by D. Victor

Created on: July 13, 2009   Last Updated: July 22, 2010

In cricket's battle of willow and leather, some bowlers rely on pace or swing to achieve their objectives. Spin bowlers rely on flight, bounce and turn- allied with ample guile- to outfox batsmen. Fast men normally dominated the wickets list before great spinners like Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan mastered the difficult craft.

The difficulty in mastering spin bowling makes it easier to identify the best spin bowlers in cricket history - most of whom are from the Asian sub-continent. However, it is important to use relevant and objective criteria to identify the best spin bowlers in cricket's long history. These criteria include:

Variation: The best spin bowlers have variations to keep batsmen guessing
A good career average: Below 30.00 for spin bowlers
Number of matches/ number of wickets: The best spin bowlers should have either at least 50 Tests or 300 Test wickets (not necessarily both)
Bowling strike rate: Spin requires a bit of patience but the best can take a wicket every 70 balls or less

These criteria rule out some very good spinners from different eras like Danish Kaneria, Bishen Singh Bedi, Lance Gibbs, Abdul Qadir, Clarrie Grimmett and Richie Benaud. Even with these notable omissions, four spinners easily satisfied all criteria. These spin bowlers- who devastated many batting line-ups- include:

Muttiah Muralitharan (Off break/Sri Lanka)
Shane Warne (Leg break/Australia)
Anil Kumble (Leg break/India) second fastest to 500 wickets
Bhagwath Chandrasekhar (Leg break/India)

Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan is by far the best spinner statistically. However, doubts and controversy over his unique bowling action meant that cricket pundits did not unanimously declare him the best spinner of all time. With exactly 800 wickets from 133 Tests, Muralitharan has the best strike rate ever for a spin-bowler. Even West Indies batting superstar, Brian Lara, rated Muralitharan as the best spin bowler that he ever faced.

Few batsmen ever got on top of Murali. Even those that did hardly did so consistently (other than Lara). Muralitharan was a threat in all conditions - even the seam-friendly conditions of England. His turn was so prodigious that he could almost turn the ball square, particularly in helpful conditions. Murali's variations included the doosra and straight delivery- a complete off-spinning arsenal that made him difficult for top batsmen to pick.

Shane Warne

Shane Warne never suffered on-field legitimacy issues. Australia's best spinner

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