5 Bowlers Who Bowled Both Fast And Spin In The Same Match: Bowling is perhaps the toughest art form in cricket. It takes years and years of hard work and learning to get your deliveries right, line and length as you exactly want.
Fast bowling or medium pace, and spin require two separate skillsets that take honing for a long time in the nets and in the game. However, there have been instances where a bowler – frontline bowler or part-time – has bowled both pace and spin in the same game suiting the conditions on offer.
Here we look at 5 bowlers who bowled both fast and spin in the same match:
Marnus Labuschagne:
This is the most recent instance of a bowler bowling both spin and seam in the same match. During the Karachi Test against Pakistan, Australia’s Marnus Labuschange who is a handy part-time leg-spinner bowled one over of medium pace in Pakistan’s first innings because there was reverse swing available and he thought he could get the ball to tail in late which could prove more effective than his leg-spin.
In the second innings though, with the pitch offering turn and assistance to spinners on Day 5, Marnus reverted to his leg-spin, bowling one maiden over.
Colin Miller:
Australia’s Colin Miller shocked everyone when he decided to change from a pacer to an off-spinner in the latter part of his career; he was forced to make this transformation due to an ankle injury.
Then he’d occasionally mix bowling off-spin and medium pace depending on the batsman or the conditions. For example, during the Wellington Test against New Zealand in 2000, Miller bowled off-spin to left-handed Stephen Fleming but bowled medium pace to right-handed Matthew Sinclair and managed to dismiss him.
Manoj Prabhakar:
Former India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar once was seen bowling both medium pace and spin during the 1996 World Cup game against Sri Lanka in Delhi. Prabhakar had leaked 33 runs in his first two overs before skipper Mohammad Azharuddin asked him to bowl off-spin, but the run flow didn’t cede against the aggressive Sri Lankan openers.
Sohail Tanvir:
Former Pakistan seamer Sohail Tanvir played only 2 Tests in his career. During the second one against India in Kolkata in 2007, Tanvir, observing the lack of help for pacers in th dry Eden Gardens surface, decided to bowl some left-arm orthodox spin!
Sachin Tendulkar
Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was often used to cover up overs of other bowlers during the first half of his career. Tendulkar had this dexterity of bowling all different kinds of balls – off-spin, leg-spin, seam-up, medium pace. He’d occasionally mix both pace and spin to outsmart the batters.
