Highly onorthodox but highly effective.

We hear a lot about textbook cricketing technique. I was recently thinking though about players who have had very successful careers with a technique that is certainly not found in any cricketing coaching manual. Which batsmen, wicketkeepers and bowlers have managed to make a successful career based upon a seemingly flawed cricket technique?

Note the importance of very successful careers - hence somebody like paul adams, while being hugely unorthodox, shouldn't be included as they weren't highly effective and didn't go on to have a very successful career.

For batsman maybe shiv chanderpaul would be a good shout.

Amla is not seen to be technically very correct.

I was going to list a fair few until I read the bit about "Very Successful". Sorry Paul Adams.

Lance Cairns retired as NZ's 2nd or 3rd highest test wicket taker, bowling swing/cutters off the wrong foot. Chris Harris managed over 200 ODI wickets bowling dibbly dobbly seamers/non-spinning leg breaks off the wrong foot too.

Sehwag would be the obvious one.

Jeff Thomson certainly bowled pretty quick with an unorthodox action, successfully too.

While Colin Milburn might have been reasonably technically correct, mentally he treated every ball as one to be flayed around the ground. Not uncommon these days, but a couple of generations ago it was almost "not cricket".

Simon Katich

kwinigolfer wrote:Jeff Thomson certainly bowled pretty quick with an unorthodox action, successfully too.

While Colin Milburn might have been reasonably technically correct, mentally he treated every ball as one to be flayed around the ground. Not uncommon these days, but a couple of generations ago it was almost "not cricket".

I seem to recall Thomson being sited at all the idiots people who didn't understand the laws on old 606 who thought Malinga was a chucker.

Has Malinga been successful enough to qualify for this list? Great limited overs bowler, sadly curtailed test career.

Well, Muralitharan wasn't an orthodox bowler was he?

Bill "tiger" O'Reilly bowled quick leg-spin in the 1930s. Ditto Kumble and Afridi (successful in ODIs and T20s at least). Chandreraskar (spelling?) bowled really fast for a spinner and bowled mainly googlies.

Thomson is a good shout from Kiwi. Malinga obviously at least in ODIs. Malcom Marshall had a very very front-on action which was I think fairly unusual in those days, but I wouldn't call it unorthodox really.

I'm not sure I'd call Shewag unothodox either in his technique. Simple probably but not unorthodox, it's more his methods which are unusual in that you don't expect them. In which case Jayasuriya would be an equal shout. But technically they are every bit as orthodox as someone like Ponting. I actually think Brian Lara had a fairly unorthodox technique, that high arched backlift, getting accross his stumps, etc.

By all accounts Dennis Compton was unorthodox (and credites with inventing the sweep shot), as was Alan Knott.

More currently someone like Eoin Morgan is certainly unorthodox, and is very effective in the shorter formats of the game.

Ponting's catching technique is fairly unorthodox, whilst Collingwood's "goalkeeping" technique (going with the opposite hand) was pioneering but now seen as correct I guess.

Could we perhaps say some players with thier unorthodix methods were also pioneers?

Mike Procter is the standout for me. It's not just that his bowling action was unorthodox, but also that it must have made it harder for him to bowl fast.

beadle


Still struggling to understand Kiwi's reference to my post on Jeff Thomson . . . . Were people saying Tommo was a chucker?

kwinigolfer wrote:beadle


Still struggling to understand Kiwi's reference to my post on Jeff Thomson . . . . Were people saying Tommo was a chucker?

Sorry mate.

Some people were calling Malinga a chucker, to which the response was that he was slingy a la Thomson, albeit a bit more round arm.

Kiwi

Lara with his high back lift?

hodge wrote:Lara with his high back lift?

No need to steal my ideas...

We seem to have quite a number of batsmen and bowlers. What about unorthodox wicketkeepers?

How about Gilbert Jessop, known as 'The Croucher' due to his low stance at the crease? His scoring rates were unorthodox as well.
Or S.F. Barnes who bowled off and leg-spin, from the front of his hand, at fast-medium pace?
Or K.S. Ranjitsinjhi, who played his leg glance BETWEEN his legs?

Pretty unorthodox.

Mike Selig wrote:

hodge wrote:Lara with his high back lift?

No need to steal my ideas...

Just checked back and fair enough i'm now agreeing with you

I just saw a long post and being tired at the time I just thought skip!

LivinginItaly wrote:We seem to have quite a number of batsmen and bowlers. What about unorthodox wicketkeepers?

I can't really remember but wasn't there a keep who stood at a slight angle and closer to the stumps so it was easier to take the ball side on and limiting chances of the ball going to their left (for a right handed batter) and vice versa?

probably me imagining it

For bowlers, for the more mature posters, I would also nominate John Price of Middlesex for his remarkable run up. I have a recollection that he used to start his very long run up from a (not all that straight) deep mid off or mid on. I think tho' by the time he eventually got to deliver the ball he was pretty orthodox, even graceful....

Talking about run ups, did you notice how short a runup De Lange has and still bowling at 145 km/h?

Kevin Pietersen is fairly unorthodox at times, to great success, i.e. playing his 'flamingo' shot to a ball a few feet outside off stump and smashing it along the ground through midwicket.

Hoggy_Bear wrote:Or K.S. Ranjitsinjhi, who played his leg glance BETWEEN his legs?
Pretty unorthodox.

He probably got gutted a few times by hitting the ball too square and getting bowled (played on) off the side of his knee!

Fists,
Now you've mentioned KP. Given the number of times both he and Prior get themselves out cheaply and recklessly, do you think "effective" is an appropriate adjective for them? Same probably applies also to many others but both of them are so often found wanting when an ounce of discipline would do the job.

Peter Willey had a pretty unorthodox stance, just checked his stats though and turns out that highly effective he wasn't.

kwinigolfer wrote:Fists,
Now you've mentioned KP. Given the number of times both he and Prior get themselves out cheaply and recklessly, do you think "effective" is an appropriate adjective for them? Same probably applies also to many others but both of them are so often found wanting when an ounce of discipline would do the job.

I would suggest that Prior's test match average of 44.71 at a strike rate of 66.95 over 47 matches, scoring 6 100's and 18 50's, would be ample justification for the adjective highly effective. However, I wouldn't regard prior as having a particularly unorthodox technique.

As to the Kp comment - behave.