Bowled over by left-handers

Left-handed bowlers are doing the right things in world cricket at the moment.

The first Test between England and India had as many as four left-armers in action. All four did a splendid job on a good Test wicket at Lord’s.
England’s Ryan Sidebottom and Monty Panesar and India’s Rundra Pratap Singh and Zaheer Khan exploited the conditions very well with incisive spells.
Sidebottom, with his rock star looks, started off in 2001 as a steady bowler who could slant the ball across the right-handed batsmen. He did nothing of note and was relegated to the wilderness until his recall this summer against the West Indies.
Hard work for his county, Nottinghamshire, and with a few more tricks up his sleeve, Sidebottom returned to the England side with success. He has learnt to get the ball back into the right-hander which has reaped him rewards.
If Sidebottom maintains his consistency then there are at least two tours ahead of him this winter – one to Sri Lanka and the other to New Zealand. If he does make it to New Zealand, then those wickets will certainly suit his style of bowling.
However, Sri Lanka may be a different proposition and Sidebottom will have his work cut out on those slow, low pitches.
Sidebottom must also set his sights on being the first English left-arm paceman to take over a 100 Test wickets. The highest wicket taker in this category is still Bill Voce who famously played in the Bodyline series of 1932-33. Voce took 98 wickets in 27 Tests.
The last English left-arm paceman to make an impression was John Lever, who took 26 wickets in his debut series against India in 1977. Lever finished with 73 wickets in 21 Tests but his bowling lacked bite after his initial successes.
Panesar has brought unbridled enthusiasm, joy and skill to the England team. Till last summer the English selectors were caught in a debate on whether to play Panesar or his rival Ashley Giles.
Former coach Duncan Fletcher preferred the left-arm over the wicket defensive stuff which Giles delivered to the attacking bowling of Panesar.
Panesar, however, took his chance and performed so well that Giles has now become a distant memory in English cricket. Panesar is a real character and a crowd-puller.
His celebrations after taking a wicket and his sometimes comic fielding have made him very popular wherever he plays.
Zaheer is finally doing what India expected him to do – become the strike bowler of the team. There was always a nagging suspicion in the early days of his career that Zaheer was never fully fit and his attitude questionable.
He also lacked concentration which led to him leaking a lot of runs in his opening spells. The Indian selectors did him a favour by dropping him from the side for a longish spell.
Zaheer took advantage of this absence to improve his skills and fitness. He had a great season with Worcestershire in 2006 and subsequently was back in the Indian team. There has been no looking back since.
Singh got off to a fine start in Test cricket on a featherbed wicket in Faislabad against Pakistan last year. He took five wickets in that game and won the man-of-the-match award.
Though he did not cement his place in the side despite that performance, he was always in the frame for a recall. His performance at Lord’s was splendid. He showed the virtues of line and length and value of using his pace judiciously.
The bouncer with which he got Paul Collingwood out was a real beauty.
India have been lucky in that they still have two more left-arm bowlers who may feature again in the team. All-rounder Irfan Pathan is in the doldrums at the moment but it is only a matter of time before he wears the India cap again.
Ashish Nehra is another fine left-arm paceman who may win a recall. Nehra, however, is injury-prone and this has curtailed his progress.
The champion left-arm paceman today is Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka. Though he has lost a lot of his pace of late, he still manages to bend the ball nicely both ways and picks up wickets regularly.
Among the spinners, Daniel Vettori is still going strong and is the best in his trade.
The left-handed bowler always adds another dimension to cricket and luckily there a still a few world-class performers around to keep the flag flying for the breed.

By Babu Kalyanpur
babu.kallianpur@tradearabia.net