Putting a spin on things
Can SA bowlers handle World Cup conditions?
Spinners in danger of being selected for 2019’s World Cup in England might want to look for something else to do for those few weeks‚ or pull a hamstring.
The conditions will enlarge the already unfair advantage over bowlers that batters have been gifted by wrong-headed playing regulations‚ and the slow poisoners seem set to be left with the important but thankless task of keeping it tight while the seamers get on with the real job.
At the last World Cup in England‚ in 1999‚ spinners were almost as scarce as uncalled legside wides on the lists of the top 10 bowlers.
They featured twice among the wicket-takers‚ once in the averages of bowlers who had sent down at least 20 overs‚ twice in the best bowling performances‚ once in the economy rate stakes‚ and not at all when it came to ranking strike rates.
In 1999, there were no power plays and none of the massive influence T20 has and is having on the 50-over game. But other things‚ like the weather – and so the conditions – stay the same.
“The weather in England plays a big role‚” Claude Henderson said on Wednesday‚ a day before leaving his home in Leicester to return to his position as SA’s spin consultant.
“If it’s like it is now‚” he said of the bleak wintry weather‚ “it’s very hard for a spinner to be a strike bowler.
“But if the sun comes out and bakes the wickets‚ they take more turn.”
That should be the case seven months from now in an English summer.
He agreed that SA’s spinners would be better equipped in 2019 than those from Asia‚ who are accustomed to the luxury of surfaces that do half the bowling for them.
And spinners are dedicated students of the game and readily tailor their bowling for whatever the situation.
“Our spinners are so skilled now that they are far more capable of striking whatever the conditions,” he said.