the middle allround order

[Notts Exile]

that's why I often end up with figures like 7-0-40-3 !!

[Tom Partis]

mmmm, i'd love to get into more competitive cricket but sadly lack the time, money and ability to avoid injury. i'm also real lazy. but i do think that if i didn't have so many problems with my shoulders i would be more inclined to play cricket properly. ah the curse of being 6'1 and rake thin.

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Tom Partis

ah the curse of being 6'1 and rake thin.

thsat would have been easy 6'4 and rake thin, try that! then put some weight on ... it really helps!! I can hit the ball so much further now!

[Tom Partis]

i do try!

i'm a definite rabbit when it comes to batting. if i got hit on the arm at a decent rate it would probably snap. i do like playing spin though. just cos most people don't spin it, so it's just slow bowling and you can get down the wicket to it. i'm first and foremost a bowler, but there is little more satisfying than dancing down the wicket (not literally...) and connecting with one right in the sweet spot.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Best way to combat that (as 6'1 ) I used to be painfully thin. Due to work etc, I gave up cricket, and most forms of excercise. Now I'm 6'1 and fat. If i manage to play again I'll be lethal !

[Teatime FatCat]

How about being 6ft and 'wheelbarrow fat'. It's true - with a bit of meat on you can hit the ball alot further. However, I'm a spinner and when you get lardy it's almost impossible to put any decent action on the ball and spin it well. Probably why Vettori turns it and Blackwell doesn't.

Actually, come to think of it, were there any successful, tubby, spinners (and you can exlude Warne 'cos he's just freakishly good)?

[Notts Exile]

Eddie Hemmings never had any problems, though he was spinning it less and less as he got older. Nigel Cowley at Hampshire and later Glamorgan was similar, and John Emburey was never slim! They all used to spin it, just enough to make life interesting.

[Tom Partis]

wasn't bishan bedi a porky spinner, or am i confused with someone else? well before my time so i'm quite probably wrong. first name that came to mind though.

[Teatime FatCat]

Don't think Bishen was porky at all, in fact I think he was a bit tiny. He certainly isn't big now - although he's not a Murali fan! I saw him quoted as saying Murali "had a future in the Sri Lankan Olympic javelin team".

On the 'old' board I seem to remember people slagging embers a little bit for being a pants spinner. I always thought he was pretty good, if a little defensive, abd for a while was the best we had. He worked best in tandem with Edmonds though - anyone know which had the better record?

'Spinning it enough to make it interesting' - I like that. That's something that I can aspire to!!!!

[Scott-Wozniak]

Originally Posted by R W S

I'd go farther and say we should develop the yorker for use in test cricket as well. Especially will our tall bowlers. I'd like to hear Joel Garner's advice on the topic.

When England were playing the last test against the West Indies, I actually wrote to the Sky sports Commentators (those watching may have heard David Lloyd mention this) as to why, when the bowlers seemed to use the slower ball a lot, they wern't bowling any yorkers. I don't think I saw one of the English bowlers bowl one single yorker at the WI batsman in that first innings - and I noticed with interest that the WI bowlers used it a fair bit, when they came to bowl.

David Lloyds response - Good question - I don't know!

Scott