What is hardest type of bowling you have faced in any cricket game?

[tweaker]

I found leg spin tough to face

Edited June 9, 2018 by tweaker

[Scar]

I was a good batsman in my gully team. In fact, I was a gully legend with 25 50s and 3 100s. If you have played gully cricket, you will understand how awesome those stats are. To hit every kind of Bowling dead straight direction to get the six, or you will be out if it goes to anyone's home. I was good against every kind of bowling, then one day a new kid next door with weak body frame and frightened eyes, came to play with us. Since, in gully cricket you are allowed to bowl with bend arm if it's not fast, so this kid came and asked to bowl to me.

 

I had a lot of swagger back then, so in my authoritative stance on the crease I vowed to crush the rookie. He bowled a super slow ball, almost a lollipop. My eyes sparkled at the prospect of being offered such halwa, I danced outside my crease to bludgeon the cosco into oblivion, and make the record for longest six in my society, NO! Actually in my whole town or perhaps in the whole goddam city. 

 

And then it happened.... The ball hit the pitch. 

 

Somehow his ball had backspin, like we see in table tennis ball. It literally stopped at the pitch for a second. I was in between motion of my almighty swing when I felt my time warped, it was like time has stopped except for me, and I went into a deep conversation with my ruffled spirit. 

 

'damn!! that conniving guy got me good' 

 

'should I continue with my swing? No my swing is too fast, it will pass over the ball and if I miss ball, it'll most probably crash onto the stumps.'

 

'can I just block it? No it's too late for that.'

 

'i can manœuvre my swing left or right, that will probably delay my swing enabling me to connect the ball. Yes that is it. This should work...... But! If I do, then the ball will most likely ricochet to Bubly auntie's roof. Rendering me Out either way.'

 

Everything was in slow-mo, while my recusant-self was busy in my didactic self introspection, I lend my eyes upon the guy who left me in such precarious and staggering a position. That look, that unscrupulous, diabolical grin which that guy aproned on his countenance to go along with those frightened eyes which reeks of possible premonition, is still the most scariest sight I've ever seen. 

 

I shuddered, to think what other guys would say at the sight of me, the absolute legend, the phenom of the gully cricket who is famously known as the rookie crusher, getting out to a lollipop bowling! that too against a rookie? The guys won't believe if I say it had backspin. 

 

'NO, I can't let that happen. If I am going down might as well go down fighting. I will go down as a martyr, a brave heart who didn't let a 20 KMPH teletubby to blemish his stature. Won't let the guy abscond with the glory which can only be matched by, if ever, by Eric Hollis who got bradman out on duck.'

 

Sagacity inside me kicked in. And just in nick of time I feigned a slip of foot/fall down. The ball did went on to crash my stumps but according to people it was because I felt down or I would have smothered the ball to infinity and beyond. 

 

My dignity remained intact but only I knew what sort of shtick I have thwarted. 

 

So to answer: it's the lollipop bowling. 

 

[Gollum]

31 minutes ago, Scar said:

I was a good batsman in my gully team. In fact, I was a gully legend with 25 50s and 3 100s. If you have played gully cricket, you will understand how awesome those stats are. To hit every kind of Bowling dead straight direction to get the six, or you will be out if it goes to anyone's home. I was good against every kind of bowling, then one day a new kid next door with weak body frame and frightened eyes, came to play with us. Since, in gully cricket you are allowed to bowl with bend arm if it's not fast, so this kid came and asked to bowl to me.

 

I had a lot of swagger back then, so in my authoritative stance on the crease I vowed to crush the rookie. He bowled a super slow ball, almost a lollipop. My eyes sparkled at the prospect of being offered such halwa, I danced outside my crease to bludgeon the cosco into oblivion, and make the record for longest six in my society, NO! Actually in my whole town or perhaps in the whole goddam city. 

 

And then it happened.... The ball hit the pitch. 

 

Somehow his ball had backspin, like we see in table tennis ball. It literally stopped at the pitch for a second. I was in between motion of my almighty swing when I felt my time warped, it was like time has stopped except for me, and I went into a deep conversation with my ruffled spirit. 

 

'damn!! that conniving guy got me good' 

 

'should I continue with my swing? No my swing is too fast, it will pass over the ball and if I miss ball, it'll most probably crash onto the stumps.'

 

'can I just block it? No it's too late for that.'

 

'i can manœuvre my swing left or right, that will probably delay my swing enabling me to connect the ball. Yes that is it. This should work...... But! If I do, then the ball will most likely ricochet to Bubly auntie's roof. Rendering me Out either way.'

 

Everything was in slow-mo, while my recusant-self was busy in my didactic self introspection, I lend my eyes upon the guy who left me in such precarious and staggering a position. That look, that unscrupulous, diabolical grin which that guy aproned on his countenance to go along with those frightened eyes which reeks of possible premonition, is still the most scariest sight I've ever seen. 

 

I shuddered, to think what other guys would say at the sight of me, the absolute legend, the phenom of the gully cricket who is famously known as the rookie crusher, getting out to a lollipop bowling! that too against a rookie? The guys won't believe if I say it had backspin. 

 

'NO, I can't let that happen. If I am going down might as well go down fighting. I will go down as a martyr, a brave heart who didn't let a 20 KMPH teletubby to blemish his stature. Won't let the guy abscond with the glory which can only be matched by, if ever, by Eric Hollis who got bradman out on duck.'

 

Sagacity inside me kicked in. And just in nick of time I feigned a slip of foot/fall down. The ball did went on to crash my stumps but according to people it was because I felt down or I would have smothered the ball to infinity and beyond. 

 

My dignity remained intact but only I knew what sort of shtick I have thwarted. 

 

So to answer: it's the lollipop bowling. 

 

Bhai tu writer ban jaa. If you can write an essay (well written too !!!!!) about a single ball you faced in gully cricket, I see lots of potential in your inner lekhak.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Gollum

[Sachinism]

13 hours ago, Gollum said:

A couple of times I faced Shib Sankar Paul in the nets and by God was it tough. He might have been only 125-130 clicks but I found it super quick and add to that the movement he got in the air..even touching the ball was a stiff challenge. Also faced Ranadeb Bose but he was bowling well within his limits..more like a warm up session for him. Among spinners I found Saurasish Lahiri the toughest, big spinner of the cricket ball and very difficult to play from the meat of the bat. Shibsagar Singh was playable but his balls were heavy, got hit in my ribs once while trying to sweep and it was sore for a week . The fastest/scariest I faced was Sayan Sekhar Mondal but later he became more of a batsman. 

 

Lots of respect for international cricketers, batting against that quality is very very tough. Coming to OP's question beyond a certain level every type of bowling is hard..pace, swing, bounce, spin everything. 

That's the thing. People on forums love slating cricketers, but you realise how good these guys must be to make it to the international level. 

 

I've played very low level club cricket and I came up against some fantastic cricketers. But they're also playing low level club cricket. An international cricketer is many levels above that.

[Gollum]

Just now, Sachinism said:

That's the thing. People on forums love slating cricketers, but you realise how good these guys must be to make it to the international level. 

 

I've played very low level club cricket and I came up against some fantastic cricketers. But they're also playing low level club cricket. An international cricketer is many levels above that.

Exactly. Pretty sure if an Unadkat or Vinay Kumar bowls at most of us (with full protective gear) in the nets, we will either be scared to death or made to look like fools. Not just cricket, in any sport the elite level is something we can't even imagine. To reach that level means those guys have something extraordinary in them. We love slating these guys and I do feel we sometimes overdo it, but that's what fans are at the end of the day.

[Vilander]

40 minutes ago, Sachinism said:

That's the thing. People on forums love slating cricketers, but you realise how good these guys must be to make it to the international level. 

 

I've played very low level club cricket and I came up against some fantastic cricketers. But they're also playing low level club cricket. An international cricketer is many levels above that.

It's not all people in the forum. But there are some who don't have a relative experience to bank on so belittle certain cricketers without knowing how tough it actually is. 

[Vilander]

34 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Unadkat or Vinay Kumar

Both of them can hit 140k if they want to.  That can be damaging to put lightly for a normal guy facing up. 

[Tattieboy]

You got to have very very special talent to be an international cricket player.

I must admit during my career at times when a huge West Indian missed my nose by millimetres I thought maybe another sport would be good but 20 secs later you were ready to go through it all again 

[Turning_track]

Yorkers. My backlift was way too high, not only did it cost my wicket but also injured my foot couple of times. 

[Khota]

21 hours ago, philcric said:

 

 

beamer is not a 'type of bowling' !!

 

I understand but I had no time to react.

[rahulrulezz]

Jeremy Gordon,Who opens the bowling for Canada, played for my club last week. I was fielding at point, I saw the ball only when the keeper collected it.  Probably the quickest I have ever seen. Fastest I have faced is another Canadian opening bowler Cecil Pervez and another Westindian Kyle Marshall. 

Edited June 10, 2018 by rahulrulezz

[Forever Indian]

On 6/9/2018 at 1:43 AM, MechEng said:

I read an old Sachin interview yesterday where he said that he found facing steep bounce at 130 kph tougher than someone bowling 150 kph and is skiddy.

 

Since the common opinion is that the faster you bowl (with accuracy) the tougher it is for the batsman. I'd like to know from folks here who have played any level of competitive/hard ball cricket, what kind of bowling was hardest for you to face? How is facing spin, bounce, pace and lateral movement a different experience?

He is specifically talking about McGrath IMO as he found him tough to face. And we all know McGrath was a once in few generations bowler.

 

Also Sachin being short in height would have obvious difficulty facing bowlers who get bounce from length because the balls would come to him at the height of a good length delivery.

[vishalvirsingh]

left Arm Fast bowling ..i have been opening for my corporate cricket team and i have found left arm fast bowlers tough.

when they bowl on wickets , they can be played some how but when they swing it away , its tuf, right hand batsman hit them for easy SLIP catches and also in gully , i did that many a times.

thats why i ask for khaleel to be the first pick even ahead of Saini ...

[Lala2790]

Easily one of the quick bowlers at my local Quetta club. They were quick and could swing the ball. On the other hand, I could belt the Indian spinners to any part of the ground 

[Straight Drive]

On 6/9/2018 at 2:59 PM, MechEng said:

Strangely I have seen that most English batsmen are overly cautious against spin, which is also the reason why they couldn't play Warne.

 

You mentioned Dravid and Pujara who are great against spin, I think of someone like Lara who dominated spin with ease. Must be an instinctive or 'in the zone' thing for Lara.

Lara scored 761 runs in one test series facing Murali, that too in Murali's home grounds.

[MechEng]

17 minutes ago, Straight Drive said:

Lara scored 761 runs in one test series facing Murali, that too in Murali's home grounds.

He was from another planet. Sehwag dominated spinners too on big turners but Lara did the same with artistic grace. He was sent by a higher power to play cricket on planet earth. There will never be another Lara.

Edited June 11, 2018 by MechEng

[Straight Drive]

3 minutes ago, MechEng said:

He was from another planet. Sehwag dominated spinners too on big turners but Lara did the same with artistic grace. He was sent by a higher power to play cricket on planet earth. There will never be another Lara.

Nobody has dominated one of the world's best spin bowler like that in single series. Lara'a batting in that series was epic. Iirc it was just 3 tests and he amassed 761 runs.

Edited June 11, 2018 by Straight Drive