When Warnie rang the 'Bell'

Every bowler who has played a considerable amount of test cricket, over a period of time, takes a liking to bowl to at least one batsman (amongst the hundreds in the opposition that he bowls to) during his stint at the International level. Such batsmen, who somehow seem to find ways of getting out to the same bowler, are tamely named as the ‘bunny’ by the merciless commentators.

Zaheer had a knack of taking Graeme Smith every time he bowled at him. Same was the case with Glenn McGrath and Mike Artherton, the former being the tormentor and the latter, the hapless ‘bunny’. It’s a huge mental barrier for the batsman to overcome and a psychological advantage for the bowler over his opponent.

In the entire cricketing history, there is one bowler who was equipped like an army, when it came to his trade: leg-spin. He had all the weapons in his armory, all the variations that a leggie could ask for. In fact, he had a surprise bouncer as well, that could put any pacer to shame. This was one man who could vary the leg-spin in degrees. It would range from spin, little spin, little more spin, ripper to the square turner. Now, what can you say about a leg spinner who has variations in leg-spin, apart from the traditional googly, the dreaded flipper, the camouflaged slider and the top spinner? Well, the name’s Warne, Shane Warne!

Enter Shane Warne and you won’t be surprised to see that half the pool of international batsmen actually turn into bunnies instantly. Alec Stewart and almost every other batsman who faced Warne have struggled to keep the wizard of leg spin at bay. As such, when you are given the tough task of deciding Warney’s ‘ no.1′ bunny, it ends up as a clash between many, such was the magic of this leggie.

It wasn’t always Warne’s ability as a leg-spinner that foxed the batsmen most times. It was more to do with how he set-up his prospective victims for the kill. Ian Bell, a solid batsman, makes for an interesting study in relation to this topic. He was the ‘blue- eyed’ boy of English cricket and was seen as a test prospect while he was in his teens playing for the U-19 team. As a batsman who was equipped with good technique, he was known to be one of the better players of spin in the English camp.

One particular match that comes to mind, with regard to the’ bunny’ being set up, is the 1st test match of The Ashes 2005 – when Bell was a new-comer to the England team. Warne had polished off Marcus Trescothick, the opening batsman, with a good tweak and subsequently Bell had arrived at the crease . It was obvious that the wicket was taking some turn and Warne was on top of his game.

With the first ball that he bowled to Bell, Warney turned the ball square from off stump to very wide of off, demonstrating the amount of turn, as if to let Bell know and drive in the fact that the pitch was turning square. The innocent Bell mentally prepared himself for negotiating the turners for the rest of the day. Little did he suspect what the wily old fox was up to. After bowling a few sighters and flighted balls (to give Bell a false sense of confidence), Warne sent a slider down the pitch with no apparent change in action or wrist position (we’ve seen this video in slow-mo and still couldn’t figure it out) that thudded into the pads of the unsuspecting Bell who had gotten into a ‘leave it alone’ position, thinking it would grip and turn.

Before he knew what was happening, the poor Bell was sent packing, back to the hut in disbelief . Well, it wasn’t the first time that Warne rang the “bell”. He had made the ‘best of the best’ see stars in broad-daylight. It was just that he took a fancy to ring the ‘bell’ more often, just to keep the crowds awake on long ‘test-match’ days. He did this with great efficiency all through his career. We have seen the most skilled bowlers struggle in test matches, mainly due to the sheer physical and mental demands of the format. Warne’s career stands as a testimonial to the fact that a few battles were actually won in the minds than in the actual battlefield.