Andy Roberts Three Brutual Deliveries to Tony Greig in the First Test 1976 at Nottingham

It is difficult to quantify the impact Andy Roberts had when he first emerged in the early 1970s. Watch this video to witness how Andy Roberts' three brutal deliveries against Tony Greg in the first innings of the 1976 First Test at Nottingham left the captain stunned with a beautiful thunderbolt. Andy Roberts was hitting his stride at a very fast pace at this point in his career.

Dennis Lillee called him the most complete fast bowler he had seen at the time. However, the foundation of his game, at least in the early years, was some significant pace. He was part of the West Indies team that won the first two Prudential World Cups in England in 1975 and 1979.

John Snow feels that Roberts saw reduced effectiveness after being over bowled by Hampshire and West Indies in 1974.

Andy Roberts took 28 wickets in five Tests in England in 1976, including ten in the match at Lord's and nine at Old Trafford. During that series, he reached 100 Test wickets in just his 19th match. At that times, only five bowlers have ever got there faster and none of them was a bowler of true pace. He is still 7^th fastest bowler to reach the 100 wickets milestones in Test cricket.

 If the credit for South Africa's success in the modern era could be given to one player, that cricketer would be Allan Donald. He made his test debut on 18 April 1992 at the age of 26 against the West Indies in the one-off test tour to the West Indies at Barbados, a test match which also marked the historic occasion of being South Africa's first test in nearly 22 years since their readmission. The test match also marked South Africa's first-ever test match against a non-white nation as it was also their first test ever against the West Indies. On his debut, he scored a pair including a 21-ball duck in the first innings. However, he shined with the ball on his test debut picking up six wickets (2–67 and 4–77) for the match inclusive of a four-wicket haul in the second innings. He also picked up the prized wicket of Brian Lara. However, West Indies managed to win the one-off test by 52 runs to take the series 1–0.

Let's watch the Allan Donald's spell.

A classical action and top-drawer pace would have won him a place in any side in his prime, and for much of his career, he was the only world-class performer in the South African team, spearing the ball in, shaping it away, and always making things happen. Often nicknamed 'White Lightning' due to his quick bowling, he is considered one of the South African national cricket team's most successful pace bowlers. He was an integral member of the South African team in its resurgence into international cricket since readmission and played an influential role as a frontline genuine seam bowler to boost South Africa to new heights.  During his playing career, he was known for his bowling speed and aggression on the field.

He is also remembered for his infamous runout during South Africa's loss in the 1999 World Cup semi-final match against Australia. Donald is the first South African to take 300 Test wickets. Donald was one of the top fast bowlers in Test cricket, reaching the top of the ICC Test rankings in 1998, peaking with a ranking of 895 points the next year. In One Day Internationals (ODIs), he reached 794 points in 1998, ranked second behind teammate Shaun Pollock. If speed guns had been introduced in the early part of his career, his bowling speed would have been around 95 mph. Allan Donald's speed decreased due to multiple injuries, but his accuracy never let him down.

He shared the new ball with Pollock from the 1996-97 tour of India until his retirement in 2002. Allan Donald is known for his friendship with Pollock especially when they used to be regular bowling partners for South Africa. Donald described Pollock as South Africa's Glenn McGrath. He featured in four World Cup tournaments for South Africa in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003. Allan Donald played cricket, soccer, and rugby as a child and completed his primary education at the Technical High School.

Nathan Astle 3 Wickets for 4 Runs vs England at Wellington in Feb 2002

In the 2^nd day and night one-day international match between New Zealand vs England at Wellington on Feb 16, 2002. Nathan Astle stuns the English batsman with his medium-pace bowling. He was the final destroyer who took three wickets for four runs to polish off the innings and he was left on a hat-trick as well. On the slow surface, England stumbled to 40 for six and only narrowly surpassed their previous lowest score 86 against Australia at Old Trafford in 2001. England were dismissed for 89 in 37.2 overs. It wasn't a pretty sight, nor was it a comfortable ride for batsmen unprepared to play themselves in, adapt to the pace, and recognize that boundary-hitting was always going to be a luxury on such a slow outfield. Let's watch the Nathan Astle Spell.

New Zealand had to play the conditions on memory but their handling of a difficult pitch to beat England by 155 runs in the National Bank Series One-Day International on WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington was a clinical lesson in adaptability.

Recent efforts by administrators and groundsmen in New Zealand have made these sorts of pitches a thing of the past, and it was only because of watering, to eliminate the scars of last weekend's IRB Rugby Sevens at the same venue, being followed by two and a half days of torrential rain, that this pitch slipped through the net.

That New Zealand appreciated this was obvious from their score of 244/8 - in that score there were only 14 fours and three sixes. Or 74 runs out of 244. That left an awful lot of running to be done by batsmen using placement and timing to gain maximum utility from the ground.

England failed to bowl either the right length or line consistently enough to pressure New Zealand. When confronted by those requirements being met by New Zealand's bowlers, their batsmen couldn't cope.

New Zealand have been looking to develop their batting along these lines and recognition of what was required under the circumstances was a hint of greater consistency emerging. This was England's lowest total they have scored against New Zealand. The previous worst was at Lancaster Park in 1982/83 when they scored 127. In simple words, this was a complete rout. Andrew Flintoff provided some final resistance to score 26 and Ashley Giles hit 12 but the final destroyer proved to be Nathan Astle who took three for four to polish off the innings.

England's fielding was shoddy and three catches were dropped; Nasir Hussain later pointed to a lack of intensity. The crowd had no such problems, particularly during the interval, when Peter Jackson, the director of The Lord of the Rings, stood on the pitch with a microphone and persuaded them to make howling, growling, grunting noises for use in battle scenes in The Two Towers.

Ravi Shastri and Vinod Kambli 124 Runs opening Partnership vs Pakistan at Sharjah 1991

In the sixth match of the Wills Trophy Sharjah Cup on Oct 23, 1991. Indian batsman Ravi Shastri and Vinod Kambli hammer the strong Pakistani bowling lineup by putting 124 runs in the first wicket partnership. Pakistan's bowling lineup consists of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed, Imran Khan, and Akram Raza. Pakistan batted first after winning the Toss and put a challenging target of 257/7 on the slow surface.  Aamer Sohail, 91 Zahid Fazal 39, Saleem Malik 42, and Imran Khan 43 were the major contributors.

In reply, India was well on target to put 124 runs first wicket partnership. Ravi Shastri and Vinod Kambli toying with the Pakistan bowling, but once Vindo Kambli was caught behind, off Aqib Javed's bowling, the rest of the Indian batting didn’t respond well and lost the match by 4 runs. Ravi Shastri 77, Kambli 40, Sanjay Manjrekar 49, and Sachin Tendulkar 49 were the main contributors to India. This was an extremely tense clash between arch-rivals. Aamer Sohail was declared Player of the Match. 

Let's watch Shastri and Vindo Kambli's first wicket partnership.

Ijaz Ahmad 102 not out vs Sri Lanka at Brisbane 1989-90

Ijaz Ahmad scored a hundred against Sri Lanka at Brisbane in the 6^th Match of the Benson and Hedges World Series on February 10, 1990. Sri Lanka Set a stiff target of 253 with the help of Hashan Tilakaratne 61 and Asanka Gurusinha 88.  In reply, Ijaz Ahmad came one down and started playing strokes. He scored 102 Not Out in 100 Balls with the help of 9 Fours and 1 Six in 150 minutes. Pakistan won the match by 5 wickets with 18 balls remaining. He was also declared player of the match. He also took 2 brilliant catches. This was Ijaz Ahmad's 2^nd ODI hundred.

Ijaz Ahmed born on 20 September 1968 in Sialkot. The former cricketer played 60 Test matches and 250 One Day Internationals for Pakistan from 1986 to 2001. His family roots lie in the city of Jalandhar, Indian Punjab. Some of his cousins are still live there. He is a brother-in-law of former Pakistan international cricketer and captain Saleem Malik.

Brian Lara 74 runs vs India at Chennai Willis World Series 1994

In the Ist Match of Willis World Series at Chennai, on 23 Oct 1994, Brian Lara Played sensational innings of 74 runs off 83 balls in 120 mins with the help of 5 fours at the strike rate of 89.15. West Indies were at a comfortable position of 176 for 2, but Once Brian Lara was out lbw by Tendulkar the entire West Indies team bundle out at 221 runs. In reply, India chased the target in 48.2 overs. 

Muhammad Azhar ud din played a super inning of 81 runs in 84 balls with the help of 7 fours. India won the match by 4 wickets. Azhar ud din declared man of the match. Let's watch the Brian Lara innings of 74 runs. Sachin Tendulkar picks up 3 for 36, and Venkatesh Prasad picks up 2 for 38, while Major Prabhakar, Srinath, and Kumble took the 1 wicket apiece. Courtney Walsh, Kenny Benjamin, and Anderson Cummins picked 2 wickets apiece.

Indian won the toss and elected to field first. The ODI # 936 and 50 over match. In this match, Sherwin Campbell made his ODI debut. The umpires were K Parthasarathy and KS Giridharan, while the TV umpire was Rangachari Vijayaraghavan. The match Referee was Raman Subba Row.

14 Years Old Brian Lara

This is the dream of any player to represent his country at the international level, especially when he is young. In this video, you can see 14 years old, Brian Lara playing for West Indies youth cricket. His stance was a little different, but he showed a massive talent. Let's watch a short clip of young Brian Lara.  

The Trinidad international player is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994, which is the only quintuple-hundred in first-class cricket history.

Darren Powell Career Best 5 for 25 vs SL at Kandy 2005

 Daren Powell is born on 15 April 1978 in Jamaica. A former right-arm fast-medium bowler played 37 Test matches and 55 One Day Internationals for the West Indian cricket team. He started his cricket career as an off-spinner. However, when his club was a seam bowler down in a match, he chose to switch his bowling action to fit the situation. He took seven wickets in the match while bowling seam.

A right-arm pacer, who hits the deck hard. Darren Powell took a magnificent career-best spell of 5 for 25 vsSri Lanka in the 2^nd Test match at Kandy. Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Geyan Wijekoon, Rangana Herath, and Lasith Malinga were the victims of Darren Powell. However, West Indies lost the Test match by 240 runs. Let's watch his wickets.

On 21 June 2002, Powell made his international debut. He took three wickets in the Test match against New Zealand while conceding 102 runs; his first wicket was that of bowler Daryl Tuffey. New Zealand went on to win the match by 204 runs. Powell made his ODI debut later the same year; on 3 December 2002 in a match against Bangladesh during the West Indies tour of the country. He conceded 34 runs from 10 overs and took the wicket of opening batsman Anwar Hossain in the process of helping the West Indies win by 86 runs.  

He played a single Test against New Zealand in 2002, before another in India, then both Tests on the 2002-03 tour of Bangladesh. But wickets in the subcontinent were never going to suit his style of bowling, and he was dropped - without ever really doing too much wrong. The dispute between players with Cable & Wireless contracts and the West Indies board, which resulted in seven players being unavailable for the first Test against South Africa in March 2005, and an impressive Series, opened the door for a return to the Test team.

He was comparatively more effective in ODIs, taking 71 wickets in 55 matches with an economy rate of just a shade over four and a half. He was an integral part of the West Indies team in the 2007 WC in the Caribbean, where he netted 14 scalps in 9 matches. As has been the case throughout his career, Powell did not build on the good periods. He stretched back to the straggler again and was perennially overlooked after March 2009 following which he shifted his focus towards English County Cricket.

Leg Spin Bowling by Richie Benaud

 For over-the-wrist spin, grip the ball so that the seam runs across the first joint of the index finger and the first joint of the third finger. For the leg-break, and the over spinner or top spinner, the ball is spun off the third finger. The wrist is cocked, but definitely not stiffly cocked, which would prevent flexibility.

In delivering the ball, you look at the spot on the pitch on which you wish the ball to land, your bowling hand starts level with your face and then describes what could loosely be termed an anti-clockwise circle to the point of delivery. The position of the bowling hand dictates in which direction the ball will spin. At the moment of delivery the positioning of the hand is as follows: Leg-break: in delivery, the back of the hand is facing the face. The ball will spin out with the seam rotating in an anti-clockwise direction towards slip.

Over spinner or top spinner: in delivery, the back of the hand is facing the sky and then the batsman. The ball will spin out with the seam rotating in an anti-clockwise direction and towards the batsman. Wrong’un: in delivery, the back of the hand is first facing the sky and then the ground. The ball will spin out with the seam rotating in an anti-clockwise direction towards fine leg.

You should practice the hard-spun leg-break ninety percent of the time, the variations only ten percent. You should be side-on to the batsman and looking over your front shoulder as you deliver the ball, and then your bowling hand will finish up going past your front thigh.

This means, if you have done it correctly, your body will also have rotated anti-clockwise. This ‘pivot’ is of great importance. If you bowl a ball that is too short, you can be almost certain it happened because your body was ‘chest-on’ to the batsman, rather than side-on, and you dragged the ball down into the pitch.

When you are bowling in a net, make a white shoe-cleaner mark the size of a 20-cent (50p) piece, on what seems to you to be a good length — that is, with the ball pitching where you would not like it to pitch if you were batting. Never have your bowling arm at or past the perpendicular when you deliver the ball; it should be at least a few inches lower than the perpendicular. Don’t even think about learning the ‘flipper’ before you have mastered the leg-break, top spinner, and wrong’un.

Keep it simple is the answer. Attend to the basics first; if you can’t do that, then the more complicated things will be impossible anyway. It is possible to extend some of those points, but the one thing of which you can be guaranteed is that common sense will always outweigh rhetoric and complication. And, no matter what I might say is the best way to bowl leg spin, there are many examples which show that natural ability can be more important than anything else.

Malcom Marshall - The Fearsome Bowler

 Malcolm Marshall was born on 18 April 1958 in Barbados. He died on 4 November 1999 due to cancer at the age of 41. The Barbadian cricketer was primarily a fast bowler.  Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and of most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket. He is often acknowledged as the greatest West Indian fast bowler of all time, and certainly one of the most complete fast bowlers the cricketing world ever saw. Batsmen agreed that Marshall was the hardest of all to face because of the way he used his ordinary height to produce telling rather than exceptional bounce. His father was killed in a road accident when he was a baby, and he learned the game from his grandfather as well as at the beach and the playground. He began as a batsman and then discovered his ability to strike back.
His Test bowling average of 20.94 is the best of anyone who has taken 200 or more wickets. He achieved his bowling success despite being, by the standards of other fast bowlers of his time, a short man – he stood at 5 ft 11 in, while most of the great quicks have been well above 6 ft and many great West Indian fast bowlers, such as Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, were 6 ft 6 in or above. He generated fearsome pace from his bowling action, with a dangerous bouncer. He also statistically went on to become the most successful test match bowler of the 1980s with 235 scalps with an average of 18.47 within a time period of just five years.
In the 2^nd Test against Pakistan at Lahore in 1986, Malcolm Marshall bowled a superb spell of 5for 33 in the first innings and bundle out Pakistan at Just 131 on a flat track. Mohsin Khan, Rizwan-uz-Zaman, Qasim Umar, Asif Mujtaba, and Wasim Akram were the victims of Marshall Bowling. In the 2^nd innings, he also took 1 for 14. Eventually, West Indies won the Test match by an innings of 10 runs. Let’s watch the Marshall first innings spell of 5 for 33.
Malcolm Marshall was also a very dangerous lower middle-order batsman with ten Test fifties and seven first-class centuries. He ended his career as the all-time highest wicket-taker for West Indies in test cricket with 376 wickets, a record which he held up until November 1998 before Courtney Walsh surpassed his milestone. It was his willingness to work hard at his game that made Malcolm Marshall supreme even in a great generation. He was a relentlessly probing and thoughtful opponent
In 2009, Marshall was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. To mark 150 years of the Cricketers' Wisden named him in an all-time Test World XI. Malcolm Marshall was relentlessly professional and determined; and he was also the best batsman of the group, coming nearer than any recent West Indian to being an all-rounder of the quality of Garry Sobers. Though batsmen feared him, he was exceptionally popular among his peers: his death was mourned throughout the cricket world, but his fellow professionals, who knew him best, were most deeply affected.