SK Humour: 5 bowlers with weird habits

Which batsman, in the right frame of mind, will want to check whether his helmets, pads and gloves are in the right place before each delivery?

Steven Smith must have had a very traumatic childhood where his neighbouring kids used to run away with his cricket kit. Why else would he need to touch each of his cricketing gear before each delivery? C'mon skippah, nobody is going to take it off you before each ball.

Smith might be quirky, almost dancing in the crease to show AB de Villiers that he isn't the only one with the moves, but Smith is one obsessive cricketer; obsessed to his cricketing gear like a seven-year-old is to crayons. But aren't all cricketers self-obsessed freaks?

Take the case of Kevin Pietersen who dared to strip the centre of his hair in his first Ashes series with a dye that eerily matched England's ODI kit colour. Or Andre Nel, the cute Red Riding Hood from South Africa who was silenced by Sreesanth's helicopter dance. Oops! We do not even want to get started on Sreesanth.

The fact is most cricketers do have quirky habits, unusual and awkward to the spectators at first, but eventually, they all turn into familiar sights. Bowlers are rather ignored in this category. But there are some mind-blowingly crazy guys in this category, mind you.

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#5 Imran Tahir's marathon run

You wouldn't want to be a South African fielder when Imran Tahir is bowling well. If that leggie gets a wicket, each of the Proteas squad members is forced to take a sprint to the boundary line to catch this guy from not running out of the stadium.

They have got some pretty quick men, mind you, and this has prevented Imran Tahir from running out through the stadium gates. Inzamam-Ul-Haq would be pretty pleased (Oh, the chuckles!) that this leg-spinner from Pakistan met a South African woman, moved to the country and played for his adopted nation. Saved Inzy from some jogging, didn't he?

#4 Neil Wagner has difficulty running in a straight line

Wagner almost touches the return crease when coming around the stumps

Ever watched the 1980s fast bowlers take their run-ups? They start from wide mid-off and run in towards the umpire diagonally. Well, Neil Wagner seems to be have been pretty inspired by that. But he seems to have gathered it all too wrong. He goes diagonally opposite!

Starting from right behind the umpire, Wagner goes all the way to the end of the pitch as his foot almost touches the return crease (Dhoni fans would say it did touch the wretched return crease in that fateful Test match).

A school boy mistake from the Kiwi fast bowler. He watched the greats of the 80s run diagonally but never noted in which direction. How dumb is that? Why else would this poster boy from New Zealand trouble umpires with yet another crease?

As it is, on-field officials have trouble spotting the normal no-ball and Wagner presents them with an altogether different crease to watch out for! Billy Bowden would surely have some funny gesture for that one.

#3 Ishant Sharma trampling the pitch

Ishant destroys batsmen's dreams with his spike

Ah! Good old Ishant Sharma is never happy with the amount of runs he has gifted to the opposition team. When he realises that the captain isn't going to stop giving him the ball, he decides to end his spell by walking over the danger portion of the pitch with his spikes.

The umpire warns him once and no, that isn't enough. He decides to frustrate the official by walking over once more. You can imagine how devastated the batsman is, watching the umpire ask Ishant to stop his spell. Surely, he is playing the next game, isn't he?

#2 Kieron Pollard funny antics

Is the ball coming out of his hand?

You know the game is on when Kieron Pollard decides to fiddle with the batsman. He runs in with the red cherry, err (no Test caps), white cherry in hand, makes the final jump to deliver and the ball vanishes! No, he hasn't delivered it. How often has he done this?

Imagine Eoin Morgan or Jos Buttler pre-meditating the lap shot and waiting for the ball that never arrives. Pollard is one funny guy. He doesn't mind running in yet another time to deliver(?) the same ball again. It could be one reason why he isn't in the Test team. He could run in all day without bowling a ball!

#1 Steven Finn's footballing skills

Steven Finn loves his football skills and practises them while bowling

You think AB de Villiers is the most talented guy on the cricket field? Think again! Steven Finn plays cricket and football at the same time while bowling. Confused? The tall England seamer runs in and bowls but knocks off the non-striker's bails with his right foot during the follow-through.

He does this so often that umpires have warned him to concentrate on his cricketing skills first. Nicknamed The Watford Wall, Finn is surely eyeing a place in the Watford Premier League side with his uncanny flick of the bails. Beats the scissor cut, doesn't he?