The great bowling of Syd Barnes
Lets stick on to Barnes today as well. ALthough he is regarded as probably the greatest bowler ever, his bowling style is a bit of mystery to some of the fans. I ran into Jack Fingleton's peice on him which sheds more light on it. Here is a short extract from Fingo's essay.
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".... Barnes learnt a lot about swing bowling from Noble. Barnes began, as most bowlers do, as a fast bowler, but he soon learned that there was more to the business than sheer speed.. He experimented with finger-spin, both off and leg, and it was as a mediu-paced spinner that he was singled out for the Australian tour by MacLaren.
... Barnes not only wanted off-breaks and leg-breaks from the pitch. He wanted movement in the air as well, and in England he studied the great English left-hander, George Hirst. The normal swing of a right hand bowler to a right-hand batsman with the new ball is from leg to off. Similarly a left-hand bowler will swing in from off to leg-- as Hirst did.
Barnes practised with his leg-break allied to a certain body action at the moment of delivery and hey presto! he found movement in the air similar to Hirst's natural swing. But observe these important differences in the technique of Barnes and let me illustrate them by referring to Maurice Tate, one of the greatest of all bowlers. Tate was a glorious mover of the new ball, mostly from the leg and with tremendous whip off the pitch. His swing (as distinct from swerve, which comes from spin) was gained by holding the ball in the normal fashing with the line of stitches facing the batsman. This swing comes late in the ball's flight, and the ball, off the pitch, continues on in the direction of the swing- that is, towards the slips. A nightmare of a ball, too!
When Barnes swung in the air from the leg, by spin, the ball turned back from the off. When he swung in from the off, with his leg-break action, the ball gripeed the pitch with its spin and turned from the leg. In the case of Hirst- and Alec Bedser, with his in-swing, being a right hander- the ball, on hitting the pitch, continues out towards the leg-slips. Thus Barnes's swerves broke from the pitch in directions different from the normal swings.
'At the time I was able to bowl these,' Barnes recently told me by letter, ' I thought I was at a disadvantage in having to spin the ball when I could see bowlers doing the same by simply placing the ball in thier hand and letting go; but I soon learned that the advantage was with me because by spinning the ball, if the wicket would take spin, the ball would come back against the swing... I may say I did not bowl a ball but that I had to spin, and that is, to my way of thinking, the reason for what success I attained.'
In Barnes's first Test innings against Australia, Charlie Macartney was at the bowler's end when Barnes clean bowled Trumper. 'The ball was fast on the leg stump,' said Mccartney, 'but just before it pitched it swung suddenly to the off. 'Then it pitched, broke back, and took Vic's leg stump. It was the sort of ball a man might see if he was dreaming or drunk.'
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".... Barnes learnt a lot about swing bowling from Noble. Barnes began, as most bowlers do, as a fast bowler, but he soon learned that there was more to the business than sheer speed.. He experimented with finger-spin, both off and leg, and it was as a mediu-paced spinner that he was singled out for the Australian tour by MacLaren.
... Barnes not only wanted off-breaks and leg-breaks from the pitch. He wanted movement in the air as well, and in England he studied the great English left-hander, George Hirst. The normal swing of a right hand bowler to a right-hand batsman with the new ball is from leg to off. Similarly a left-hand bowler will swing in from off to leg-- as Hirst did.
Barnes practised with his leg-break allied to a certain body action at the moment of delivery and hey presto! he found movement in the air similar to Hirst's natural swing. But observe these important differences in the technique of Barnes and let me illustrate them by referring to Maurice Tate, one of the greatest of all bowlers. Tate was a glorious mover of the new ball, mostly from the leg and with tremendous whip off the pitch. His swing (as distinct from swerve, which comes from spin) was gained by holding the ball in the normal fashing with the line of stitches facing the batsman. This swing comes late in the ball's flight, and the ball, off the pitch, continues on in the direction of the swing- that is, towards the slips. A nightmare of a ball, too!
When Barnes swung in the air from the leg, by spin, the ball turned back from the off. When he swung in from the off, with his leg-break action, the ball gripeed the pitch with its spin and turned from the leg. In the case of Hirst- and Alec Bedser, with his in-swing, being a right hander- the ball, on hitting the pitch, continues out towards the leg-slips. Thus Barnes's swerves broke from the pitch in directions different from the normal swings.
'At the time I was able to bowl these,' Barnes recently told me by letter, ' I thought I was at a disadvantage in having to spin the ball when I could see bowlers doing the same by simply placing the ball in thier hand and letting go; but I soon learned that the advantage was with me because by spinning the ball, if the wicket would take spin, the ball would come back against the swing... I may say I did not bowl a ball but that I had to spin, and that is, to my way of thinking, the reason for what success I attained.'
In Barnes's first Test innings against Australia, Charlie Macartney was at the bowler's end when Barnes clean bowled Trumper. 'The ball was fast on the leg stump,' said Mccartney, 'but just before it pitched it swung suddenly to the off. 'Then it pitched, broke back, and took Vic's leg stump. It was the sort of ball a man might see if he was dreaming or drunk.'
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posted by Sriram Veera at 2:28 AM
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