Mr. Giridharan has begun the article by remembering the dismissal of Kapil Dev by an "arrogant cricketing official". Therefore it is ironic that he has made no mention of Muttiah Muralidaran in this entire article. As far as I'm concerned, no article on the art of spin is complete without him being mentioned. Also I would like to point out that Mendis is a finger spinner, and not a wrist spinner as the author believes.

The last leggie to be picked for NZ was Greg Loveridge and it would be hard to find a worse test debut - broke his hand while batting and didnt get to bowl a ball. Never selected again!

This seems to ignore the fact that the 'silent' hunt for a legspinner in England has taken place in a media hunt for anyone who turns it away and numerous campaigns to develop leggies. The ridiculous levels of expectation thrown at players like Schofield and Salisbury is a further sign that, actually, there is great respect and unrealistic hope for a leggie that breaks the humdrum of finger-spinners. Furthermore, the use of Jenner has seen numerous talented legspinners come into county cricket, these include Borthwick, Waller, Beer and, most notably, the highly talented Adil Rashid.

The author has expressed some views, conveniently ignoring the facts that go against the theory. None of those mentioned have ever had serious face-offs with the coach so labelling them a coach's nightmare is nonsense. Warne's rebellious nature i a totally different issue.

Moreover, a lot of finger-spinners are rabbits with the bat too. Panesar, for instance. The truth is, those 3 countries expect a spinner to hit a few balls too rather than just tweak it since tweaking the ball is just not as rewarding in those parts, thanks to the pitches.

And I can't even begin to imagine how the author generalised physique and agility in the field based on the way a spinner spins.

At last, bowlers like Verity and Laker played during an era where the scoring rate mattered little. So it's hard to believe that they were used to choke the opposition.

Some ood points made here, but Abdul Qadir was certainly not a 'genuine rabbit' - he was a decent number 9. There seems no earthly reason why a wrist-spinner should be a worse batsman and fielder than any other type of bowler.

Peter- The last leggie to be picked for NZ was actually Brooke Walker, not Greg Loveridge. Brooke's performances were pretty mediocre at best!! Nice article. The conditions definitely suit finger spin bowling in these countries. The cricketing psyche also often denounces audacity and flamboyancy. Wristy, unorthodox batting styles are often frowned upon. Aggressive bowling is often measured or restricted to contain runs. Unfortunately countries like NZ and SA have no leg spin coaches around. Hopefully a gem will arise in not too longer time.

As an actual leggie (admittedly a club hack) I really can say that NZ mud and small grounds destroy any confidence you might have, beating a player with spin only to watch him rock back after the ball has passed the initial forward prod is just plain disturbing! At a junior and club level this really is the way of things, you'll have the occasional day when everything comes together but you know the captain is looking around for the Chris Gaylesque offie or the Gavin Larsen Dibbly Dobbly if you have one bad over. Those few that find their way on the chosen path through age group teams and directly into first class usually have the skill base but when they get there the support is minimal. The only knowledge out there is from a coach who has been to a Terry Jenner seminar, this is something that many a NZ leggie has discovered. I'm one of the many that made fun of Brooke Walker but when he hit the international brickwall who in NZ could he turn to for advice?

to further the mystery warne is still to be thrown out of the australian cricket academy.but an interesting article.but why do aussie produce so many leggies then?

England and NZ can be attributed to the weather--SA can be attributed to the selection policies and here in Aus,our heads are still spinning over a fella named Warne!

This not a well researched piece. Are you seriously trying to tell me that you believe there is a significant difference in both physical size and batting abillity between finger and wrist spinners. Monty Panesar, Phill Tufnell, etc, etc. Im not actually going to list all the finger spinners who couldn't bat or field. For your information Ajantha Mendis is predominantly a finger spinner, both his so called carrom ball( i say so called because this delivery has existed for decades and wasn't in need of a new term, doosra would suffice) and stock offspinner are bowled in an orthodox fashion. Mishra, Benaud, Salisbury, Schofield, Rashid, all more than capable with the bat an played at an international level. The fact that there has been a dearth of quality wrist spin in the countries you mentioned can be ascribed to the fact that these countries are not as profitable places to bowl spin.

Mike Atherton a peerless batsmam?

Qadir was no rabbit the bat. He scored a thousand runs in tests and averaged almost 16.

I think Mr Giridharan probably needs to get some of his facts correct. Whilst the climate and pitches have an effect on whether players decide to bowl spin or seam and their success,he needs to understand that countries like England, NZ and South Africa are searching for spinners. South Africa have had a policy in junior representative cricket whereby spinners have to bowl a certain percentage of the overs. This has been in place for about 10 years. Pitches in South Africa especially inland tend not to turn a great deal. Remember Bryce McCain's test debut (he was given the thumbs up by Warne) in South Africa. I have also seen Murali and Warne taken to the sword in SA. Another point is that there were good spinners (wrist and finger) in South Africa up to and during sports isolation. I think you need to understand that possibly 20 years of no international cricket had an effect on how the game was played during this time eg. Lots of limited overs cricket, green pitches etc.

I would like to say where are the good spinners in India. Kumble was a good hardworking bowler, an overachiever of sorts. But after that Harbhajan Singh has certainly not been a great bowler and totally over-rated. He has been hyped up the media as a great bowler. He hardly even turns the bowler..even the Aussie bowler Nathan Hauritz is far more impressive. So if we are talking about good spinners then Pakistan, Australia and Sri Lanka are the ones who currently are the leaders. Let not India and its cricket followers think that we are on top. Maybe the fault lies with the so called corporate culture and a club mentality which lies with our indian team. Once u create a name for yourself then you become a permanent fixture in the Indian team.

Very poor knowledge of cricket. mendis is a finger spinner. Not a wrist spinner. You dont need to be a analyst to see that. Murali is a wrsit spinner and was never mentioned.

It's a fine piece on an interesting topic. One could definitely argue with some of the facts/opinions (Qadir's batting abilities, Ajantha's finger spin) presented by the author, but it remains one of the great mysteries of the increasingly 'globalising' game that there are so few wrist-spinners on the horizon, in spite of the modern-day role-models like Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. With all the coaching systems and cricket academies around the cricket-playing world, the sight of a wrist spinner, backed fully by the captain, as an attacking option, is as rare as seeing a batsman 'walking' after a fine-edge to the keeper, without waiting for umpire's answer to the appeal! As for the 'knowledge' of the game claimed under some of the comments, some of the purists will not place Muralitharan under any category other than under 'elbow' spinners. However, that's a completely different debate. I liked the observations regarding the differences in the temperaments of finger /wrist spinners.

When I wrote the article, I was speculating at some of the possible reasons for the drought. I am a great fan of Murali, and his ommission is more of a slip than any intentions and very regettable. Qadir started as a rabbit but got transformed after the 40 against Aus at MCG in 83-84.On Mendes, the jury is out and it is digfficult to fully classify him.Sangakara treats him as neither wrist , nor finger, while Dhoni regards him as both. His stock ball, the offie is bowled with a lot of wrist and that is why I regarded him as a wrist spinner. I also fully appreciate the efforts made by ENg SA and Nz in promoting wrist spin, but this article focussed on the possible reasons behind the drought of wrist spinners in certain areas.These are probable reasons and by no means hard facts.I thank all of you for elightening me on various facets. Keep up the debate.

South Africa at the turn of the century-1900-produced a crop of leg spinners and bamboozled England and later SA after the first World War had 4 leg-spinners in their team.
they have recently also had the most prolific chinaman bowler in Tests-Adams(not counting Sobers who bowled everything)

What about-Inshan Ali from Trinidad who played for the West Indies in the early 1970's.He was a wrist spinner of world class.

SOUND TO ME LIKE MOST OF THE GUYS COMMENTING ON HERE THINK THERE REALLY SMART. eg. such and such could bat why dont you people just read it and stop complaining as im sure he knows more about cricket than you!

The main reason why genuine turn from outside leg stump is not encouraged is that the rules are made by those who have done well under the present system. Allow lbws for a ball pitching outside leg (but hit in line) and you will see a world wide blossoming of leg spin.. ..and at the same time we can all rejoice at the demise of boring 1000plus run draws!

Apart from the climate the image of spinners are a docile lot,the countries mentioned only the macho image of fast bowling,Australia being the exception.

A humble attempt was made to get into the skin of an aspiring leggie in these countries and the personal experiences of A shaky isle leggie prove most of the points mentioned in the article.Abdel Mohammed has a valid point too-the macho or glamour image.dj fred, thanx a lot for the kind comments.I however beleive that each one of us is equally passionate and knowledgable and all of us will have divergent views. That is what makes cricket a great game.