Thursday, June 15, 2006

Mirror mirror on the wall, who'z the most elegant thrower of all?


The other day I sent this interesting excerpt from cricinfo to my friend Samir:

"David Gower was certainly not in the same league as any of the others on this list - indeed, it could be argued that he was one of the worst bowlers ever to have been unleashed on Test cricket. Nevertheless, he became the eighth person - and second Englishman - to be no-balled for throwing in a Test. He had few complaints. With New Zealand needing one to win in the second Test at Trent Bridge in 1986, Gower came on and openly threw his first ball which Martin Crowe smacked for four to end the game. But Ken Palmer at square leg called a no-ball, and so Gower ended with the figures 0-0-4-0."
Howlarious as the incident was, its narration also earned this subtle note of appreciation from Samir:
"(I) liked the word "unleashed" - imagine using it to describe someone like Gower!"
Reminded me of a particular chap, a Chappell actually, who also had the opportunity to bowl a particular kind of delivery just once in his career.

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