garfield robinson
West Indies fast bowler and one-time record holder for wickets in Test cricket, Courtney Walsh had a brilliant success during the 2000 visit to England.
Although the hosts won the series, Jamaica could barely play, taking 34 wickets in five matches at an incredible average of 12.82 and strike rate of 38.88.
As always, his method was simple.
By then his speed had slowed, but his length and direction were still correct and he elicited a fair amount of lateral movement on the green surface. He didn’t swing the ball much.
In fact, I remember him showing a bit of frustration with two deliveries at once over him wobbling down his legs.
wobble seam
He did it off the pitch using what we now call a scramble or wobble seam.
As I made my way towards the dough, I first noticed that the seam was wobbly.
Depending on how the ball lands, it can veer left or right, and as Ian Botham likes to say, “If I don’t know which way it’s going, how will the guy on the other side know?” Or something similar. .
The scrambled seam was not a deliberate ploy by Walsh or any other bowler at the time.
One reason I am convinced of this is because Sir Curtly Ambrose, who was also recently on the 2000 tour of England and enjoyed the advantage of a scrambled seam, spoke to Ian Bishop about how they all learned to pass the ball. The seam bolts stand vertically and the only variation is cross-seam delivery.
A jumbled seam is therefore the result of failure to maintain a consistently upright seam position.
But it worked well in that series for Walsh and Ambrose.
British Scramble Sim
It was particularly useful in England, where eco-friendly wickets with proud, durable seams and the Dukes ball were more likely to move laterally and increased continuity.
In most other parts of the world, the Kookaburra ball was dominant.
It had a flatter, less rigid seam, so it was not as easy to swing and seam as the Dukes ball or even the SG ball used in India.
West Indies fast bowling great Ian Bishop said the Kookaburra was his least favorite ball.
In retrospect, it was not surprising that the West Indies Cricket Board (now Cricket West Indies) ditched the Kookaburra in favor of the Dukes ball for the start of the 2010–11 home season.
Since then, secondary players such as Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder have benefited from the change, performing quite decently at home and even spurring the home side to several surprising series wins.
Impact on Australia
Meanwhile, there were concerns about the Kookaburra ball in Australia, with enthusiasts considering the Dukes and SG balls to be superior products that provided better bat and ball balance.
Jarrod Kimber, a highly regarded cricket analyst, had this to say on the matter: “A few years ago they were very upset that everyone was neglecting the Kookaburra ball and talking about another ball called Dukes or even SG. Better ball.
So the kookaburra said, ‘Okay, we’re going to change the ball…’ ‘I’m going to strengthen the seams and make those seams a little bit stronger.’
And they completely changed the structural integrity of the cricket ball. There has been one very big change in Australian cricket since that happened and that is the wobble ball.
Before then, wobble balls were not considered truly effective within Australia. “When the kingfisher changed the ball, the wobble ball completely took its place.”
The new and improved Kookaburra ball and a slightly more vicious surface have made Test match batting in Australia a much more difficult line of work than before.
This predicament was highlighted not long ago when Shamar Joseph harnessed pace, accuracy and a wobbly seam to grab 7/68 and secure a thumping eight-run win over the West Indies in Brisbane in January 2024. The home team was chasing a meager 216.
Basic turnstile pickup delivery
What was once a mistake when releasing the ball has now become a full-fledged tactic. And the scrambled or shaken symbol has now become the main wicket-keeping delivery.
It is often more powerful than a swinging ball because the movement occurs off the pitch and therefore occurs later than a swinging ball in the air, allowing the batsman less time to adjust.
Now let’s take a look at the current Border/Gavaskar series. We’ve already seen the impact of the relatively new Kingfisher Ball on Perth’s rather spicy surfaces.
The hosts would no doubt have been content to dismiss the visitors with 150 points. However, they could only score 104 runs in reply, leaving India 487/6 in the second innings and winning comfortably by 295 runs.
The worry for Australia was that the surface seemed to cause more scares when the visitors were bowling than when the home bowlers were in action.
The ball seemed to wobble, seam and bounce more when driven by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana than when it left the hands of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah collected five wickets in the first innings using various techniques of his fast bowling trade.
He swung the ball off the track and then, embarrassingly, prodded it to bounce. He also has superpowers as a fast bowler in that he bowls the ball closer to the batsman than all other fast bowlers in the game.
For example, it was found that the ball’s touch remained 40cm closer to the batsman than when bowled by teammate Harshit Rana.
This means that if Bumrah and Rana bowl at the same speed, the ball will appear to be almost 3 km per hour faster from Bumrah.
Now that is nothing and adds to the degree of difficulty the batsmen have to negotiate when dealing with the Indian captain.
Bumrah is nothing if not a handful and Australia will have a lot to deal with this series if he stays fit.
But his support bowlers are no slouch either and have shown signs that they can succeed in Australian conditions with the improved Kookaburra ball.
Siraj is a regular user of the wobbly seam and used it to great effect in capturing five wickets in the game.
Rana’s first Test wicket was also facilitated by a scrambled seam, which was a pearl of a delivery.
The pacer came around the wicket to left-hander Travis Head, angled the ball and hit it atop his off stump. The head never had a chance.
Nonetheless, the series is still young and there is plenty of time for Australia to bounce back. They also have powerful Fastmen that can cause damage in the current environment.
So the stage is set for a fascinating series for fans to enjoy.
