If not for anything else, give it up for Amol Rajan for the sheer innovativeness of writing a whole book about spinners. Spinners as in those bowlers in cricket who instinctively tap into many laws of physics without realizing it. Also, give it up for the book’s charming title. Twirlymen has the same air of mystery as googly or doosra.
Flipping through the Economist I came across this short review of Rajan’s book and could not resist adding my two bit. I have not yet read the book but the moment one thinks about it it makes perfect sense that a book like this ought to have been written.
Published by Yellow Jersey Press of the U.K. the publicity blurb says, “From W. G. Grace to Shane Warne, Twirlymen is an essential look at that most eccentric of cricketers - the spin bowler.
They are the masters of deception, the jokers in the pack; illusionists conjuring wickets out of thin air with nothing more than an ambled approach and a wonky grip. Not for them the brutish physicality of the pace bowler nor the reactive slogging of the batsman. Theirs is a more cerebral art. They stand alone in a team sport. They are Twirlymen.”
As a teenager occasionally watching the famous Indian spinning trio of Bishen Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar was beguiling. Spinners were like sorcerers who seemed to be drawing their powers from an unknown realm. That unknown realm was largely laws of physics which dictated the spin and the ultimate direction of every ball that a spinner bowled.
If you want to know what a good spinner is, volunteer to be an empire at a cricket game. As the spinner ambles past you and launches the ball in the air, giving it a spin with his wrist and fingers, you would be able to hear a distinct hiss. That hiss is the sound of the ball slicing through the air. It is almost as if an unruly mini planet after being flung around is trying to discover a more steady orbit.
