you could look forward to burrowing into a hot babe like Liz though, that should be inspiration enough.
ChrisW
Guest
No dillema with Schwarzer, goal keepers are just able to last to a longer age, once he does retire we have plenty of good goal keepers, brad jones plays for liverpool, Langerak plays for Borussia Dortmund, matt ryan is just 20 and is a future socceroos, theres on thing we're good at producing and thats goal keepers.
Arthur Fonzarelli
Guest
Warne's teeth are like an eclipse, its dangerous to look at them for too long.
ted
Guest
I cannot take him seriously anymore.....looks like the "Riddler" unmasked.....
sheek
Roar Guru
Bayman - about time you "surfaced." See you Monday. ;-)
Tom Dimanis
Roar Pro
I'd like to see Shane Warne actaully get involved in the development of our kids, maybe spend some time at the academy or set up a few clinics around the country and try to promote spin bowling amongst our juniors. Leg spin bowling was just about dead before he came on the scene - it's up to former champions like himself to keep certain disciplines in cricket alive.
Max
Guest
I could write an over by over account of my time spent with my closest mates playing Warehouse Cricket in Brisbane a couple of years ago. I think the best thing that our team had was comraderie and a friendship that no opening stand could faulter. I distinctly remember an opener getting his hundred after being dropped 10 times, and each time was more hilarious than the first, he actually congratulated us for helping him get there as it was his first, classic banter all round. I am a legspinner and was always chosen first change, for the season I took 25 wickets, our top wicket taker, at an average of 16ish. Ripping leg break stumpings and skyed shots resulted in caught and bowleds but honestly the best part was the celebrations, every wicket was celebrated as if we had just won the match outright, everyone was straight in and ruffling of the hair ensued. Even after I was smacked for consecutive 6's (four of them) down the ground, my captain and best mate kept me on, the whole team believed in me getting him. I was kept on until I got his wicket. It wasn't about the runs, it was about letting me get my redemption. My team never let go of belief and in this instant I got my man, he tried to go down the pitch once more but the ripping top spinner bounced more than he thought and caught the top edge, the ball came down with snow on it and I took the catch right over the stumps and in the process took them out, the umpire chuckled and I gave that batsman a bit of a send off, how could I not?!?! Brilliant day. Days like that make cricket. Spinners need days like these to keep the dream alive. Spinners need captains that will bowl them to the death because that's how we operate, we operate to plans and plans take time.
Bayman
Guest
Everybody has said it, and it's true - patience is the key. If the plan was to develop cricketers then leg-spinners would, presumably, come through in this modern era just as they did in the old days. If however, as I suspect, captains from all grades and all age groups are trying to win matches then leg-spinners are often the first to feel the brunt of a captain's displeasure. Today, we can't buy a spinner, let alone a competent leg-spinner, but in the days just after the war Australia probably had the best four or five leggies in the world - most of whom struggled to get a game at Test level because of the competition (Dooland, Ring, McCool etc.). Those with a "We must win at all costs" mentality are probably not the best people to be captaining leg-spinners. Of course, the clubs are also to blame because they also insist on wins first, player development second. Certainly in the modern game with so many incomes depending upon the win/loss ratio of the team (at any level) then careers will also come first to the detriment of a promising spinner's future. Throw in the fact that most modern youngsters want everything today and you can see the problem. In 1953, on the Ashes tour of England, Richie Benaud approached Bill O'Reilly to find out how to bowl (I think) the flipper. A session in the nets with Bill and all the secrets were revealed to the young 'Benords'. Just as the two were about to part company at the end of the session O'Reilly stopped Benaud and said, "Richie, there's just one more thing." Upon enquiry from Benaud as to what that might be, O'Reilly added, "It will take you three years to learn to do it properly." Benaud had the patience, and the desire, to spend those three years to learn how to do it and it was, as O'Reilly suggested, about three years before Benaud felt confident enough to try it in a first class match. Today, I doubt too many have that sort of patience - or desire - even allowing for an improvement in the attitudes of the captain. I suspect Bee Bee is right. The next leg-spinner will be a fellow who's a bit different to the norm. But then, history shows that's exactly what most leggies have always been. O'Reilly, Grimmett, Warne, even Benaud, have all been strong individuals with an "up yours" sort of attitude. I guess they've always had to be like that. A lesson for modern players, administrators, coaches and fans. There's nothing new under the sun.
matty119
Guest
It was 2006/07
Cameron
Guest
when I was younger, I played as a leg-spinner. Then, like you said, I was constantly taken off after I had one bad over. This was despite me having the best bowlers for my cricket team for the past 5 years. I was also the leading wicket-taker and because I was constantly told to stop bowling after one bad over, I lost interest.
sheek
Roar Guru
Bee Bee, Perhaps. Once upon a time characters could be of any craft - openers, batters, keepers, fast-men or spinners. You didn't need to be of a particular craft to be a character. Although maybe it's a sign of the times - a lack of collective patience. To be a good spinner requires patience & years of dedication. The same applies on the field. The captain & fielders require patience with their spinner(s). And finally the game requires patience for spinners. Used to be a time a pitch was prepared to showcase all the skills of the game - early bounce & movement, then becoming a good batting strip before turning late (generally speaking).. But we live in different times it seems. Spinners aren't designed for the instant consumption of T20. I reckon they will go the same way as mammoths, dodos, round-armers & test cricket. I don't see the will from administrators to save either spinners or test cricket.
Luke Doherty
Roar Guru
Hey Matty, if you don't mind me asking - what year did you play green shield?
Brett McKay
Expert
Warney's bang on, Luke. I've long aired the opinion that Shane Warne was both the best and worst thing to have happened to the development of spin bowlers in Australia. Simply because - as Warne points out - any kid that can't bowl ripping leg breaks from ball one, that can't contain batsmen to less than three an over, and who dares to concede a boundary while 'giving it some air' is instantly removed from the attack. The problem is not wholly about young spin bowlers; it's just as much about their captain's attitude toward young spin bowlers..
matty119
Guest
What Warne says is exactly correct. Not only to do with confidence in the bowler, but understanding them, how they get their wickets and what fields to set. Unfortunately Warne's once in a lifetime ability was a double-edged sword. Everyone wants to be like him, but captains also expect people to be like him, so you'll see the 14/15 yr olds he talks about with three men under the bat. It's just not the right thing to do with some leg-spinners. I've experienced exactly what he is talking about as a leg-spinner with young captains as well. I rarely got a bowl in school cricket as the fields were so small that a top edge would go for 6 and I'd be replaced, which meant I had to focus on batting to stay in the team. Despite that I kept at my bowling away from school and was selected in the UTS Balmain (now Sydney) Green Shield team. My coach Mark Atkinson (former Tasmanian and Australia-A Keeper) picked three spinners in the squad seeing them as a spectacular advantage for a young squad, and one which could get us on top of more simplified batting lineups. Unfortunately despite his protestations, our captain refused to bowl us for longer than three or four overs each, as soon as a boundary or two was hit, we were replaced by a medium pacer. In the end the captain was replaced, but the season was over by that stage, and our development was seriously hurt. Come the end of the season, two of the top three strike rates were from the two leg-spinners in the squad. Of those three I was the only one who wanted to continue playing at a higher level and kept working to earn a spot in grade cricket, but unfortunately nothing much changed at that level. I've seen my own team destroyed by a spinner in their 13th or 14th over after taking some time to settle in, yet never got that opportunity myself. Six seasons of grade cricket and two clubs later I decided that I was over fighting a losing battle, and have since dropped down to playing park cricket with a few mates, and funnily enough, taking wickets because there are very few spinners (let alone leg-spinners) at this level of cricket. It is the first time in years I have really enjoyed my cricket, and while that has to do with other factors in addition to being stuffed around as a bowler, it identifies a complete lack of understanding regarding spin bowlers and captains.
Chris
Guest
To be honest, if you are trying to learn leg spin, an actual cricket match is about the worst place you can do it. It takes hundreds of hours in a backyard or a net by yourself to learn it. Only once you can consistently land it on the pitch at a decent pace, whilst also turning the ball, should it be actually bowled to anyone.