5 best exponents of the outswinger in cricket history

#1 Sir Richard Hadlee

Richard Hadlee

According to many, who watched him at his peak in the 1970s and 1980s, New Zealand's Sir Richard Hadlee is the greatest swing bowler to have ever played the game. In a career that spanned 17 years, he played 86 Tests and claimed 431 wickets, many of which were down to his mastery of the outswinger.

Hadlee bowled the outswinger with the new ball anywhere in the world and did not need the right 'conditions' to make the ball talk. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about his outswingers was that even though he could swing it a long way, he had the ability to control the swing and ensure that the batsmen hardly ever had the opportunity to leave a big swinging delivery safely.

Hadlee's classic delivery was the one that pitched on off stump, thereby forcing the batsman into the stroke and then swung away. Either batsmen used to be beaten or the slips and the wicketkeeper found themselves in business.