10 instances where the ball swung/spun too much

For a cricket fan, there are very few things that bring more joy than seeing a wonderfully executed delivery that completely bamboozles the batsman and goes past his defences. Whether it is the ball which starts on off stump and ends up as a toe-crushing yorker, or the ball which pitches on leg stump and turns past the outside edge to hit the top of off-stump, the art of bowling is a joy to behold.While the game of cricket has seen many bowlers come and go, precious few could make the ball talk in the air or off the pitch. As modern bowlers look to sacrifice swing for pace, swing bowling seems to be a dying art. The bug seems to have affected the spinners as well, as most look to add variations to their bowling instead of trying to spin the ball a long way.As the game has evolved, the batsmen are now more wary of playing swing and spin. Bowlers often have to wait for batsmen to make mistakes by themselves instead of inducing them to play a loose shot. The only chance a bowler has of getting a batsman out is to bowl an unplayable delivery.Let’s take a look at some such deliveries that left the batsmen in a knot because the ball swung or spun too much:

#10 Steve Harmison

Steve Harmison was a man somewhere in between a swing bowler and a pace bowler. He rarely did both. But when he did, he was irresistible to watch. One such example would be in 2004, when his 7 for 12 blew West Indies for just 47 runs. He built up good pace, but his line and length often went awry. With a lop-sided action, a lack of accuracy proved to be Harmisons undoing as he failed to make much of an impression.

All this changed in the 2005 Ashes. He bowled beautifully throughout the summer, proving instrumental in Englands series win. His slower delivery to dismiss Michael Clarke is the stuff of legend, as England wrested away the Ashes from Australia by destroying their spirit in the 2 run victory at Edgbaston, with Harmison taking the final wicket of Kasprowicz. In 2006, he took 6/19 against Pakistan and followed it up with 5/57 in the second innings.

It was now Englands turn to tour Australia, and great things were expected from Harmison. The crowd waited with bated breath as Harmison geared up to bowl the first ball of the Ashes. But his excitement proved too much for him as he pitched it miles outside the off stump and it swung straight to Flintoff at second slip.

That explained Englands mindset at the moment, and they would go on to lose the series 5-0.