Cricket: Savvy spinners cement a place in the fast game

Auckland Ace Ronnie Hira. Photo / Getty Images

There was an assumption when 20-over cricket was in its infancy that a spin bowler's lot would be grim.

The bowlers who would succeed would be either the quick men or those medium pace dobbers who can drop a ball in a tight zone and make run-getting difficult. We've now seen what tosh that is. Spinners can be every bit as effective, if not more so, than their faster teammates.

Around the globe spinners are making their presence felt. Take this season's HRV Cup, which reaches its conclusion at Colin Maiden Park tomorrow.

The leading wicket taker? Auckland left arm spinner Ronnie Hira, with 13 wickets at 14.07 and a terrific economy rate of 5.8 runs per over.

Second equal is Canterbury's offspinning allrounder Rob Nicol, his 12 wickets having cost 18.5 apiece and a 7.4 economy rate. Seventh equal is Central Districts' legspinner Tarun Nethula, with 10 at 20.8, and a concession rate of 7.17.

Auckland coach Paul Strang, in his playing days a clever legspinner for Zimbabwe, believes T20 doesn't necessarily suit all spinners.

"I still maintain it is a game for people who can think well on their feet and make good decisions under pressure," he said.

"You've got to be good at what you do, and have to have a certain ability and awareness of what is going on around them and what needs to be done."

Strang believes a spinner has advantages over the medium or fast men, with the ability to more easily shut down parts of the field. For example, getting runs behind the wicket off savvy spinners is not particularly easy.

"There is a lot in their favour, but they've still got to know what they're doing."

Which brings us to Hira, who has made steady progress in the past couple of years in the two shorter forms of the game.

He's realistic and knows there are days a spinner can get collared by a good batsman in form. Equally he's learning ways of giving himself the best opportunity to come out of an innings in good shape and having made a decent contribution to the cause.

"My philosophy is to try and clear my head at the top of the mark and try to hit my zones," he said. "Hitting twos and ones to the fielders all creates pressure."

Variables come into play too, wind or the size of boundaries, meaning there's no set benchmarks bowlers can work to.

"At Rangiora [against Canterbury in round four at the start of this month], I went for nine [an over]. I didn't think I bowled all that badly, so you have to assess the game as you're going.

"There's no real formula, it depends what ground you're playing at and if a batsman is in the mood you can't really stop him. You just try and minimise the damage."

Hira, 25 on Monday, knows he's improving with time.

"I'm getting a little more street smart, a bit more crafty. I used to just bowl left arm darts. Now I try and slow a few more up and try to do the batsman in the air a little more than I used to."

The last word goes to Strang.

"Ronnie's been excellent this year, and he's got a great understanding of what needs to be done."