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Fast bowlers and spinnners are the ones we should be thanking dearly for it is they who actually put in the hard yards for the batters to contest and better or come to terms with. And should that not happen, irrespective of format and where one plays, one may never be able to enjoy the aesthetically pleasing art that batting is, isn't it?
Having said that not all bowlers, whether pacers or spinners, have the cleanest or easiest of actions to pick and decode. Some have it rather confusing performing in a twisted or distorted way, right?
Let us revisit some excellent names in the game but ones who may not necessarily have the easiest of bowling actions or styles:
Jenny Gunn
Once a prominent medium fast bowling asset in the England women's national side, someone with great international experience that saw the right arm medium collecting 240 wickets for her country, the Nottingham-born right arm bowler used to twirl her right hand, the bowling arm, at the very last moment before coming to deliver at about the time of the jump ahead of the bowling crease. Hard to describe her action, something that was unusually brilliant and hence, can only be marveled at.
Matheesha Pathirana
If you thought that watching Lasith Malinga had a very unnaturally impactful and effective slinging action, and that was that, along came Pathirana, his younger compatriot to stun heads and send them into a tizzy.
Vastly recognised as a useful addition to the present-day CSK bowling line-up and someone who hugely appreciates MS Dhoni's support for his young, developing career, the youngster from Sri Lanka has a bowling action that is strictly not advised to be emulated by youngsters.
That is how one would rank his bowling style for it is so slingy, even if accurate. He slides into bowl so ruthlessly and sharply, his right arm swinging from behind the ear and at below the shoulder length, that it actually becomes a touch difficult to pick it on occasions.
How far is this action conducive for his own body and well being is something the right arm speedster would know, for the sporting fans and administrators can only hope for his eventual well being.
Paul Adams
Arguably speaking, the uncanniest bowling action in this entire list belonged to a talented and frequently wicket-taking Paul Adams of South Africa who back in the late nineties added a critical weapon in the Protea bowling attack.
He would often bowl diagonal in his approach to the popping crease and just before the point of delivery morph his body into a weird, previously unseen posture from which would eventually come the release point from the left arm.
Nonethless, he was effective and sharp and collected 163 international wickets in a South Africa shirt. Nicknamed 'frog in a blender' Adams held interesting battles back in the day with some of the big names in the game including the Waugh brothers and most notably, Brian Lara in the 1996 World Cup.
Debasis Mohanty
One of India's frontline seamers two decades back in the day, Mohanty, who took no fewer than 417 first-class wickets, was only able to collect 61 international wickets for India in the game.
But the general feeling concerning Mohanty, born in Bhubaneswar, was that due to his uncanny bowling action, he was labeled unsuitable in Indian conditions.
He would have a long run and right before the approach to the crease, he would rotate the right arm, the bowling arm, in one full proper motion that though helped him generate bounce, maybe hampered his bowling speed a touch.
He was only able to actively participate in Indian cricket from 1997 to 2001 and though he proved to be the bane of top class batters like Saeed Anwar, who once confessed about his difficulty to pick Mohanty to Tendulkar, the right arm fast medium couldn't really become a regular.
Jasprit Bumrah
The king of fast bowling and a real giant of his day, uncanny to pick with unprecented standards of consistency, Bumrah is really one of a kind and there may not be too many like him in the times to come. With not the longest bowling action in the game, Bumrah, who has Punjabi roots but belongs to Gujarat has become the pride of India with his success with both white and red ball.
His is a very 'elbowy' action for the lack of better word, something one can imitate but not live with for his natural ergonomics in the architecture of his right elbow allow him to bowl in the awkwardly but pleasing action in which he does.
He is an all time great in the works with 443 international wickets to his name already and h
