I love journalists who write really well about cricket. The current crop contains a few gems, a few good ones and a swathe of also rans. One of the current gems is ex-England captain, Michael Atherton. In today’s Times he writes about the current Pakistan leg spinner, Yasir Shah, drawing comparisons with Shane Warne, the all time master of the leggie’s art. He introduces the reader to the fact that the Old Trafford pitch (the sight of tomorrow’s Test) has always been a friend to a leg spinner, using this example, which I hope my retyping doesn’t contravene any copyright rules:

“Think, obviously, of the Shane Warne fizzer to Mike Gatting in 1993, when England’s Henry VIII lookalike, and thought of as a king of batsmen against spin, was left bemused by the seemingly impossible geometry of Warne’s drift and turn, as the ball moved one way in the air and then another off the pitch. Gatting wandered off looking like a bear who had had his porridge removed from under his nose.”

Firstly, Atherton doesn’t assume that all of his readers are experts, one of the arts of a good sportswriter. Secondly, you can almost see the mischievous twinkle » Continue Reading.