The World Cup's Top 5 Spinnerz
This World Cup is going to an odd one with regards to those who give it a tweak. There's no spinner who has a full arsenal of mind-numbing deliveries, nor is there a spinner who can lay their cap down at night widely known as the best spinner in the world.
Without Saeed Ajmal, who has been known to biff it down the pitch, this World Cup not only lacks a spinner to spread fear like governments, but it also has slightly changed the spinning role. A few teams at the World Cup will play with a spinner who is a very, very handy spinner but who will also play a key role with the bat. For me, this outlines how talented cricketers these days as the 'part time' spinner has been reverse swept for six, figuratively, and now those who were once known as part timers are extremely good spinners who just happen to bat really well as well.
In saying that, there's still a few top shelf spinners who will feature heavily at the World Cup. For me, the best straight up and down spinners (who also bat alright) are Ravi Ashwin and Daniel Vettori who will be key men for their respective teams.
I'll start with Ashwin who looks to be MS Dhoni's right hand man. Ashwin has taken a wicket in each of his last 13 ODI's and will be asked by Dhoni to not only keep things tight during the middle stages, but to also be a strike weapon his variety. We might even see Ashwin take the new ball a few times which will be interesting and I'd keep an eye on how batsmen play him as they may show him plenty, maybe too much respect or they might not pay him any respect and try whack him around the place.
Ashwin had a rough time of it in New Zealand on his last venture out this way, he took 1 wicket in 5 ODI's but he took plenty of wickets in England last year and his sample size of 1 ODI in Australia recently is too small to make any kind of judgement. On his day, Ashwin's economy rate hovers around 4.5 runs an over, with his career rpo in ODI cricket being a respectable 4.90 which is low enough to restrict and offer a threat.
I'm optimistic about Ashwin because it's hard to see him getting a great deal of assistance off the pitch which will hopefully mean we see his full bag of tricks. Unlike Ashwin, Vettori doesn't quite have all the tools in the tool belt, or should I say he's got a slightly different tool belt.
Vettori's immaculate control of the ball in the air will make things interesting at the World Cup as many batsmen simply won't be able to resist themselves. It will be interesting to see the mindset of opposing batsmen, are they still going to show Vettori plenty of respect and just try get through his overs without a wicket at 4-5 runs an over? I'm not sure as the way these lads are batting I think they're confident they can hit anyone around the park, but that's going to provide many chances for Vettori to strike.
Strike and Vettori aren't two words that go hand in hand, in 7 ODI's against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Vettori took 4 wickets with a game rained out at Eden Park. That's not the best return, but as I said, many teams will be happy to face Vettori and let him do his thing as they'll be confident that they can work him around for singles and two's during the accumulation phase.
You won't see the sort of control and skill that Vettori will offer from any other spinner at the World Cup and it's with that, that I'm saying Danny V will be the Black Caps top spinner. It's also possible that Vettori emerges from the World Cup as the best spinner of the tournament, which would be amazing, but without the variety of top shelf tweakers, it's definitely possible.
There's two leggies that deserve a spot in this top 5. Imran Tahir has the chance to be the top dog for South Africa if he can keep Aaron Phangiso out of the line up and Tahir's wicket taking average of 20.23 is impossible to ignore. Throw in to the mix an economy rate of 4.39 and Tahir could be the man to give South Africa the edge as he'll fill the gap between their 3 headed bowling beast and their all rounders.
The other is the one and only Shahid Afridi, who will feature heavily with the ball for Pakistan. Watching Afridi do his thing with the ball will be an absolute pleasure as we'll be given the full bag of tricks and you'll be given an insight in to the ability of the man as he flights one up outside off stump, then fires one in at the stumps at 120km/h.
Afridi gets this beautiful flight in the air where the ball drifts in to the right hander and while you shouldn't expect him to turn the ball a whole lot, the intricacies and subtlety of Afridi will rival that of Vettori. Afridi is going to be difficult to get away as well thanks to him being able to serve up a plethora of deliveries at the right time with a fair amount of experience to call on. In 391 ODI's Afridi has an economy rate of 4.62, not shabby.
That leaves me with another wildcard spot as I'm struggling to pick between Moeen Ali and Glenn Maxwell. Both will play hugely important roles with the bat, but they'll also be the go to man for England and Australia respectively for 10 overs of solid spin. Ali has taken wickets in pretty much all of his games recently, while Maxwell has shown that he can do damage with the ball, taking 4/46 against England in their Tri-Series final.
I got pretty excited about the prospect of watching some of the best pace bowlers in the world showcase their ability, but I'm struggling to stay calm about this group of spinners. Sure, they aren't exactly Shane Warne or Murali or Sunil Narine or Anil Kumble, but there's so many little things that will make watching these spinners a pleasure. The flight, the turn and the variety will all be key aspects but for me it will be the battle between the bat and ball that will be the most interesting.
We know that teams will be looking at a total up around 300 as their target in each match, that's just the way cricket is and batsmen will look to target spinners to ensure that they don't get through their overs cheaply. That's going to ensure that there's heaps of chances for the spinners, but they'll have to be good enough. They'll have to out-wit the batsmen and that's why I love spin bowling.