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Old June 13, 2013, 07:17 PM
Gowza Gowza is offline
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Join Date: July 15, 2007
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Default Best Left Arm Spinners All Time?

we have a few around atm with herath, vettori, jadeja, rehman, shakib etc but who is the best of all time? and, has there ever really been a truly great left arm spinner?

some from the uncovered era have quality stats such as Bobby Peel, Claude Carter, James Langridge, johnny wardle and wilfred rhodes. but personally i find it tough to rate and compare spinners who played on uncovered pitches with those who have played on covered pitches because the bowling conditions where so much more in favour for spinners on uncovered pitches.

derek underwood, possibly considered the greatest left arm spinner ever (at least maybe by some) was one of the first left arm spinners to play on covered pitches, and although his average is great (25) his strike rate is far more less impressive (75). bedi was also one of the first left armers to play on uncovered pitches and his record is even worse averaging 28 and striking at over 80.

are we currently watching the best left arm spinners to play the game? sure none are "greats", some have had "great" years but over their entire career they still fall short compared to the warne's, murali's, swann's, ajmal's. of course those just mentioned are amazing bowlers, greats of the game but that's my point, we don't really have a great (on the same level as other types of spin) when it comes to left arm orthodox spin or left arm chinaman.

now admittedly "great" spinners are rare, especially if your talking the quality of warne and murali (low averages, lots of wickets, high wickets per game, and strike rates under 60). but even with warne and murali bettering anyone else past or present statistically even including those who played on uncovered pitches, when great spinners are discussed as all time greats you still get mentions of guys like o'reilly, grimmett etc it's not very often that a left arm spinner comes up in the conversation if at all (other than to say so and so was the best left armer they'd be my pick if i was to pick a left armer but that would never happen because they're nowhere near as good as the great right arm spinners).

at current, with herath improving every year, if he can keep his average under 20 and his strike rate under 65 then he's got a good chance of claiming the title of greatest left arm spinner all time to-date. he's currently 4th all time on the wickets list (surprise surprise vettori is the clear leader in that department), depending on how much longer he plays (as he's already 35) he could pass bedi, and possibly pass underwood (though he'd probably have to play near to 40 to surpass underwood).

i'm guessing someone from the uncovered pitches era was actually the greatest there's been as far as left arm spinners but it's just difficult to know for sure.
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All Time Test XI: 1 Hobbs 2 B.Richards 3 Bradman 4 Kohli 5 V.Richards 6 Sobers 7 Gilchrist 8 Miller 9 Procter 10 Marshall 11 Warne
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