Leg Spinners: Stories and Anecdotes

The googly even though discovered over a hundred years ago gives connoisseurs the same fresh pleasure every time it is bowled. Here is one that we draw from arguably one of the finest books by a cricketer. If you have read Arthur Mailey’s “10 for 66 and All That”, you will immediately recall the unforgettable chapter on Mailey’s first encounter with the ‘immortal Victor Trumper’. After all his anxiety and suspense, Mailey had a chance to bowl to him. A couple of perfectly good leg breaks were driven with absolute authority to the off-side ropes. Realizing that he might not get another over, Mailey decided to try his then newly invented googly. He tossed it up and saw Trumper coming down the wicket. The ball swerved out (unlike the leg break which would have drifted in). Trumper, uncertain, made the adjustment to play it away from his leg but the googly sneaked through between bat and pad. Trumper didn’t attempt to regain his crease; he just smiled at Mailey, shook his head and said “that was too good for me, son” and walked away. Mailey says he felt no triumph - he felt like a boy who had killed a dove.

Grimmett perhaps the most industrious and accurate of leg spinners, kept adding variations continuously to his bowling. To the extent that when batsman started recognizing his flipper because they could hear the snap of his fingers, Grimmett the wily fox, started bowling leg breaks with a snap of the fingers of his left hand! This amazing leg spinner’s book “Getting Wickets” is a much recommended reading for slow bowlers.

Tiger O’Reilly was so unplayable that when Len Hutton composed an All Time Best England XI to play Australia, he included Maurice Leyland. When questioned about selecting Leyland over more illustrious players, Hutton said that this left handed batsman had the best record against O’Reilly and that alone was enough in Hutton’s book to earn him this honour! The Don himself rated O’Reilly the greatest bowler he had seen.

Tich Freeman ranks stunningly high among leg spinners despite having just 66 Test wickets. Next only to Wilfred Rhodes in the number of first class wickets, he has the amazing record of being the only bowler in county cricket history to take over 300 wickets in a season and also the only bowler to have taken 10 wickets in an innings thrice. Can you imagine an English leg-spinner taking over 200 wickets every season for eight consecutive years without resorting to some seam and swerve in typically English conditions? The Wisden in its description of Freeman says no such thing – this very short man was quite simply a very remarkable leg spinner; classical slow leg spinner with deceptive flight, tremendous control and the full repertoire of leg break, top spinner and googly. Freeman played just 12 Tests but his match winning ability was overwhelming – 10 wicket hauls in 3 of his 12 matches simply mean Freeman gave his side a winning chance by his very presence.

For the authors, two Indians have a special place in our hearts. Subhash Gupte was nothing less than a sight for the Gods! Subhash had a lovely action and his right hand would do a kind of “S” before delivering that was truly captivating. Subhash had good control, fine flight and all the variety - including two different googlies. In fact, very often, he would lull batsmen with the easier to spot Googly no.1 and then fool them later with the difficult to pick Googly no.2. He would very often greet new batsmen with a googly first ball. When the Commonwealth team toured India in 1956 he did this to Sam Loxton (apparently forewarned) who calmly pushed the googly away to square leg for a single. As he strolled across for the run, he is supposed to have told Gupte, “don’t bowl me that stuff, Subhash; I can pick it every time”. Loxton later claimed he didn’t get any more googlies that innings. In the Test matches of those days, Subhash would bowl a few away from the turf to the keeper to loosen up when he was first brought on to bowl (after a few perfunctory overs from Ramchand or Phadkar or Umrigar). Immediately there would be a buzz around the ground and 'oohs' and 'aahs' as they watched these preparatory rites. If only Subhash had better close-in catchers to support him (Indian fielders in those days, barring Umrigar, just about caught balls that came comfortably into their midriff!), he would have taken closer to 200 wickets than the 149 he finally ended with against his name. The 3 Ws of West Indies – Weekes Worrell and Walcott – were absolutely certain that Gupte was the greatest spinner they had ever faced.

The second leggie for whom we have a special place in our hearts is the one and only Bhagwat Chandrasekhar who won nearly a dozen matches for India with his bowling. Immortalized for his heroic role in India’s triumph over England at the Oval in 1971, Chandra was a sight to behold when in full flow. Sleeves buttoned down at the wrist, shirt tail flapping, unruly hair flying, a brisk bounding run, 100000 spectators at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata chanting “Chandra! Chandra!” and five predatory close – in fielders waiting like vultures around the bat ... cricket when Chandra bowled had an electricity that has never since been matched. In the series against England at home in 1972, such was Chandra’s domination that he took 35 wickets while the rest of his bowling comrades put together had 40 wickets. He had the Englishmen in such a trance that he even got a batsman caught at short leg of a bouncer, a delivery that Chandra did unleash once in a while.

The best of stories need not be about those on top of the pile. We conclude with a gem about VV Kumar, a fine leg spinner who only played two Tests for India in 1960. This was narrated to Raghunath after he had played a good knock against VV Kumar in a club match at Chennai. Rangan, his cricket crazy captain at Nungambakkam Sports Club, ran the nets for not only his club but for all enthusiastic cricketers in South Madras. Top Madras cricketers would come to the nets in the early 60s and one of them was Kumar. It was during one such outing at the nets that Kumar bowling to Rangan – a good bat himself – impishly wagered that Rangan would not be able to even touch with his bat ten successive legitimate deliveries of his. This mind you, was on matting where the ball does not skid through. Rangan thought he would win the bet easily since even an edge would do. Later Rangan, recounting the scene in his inimitable style said that every ball from VV Kumar buzzed and sang and he could not fathom the turn or fizz even playing back and giving himself extra time and room to put bat to ball. To his utter dismay Kumar won the bet. Kumar in his heyday was that good.

The stories are endless. Leg spin is timeless, infinitely romantic. The fact is that on a placid wicket on the first day morning of a Test match, the fielding side captain depends on his leg spinner to turn on the magic. As the leg spinner and his captain discuss the field placements, as the leg spinner spins the ball from hand to hand, as he licks his fingers and approaches the bowling crease, every person watching the drama waits with bated breath. With a leg spinner as we only too well know, the possibilities are simply endless.