Ambidextrous bowlers

An interesting story from Brisbane, where an Australian Womens' Emerging Players side is soundly thrashing their NZ counterparts. Australia have fielded 17yo Jemma Barsby, who bowls both right arm off breaks and slow left arm - http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/7950223/Ambidextrous-bowler-has-emerging-Kiwis-in-spin

Can anyone remember any players doing this in the past. I know Colin "Funky" Miller caused a bit of a sensation by bowling both seamers and off spin,

Gavasakr batter left handed in a Ranji Game is a stroy I have heard that comes closest to ambidextrous bowling.

Seamers bowling spin.....there are a few examples........Sobers was a master at it......karsan Ghavri did it for India ocassionally

Colin Miller could bowl a bit of SLA in the nets as well, but don't think he ever did it in an official match.

Ian Harvey could throw from both arms.

Samit Patel throws right-handed but bowls left-handed (that is a funny one).

I would guess most pro cricketers could bat with either hand to a reasonable degree if they practised it enough - as we all know batting right-handed isn't a sign of right-handedness by any stretch.

In fact most coaches at a reasonable level can bat with either hand to an extent. Top coaches can bowl with their opposite hand as well.

I recall there being a county player in the 80s (I thought Kevin Curran, but am not certain) who bowled seamers left handed but threw the ball right handed.

I've tried both batting and bowling lefty - while I don't have too much difficulty in moving the bat in a sensible way left handed, I struggle more with the footwork and balance. However, bowling and fielding lefty just feels totally alien - feet are in the wrong place, shoulder rotation is wrong and then the timing of the arm swing is way off. Oddly, while I am very strongly right-handed, my brother is almost completely ambidextrous - he can even write reasonably with his left hand and has no problem throwing with either hand.

I'm naturally left handed, but my 1st school teacher was a bit old fashioned, and made me write with the right. Consequently I learnt to bat, bowl and (mostly*) throw right handed. However I kick left footed, and play squash left handed** (a right handed cover drive and a left handed back hand swing involve nearly identical foot and left arm movement).

I actually bowl off the "wrong" foot right arm, so switching to left arm gets really confusing. I've tried batting left handed in the nets a couple of times, I can defend off the front foot no problem, and all my back foot shots work OK. But I never got the hang of agressive front foot shots.


* I have been known to pick up and shy at the stumps with my left too
** sometimes I swap racquet hands mid-rally to better reach a ball. Which really annoys the other player.

Samit Patel caused a sensation by bowling neither pace nor spin

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Samit Patel caused a sensation by bowling neither pace nor spin

Nah, I beat him to that by at least 15 years

I don't know of any cricketer who has managed to bowl deliveries using either of his/her arm at a first class level.

Now that Ronnie O'Sullivan is no longer playing Snooker professionally, perhaps the England cricket management of Messrs Flower and co should ask Ronnie whether he is interested in taking up a new sports career as an international cricketer!

Can a bowler change which hand he bowls with during an over without saying anything to umpire or batsman etc?

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Can a bowler change which hand he bowls with during an over without saying anything to umpire or batsman etc?

It's the same as swapping from over to around the wicket, he has to tell the umpire who informs the batsman.