The spin bowlers of the 1980s: Part 1

As the 1980s started, the famous spin trio of India had already said farewell to international cricket.

In England, Derek ‘Deadly’ Underwood was in the twilight of his career. The West Indies had formed a fearsome pace battery and deemed any spin support redundant.

In this scenario, the spinners worldwide had a difficult time in the 1980s. Abdul Qadir was a star of the Pakistan team, but he enjoyed little success outside his home territory. England selectors pinned great hopes in John Emburey. He was generally regarded as the best off-spinner at the time but his average of 38 can’t impress anyone.

Of course, there were a few factors that contributed to the problems of the slow bowlers. The pitches, especially in the subcontinent, became very slow. While the spinners mainly prefer turn in the wicket, the attacking-minded spinners generally enjoy bowling more on hard, bouncy pitches.

There was also a safety-first approach by lot of the captains. Bowlers were often encouraged to keep things tight while the batsmen were looking to save the match first. Using the pad as the first line of defence became very common during this decade.

And finally, the growing number of ODI matches had a negative effect on spin bowlers. Some bowlers, most notably John Emburey and Maninder Singh, struggled to keep the balance between the two fairly different types of the game. Containment rather than penetration was the key word for one-day bowling.

In this two-part article I will be looking at how the spinners from different cricket nations fared in the decade.

Australia
Ray Bright, Jim Higgs, Bruce Yardley, Tom Hogan, Murray Bennett, Bob Holland, Greg Matthews, Peter Sleep, Peter Taylor, Tim May, Trevor Hohns

The long list shows that Australia didn’t have any regular spinner in this era. Also, Allan Border often contributed significantly as a left-arm orthodox spinner.

For the most part in the decade, the spinners played the support role to the quickies, except in the SCG Tests. During the difficult part in the mid ’80s, the SCG became a haven for the Australian spinners as they enjoyed regular success at this ground.

Local boy Bob Holland had two ten-wicket hauls within a year at the SCG to set up victories against the West Indies and New Zealand. But his final Test against India, also at the same venue, became a harrowing experience. India amassed 4-600 in their only innings and Holland took 1-113 from just 21 overs.

In 1986-87, with Holland off the scene, it was Peter ‘Who’ Taylor plus Peter Sleep who ensured a consolation Ashes victory for the home side. But more famous was the success against the West Indies a couple of seasons later.

Allan Border, the Australian captain, became the man of the match as his side won by seven wickets. Winning the man-of-the-match award was nothing new for Border, but this was mainly for his spin bowling.

On the opening day, the Windies slumped form 0-90 to 224 all out as Border took 7-46. And although Desmond Haynes scored a fine 143 in the second innings, Border took four more wickets to restrict the total score to 256. He also contributed 75 and 16* with the bat.

Back in 1981-82, Bruce Yardley – the West Australian offie – had a memorable summer.

(Adrian Murrell/Allsport)

In nine Tests against Pakistan, the West Indies and New Zealand he took 51 wickets. Interestingly, in the first Test of the season, at the WACA against Pakistan, he didn’t have a bowl in the first innings as the Pakistanis were bowled out for only 62. However, he took 6-84 in the second innings to ensure an Australian victory. Of course, other events over shadowed this fine effort.

At the SCG against the West Indies, he took a career-best 7-98. But perhaps his most impressive effort of the season was at the MCG, where he took 4-38 in the second innings to complete a memorable victory for the Australian team.

Greg Matthews took ten wickets in Madras in 1986, bowling with his cap on in sweating heat. But he failed to build on this success.

India
India, the traditional hub of great spinning talents, saw three great spinners leave the scene by 1979. So Dilip Doshi and Shivlal Yadav made their debut against Kim Hughes’ Australia in the autumn. But it soon appeared that they both were defensive-minded bowlers. They were steady but lacking in killer venom.

So, for Indian cricket, the ’80s became a frantic – and in the end, futile – search for a quality, match-wining spinner. However, there were false dawns. Not one, but three.

In Bombay, in November 1984, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan – an 18-year-old leggie from Tamil Nadu – took 12 England wickets (six in each innings) to help his side win by eight wickets, India’s first Test win for almost three years. He took seven more wickets in the next Test in Delhi.

However, Mike Gatting and Tim Robinson scored tons against him in Bombay and Delhi respectively, and in the third Test in Calcutta, it appeared that the English batsmen had already learned how to play him. A continuously diminishing return saw him finish the fifth Test in Kanpur with figures of 0-133 and 0-22.

Sivaramakrishnan, however, finished the season on a high. He bowled impressively throughout the seven-nation World Championship of Cricket in Australia later in the season. Encouraged by both the captain Sunil Gavaskar and the manager EAS Prasanna, he bravely flighted the ball against the best batsmen in the world. He took 3-35 from nine overs in the final victory over Pakistan. His dismissal of both Salim Malik and Javed Miandad – both fine players of spin bowling – in successive deliveries impressed the pundits enormously.

Pakistan’s Javed Miandad. (Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)

He and the team returned to India as big heroes. People of Tamil Nadu were ecstatic because the state was yet to produce a genuinely big star in Indian cricket.

In the end, he became a one-season wonder, as his Test career ended in January 1986. However, he made a couple of cameo appearances in the 1987 World Cup. In Australia, during the 1985-86 season, he failed to command respect from the Australian batsmen on the turning tracks of the MCG and the SCG.

Maninder Singh, a protege of Bishan Bedi, made his debut during the 1982-83 season. The teenager struggled initially, but a more mature Maninder performed admirably in England in the summer of 1986 as India won 2-0. With his orthodox bowling action and lovely variation of flight, he received rich plaudits from Trevor Bailey and Fred Trueman in the TMS commentary box.

The next home season was a memorable one for Maninder as he had two ten-wickets hauls in the Tests.

But then the big change came during the 1987 World Cup, especially in the semi-final defeat against England. As usual, he bravely gave flight to his deliveries. But the English had their plans ready for him. Whenever he pitched the ball outside the off stump, Mike Gatting used his nimble footwork to drive him. He bowled straight, and Graham Gooch swept him. Maninder’s confidence was severely dented.

And fans noticed the effect immediately during the home series against the West Indies. He was bowling much flatter. And he was mostly bowling leg and middle line, trying to contain the batsman rather than trying to get him out.

He lost his place in the team before the season was over, and although he remained on the horizon until 1993, he could never get a permanent place in the team.

In Madras in 1988, Narendra Hirwani – the leg-spinner from Madhya Pradesh – took 16 wickets in his Test debut against the West Indies. He is still one of only two bowlers to achieve a such feat.

I watched the game live via Indian TV and wasn’t overly impressed. The wicket was badly under-prepared. Quite a few West Indies players were in India for more than three months and looked badly home sick. As India closed in on a victory, a number of West Indies tail-enders threw their bats wildly and gave away easy wickets. And finally, at least two of his wickets came from rank full tosses.

However, when he took 20 more wickets in his next three Tests against New Zealand at home, it seemed that India had found a new champion leggie.

Things changed completely during the the West Indies tour in the spring as he struggled to get his line and length correct. In his remaining 13 Tests he took only 30 more wickets.

England
In early 1982, Derek ‘Deadly’ Underwood joined a rebel tour to South Africa and was banned for three years. Thus ended his illustrious Test career.

(Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)

It was a pity because he had 297 wickets and wasn’t far behind Dennis Lillee. At least he went out in a style: in his last Test against Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka’s first ever Test) he took 5-28 and 3-67 to set up an England victory.

John Emburey, with 6-33 in the second, was the other bowling hero for England. Like Underwood, he also took part in the rebel tour. But he returned after the ban, and on his return he promised great things after taking 2-23 and 5-82 at Headingley.

After this he pretty much became a regular member of the England team and even captained the team for two Tests in 1988. Sadly, his average of 38 and a strike rate of almost 105 is very poor for a front-line spin bowler. His economy rate is very impressive – just 2.20.

Needless to say, he was a very fine ODI bowler. And just like Maninder Singh, he couldn’t balance his ODI duties with his Test duties.

Like Emburey, his Middlesex teammate Phil Edmonds failed to show his county form in Test cricket. His average of 34 and strike rate of 96 are only marginally better than his county mate.

For a brief period in 1983-84, Nick Cook – the left-arm spinner from Leicestershire – emerged as the most successful England spinner since Underwood. In fact, in his first four Tests, he took 32 wickets. His best effort came for a losing cause in Karachi in early 1984.

Pakistan took a first-innings lead of 95 despite Cook taking 6-65. After the England batting collapsed again, the Pakistan target was only 65. But Cook bowled a memorable spell, taking 5-18 from 14 overs. Sadly, the off-spinner Vic Marks failed to support him properly in both innings, and Pakistan won the match by three wickets.

Wicketkeeper Anil Dalpat and veteran Sarfraz Nawaz took them over the line. Despite this fine start, Cook’s Test career ended with 52 wickets from 15 Tests.