Twenty20 - "good cricket"? Oh, yes!

There is an interesting discussion on the PitchVision Academy on the merits of twenty20 as a coaching model for young cricketers. Sometimes the performances of the top players can look almost superhuman, and it can be difficult to find ideal models for younger players to follow.

Trying to hit the ball as far as Chris Gayle, or playing the Dil-scoop, or bowling 150kph yorkers like Lasith Malinga - surely, that's only for the professionals?

Is there something in twenty20 for younger players (and amateurs at all levels) to aspire to?

If you saw the IPL2011 game between Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils, then the answer has to be yes.

Top order wickets with aggressive, high class quick bowling. Proper spin bowling (by which I mean slow bowling with the emphasis on spin and variation). And above all, quite magnificent striking.

The game will quite understandably be remembered for the innings of Virender Sehwag. But the Daredevils' innings started with Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma reducing Delhi to 3-25 of 5.5 overs with direct, back of a length, flat-out fast bowling. And if the Chargers had held their catches, Amit Mishra's legspin and googlies would have got the reward they deserved.

So - if you are going to bowl fast, then really bowl fast. Spin the ball hard. Oh, and hit the ball a long, long way.

OK, the last one takes some doing, and some of Viru's hits weren't out of the (old) MCC Coaching Handbook. But that knock was as much about the mental strength needed as the stroke play, and even the ECB Coaches Association now recognises the "slog sweep" (it features in the excellent "Howzat!" DVD) - you just need to learn how to play the shot.

And if that all doesn't provide inspiration for young cricketers, then I don't know what would!

Looking for more variations

Peter Philpott, in his "The Art of Wrist-Spin Bowling", described the concept of a spinner going "around the loop" - keeping the finger movement constant, but rotating the wrist between successive deliveries, to change the direction of spin.

So, for a right-arm wrist spinner, you might start with a "big leggie", releasing the ball with the seam pointing at gully, or even cover; then a "little leggie", with the seam directed to first slip; the top spinner, with the seam straight down the wicket; the googly, with the wrist now turned even further round so that the seam is spun towards leg slip.

Shane Warne's "slider" might be the delivery at the opposite end of the loop to the googly - still with the same finger movement as a regular leggie, but now with palm of the hand towards gully and the seam pointing towards leg slip but with the fingers spinning the ball back towards the bowler.

And if that sounds like a convoluted description, just imagine how it must be to bowl the delivery!

For the finger spinner, perhaps the loop from doosra, through top-spinner and on to the regular off-break could be continued on to include the "flipper"...and back to Saqlain's teesra...perhaps.

What is the teesra?

When I started this blog, I struggled to come up with a name that evoked the fascination I feel for the game of cricket. I didn't want to write as the wrong'un, much as the googly would fit the bill - possibly the original mystery ball. Professor Bruce Charlton already has an excellent blog called the doosra.

So I went one further. After the doosra (the second, or "other" on), comes the third one, or "The Teesra". Saqlain Mushtaq was reputed to be developing a new mystery delivery, back in 2004. At the time, it wasn't really clear if this ball ever was ever bowled in anger, or even exactly what the delivery might be.

But a post on cricistan.com shows Saqlain bowling his "third one" (after the off break, and the doosra) in the 2008 ICL.

It looks like a flipper - palm of the hand facing away from the bowler at the point of release, the ball flipped out beneath the fore-finger. And the video clip shows the result as a seemingly short delivery pitches much further up than expected, and skids on to trap the batsman leg before.

So is this the new mystery ball? Or could it be Graeme Swann's "gyro" arm ball?

It doesn't really matter - so long as spin bowlers can keep coming up with new ways to take wickets, the game will stay as fascinating as ever.