This Pakistani cricket bowler delivered a picture-perfect spin bowl
Cricket is a sport best consumed in highlights. It shares that trait with baseball. But when cricket produces a highlight, well, it’s a heck of a highlight. Pakistani bowler Yasir Shah delivered one of the best bowls you’ll see during the test between England and Pakistan.
The video on its own is cool enough, but this becomes amazing when you dive deep into it. Yasir is a leg spin bowler, which means instead of opting for raw speed and power he’s being handed an old, beat up cricket ball that has been smacked around, and he’s trying to make it spin from right to left after it bounces. That scuffed up ball means there’s more friction, which in turn means more spin.
When baseball players throw a curveball they have some idea of placement. A knuckleballer might not have a grasp on what the ball will do, but they have a general target to hit. A spin bowler has a lot of different variables, some of which are out of their control.
The best part of all this: While this is one heck of a bowl, cricket is full of stuff like this.
