The Rediff On The NeT Cricket Special: The Myth & the Man

This next table is more tangential -- a breakdown of Warne's modes of dismissal. And the only in-your-face fact here worth mentioning is the very low proportion of stumpings, as compared to other forms of dismissals.

There are two ways of looking at it. One would be that while Warne does flight the ball to a considerable degree, said flight is not particularly deceptive. However, a more accurate reading would be that too few batsmen, especially of non-subcontinental origin, are prepared to move down the track to the ace leggie.

Those interested in this kind of numbers crunching can, by way of pastime, check out the number of batsmen from England, New Zealand and South Africa who have been clean bowled. And wonder just how much this phenomenon owes to memories of that famous "ball of the century" that pitched way outside leg and turned square to peg back the England batsman's middle and off.

No Oppn Test Match Figures Total

B LBW CF CW C&B ST

01 India 04 - - 05 01 - - 06

02 Sri lanka 05 01 01 08 02 01 02 15

03 West Indies 13 06 07 26 04 02 02 47

04 New Zealand 09 14 07 23 04 02 04 54

05 England 17 17 15 30 16 04 03 85

06 South Africa 12 14 16 26 03 04 01 64

07 Pakistan 06 04 09 19 02 01 02 37

Total 56 55 137 32 14 14 308

More to the immediate point, the bulk of his dimissals have come off catches -- over half, if you include those taken by the wicket-keeper. And this in turn presents an interesting sidelight: the most number of catches have been taken by fielders specialising in the close positions. Thus, Healy accounts for 32, Taylor for a phenomenal 51, Mark Waugh for 17, David Boon for 11, Greg Blewett for 9 and Alan Border for 6, all held close to the wicket on either side. And that totals up to a phenomenal 126 out of the total of 169 catches that have been held off his bowling.

Which brings to mind, again, the snake analogy -- poke at one of those reptiles with a stick, and more often that not it will just glide up said stick and bite you where you would rather not be bitten. Swat it a hefty swipe, though, and chances are you could knock it way out of the danger zone.

Same difference -- batsman after batsman falls in identical fashion, feet anchored within crease, apprehensively poking at Warne deliveries especially outside or on leg, spinning across -- and by doing so, put the close fielders in business.

Big business.

Stats: H R Gopalakrishna

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