The successful appearance of the unlikely looking Dwayne Leverock for Bemuda against England this week, confirmed a theory of mine.
After nearly 50 years of playing and watching the game, I reckon that English left-arm spinners are an eccentric and more interesting breed – unlike their more staid – boring if you like – off-spinning counterparts.
Take the fiery character of Tony Lock, who was much more excitable than the placid Jim Laker. Then we come to Phil Edmonds, an outspoken spinner – with a more outspoken wife. He was much more likely to bowl a bouncer off three paces than his Middlesex spin twin John Emburey, a boring off-spinner if ever there was one, but a more reliable character than Edmonds.
Then we come to another Middlesex man Phil Tufnell, who was certainly, excitable, unpredictable and entertaining. Some years ago, he played a pre-season match for his county at Slough. I remember him, as an avid 'Gooner', getting very excited and jumpy while watching his beloved Arsenal on the television.
Left-arm spinners are much more likely to suffer from the 'yips'. Sufferers who immediately come to mind and whose affliction prematurely ended their careers were Fred Swarbrook (Derbyshire), Keith Medlycott (Surrey) and Nick Cook, who enjoyed a successful short spell for England.
The case of Swarbrook is particularly sad. Fred was a terminal case until some psychologist advised him to carry a smooth pebble in his pocket and give it a nerve-soothing rub before every ball.
One day, however, the yips returned with a vengeance, and as delivery after delivery squirted straight up into the air, a team-mate (the former England batsman David Steele) piped up: ‘Fred. Try putting the ball in your pocket and bowling the pebble instead’.
Just before you think I've got something in for left-arm spinners, I can reveal that I'm used to be one myself – and sometimes wondered where the ball was going to land, with my action' 'off the wrong foot'.
Whether it is the fact that left-armers are in a minority, or that they have jerky actions, I don't know the reason for their less stable nature.
What I would be interested to hear is the name of an eccentric off-spinner. None comes to mind.