Video: 14-year-old wonderkid Amelia Kerr shows her leg-spinning prowess
You don’t see many leg-spinners in men’s cricket these days. While slow bowlers have thrived exceptionally well, in stark contrast to what it was feared following the advent of Twenty20, it is mostly due to them becoming defensive and shifting their focus towards containing runs.
Off-spinners and left-arm spinners have adapted to the flatter decks and shorter boundaries better, to a level that a handful of them had to be banned for chucking recently to make sure they don’t flex the limits, but life for leg-spinners still depends on how well they outfox batsmen. And that’s primarily why if you ask a budding cricketer what he would want to become, ‘leg-spinner’ would be his last choice.
In women’s cricket, though, there is still room for flight, as batters aren’t not quite capable of wielding as much power as their male counterparts do to clear ropes. Wellington’s 14-year-old Amelia Kerr bowling leg-spin in the final of national T20 championship at Dunedin, New Zealand, against Otago Sparks is a classic example of it.
She ended up with figures of 3-19 in four overs, bowling up front and at death with equal aplomb, as Wellington chased down the 98-run target with 28 balls to spare. Captain Sophie Devine said of Kerr: "She's unbelievable. She's bowled a couple of last overs during our season and doesn't get fazed. Thinking back to that age, I would've been crapping my pants, but she's had a fantastic first year. She's an exciting talent and, if we look after her and let her grow up, she could be a world beater."
