Max’s Twenty20 vision includes earning a coveted spot at the IPL
HOW does a young leg-spinner with England aspirations evolve into a T20 specialist whose main ambition is to play in the Indian Premier League?
The obvious person to ask is Somerset’s Max Waller, who has done just that since making his debut for the county back in 2009.
When Max, now 33, signed his latest contract last year it was a twoyear deal to play in the Vitality Blast. This is the time of year when he regularly emerges from the shadows to play a key role Somerset’s bid for success in the shortest format of the county game.
Only Alfonso Thomas has taken more T20 wickets for the club and Waller’s tally of 132 in 133 games, going into last night’s clash with Essex Eagles at Taunton, is the highest by any leg-spinner in the country. He often opens the bowling and has an impressive economy rate of just over seven an over. But he rarely bowls a leg-break and it is a far cry from the plan when he was developing through Somerset’s age-group teams from the age of ten, while attending Millfield School.
When the 2009 season saw Salisbury-born Waller make his County Championship debut, playing in four games, and feature prominently in the Pro 40 League, as well as the Twenty20 Cup, it seemed his future was bright in all forms of the domestic game.
But, for all his T20 success, he has not been selected for the first team in red-ball cricket since 2012 and did not feature in the Royal London Cup the last time it was played in 2019.
He explained: “It’s a situation that developed over time, partly because of the overseas players Somerset have employed. When I first came on the scene, Justin Langer was captain and I played a fair bit of championship cricket.
“I did okay, without taking a huge number of wickets, and after Justin left the club chose to bring in spinners like Murali Kartik, Ajantha Mendis, Abdur Rehman and Piyush Chowla.
“I found myself concentrating increasingly on white-ball cricket, and more recently Jack Leach and Dom Bess emerged to fill the role of spinner in the championship team.
“Although I still played red-ball cricket for the second XI and did pretty well, the opportunity never presented itself for a first-team recall.
“T20 skills are very different from those required to bowl spin in the longer formats and many years ago now I took the decision to focus most of my attention on developing them. This year I will also be playing for Southern Brave in The Hundred, but as far as Somerset are concerned, all my concentration is centred trying to help win the Vitality Blast.”
While Waller admits he would like to have made more of an impression as a championship player, his decision to hone his T20 bowling may yet prove wise in financial terms.
“For players who manage to get themselves around the world in franchise cricket, there is a lot of money to be made,” he said.
“Lewis Gregory and Tom Banton have done that in recent years and it is something I still aspire towards.
“If I can have another good season in the Blast and make the most of the extra exposure The Hundred will give me, the IPL is a realistic goal. All my practice revolves around T20 cricket and I keep looking to improve with bat, as well as ball.
“Variety is the key as far as my bowling is concerned. I bowl less and less leg-breaks because, if you look at the stats of the best leg-spinners around the world in T20, they bowl a high proportion of googlies.
“I try to come up with a new variation every winter by tinkering with my grip and holding the seam at different angles.
“There are about five deliveries I feel confident with – a knuckle ball, quicker ball, googly, back-spinner and leg-break. My economy rate over the years has been good and if I am to make the IPL, I have to take more wickets – simple as that.”
GLOUCESTERSHIRE begin their Vitality Blast campaign against Glamorgan at Cardiff tonight with skipper Jack Taylor in understandably confident mood.
His team have been among the most consistent in the country over the last five years, reaching the quarter-finals four times and last season went one better by getting to Finals Day.
The addition of New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Glenn Phillips as an overseas player should significantly boost the squad, and
Taylor told me: “I think the squad is stronger than last year, with Glenn Phillips and Dan Worrall added. The rest of us know our roles in the side and hopefully we can build on what we have achieved in recent years. We feel we have all bases covered, with a long batting lineup, and good variation among our bowlers. Glenn Phillips will give us lots of extra options because he can keep wicket, bowl off-spin and bat anywhere in the top five.” It was only last November that 24-year-old Phillips hit the fastest ever T20 century for New Zealand, off just 46 balls, against West Indies at Bay Oval. He was eventually dismissed for 108, an innings which included eight sixes and 10 fours, suggesting there will be plenty of entertainment for Gloucestershire supporters when home games start against Sussex tomorrow evening.
Ian Cockbain smashed 399 runs in last year’s Blast at an average of 44.33 and has become a white-ball specialist capable of wreaking havoc, while Chris Dent reemerged as a T20 force with 371 at 33.72.
David Payne and another overseas signing Worrall will lead the pace attack, but one of the secrets of Gloucestershire’s success in the shortest format has been the ability to squeeze opposing batting lineups in the middle overs.
Tom Smith’s left-arm spin and Benny Howell’s bag of tricks as a medium-pacer have confounded some of the best T20 batsmen in the world.
Experts at exploiting the slow pitches at the Bristol County Ground, Gloucestershire will again be relying on home advantage to lay the foundation for another impressive group campaign, and who better to have plotting behind the scenes than coaches Ian Harvey and Mark Alleyne, two of the best one-day players in the club’s history.
Taylor added: “We talk to both of them about their trophy-winning days and it make us even more determined to emulate them.”
Last year’s semi-final defeat by Surrey will still rankle and provide added incentive to reach Finals Day again. Don’t bet against it.