Long sleeves the latest weapon for doosra-bowling spinners like Sunil Narine, Saeed Ajmal
By Antony Pinshaw From FOX SPORTS
A new frontier has been opened up in the battle for cricket supremacy.
Sleeves. More specifically, long sleeves.
If you have no idea what we’re talking about, then you didn’t hear what Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had to say earlier this week.
The world-class offie surprised cricket fans and fashionistas alike when he revealed the real reason why some of the game’s best spinners have chosen to wear long sleeves instead of the standard short sleeve shirts during recent matches — a fad that Ashwin himself tried his hand at shortly before the ICC World T20.
“I wanted to do something different,” Ashwin said.
“Unless you try, you won’t find out what can work or not. I had never bowled in full sleeves before. So I wanted to see how it would feel.
“And I just wanted to see if you can get more revs on the ball if you can do a little bit with your elbow, as much as that is.
“You can get a lot of advantage with these things, so why should I lag behind if someone else is getting a competitive edge?”
The most alarming part of that comment is the fact Ashwin admitted to “doing a little bit” with his elbow.
The current law states that bowlers are allowed to flex the elbow at an angle of 15 degrees. This has been the case for the best part of a decade, with the law introduced due to bowlers such as legendary Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan, who was proved to have a medical condition that meant he had a permanently bent elbow.
Biomechanical tests also proved many bowlers throughout history had straightened their arms by more than 10 degrees without ever having suspicions raised about their actions.
But now it appears bowlers are taking full advantage of the law’s leniency by dramatically altering their bowling actions and pushing the limits of the 15 degrees law in the hope of imparting greater turn on the ball.
Wearing long sleeves helps in this regard as it makes it harder for umpires to determine if an action is suspect.
Two of the world’s best spinners, Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and West Indies tweaker Sunil Narine, both starred at the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh while wearing long sleeves. This was despite temperatures being in excess of 30 degrees for most matches.
Australian spinner Brad Hogg, who bowls with a traditional left-arm legspinner’s action, opened up on the subject before the Aussies were knocked out of the tournament.
“There’s no clarity. I’m bamboozled how some blokes are getting reported for it and others aren’t,” Hogg said.
“Then they go and get tested and all of a sudden they’re fine. They’re not tested under the rigours of playing out in the middle, when games are on the line.
“That’s when you’ve got to be tested. You’re either throwing or you’re not.”
Hogg touched on the fact that virtually no Australian off-spinners have a quality ‘doosra’ in their repertoires. The closest anyone has come to that is current Test tweaker Nathan Lyon, who developed a delivery he labels “Jeff” which goes straight on rather than turning the other way.
Hogg suggested it’s time Aussie spinners got on board.
“We talk about it in the change rooms. If someone’s got a suspect action (and wants to bowl the doosra), we laugh about it and my advice is to just do it. Everyone else is doing it.
“The rules have been bent to help bowlers of that nature, and I think we’ve gone too far that we can’t come back.
“Australian kids are going to have to start doing it if we want to compete on the same stage.”
They could start by wearing long sleeves.
PHOTOS:
India spinner Ravi Ashwin has used short sleeves during the ICC World T20.Source: AFP
Brad Hogg thinks the rules are enforced in a consistent manner. Source: Getty Images
West Indies’ spin stars Sunil Narine (L) and Samuel Badree (R) with the man credited with inventing the doosra, former Pakistan spinner and current Windies spin coach Saqlain Mushtaq.Source: AP
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Sri Lanka into ICC World T20 final after Duckworth-Lewis win over West Indies
From FOX SPORTS
SRI Lanka reached the final of the ICC World Twenty20 with a 27-run win over West Indies, the defending champions, after the first semi-final was ended by rain.
Set a challenging 161-run target, the West Indies were well short on the Duckworth-Lewis method when a thunderstorm stopped play after 13.5 overs at the Shere Bangla stadium in Dhaka.
West Indies, who would have needed 108 to win on the D/L method, were 4-80 when play was halted.
The win was sweet revenge for Sri Lanka who lost the 2012 final in Colombo to the West Indies.
Sri Lanka will face the winners of the second semi-final between 2007 champions India and South Africa, also in Dhaka on Friday.
The final will be played there on Sunday.
Lasith Malinga, leading Sri Lanka after regular captain Dinesh Chandimal opted out due to lack of form, said the rain had been a worry.
“We knew that the first six overs in their innings would be important (considering the rain) and when the rain came we knew we are ahead of them,” said Malinga.
“We had the confidence in our bowlers to defend that total,” added Malinga.
“Everyone is looking forward to the final and we are not thinking of anything else than to improve our performance in every match.”
West Indian captain Darren Sammy was left disappointed.
“Credit to Sri Lanka. We have had a good run in the tournament, and it’s sad we got knocked out because of D/L. That’s life, but we got to move on and plan for the next tournament,” said Sammy.
Dwayne Bravo hit a 19-ball 30 studded with three boundaries and a six to take the fight to the Sri Lankan bowlers who took three wickets in the space of nine runs after the West Indies had reached 0-25 in the fifth over.
Spearhead Malinga dismissed dangerman Chris Gayle (three) and Dwayne Smith (17) in his second over.
Malinga had figures of 2-5 in his two overs.
Leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna had Lendl Simmons lbw (four) to leave the West Indies struggling at 3-34 before Bravo and Marlon Samuels (18 not out) added 43 for the fourth wicket.
Bravo was smartly caught in the deep by Mahela Jayawardene off paceman Nuwan Kulasekara and three balls later the rain arrived in the aftermath of strong winds.
When Sri Lanka batted after winning the toss, Lahiru Thirimanne top-scored with a career best 35-ball 44, Tillakaratne Dilshan made a run-a-ball 39 and Angelo Mathews a fiery 23-ball 40.
Mathews hit two sixes and three boundaries to give the innings much-needed impetus before he fell off the last delivery.
Paceman Krishmar Santokie finished with two for 46 runs.
Thirimanne hit three boundaries and two sixes.
Sri Lanka had raced to 41 in the fourth over thanks to Dilshan and Kusal Perera (26), before they lost three wickets in the space of 15 balls.
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Cricket T20: Sri Lanka beat India in final with Kumar Sangakkara the star
By Vic Marks From The Guardian
India 130 for 4; Sri Lanka 134 for four
Sri Lanka, expertly shepherded by Kumar Sangakkara in his last T20 international, carried off the World T20 trophy with staggering ease. They triumphed against India by six wickets with 13 balls to spare, outplaying and out-thinking the favourites. Somehow Sri Lankan managed to win at a canter, despite taking only four wickets.
Sangakkara, right, had scored only 19 runs in the tournament but when it really mattered, he was unbeaten on 52 from 35 balls when the entire Sri Lankan squad sprinted on to the field to embrace him. At the end Thisera Perera, with several muscular blows, had offered timely assistance. Earlier Mahela Jayawardene, also in his final T20 appearance, caressed 24 from 24 balls and set his team on course.
Both these jewels of Sri Lankan cricket were carried on the shoulders of grateful team-mates as Sri Lanka’s first outright victory in an ICC tournament since 1996 began to sink in. Meanwhile, a numb Indian team, who had played so flawlessly en route to the final, could only look on at ecstatic celebrations and regret their remarkably tepid performance.
The Indian innings was a very curious affair. It was almost entirely dependent upon Virat Kohli, who hit 77 from 58 deliveries, before he was run out off the last ball. Even Kohli was a tad circumspect at the start and he was cleverly denied the strike at the end. India have been unaccustomed to setting targets in this tournament and despite another polished innings from the man of the tournament they made a complete hash of it.
At the start Ajinkya Rahane struggled but his torments were nothing compared to those of Yuvraj Singh. He came to the crease in the 11th over after Rohit Sharma’s dismissal and proceeded to eke out 11 from 21 balls. It was painful to watch. Even when he managed to get bat on ball the outcome was only a single. In the end the Indian bus shelter must have been willing Yuvraj to get out. They might have seriously considered retiring him.
The last four overs were a calamity for India. Kohli faced eight deliveries and India scored only 19 runs. Their coach, Duncan Fletcher, did not smile at the quirkiness of this display.
Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara bowled superbly during those closing overs at the end of a tigerish performance in the field by the Sri Lankans. But it was not flawless. Kohli was badly missed on 11 and 65. It seemed to matter at the time but thanks to the ineptness of his fellow batsmen – and the resolution of Sangakkara – it did not.
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http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/apr/06/cricket-t20-sri-lanka-india-final
