Australia is a land of fast bowlers. Its cricket history is replete with tales of ferocious fast bowlers starting with Fred Spofforth who terrorised English batsmen in the 1880s and was called The Demon. Over the years Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, and many others left an indelible mark in world cricket.
But there were also a few very successful spin bowlers. The foremost among them was undoubtedly Shane Warne. He finished with a tally of 708 wickets in Tests, and 293 in ODI matches. In his autobiography titled No Spin, he described some of the tricks that he employed to deceive the batters. Early in his career, Warne realised that his battles with the batsmen were not only about physical aspects and skills but also about obtaining a psychological edge over the rival.
Warne has written: “I took Terry Jenner’s advice to size up a batsman by studying him closely. How he walks to the crease, how he grips the bat, takes his stance, and studies the field – all these help you to make a mental dossier on him.” Over the years Warne became quite an expert at judging a batsman’s mind. This helped him to devise ways to destroy his confidence and make him nervous.
Creating doubts
To create doubts in the batter’s mind Warne employed a variety of tricks. He would change the rhythm of his bowling. He would either follow one delivery with another in quick succession or slow down and use longer gaps between each delivery. Sometimes he would take a shorter run up and sometimes a longer one. He never allowed the batsmen to mentally settle down in a comfort zone.
Or he would adjust the field by minute quantities. He would send a fielder back by one step only to recall him to the original position after one ball. He would pretend to be undecided and consult his captain or a teammate. All this was to upset the batsman’s focus and make him believe that something new was being planned.
At the end of his career, Warne’s huge tally of wickets was a testimony to his skill at playing these mind games.
Ball of the century
About the prize wicket of England’s Mike Gatting with a ball that has been named The Ball of the Century, the Aussie leg spinner has written that in a first-class match earlier, the tall England batter Graeme Hick had blasted him (Warne) for 8 sixes. All of Warne’s tricks had failed to unsettle Hick. So Warne was not in top morale when his skipper Allan Border threw the ball to him and instructed: “Don’t let Gatting settle down.”
Warne has written: “I was fighting with the demons in my head. It was chilly and made me nervous. I stood at the top of my mark and looked at Gatting who seemed determined to thwart my plans. I had many doubts. But finally, I told myself, to hell with it. Make the ball fizz like you have never done before, I told myself.”
“I remember bowling that ball and letting it go. From the moment it left my hand I knew that it was going to be special. But the outcome of every ball depends on the batsman’s mindset and his decision on how to deal with it. The ball pitched outside the leg stump and spun a long way.
“Gatting seemed to be momentarily caught in two minds. He played half-forward and missed the line of the ball completely. It spun right across him and hit the off stump. Momentarily the world stood still. Everyone seemed to be frozen in shock. Gatting looked at the pitch as if it had played a trick on him and then walked away. After that we all went berserk,” Warne narrated.
Think like a captain
It was former Australian skipper Ian Chappell who gave Warne the best advice of his life. Ian told Warne to watch his captains closely. “If you think like a captain, you will succeed as a bowler. Always use your mind and try to figure out how to rattle the opposition,” Chappell told him. The more games that Warne played the more his understanding grew and the rest is history as the popular saying goes.
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