If out-swinger from a right-arm fast bowler is an inseparable part of classical Test-cricket, the Twenty-20 version of cricket is characterized by a gross absence of such classic touch. In the Test cricket, a well-directed out-swinger is something dreaded by most skillful batsmen, for you have to mind your defense, all the while recalling all your cricket techniques if you are to be saved from such a delivery. And still, your techniques can not guarantee protection against an out-swinger. Even the most experienced batsman can be fooled into playing the slow moving ball that goes past just outside the off-stump. The fatality of playing such balls lies in the fact that it is nearly impossible to rightly judge the level of movement.

However, there is a basic difference between leg-cutter and out-swinger, which is more aggressive in nature and demands a better footwork from the batsman to tackle it. Some of the yester year’s cricketers that mastered the art of out-swinging to the perfection includes the likes of Terry Alderman and Geoff Arnold. With their exemplary control and level of skills at swinging the ball, they famously unsettled many leading batsmen of their times. In the recent past, the international cricket watched the rediscovery of the lost art in the hands of Glenn McGrath. Technically speaking, a seam bowler, McGrath adopted a fuller length, out-swing bowling style to thrash the opponents during Australia’s triumphant Test tour of India in 2004.

The style is grossly ignored in the shortest format of the game, as it can fetch the batsmen good deal of runs. Meeting the delivery with a horizontal bat can prove helpful in adding up to the scores in twenty-20 cricket. With hardly more than a slip in place, with batsmen approaching the game with a more aggressive mind set and stringent rules for wide in place, the batsmen are bound to strike against the pacer, who has very little cover in the twenty-20 cricket. However, it is the strong slip cordon that can save the pacer from ultimate misery. Provided the right men are posted in right catching positions, the bower is likely to suffer less assault from the batsmen. Thus, captains are found discouraging their men against bowling out-swingers, particularly in the death overs, so that they do not get translated into boundaries or sixes.

Thus the bowlers like Dale Steyn, who are successful in Test, have little prospect in Twenty20 cricket, where the very format curbs his potentials. However, there are seamers who have the potentials of reviving this lost art in Twenty-20. As for example, England’s James Anderson is a capable out-swing bowler, but he lacks on the control side. While S. Sreesanth seemingly has the spark, he is away from the tournament due to fitness concerns. Then lack of consistency is what curbs the power of the Keralite.

However, left-arm swing and seam bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Zaheer Khan are in a more advantageous position as in their case the away movements of the ball are less prominent and they can make the ball travel to the batsman at different angles.

With increasing inclination toward brief cricket, the survival of the art of out-swingers is difficult, but not impossible. The strong willed selectors and stronger willed fast bowlers together can make it happen.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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