ICC's suggestion to outlaw use of natural body secretions (sweat and saliva) to shine the cricket ball has opened the proverbial Pandora's box!
Latest to join the discussion is Australian leg spin legend Shane Warne! He was an innovator if nothing else, using the revolutions on the cricket ball to make it talk! Now he suggests making the ball weighted ... heavier on one side of the seam (sutures) that keep the two pieces of the leather half-globes together!
For the uninitiated, weighting the ball makes it move very differently in the air than simple laws of physics (wind tunnel effect) would suggest. This is where the art of bowling acquires a finesse!
Sowing seeds of doubt in the mind of batsmen is the first objective of a bowler. That done, 75 per cent of the job is over. Remaining depends on the skills of the player(s) in question. Can the bowler breach the defence or will the batsman's innate skill keep him out of trouble?
The idea of a weighted ball has its roots in the "science" of reverse swing!
Laws of motion suggest that any surface with lesser resistance tend to move faster than that providing great friction! So a normal cricket ball tends to swing away from the shiny side if delivered with an upright seam. Reverse swing happens when the uneven distribution of weight of the ball makes it swing towards the shiny (weighted) side, taking batsmen by surprise!
Getting the ball ready for reverse swing is part of the responsibility of the fielding side while keeping all such efforts hidden from the eagle eyed umpires as well as the probing cameras!
For spinners too the slightly older ball with sheen on one side makes sense as it allows drift in the air, depending upon the revolutions imparted! Drift takes the spinners' delivery away from the direction in which the ball is being turned. Warne was a master of the craft as were some of the spin legends like EAS Prasanna and Bishan Bedi.
If the ball is off-balance right from the start, the element of surprise is taken away and batsmen will be able to easily read after a couple of deliveries what is being sent down!
A bowler's life is tough enough as it is without making it more difficult by these new-fangled innovations that will make cricket even more a batsman's game!
Latest to join the discussion is Australian leg spin legend Shane Warne! He was an innovator if nothing else, using the revolutions on the cricket ball to make it talk! Now he suggests making the ball weighted ... heavier on one side of the seam (sutures) that keep the two pieces of the leather half-globes together!
For the uninitiated, weighting the ball makes it move very differently in the air than simple laws of physics (wind tunnel effect) would suggest. This is where the art of bowling acquires a finesse!
Sowing seeds of doubt in the mind of batsmen is the first objective of a bowler. That done, 75 per cent of the job is over. Remaining depends on the skills of the player(s) in question. Can the bowler breach the defence or will the batsman's innate skill keep him out of trouble?
The idea of a weighted ball has its roots in the "science" of reverse swing!
Laws of motion suggest that any surface with lesser resistance tend to move faster than that providing great friction! So a normal cricket ball tends to swing away from the shiny side if delivered with an upright seam. Reverse swing happens when the uneven distribution of weight of the ball makes it swing towards the shiny (weighted) side, taking batsmen by surprise!
Getting the ball ready for reverse swing is part of the responsibility of the fielding side while keeping all such efforts hidden from the eagle eyed umpires as well as the probing cameras!
For spinners too the slightly older ball with sheen on one side makes sense as it allows drift in the air, depending upon the revolutions imparted! Drift takes the spinners' delivery away from the direction in which the ball is being turned. Warne was a master of the craft as were some of the spin legends like EAS Prasanna and Bishan Bedi.
If the ball is off-balance right from the start, the element of surprise is taken away and batsmen will be able to easily read after a couple of deliveries what is being sent down!
A bowler's life is tough enough as it is without making it more difficult by these new-fangled innovations that will make cricket even more a batsman's game!
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