5 Greatest spinners of all time

Spinners play a very vital role in cricket. They usually bowl more on a deteriorating track on the last two days of a Test match and therefore, it can be safely concluded that spinners take the most vital part in finishing off matches. It is not a coincidence that the top 3 wicket takers in the history of Test cricket are all spinners.

There are mainly two types of spinners in cricket: off-spinners and leg-spinners. Off-spinners mainly use their fingers to spin a ball while the leg spinners use their wrists. It is, however, more difficult to bowl a leg-spin delivery than an off-spin one. However, off-spinners can be more effective in containing runs as they usually tend to have more control over their deliveries.

There have been many great spinners in the history of cricket and therefore, it was not an easy task to select the best five out of them.

Let us now take a look at the top 5 spinners of all time:

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5. Derek Underwood:

Derek Underwood

Underwood was an English slow left-arm orthodox bowler, which means that he used to bowl off-spinners with his left arm. He was one of the most successful spinners in the 1960s and 1970s and ended up taking 297 wickets in 86 Test matches at an average of 25.83. Underwood also played in a World Cup for England, but as one-day cricket was not in vogue those days, he did not feature in much of it.

Underwood was unplayable on wet wickets and could generate a healthy turn and bounce. He also had a nice loop in his bowling and reasonable control on line and length. He played for Kent in county cricket and took 2465 wickets at 20.28 in his first-class career.

Underwood was reasonably successful in the sub-continent. But his bowling was more suited to the wet pitches of England. He took most of his wickets on his home turf and remained one of the most potent weapons for his side for more than a decade. Underwood also remains the most successful spinner England has produced.

4. Bill O’Reilly:

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O’Reilly was an Australian leg-spin bowler and was nicknamed “Tiger” because of his crouching, aggressive bowling action. He was the first bowler to have successfully bowled leg-spin in Test cricket and played his cricket in the 1930s and 1940s.

Sir Don Bradman picked him as the greatest spinner he had seen and if that compliment was not enough, O’Reilly also took 144 wickets in only 27 Test matches for Australia. The second World War robbed him of some precious years in his prime or else his wicket tally would have gone up considerably.

O’Reilly also appeared in 135 first-class matches and took 774 wickets, which gives him an average of more than 5 wickets per match in both Test and first-class cricket. He used to play for New South Wales in the provincial cricket tournaments of Australia.

At 6 feet 2 inches, O’Reilly was very tall for a spinner and used his height to generate extra bounce on lively Australian tracks. His best Test figures were against England. O’Reilly passed away in 1992 and was named in the Australian cricket team of the century in 2000.

3. Anil Kumble:

Anil Kumble

The lone Indian to feature in the list, Anil Kumble is one of the most successful bowlers of all time with 619 Test wickets. He played in 132 Test matches and finished with an average of 29.65.

Kumble was not a big turner of the ball and relied more on his accuracy and intelligence to get wickets. He was very difficult to negotiate on Indian tracks and made life miserable for many a touring batsman with his googlies and slow yorkers. He was also difficult to score off and used to bowl very few loose balls.

Kumble had the best test figures of 10/74 against Pakistan. He became only the second bowler after Jim Laker to take all 10 wickets in an innings. Nobody has won more matches for India in Test cricket than Kumble.

Kumble also played in 3 World Cups for India and was actually the highest wicket-taker in the 1996 World Cup. He took 337 wickets in 271 ODI matches for India. Kumble also took 1136 wickets in his first-class career. His international career lasted almost 18 years and he also had the privilege of captaining the Indian team.

2. Muttiah Muralitharan:

Muttiah Muralidharan

Muralitharan has to be one of cricket’s most controversial and talented characters. His record of taking 800 wickets in 133 Test matches and 534 wickets in 350 ODIs is unlikely to be surpassed ever.

“Murali”, as he was popularly known as, was a Sri Lankan off-spinner, but primarily used his wrists to turn the ball. He had exceptional control on line and length aside from the fact that he was able to generate prodigious turn.

Murali did take more than 150 Test wickets against minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, but one can not deny the fact that he mesmerized England in their back-yard and won many Test matches for Sri Lanka on his home soil. His best bowling figures were 9/51 against England and had a bowling average of 22.72 in Test matches.

Murali took an incredible 67 5-wicket hauls in his Test career. He also played in 4 World Cups for Sri Lanka and was part of the 1996 World Cup winning team. He had an enviable “doosra” or the wrong one, which flummoxed the batsmen and was especially lethal against the right-handed ones.

Murali's bowling action was questioned by the Australian umpires, but he came back strongly to make some changes in it and became successful again. He took 1374 wickets in his first-class career.

1. Shane Warne:

Shane Warne

Nothing much should be said about a man who almost single-handedly revolutionized cricket by reinforcing the art of leg-spin bowling. One of the most charismatic players to have played the game, he remains one of the greatest match winners of all-time. He was truly a priceless cricketer for his team.

Warne featured in 145 Test matches for Australia and took 708 wickets with 37 5-wicket hauls. He tormented the English, the Kiwis and the South Africans alike and was the most important player in the great Australian team of the 1990s and 2000s. Warne’s best Test match figures were 8/71 including a hat-trick against England.

Warne could turn the ball a great deal, had exceptional control on line and length and got many LBW dismissals with his lethal flippers. He decisively won the spinners’ battle against Muralidharan when Australia beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in a test series on the Lankan soil in 2004. He also took 40 wickets in an Ashes series at the age of 36.

Warne’s bowling average was 25.41 in Test matches and it could have been better if the Indian batsmen had not played him so well. Warne also took 293 wickets in 194 ODIs and 1319 wickets at 26.11 in his first-class career.

He was a member of the 1999 World cup winning Australian side, but could not play in the subsequent edition of World Cup as he was banned for a year for taking illegal drugs. All the controversies, however, did not prevent Wisden from picking him as one of the 5 greatest cricketers of the 20th century.