Cricket: Kain comfy troubling rivals with rare action

CD Stags spinner Marty Kain is very comfortable with his bowling action and doesn't want any major changes. Photo/File.

India batsman Yuvraj Singh once described Marty Kain, in his vernacular, as bowling like a "dying worm".

"He said it in Indian [Hindustani] but one of the boys in the training nets told me what he said," says Kain with a chuckle before the Central Districts Stags play the Wellington Firebirds tomorrow night in the HRV Cup Twenty20 cricket match at the capital city's Westpac Stadium.

It's fair to say the 25-year-old left-arm spinner from Nelson even "gets quite a bit of stick" from those close to him.

"I'm pretty normal, aren't I?" he asks before the Stags walk out for the third round in the hope of claiming their first victory after losing to Northern Districts Knights last Saturday night and settling for shared points away against the Canterbury Wizards because that match was rained out without a ball bowled.

"It feels natural to me and it's a beautiful feeling," says the tweaker with a laugh, begging the question if the sense of unorthodox action is in the eye of the beholder.

Jokes aside, Kain is anything but "normal looking" when he runs up to the popping crease in the T20 and one-day formats.

If anything, Singh's reaction during India's tour is affirmation that the Stags spinner must be awkward to face.

The lanky, 6ft-plus bowler jogs up from behind the umpire, puts himself almost in a pause, akin to a TV freeze frame, before launching the white ball in a sling-like fashion by carrying his body weight on the back foot in preying mantis fashion.

In the 31-run defeat to ND at Seddon Park, Hamilton, last weekend, Kain inflicted a caught and bowled on Black Caps test batsman/wicketkeeper BJ Watling for nine runs.

"No one knows where it's coming from," says Kain.

Last summer he was the most economical HRV Cup T20 bowler for the Stags.

He is indebted to Nelson senior men's representative coach, Garry McDonald, for persevering with him for the last 15 years.

"No, we don't want to make too many major changes but just work with the finer details."

Pushed a little more to describe his action, Kain obliges: "You can call it a frog in the blender.

"You can also probably call it unique.

"When it comes to adjustments we have to be very careful because it'll only be minor ones."

Kain reveals how coaches over the years have tried to impress on him to land on his front foot more for perhaps more momentum.

"It's tricky because I get more momentum going back. It'll totally upset my rhythm."

He says his delivery completely bamboozled Watling, who didn't seem to know where the delivery was coming from or where the batsman should pick it up from.

Asked what his statistics were in the T20 or Ford Trophy one-day competition last season, Kain replies: "I wouldn't have a clue.

"I don't keep that sort of information but you can ask Tarun [Nethula] because he likes that sort of thing," he says of his Stags teammate and leg spinner.

No doubt Kain wants to boost his figures this season but also CD's performance overall because they were disappointed with their game against ND.

"We played in patches so we need to do it continually in all three facets of batting, bowling and fielding if we want to get more complete performances."

Kain would love to play the longer Plunket Shield four-day format but, like fulfilling his dreams of playing for the Black Caps, he believes if he keeps doing the right things then everything else will take care of themselves.

A former age-group tennis talent, Kain says playing the racquet code comes from his family with parents, Helen and Ian Kain, and two sisters, Emma, 30, and Kimberley, 27, all delving in it.

"I didn't enjoy it. I was a bit of a hot head," he says, likening his behaviour to that of John McEnroe.

When he was 13, he'd had enough and switched to cricket.

It's not clear if the tennis serving action has influenced his bowling one.

In tomorrow's game, seamer Andrew Mathieson makes way for the arrival of veteran allrounder Jacob Oram.