G&C 271
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 271
July 2025
Spot the Ball
Out and About with the Professor
So, why do bowlers bowl No Balls?
I have asked this question many times, of many different cricketers, and, indeed, have raised it before in the pages of this journal. I have yet to hear a sensible answer, and that could be, of course, because there isn’t one. Why would anyone, on a hot summer’s day, go back to a mark, sprint 15 or so yards, hurl the ball down with sweat dripping into their eyes, for absolutely no purpose at all?
One fast bowler once told me that he bowled the occasional No Ball because he “overstepped”. Well, yes, quite. Other “explanations” have included “over-stretching”, “going for that extra yard of pace”, and so on. These responses reveal a confusion about the meaning of the word “Why”. Specifically, they seem to think it means “How”.
I was musing on this subject while sitting in my customary seat on the North East Terrace (Upper) at the “Home of Cricket” (Northern Branch), watching yet another stunning Headingley Test match. And I imagine that most Googlies readers will know why I was having these thoughts. The only reply that I have ever had to my question, even worthy of further consideration, is that (for quick bowlers) the closer you get to the batter, the better.
Now let’s take a look at this. A ball bowled at 90mph covers the distance between the two popping creases in 0.4394 seconds. If the bowler went a whole foot further back, that would rise to 0.447 seconds. Six inches to 0.4432, and three inches to 0.4413. So, supposing we could persuade our bowler to bowl from three inches behind the popping crease (a very big margin given how close they normally get), the batter would have 0.0019 seconds more to see the ball and play a shot. Nineteen thousandths of a second. Does anyone think that would make a material, or even discernible, difference? Nevertheless, when fast bowlers (in particular) see a line, they seem to need to get as close to it as humanly possible. Often balls that are just “fair deliveries” have the front foot fractions of a centimetre behind the popping crease. Why do they have to get so close? It’s not the bloody long jump.
However, if you accept the “get as close as possible” thesis, what about the downside of bowling the “occasional” No Ball? Who shall we ask about that? Oh, we know, let’s ask Jasprit Bumrah. While the SKY commentators were salivating over his speed and technique (not forgetting the “overextended” arm), he did, indeed, bowl the occasional No Ball. One was to Harry Brook, who had just arrived at the crease. It was short and Brook pulled (as Brook does to a short ball when he’s new to the crease…or frankly, pretty much at any other time). He spliced it gently to short mid-wicket and walked off…but it was, as we all remember, a No Ball.
Now counter-factual debate is always as interesting as it is pointless, but had Bumrah’s delivery been “fair” (and unless you contend that the minute fraction of a centimetre further back would have enabled Brook to play a different, or better shot), England would have scored 366 not 465, and India would have set them not 371 but 470 – with a lot more time to bowl them out.
Now I sat through the last two days, and a more memorable Test it is hard to imagine. As a run “chase” it didn’t really feel like a chase at all, more a sort of purposeful march. Always up with the rate, boundary shots were selected with care (normally), and Bazball 2.0 or “Bazball with Brains”, as Michael Vaughan called it, delivered the result.
Root and Smith leave the field having completed the eight highest fourth innings run-chase of all time. England having been the first team to beat a side that had scored five centuries.
But would they have been able to knock off 470, given that the highest ever is 418? I doubt it, although it would have been great fun to watch. But, of course, they didn’t need to… because of Jasprit’s front foot.
So, altogether now; “Why do bowlers bowl No Balls”?
This & That
Australia’s top four had an unusual look about it for the first test against West Indies. Konstas, Green and Inglis lined alongside Khawaja. They may have to review this before the second test as this trio managed just 43 between them in six innings. Much has been made of India being the first side to lose after scoring five centuries but the significant statistic is that there were no other innings over fifty and there were eleven scores below ten. There were a number of times during the first four days when they could have batted England out of the game but instead opted for profligacy.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius became the youngest centurion in South Africa's Test history as he made 153 on debut at the age of 19 years and 93 days. He made a hundred off 112 balls on day one of the first Test against Zimbabwe. Pretorius eclipsed a record which had stood since December 1963 when Graeme Pollock made 120 against Australia in Sydney aged 19 years and 318 days. He became the 10th youngest Test centurion of all time in a list headed by Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh, who was 17 years and 61 days old when he made a hundred against Sri Lanka in 2001. He is the fourth-youngest to do so on debut. He is the youngest player to score 150 in Tests, bettering Javed Miandad, who was 19 years and 119 days old when he scored 163 against New Zealand in 1976.
An historic T20 saw the Netherlands beat Nepal after three super overs in Glasgow. It is the first time that any men's professional match - either List A or T20 - has gone to a third super over. Having posted 152-7, the Dutch looked set for victory with Nepal needing 16 from the 20th over. However, tailender Nandan Yadav hit two boundaries to level the scores. Kushal Bhurtel proceeded to score 18 from five balls to take Nepal to 19 in the first super over only for opener Max O'Dowd to hit the fifth and sixth balls of the Netherlands' reply for a six and a four respectively to force a second. This time the Netherlands batted first and posted 17 but again it was not enough and the drama continued as Dipendra Singh Airee hit Kyle Klein's last ball over the ropes to take the match to an unprecedented third one-over shootout. The Netherlands' off-spinning all-rounder Zach Lion-Cachet ensured it would go no further, though, as he finished Nepal's over early with two wickets in four balls, without conceding a run leaving leaving just a single required for victory.
When George Munsey was out in the 49th over for 191 playing for Scotland against the Netherlands in an ODI he must have thought that he had done enough to give his side victory as his innings was the backbone of his side’s 369 for 6. But Max O’Dowd had other plans despite his side only reaching 125 for 4 at the halfway stage of their innings. He then had substantial partnerships first with Nidamanuru and then with Croes but it was Roelof van der Merwe (aged 72) who was at the crease with him when the winning runs were scored with O’Dowd on 158 not out.
Middlesex had, for them, a purple patch in June with home and away T20 wins against Essex and a tie at the Rose Bowl but they were unable to defend a score of 229 at Taunton, had their annual humiliation at the Oval and then lost at Northampton after scoring 745 in the match. No doubt their overseas player, Zafar Gohar, has been nicknamed “Go-far” after his four overs at Taunton went for 64.
At the Rose Bowl Adam Hose came to the wicket with Worcestershire’s score at 60 for 2. When he was dismissed, it had progressed by 395 of which he had scored 266. His innings was made from just 253 balls and included 31 fours and 7 sixes. Hose is 33 years old, has previously played at Somerset and Warwickshire, as well as in the Big Bash, but his previous best first class score was just 111.
Meanwhile in the USA’s Major League Cricket (MLC) Jake Fraser-McGurk returned to form with a 38-ball 88 as San Francisco Unicorns beat Los Angeles Knight Riders by 32 runs to maintain their winning start. The Australian came into the match on a run of five consecutive single-figure scores but hit 11 sixes to propel his side to 219-8. Finn Allen, whose 151 in the season opener against Washington Freedom broke the record for the highest score in MLC history, also scored a half-century, posting 52 off 27, and the pair put on 121 runs off just 55 balls for the second wicket.
Shimron Hetmyer hit the final ball for six as Seattle Orcas completed a record Major League chase to beat MI New York by three wickets and register their first win of the season. Hetmyer finished 97 not out from 40 balls as Orcas chased 238 in Dallas. It beat Washington Freedom's chase of 221 against Texas Super Kings earlier in the tournament. They sacked ex-England head coach Matthew Mott earlier on Friday and Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza replaced South African Heinrich Klaasen as captain. New York posted 237-4 with West Indies' Nicholas Pooran making an unbeaten 108 off 60 and Tajinder Singh 95 from 35 balls. The pair shared 158 runs off 68 balls for the third wicket, which is the highest in MLC history.
Glenn Maxwell struck a 48-ball century as Washington Freedom thrashed Los Angeles Knight Riders by 113 runs in Major League Cricket. The Australian came to the crease with defending champions Freedom 68-4 in the eighth over. The 36-year-old reached his half-century off 29 balls and finished 106 not out off 49 balls as Freedom posted 208-5.
Nicholas Pooran, 29, is the latest superstar to retire from international cricket. The Trinidadian has played 167 times for West Indies, but the decision will allow him to concentrate on playing in lucrative franchise leagues. He had already skipped the ongoing T20 series against England following his time playing for Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Thompson Matters
Steve overhears Zaltz and Aggers at tea on Day 4 at Headingly
Aggers: Well, another lovely spread Zaltz.
Zaltz: Yes Aggers. It’s my twenty-third Headingly Test tea but the first when all four tea ladies have Christian names beginning with ‘B’ and where all four were born in the West Riding.
Aggers: Really Zaltz, that’s an amazing stat.
Zaltz: Yes, Beverly from Beverley was on teas yesterday but she’s obviously an East Riding girl and has been replaced on scone duty by Betty from Bradford thereby maintaining the healthy run of identical first initials but creating a geographical first.
Aggers: Isn’t Keith from Keighly normally on scone duty here Zaltz? That would have sodded up your run of Bs.
Zaltz: That is Keith from Keighly.
Aggers: What? Betty is Keith.
Zaltz: Formerly Keith.
Aggers: Oh, I see. That’s a first at Headingly.
Zaltz: it certainly is. Turns out he was more of a cream first, jam on top kind of a guy.
Aggers: Pass the smoke salmon please, Zaltz.
Zaltz: Of course. Interestingly this is the first time the smoke salmon have been on seeded bread here ending a run of 42 Tests when they have been on ordinary brown bread. They have been on seeded bread on twelve occasions for first-class matches the last time being as long ago as 1986 when Geoffrey Boycott made his last appearance here. On a personal note, Aggers this could be the seventeenth time in your career that you have chosen a fish-based sandwich and gone on to have a vegetarian filling in the next one.
Aggers: Fascinating. Any chance of one of those cucumber ones Zaltz? I see they’ve cut the crusts off.
Zaltz: Yes, this is the first time they’ve been crusts off in the Bazball era Aggers. In fact, you have to go back to 1956 for the last time any sandwich was crusts off at Headingly for a Test Match. Oh and of course that’s now the eighteenth time you’ve gone fish then veggie on your first two sandwiches.
Aggers: Oh, was it fashionable at the time? I mean crusts off in the mid-fifties?
Zaltz: No, it’s just that half the England team had false teeth. Would you like a second cuppa Aggers.
Aggers: Oh, go on then.
Zaltz: That will be the seventieth time you’ve converted a first cup into a second in all Test teas but that’s not as good a conversion rate as Blowers who converted eighty-two of his first cups into a second. However both pale into insignificance compared to Trevor Bailey who went on to convert his ninety second cups into a third cup on thirty-eight occasions.
Aggers: I’m surprised to hear that as I’d have thought Arlott would have converted more.
Zaltz: Well, in a way he did but his were bottles of red. I suspect if he had been around in the white bottle era he may have converted even more.
Aggers: Probably, but it must be time for cake now Zaltz. What have the four Bs laid on for us today?
Zaltz: Well, there is of course Betty’s Yorkshire Fat Rascal but for the third time this week that’s run out. There is the more dependable Yorkshire tea cake making its 147th Test Match appearance and I can offer you some Parkin, making its 90th. Probably the most popular with visiting teams of course is the Harrogate Tart. Normally that is served cold, but the Australians tend to ask for it warmed up. Jim Maxwell has chosen a tart in some form or other on all but one visit to the table at Headingly the one exception being during the 2005 series when on the third day, and what became last tea of the match, he had a Fondant Fancy. Brian Johnson of course holds the record for eating the Fondant Fancy bagging a pair on eight separate occasions on this ground. There is also a pistachio kulfi milk cake making its debut at the Headingly TMS table. It has of course appeared both at Lord’s and Trent Bridge on previous occasions in the 1996 Test series however this is the longest period a cake of any Indian origin has been absent from a tea table in England in either first class or international matches,
Aggers: Yes, all very interesting Zaltz but is there any chance of a tea cake?
Zaltz: Would you like me to ask them to toast it for you Aggers? Brenda has toasted more tea cakes than any other Headingly tea lady her best performance came in her first ODI appearance in the match against Pakistan in May 2019 when she toasted four tea cakes before lunch. She has gone on to achieve the highest aggregate of toastings in the modern era, beating the previous highest total of 97 which was held for 23 years by her mother Phyllis. Butter on it Aggers?
Aggers? Aggers? Oh well, waste not, want not.
Thanks Brenda smashing tea as always. Mind if I pinch a wagon wheel?
Who’d be coach at Middlesex?
Middlesex have appointed former Lancashire captain Dane Vilas as interim coach for the rest of the season. The 40-year-old South African replaces Richard Johnson, who left this week after a disappointing start to the season in both red and white-ball formats.
Vilas scored more than 10,000 first-class runs in an 18-year career, making 25 centuries, and played six Tests for South Africa. He spent the final seven years of his career with Lancashire, captaining the Red Rose for four seasons and eventually retiring in 2023. Middlesex's director of cricket, Alan Coleman, told the club website, external: "Dane has a wealth of experience to offer our squad, and I believe that we will all benefit from his presence and leadership across the rest of this season.
Vilas, who will be supported by Rory Coutts, Tim Murtagh and Ian Salisbury, said: "It's an absolute honour to be here. Lord's is such a special place and I'm looking forward to getting started with the squad.
Richard Johnson, 50, has been coach since the start of the 2022 season, having previously worked as assistant coach under Richard Scott and taking over the lead role on an interim basis in 2018. Johnson guided Middlesex to promotion from Division Two of the County Championship in his first season, but they were relegated at the first attempt in 2023, finished third in the second-tier last season, and are sixth, five points off the bottom, after three defeats in their opening seven matches. Middlesex have also lost three of their opening six fixtures in this season's T20 Blast to lie seventh in the South Group, and have failed to reach the knockout stage of either white-ball competition since Johnson's arrival.
Alan Coleman, Middlesex's director of cricket, told the club website: "Jono has put his heart and soul into the role and we thank him for all his hard work. Ultimately cricket is a performance business, and we do not feel that the results this season have matched the expectations that we have for the team at our disposal. Jono is due a lot of credit for leading the team through the most difficult off-field period that we have had and has embraced the challenge of working within the financial constraints placed upon the club during his time. We do though have high expectations for the playing group that has been assembled, and we do feel that the time is right for a change to try and maximise the talent and performances from our squad. Jono is a modern Middlesex cricketing great and has served the club exceptionally well during his time as a player, assistant coach and first-team coach."
Big Bash Matters
Pakistan left-arm Shaheen Afridi was the top pick in the Big Bash League's 2025-26 overseas player draft but James Anderson and Jofra Archer were both overlooked for deals. Anderson, aged 43 and England's leading wicket-taker, entered the draft in another attempt to play franchise cricket for the first time, having retired from internationals last summer. He has taken 10 wickets in four T20 Blast matches for Lancashire, his first T20s since 2014, in recent weeks but an omission from the tournament in Australia follows him missing out on deals at the Indian Premier League and The Hundred.
Archer, meanwhile, entered the draft despite hopes he could feature in the Ashes this winter which will played at the same time as much of the BBL. BBL teams instead picked players with guaranteed availability with Brisbane Heat signing Shaheen and Melbourne Renegades picking up Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan. England all-rounder Sam Curran was signed by Sydney Sixers to play in the league for the first time while Melbourne Renegades had already retained his brother, Tom.
England left-arm quick Luke Wood was signed by Adelaide Strikers, Hobart Hurricanes picked up leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed and Perth Scorchers picked Surrey batter Laurie Evans where he won the title in 2021-22.
Nottinghamshire's Joe Clarke and England internationals Sam Billings and Chris Jordan will return to Melbourne Renegades, Sydney Thunder and the Hurricanes respectively.
The Sixers also resigned uncapped English leg-spinner Jafer Chohan, adding to their eye-catching pre-draft signing of Pakistan batter Babar Azam.
England internationals Jacob Bethell, Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Alex Hales and Reece Topley were among those who were not signed.
BBL draft picks in full
Adelaide Strikers: Luke Wood (England), Jamie Overton* (England), Hasan Ali (Pakistan)
Brisbane Heat: Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan), Colin Munro* (New Zealand), Tom Alsop (England)
Hobart Hurricanes: Chris Jordan* (England), Rishad Hossain (Bangladesh), Rehan Ahmed (England)
Melbourne Renegades: Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan), Hassan Khan (Pakistan), Tim Seifert* (New Zealand)
Melbourne Stars: Haris Rauf (Pakistan), Tom Curran* (England), Joe Clarke (England)
Perth Scorchers: Finn Allen* (New Zealand), Laurie Evans (England), David Payne (England)
Sydney Sixers: Sam Curran (England), Babar Azam* (Pakistan), Jafer Chohan (England)
Sydney Thunder: Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand), Shadab Khan (Pakistan), Sam Billings* (England)
*indicates player was pre-signed before draft
Dingbats Corner
The latest candidate for the “You Should Never Do That Trophy” is Peter Handscombe who won the toss at Grace Road and decided to put Middlesex in, who then racked up an unlikely 534 from 154 overs. His own batsmen obviously didn’t find the exercise in the hot sun to their liking and when they went out to bat quickly slumped to 96 for 7. But hang on, don’t forget Alex Lees, the Durham skipper who won the toss at the Oval and invited the hosts to bat first. They scored an enormous 820 for 9, which is Surrey’s highest ever score, beating their previous highest of 811 scored in 1899. Dom Sibley (remember him?) scored 305. Despite these examples I am sure there will be more candidates next month.
Crocks Corner
In this era when bowlers have to carry out inappropriate fitness regimes and then spend more time on the treatment bench than actually bowling this feature celebrates the manifold complaints of these elite athletes. Feel free to submit anything you notice
“Fast bowler Gus Atkinson is likely to be absent for the first two Tests of the five-match series with the hamstring injury he suffered against Zimbabwe, and joins Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone on the sidelines. England's fast-bowling reserves have been further depleted by injuries to youngsters Josh Hull and Sonny Baker, who have heel and ankle problems respectively. Both have pulled out of England Lions' second four-day game against India A, due to start on Friday. Woakes and Tongue will feature for the Lions, but Test captain Ben Stokes, who considered playing as he recovers from hamstring surgery, has opted out.
England bowler Brydon Carse has said he considered having his toe amputated to overcome injury problems during the winter. The strain of bowling meant Carse, 29, developed severe cuts on the second toe of his left foot which became infected. It hampered him during England's white-ball tour of India at the start of the year and eventually led to him being ruled out of the Champions Trophy and the following three months. "At one stage I was going to bed thinking 'I think I could actually do this - I think I could get rid of my second toe', but then the medical staff said you need it for balance so that was quickly ruled out," Durham's Carse said. "I try not mention the toe in the changing room anymore because people are sick of it."”
Robin Ager
Herman Scopes sent me this:
Your piece about Robin’s sad death invoked fond memories of playing with him at Nottingham in the early 1960s . He was a successful leader of the first X1 and scored a quick hundred in a pre-season warm up against the full county side including Goonesena and Reg Simpson at Trent Bridge. On a more personal level, recognising after being dropped off the Team Bus one drunken Saturday night that I could barely put one foot in front of the other, he lugged his own and my bag back to the University while I stumbled behind.
Salad days.
South Hampstead’s 150th Anniversary
To celebrate the club’s150th anniversary South Hampstead is holding a festival match against the MCC on Wednesday 16th July. Visitors from Middlesex County clubs and sports organisations will be welcome to renew old acquaintances and enjoy the celebrations and improved facilities. The match will start at 11.00am with lunch between 1.00 and 1.30pm and will be followed by colts and social activities from about 6.30pm. Refreshments and bar will be provided all day including a BBQ from 5.00pm.
Bowling Beyond the Perpendicular
Ken Molloy sent me this article by Simon Wilde
Ben Stokes’s return to action at Trent Bridge last week was good news for England on several fronts. As a leader he shapes the team’s style of play. As an all-rounder he helps to balance the side. But his bowling — which had great rhythm and good pace — also adds an angle of attack for which the management have a growing enthusiasm, bordering on obsession. Stokes is one of those right-handed fast bowlers whose arm goes beyond the perpendicular — coming in from above the head at 1am on a clock face as viewed by the batsman — resulting in the ball being pushed into right-handers, threatening the stumps but also his outside edge and compelling him to play.
Josh Tongue, who also featured against Zimbabwe — his first Test appearance for two years — bowls in similar fashion. Rob Key, managing director of men’s cricket, is a big fan of Tongue, believing he has everything he needs “to be one of the best bowlers in the world”. Tongue’s figures in Nottingham were modest but he was under instruction to bowl short on a flat pitch.
Theirs is an increasingly fashionable method of bowling, popularised by arguably the world’s best two all-format fast bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins. English audiences will see both shortly, Cummins in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s, which begins on June 11, and Bumrah in the Test series against England starting in Leeds on June 20.
For various reasons, there has been a general rise in bowlers looking to angle the ball into right-handers, but those whose bowling arm comes from far over their heads have a specific advantage. Because of the angle at which the ball is released, with the arm beyond the vertical, the seam is slightly tilted in a way that makes outswing easier than if it was upright.
A ball that is angled in, but then seams or swings away, makes for a lethal combination — as Bumrah, who as a child developed his highly unorthodox action throwing tennis balls against a wall in his family’s small apartment in Gujarat, demonstrates time and again.
Kevin Shine, a former England fast-bowling coach who works with County Championship leaders Nottinghamshire, believes this style of bowling creates an awkward cue for batsmen.
“A lot of people that do it [bowl beyond the perpendicular] can bowl an away-swinger, which is a real gift,” Shine says. “They’re just much more awkward to play. They seem to be leaning away, then they push the ball in, then it swings away. It’s a killer combo.”
An additional benefit is that if the ball is hitting the pitch just to the side of the seam it will get scuffed up in a way that assists reverse-swing. Most beyond-the-perpendicular bowlers are adept at reverse-swing, including Bumrah, Cummins and Stokes.
Sam Robson, a Middlesex opener for 15 years who played seven Tests for England, says he is facing more bowlers of this type than ever before, including Tongue, who dismissed him leg-before at New Road in 2019. “As a right-hander, straight out of the [bowler’s] hand you get the feeling that it’s going to be a ball you’re going to have to play,” he said. “Then, if they have the ability to swing the ball or take it away from that angle, they’re very tricky to face. Equally, the one that through natural variation carries on towards the stumps brings in lbw more.
“Since DRS came in [to Test cricket in 2008], umpires are giving a lot more lbws, even in county cricket, because umpires are seeing more lbws given on TV. I haven’t faced Tongue a great deal but he was quick and has that awkward angle.
“When I started, more guys tried to get in close to the stumps, with the plan to take most balls away and nick you off — bowlers like Graham Onions and Matthew Hoggard — whereas now there are definitely more bowlers with that over-the-perpendicular action, bowling mid-crease and angling the ball in. “My gut feel is that at domestic level there are so many more lbws than when I started. In a typical attack there now might be just one guy that bowls outswingers.”
Yorkshire’s George Hill, who with 32 wickets is the joint-leading bowler in the championship first division, is another who bowls beyond the perpendicular and the Nottinghamshire batsmen who faced him last week at Headingley, where he took five for 40 in the first innings, say they found his angles problematic. James Anderson may not quite bowl beyond the perpendicular but a common refrain among batsmen who have faced him is that it always felt as though the ball was coming in at them, and that they had to play at the ball, only to be undone when it nips away and takes the outside edge.
There could be a number of bowlers with arms beyond the vertical in this winter’s Ashes series, with Stokes and Tongue (who drew the admiration of Ricky Ponting in 2023) potentially on the English side, and Cummins and Scott Boland on the other.
With the Kookaburra ball typically swinging for shorter periods than the English Dukes, Australian bowlers need to find ways to make batsmen play at as many balls as possible. Bumrah had a lot of success in Australia last winter, taking 32 wickets at 13.06 apiece in four and a half Tests before injury struck.
So dangerous was he that Marnus Labuschagne said Australia were just content to try to see him off, describing him as relentless in the lengths he bowled and the way he attacked the stumps. “Finding a way to navigate through his spell is important,” he said. Other notable players of the past who bowled with arms beyond the vertical include Mike Procter, Courtney Walsh, Andrew Flintoff and Makhaya Ntini.
Another reason for the rise in bowlers of this sort is that in the past they may have been discouraged by coaches who feared they would simply send too many balls wastefully down the leg side. Coaches might also have worried about such an action being liable to cause injury — not unreasonably given that Cummins and Bumrah, among others, have experienced back problems.
But Shine is relaxed about this. “The only time you might look at it is if it [the arm] is massively beyond the perpendicular and if they’ve had back injuries before,” he says. “There’s lots of research about back injuries and it’s not necessarily the arm, it’s your body position.”
But no one would advocate adopting an arm position such as Stokes’s unless they had learnt to bowl this way naturally. It is one of those things that can’t be coached into you but can be coached out of you — and for many years probably was. Not anymore. The advantages are too great.
Ged Matters
Daisy writes…
An honorary Heavy Roller, I sometimes join the gang for the Edgbaston Test. These days, that entails stopping in Leamington. Ged has a game of real tennis and we both have lunch with The Doctors of Leamington. On this visit, I chose to talk balls with Chris, one of the pros.
I asked if I could help making the balls.
Chris said no.
Ged and I stayed in Moseley – in the quirkiest Airbnb ever. Ged booked it because the kitchen looked amazingly big. It was. But the house, including the kitchen, was like an antique shop. Dozens of fine China tea sets, not one colander.
I asked Ged if I could help making the picnic. Ged said no.
For inexplicable reasons, Ged plain forgot to prepare sheets for the Heavy Rollers Prediction Betting Game this year. Harsha Ghoble looked at Ged in utter disbelief and on the verge of tears when the omission became clear. Ged rapidly set up an encrypted, cloud version of the game in our WhatsApp group.
Peter Plumber, a friend of ours from Lord’s, spotted me and Ged well before the start of play. He and his family were sitting several rows behind us, which put paid to one of the regular “extras” lines in the prediction game: guessing exactly when Ged first runs across someone he knows in the Edgbaston ground.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
www.googliesandchinamen.com
Googlies and Chinamen
is produced by
James Sharp
Broad Lee House
Combs
High Peak
SK23 9XA
[email protected]
