At a Glance
- Tariq has an unusual pause in his bowling action
- Muralitharan was called up for his bowling action multiple times
- Gatting described Paul Adams as a “frog in a blender”
Pakistan off-spinner Usman Tariq has had plenty of eyeballs on him since his professional debut. A lot of this attention could be attributed to what can be described as an unusual bowling action.
Be it criticism or support, Tariq’s action has had plenty of people in the media talking. And on the occasion of the 28-year-old joining the Warwickshire Bears ahead of the T20 Blast, we look at five spinners with unusual actions over the years.
Usman Tariq
A late entrant into the world of franchise cricket, Usman Tariq made a name for himself with some incredible performances in the Pakistan Super League and the Caribbean Premier League. It was also in these leagues that people started to talk about his bowling action.
Tariq trots up to the crease before taking a pause just before the release, and then lets the ball go with a somewhat slingy action. While the likes of national T20I captain Salman Agha and others have maintained their support of the spinner, opponents like Cameron Green and Daryl Mitchell have taken objection to Tariq’s methods.
A frustrated Green appeared to have made a “chucking” gesture after being dismissed by Tariq during a T20I earlier this year. Mitchell, on the other hand, repeatedly stepped away from the batting crease in response to Tariq’s pause while bowling.
Muttiah Muralitharan
Legendary Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has had his fair share of controversy when it comes to bowling actions. In 1995, umpire Darrell Hair called no-ball for illegal bowling action on seven occasions during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Although his action was officially questioned on three different occasions, biomechanical testing led to the ICC clearing Muralitharan’s action eventually. The now 54-year-old fought against these allegations throughout his career to end with 800 Test and 534 ODI wickets, the most in each of those formats.
Paul Adams
Left-arm wrist-spinner Paul Adams made waves for his unique bowling action on debut in 1995. The South African troubled England batters in his debut series, with Mike Gatting likening his action to a “frog in the blender”.
Unlike other bowlers, Adams would be facing the sky at the time of release. While the unconventional bowling did seem to affect batters initially, Adams would eventually be found out. He retired from cricket in 2008 and moved on to coaching.
Shivil Kaushik
An action similar to Adams’, another left-arm wrist-spinner Shivil Kaushik too would end up facing the sky at the time of release. Kaushik didn’t really experience the kind of success that Adams did.
Kaushik was picked up by the Gujarat Lions at the IPL auction. However, he played just the 10 matches across the 2016 and 2017 seasons, picking up six wickets. Those 10 matches would be the only 10 games of his T20 career.
Dan Lawrence
Although known for his batting, Dan Lawrence has turned heads with his bowling style. One could argue that Lawrence puts the action in bowling action. Shared widely during England’s series against the West Indies, the part-timer has arguably one of the most chaotic actions around.
During the course of his run-up the ball finds itself under his chin, below his waist, above his head alongside his left arm, under his armpit and then over his head once again just before release. Phew!
It does seem to work for him though. A bowling strike rate of 19.2 and an average of 25.4 isn’t too bad for a ‘part-timer’, eh?
While all of the aforementioned bowlers have tasted varying levels of success in their careers, it remains to be seen just how well Usman Tariq does going forward. That said, it is safe to assume that the upcoming summer could be an indicator of just that.
Stay up to date with all the latest Franchise Cricket content at ReadCricket.com
