From: hasan@vxcrna.cern.ch 
Subject: Re: Mushtaq sets for Somerset
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 00:04:00 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.182637.17887@maths.nott.ac.uk>, anw@maths.nott.ac.uk (Dr A. N. Walker) writes...
>In article <14AUG199209463707@vxcrna.cern.ch> hasan@vxcrna.cern.ch writes:
>>Now somewhat recklessly, may I add, that if such a revival takes place (though
>>leg-break-googly bowling has never been very popular in England) [...]
> 
>	Harumph!  LBG was *invented* here [remember Bosanquet?].  I don't
>recall it as ever having been "unpopular" until relatively recently.  The
>first Notts team I ever watched had *three* of them, and the only visible
>function that Jepson [RMF] and Smales [OB] had in many matches was to
>roughen the ball for Dooland, Goonesena [and Harvey].  There were lots
>on the county circuit, most notably the completely unplayable Doug Wright
>[FAST LBG].  Back in history, Notts had a whole string of them, including
>several of Test standard.  The decline came in the 50's, for two reasons:
>(a) the expense, when the rules made it more important to slow the runs
>than to take wickets;  (b) the rise of some brilliant OB bowlers, headed
>by Jim Laker, who became the role model for aspiring youngsters.  The
>general demise of spin simply reinforced the trend.
>

Though I knew about Bosanquet's invention and the dramatic demonstration
of it's lethal efficacy when he bowled the great Victor Trumper with what the
Austrailians pejoratively termed as a "bosie" (BTW, who gave it the name
googly, was it Bosanquet himself? And also, what kind of an English name 
is Bosanquet ... sounds more like that of a French chevalier... in which
case it should better have been called a *french LB* like many other
naughty things with this prefix :-)) I had thought it was the Austrailians
who took to it more enthusiastically. Remember who was the most successful
Austrailian bowler till World War II? -- the wiry, diminutive Jules Grimmett
(sp?) with 216 test wickets, and even afterwards, till the time when "Dennis
the menace" started terrorizing batsmen the world over, the most successful 
of Aussie bowlers was another exponent of this craft, yes the smooth talking
and crisp commentator of cricket, Richie Benaud. Now all this screed was
just to bring home the point -- admittedly controversial -- that the popularity
of LBG bowling in England should have reflected in some success at the
international level. Not being knowledgable enough about the esoterica of
English county cricket, that was the basis of my inference. How many English
LBG bowlers have taken even 50 test wickets, what to say of 200 or more?!

But your point is well taken, and I thank you for bringing this up.
However, do tell me whether in those heydays of LBG bowling in England,
was it really effective, or as I suspect, it was fashionable merely
because it was considered an exotic art form, so to say; hence it was
naturally relegated to a relatively minor position with the increase
of professionalism that emphasizes success at the cost of pure love
of the game. Am I right?
> 
>-- 
>Andy Walker, Maths Dept., Nott'm Univ., UK.
>anw@maths.nott.ac.uk

	-Hasan
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