Opinion
Spin bowlers from overseas haven’t had a great time of it in Australia, certainly not in recent years.
That said, there have been some exceptional bowlers and the few mentioned here are the ones I’d happily watch all day.
In 1970, I became acquainted with a bowler nicknamed ‘Deadly’. I’d heard about Derek Underwood and remember looking at his picture in the ABC Cricket Book for that year thinking he doesn’t look too deadly to me. I then spent more than a few frustrated hours waiting for someone to belt him out of the attack, but I don’t recall that ever happening.
I’d heard about Bill O’Reilly and how fast he bowled the ball, but had never seen anyone do it live until Underwood played in Australia. He had a flowing run-up and an action perhaps better suited to a pace bowler, but boy was he accurate.
He never turned the ball much, unless there was a bit in the pitch, but was relentless in his attack on a batsman. He gave little away and was good enough to take 297 wickets at 25.83. I was thrilled when he retired from Test cricket, because it meant he’d stop tormenting Australian batsmen. That hasn’t stopped me from watching him since.
For the first 100 years of Test cricket, only two bowlers had taken 300 or more Test wickets. One was Fred Truman and the other was a great bowler, Lance Gibbs.
The Perth Test from the 1975-76 series has been rightly remembered for the 169 Roy Fredericks made, as well as the hiding the entire West Indies batting line-up gave Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Max Walker, Gary Gilmour and Ashley Mallett. What’s generally been forgotten is the first Australian innings when Gibbs took his 300th Test wicket. At the time, this was a huge deal, again because only Truman had done it previously.
Gibbs had a simple run-up and an open action, but got plenty of spin and bounce, which made him awkward to play. He was also unbelievably accurate, going for less than two runs an over across his 79 Tests. Guys like Muttiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble, both considered accurate bowlers, were not even close to his economy rate.
His career spanned the era from Frank Worrell’s team to the side led by Clive Lloyd and he really was an exceptional bowler.
There are some spinners, like Underwood or Gibbs, who would get batsmen out through relentless attack, building up pressure until the batsman cracked. Then there are others, like Abdul Qadir, who weren’t hugely fussed about accuracy because they could bowl deliveries that could get out the best players in the world.
Qadir was a good, old-fashioned leggie – a bowler who could really get the ball to spin. On his day he could be unplayable, given his wrong‘un was hard to detect and spun nearly as much as his leg break.
It’s hard to describe his bowling action as classical yet he had no trouble taking 236 wickets in 67 Tests. His best Test match was against England when he returned the figures of 37 overs, 13 maidens, nine wickets for 56, then 36 overs, 14 maidens, four wickets for 45. Those are outstanding numbers for any bowler, let alone a leggie.
(Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)
No list of overseas spinners would be complete without at least one Indian player and in this article, there are two.
India, in the late ’60s and through the ’70s, were blessed with four outstanding spin bowlers but my favourite of these was Bishan Bedi.
He was simply great to watch. He had a lovely run-up and bowling action, making left-arm finger spinning look dead easy. He had lots of variation but like all great spinners, his action seemed unchanged. He was really enthusiastic and it didn’t matter if he got out the best bat in the side or the worst, he liked to celebrate taking a wicket.
Bedi also had great passion for the game. He was more than happy to challenge players and officials when he felt that he or his team were hard done by and I’m thinking his approach rubbed off on a few other Indian players in more recent times.
I first saw my next favourite in Australia in 1997 and thought how sad it was New Zealand needed to bring a bloke on tour who’d only just learnt to shave. I stopped thinking that way about Daniel Vettori when Australia went across the Tasman and Vettori picked up 12 wickets in the first Test of the 2000 series.
I don’t think Vettori could be included in the absolute top echelon of world spin bowlers. That might not sit well with Kiwi readers, but to me he epitomises New Zealand cricket.
Vettori made the absolute most of his talent on the cricket field. Not only did he take the 362 wickets, he hit six centuries, averaged 30 with the bat in Tests, held 58 catches and captained his country. He also had to deal with lots of injuries, yet still went out and produced. He’s a very easy cricketer to admire.
My final choice is a right-handed version of Bishan Bedi – a seriously talented bowler who was always up for a scrap, Harbhajan Singh.
Singh had the same sort of jaunty run-up as Bedi and a lovely bowling action. He was absolutely lethal in Indian conditions as Australia found out in 2001 when he took 32 wickets at just over 17 and the ridiculous strike rate of 33.
Singh wasn’t anywhere near as destructive against Australia in other series but that didn’t stop him from having a chirp. My first impression when I saw Singh play was a meek, mild-mannered spinner. Boy, was I wrong. Throughout his career, he gave as good as he got, both with his mouth and with the ball. There’s no doubt he played his part in the Indian Test side’s rise to the top of world cricket.
Finally, a special mention has to go to Phil Tufnell.
He had one outstanding match against Australia in England, picking up 11 wickets at the Oval in the 1997 series.
Overall, though, he had what might be called an underwhelming Test career, though he did provide more than few laughs for Australian players and spectators.
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