Prem Panicker

The India versus South Africa game at Rajkot on Tuesday had, for me, a defining moment.

One of those instances in cricketing time that will, years from now, become part of lore and legend. A moment that will, in future histories of the game, be referred to when developments in the game are being discussed and analysed.

It occured when Fanie De Villiers was bowling to Sachin Tendulkar. The first ball was fast, on the off stump. Tendulkar defensive. Ball two was equally fast, but a shade outside off stump and leaving the batsman. Tendulkar moved into line and pushed it defensively to Jonty Rhodes at point. The third ball was bowled with an indentical action, but from very close to the stumps - and on a middle stump line. To such deliveries, Tendulkar has a stock response - he leans well forward, bat in front of the pad and with a wristy flick (or alternately, the scoop from under) either despatches the ball to the square leg fence, or over midwicket, for four.

This time, Tendulkar leaned forward as usual - but for once, the wrist stayed locked, the bat stayed in position. The batsman waited for the ball, then played a deft jab at it, placing it just to the left of midwicket and racing through for a run. As he passed the bowler on his follow through, he was seen, on television, looking at Fanie and saying something with a smile that, in turn, provoked a laugh from the tall RSA quick.

The little byplay was explained later by De Villiers himself. "That was my slower ball," Fanie said after the game. "Twice in the last four innings, I got Sachin playing at it early, and popping up catches to close in mid wicket. This time Sachin was ready for it, he just pushed at it and as he ran, just looked at me with a smile and said, 'Not today, Fanie!'. I laughed, because it was a trap and he had evaded it."

Cricket, at its best, is a battle of wits between batsmen and bowlers - with the dice heavily weighted in favour of the batsmen. The front foot no ball rule, the turning down of LBW appeals when the ball is pitching outside line of leg, irrespective of point of impact, the calling of bouncers going above a batsman's shoulders as a wide, the field restrictions within the first 15 overs, the limitations to the number of fielders you can place on the leg side - all these, and such other regulations, are intended to ensure that the game is dominated by batsmen. Legacy, perhaps, of the perception that crowds come to see fours and sixes, not wickets tumbling.

But the more rules the game's governing body makes, the more ways bowlers discover of getting their own back. And this is what, in recent times, makes watching cricket so fascinating - this war of attrition between batsmen who have the backing of the game's law-makers, and bowlers who have just their wits, and their abilities to innovate, for weapons.

And it is the fast bowlers who are leading the way in this battle. Gone are the days when they bowled to three slips, a gully, a point and used sheer pace to try and crash through - today, a typical field might revolve around a very close midwicket, for the ball angled in and bowled with a change of pace to induce the early stroke and consequent outer edge. Time was when a bowler of Allan Donald's pace would take the new ball, relying on its shine and hardness to help him bowl faster. Today, he not only comes in first change, to use the ball after some shine has gone off, but gets most of his wickets bowling at the very end, with a ball 40-plus overs old, using guile rather than pace to strike.

And with this change in perception has come a change in the basic fast bowler's armoury. Forget the inswinger, the outswinger, the off and leg cutter, the bouncer, the beamer and such. Today, the buzzwords are reverse swing, curveball, the fastball, the - heaven help us - knucleball...

What exactly are the fast bowlers up to these days?

What follows is not an exhaustive list, for there are as many innovations as there are bowlers. We attempt, here, merely to look at a selection of new weapons in the quick bowler's armoury, in order to help you enjoy the on-field action better, and to get a better insight into what is actually happening when a Younis, or a Donald, runs in to bowl these days.