A fascinating book on cricket's finest bowling spells is inspired by The Roar

One of the pleasures of writing for The Roar is that you make friends with famous sports personalities you had never met before.

I knew only Spiro Zavos and David Lord when I wrote my first article for this site in 2009.

Since then I have made new friends: Sheek, Brett McKay, Bayman, Vinay Verma (alas no more), Glenn Mitchell, Ronan O’Connell, Geoff Lemon, Tim Lane, among others. Also working with friendly, helpful and hard-working editors: Zac Zavos, Tristan Rayner, Patrick Effeney and Daniel Jeffrey.

Last year, I read an article by a new writer on The Roar. It was on magical bowling spells and I was engrossed. Wow, I said to myself, this is something different as the article combined history, statistics and sheer excitement.

I posted a comment on this story on The Roar and we started corresponding. The author of that article is Anindya Dutta. He invested heavily in the topic and the series of Roar articles evolved into a book the following year, titled Spell-Binding Spells.

Author Anindya acknowledges The Roar glowingly in the book: “The team at The Roar gave me the forum to express myself as a sports writer and the readers whose fantastic feedback to my writing gave me the confidence to write this book.”

The foreword is by India’s elegant batsman, VVS Laxman, who writes, “This book is a tribute to bowlers, a breed that has never profited from the benefit of the doubt in a sport whose rules have historically always favoured batsmen.

“This nice little treasure is a reminder that we must ensure that the history of this game continues to get passed on from one generation to the next.”

Legendary Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble adorns the cover of the book bowling his googly. This gives the book a “pick me up and buy me” appeal. Kumble’s unbroken spell of capturing all ten Pakistani wickets for 47 runs in the 1999 Delhi Test is the highlight of the book.

Banker by profession, author Anindya waxes lyrical describing England off-spinner Jim Laker’s match figures of 19 for 90 against Australia in the Manchester Test, which included all ten wickets in the second innings 43 years before Kumble’s Delhi magic.

Cricket devotees know about these amazing feats. But did you know that only one person, businessman Richard Stokes, watched both these incredible ten-for spells live?

Spell-binding Spells abounds in such little-known nuggets.

Also flashed in 3D effect is the mesmerising spell of England’s current quick, Stuart Broad, who captured eight Australian scalps for 15 runs in 9.3 overs in the 2015 Nottingham Test.

(AP Photo/Jon Super)

The book took my mind back 38 years ago when Pakistan’s reverse swing specialist Sarfraz Nawaz converted an unwinnable Test into a memorable win in the 1979 Melbourne Test. Needing 382 runs to win, Australia was cruising at 3 for 305 with Alan Border and Kim Hughes going great guns.

Anindya writes, “From nowhere, Sarfraz has conjured up a spell that earns him seven wickets at the expense of one run.” Sarfraz finished the innings with 9 for 86 and Pakistan won by 71 runs as the Aussies lost their last seven wickets for a paltry five runs. The next day’s headline screamed: “Aussies Sarfrazzled!”

I was stunned listening to the radio commentary in 1979 and am stunned even now reading this chapter.

Many such dramatic spells colour Anindya’s book. There is a full chapter on incredible spells on bowlers’ debuts and farewells. He emphasises India’s small, moustached, bespectacled teenage spinner Narendra Hirwani’s eye-catching first Test when he gobbled up 16 West Indian wickets in 1988 in Chennai Test.

Anindya does not stick to Test cricket alone; he enumerates brilliant spells in ODIs and Twenty20 matches.

Most striking is the chapter titled: ‘Magnificent spells, heart-breaking losses’. Among those is Michael Clarke’s amazing spell of 6 for 9 in the 2004 Mumbai Test against India. Despite this, Australia lost by 13 runs.

Another heart-breaker is Charles Palmer’s spell of 12-12-0-8 in a county match between Leicestershire and Surrey in England in 1955. In spite of this super feat, Leicestershire lost by seven wickets.

There is also a chapter on astonishing bowling spells by bowlers who never represented their countries.

Memorable quotes lace the book: “Minefields lie in the eyes of the beholder”, “Shahid ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi was never about elegance, always about adrenaline; and pure unadulterated hormone-inducing, blood-pressure-raising, heart-stopping entertainment”, among others. For an ODI against West Indies in Guyana in 2013, ‘Boom Boom” grabbed 7 for 12 in Pakistan’s 126-run victory.

The research by the author on 50 of these magical spells is staggering, spanning over 140 years – covering Tests, first-class matches, ODIs, Twenty20s and matches played in the USA and Canada.

USA’s Bart King was called the King of Swing. In a match against Canada in 1906, he had sensational figures of 8 for 17 in 11 overs. Against Gentlemen of Ireland in 1909 he dismissed all 11 batsmen, clean bowling ten of them.

The book is unique in the sense that it uses present tense throughout. Thus even a match played a century ago reads like it is being played now, in front of your eyes!

Anindya’s book raises questions: Why did Gary Gilmour, with an ODI bowling average of 10.31, and leg-spinning great Clarrie Grimmett, after capturing 13 wickets in a Test, never represent Australia again?

Spell-Binding Spells is a book not only for cricket experts and gurus but also for those who want to read an exciting tale with sensational and surprising endings.

Spell-Binding Spells: Cricket’s Most Magnificent Bowling Spells by Anindya Dutta is published by Notion Press. It is available on Amazon.