The Knuckleball: Funnily enough, this particular innovation came not from the Pakistanis, the S'Africans or even from Venkatesh Prasad (who alone among Indian quicks is evolving a fast bowler's lexicon of his own) but from the little rated Adam Hollioake of Surrey and England.

Remember his wicket taking bursts against India in the second and third ODIs for the Texaco Trophy during India's tour earlier this summer? For a large part of that success, thank the knuckleball.

"Basically," says Hollioake, "the knuckleball is my version of the slower ball, and I have a lot of variations for it. I hold the ball between my index and little fingers, with the other fingers tucked under the ball. Then I flick it out with the tucked up fingers providing the propulsion. The ball hovers in the air, instead of going forward at even pace, and it also bounces more than usual. When I get it in the slot to drive, batsmen tend to go for it and end up being deceived, and hitting the ball to mid off or, off the leading edge, giving the catch to mid on or midwicket."

Besides these deliveries, the quicks have also begun borrowing heavily from the spinner's armoury, bowling the off spinner and, heaven help us, even the flipper on occasion. While McGrath, De Villiers and Donald, among the bowlers on view during the ongoing Titan Cup, have taken to bowling fast off-breaks regularly to confuse batsmen, Prasad again ranks as the most regular practitioner of this type of delivery.

All of which prompted the inimitable Geoffrey Boycott to come up with this, during one of his commentary stints: "If Prasad could now develop a quicker delivery, he would be a world class spin bowler!"

Like I said before, the above is not a definitive list of innovations the quicks are coming up with. And part of the fun of watching cricket, these days, is trying to spot these innovations, figuring out what the bowlers are actually up to.

Try it sometime - it's great fun... and adds a dimension to your cricket-watching.