Lee and Sreesanth seem to specialize in them and between them; Sreesanth’s beamers are viewed with more suspicion.
However, a new entrant, Yasir Arafat takes the cake. He bowled two beamers, supposedly accidental, in the space of three balls during Kent’s T20 clash with Essex last week and earned three penalty points for his pains.
It makes one wonder, whether there is anything unintentional about beamers.
24/06/2008
How unintentional are 'beamers'?
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8 comments:
I bowled an unintentional beamer in the nets once. The ball can genuinely slip out of the hand.
I usually give the benefit of the doubt to the bowler, though Brett Lee's beamer to Razzaq should have seen him suspended. It was clear retaliation.
Col. CK Naidu was once asked what he thought abt a beamer bowled in his time.He is reported to have asked "what beamer? It is a full toss.It is an open cheque to be encashed" This sums up how the perception of fulltoss has undergone over the years. Mind you those were the helmetless days.Now with armour from head head to foot the batsmen talk abt full toss as a beamer.
David,
I agree, the ball can slip out of the hand.
Going by my experience, the ball either balloons up and lands in the keeper's gloves or it is mis-directed and feeble.
However, Lee and Sreesanth seem to exercise tremendous control over their beamers. They are fast and flat (no loop) and well directed.
Now that makes me wonder.
R,
That simply puts things in perspective. As they it is how you look at it.
BTW, have you bowled any 'intentional' beamers? :)
Yes I bowled one at the batsman while he was looking down and scratching the ground like a test cricketer and I got angry. The ball was however a tennis ball.
Ott, the ball in my case went flat at roughly head height, started a bit outside off and swung back towards the batsman's head. I would not have wanted to be in the batsman's place. Happily he managed to get out of the way.
Regardless of the Naidu story, beamers were just as terrifying before helmets as they are today. Roy Gilchrist was kicked out of the West Indies team in the 1950's for repeated deliberate beamers.
David,
Apologise for prolonging this issue.
I have noticed that the ball which slips out of the hand travels slower than the hand speed.
Does it match your observation?
I can't say for sure. I suspect that it was a little bit slower than a regular ball, but since the batsman isn't expecting the ball to travel along a high trajectory, it takes a bit of time for him to work out where the ball is.
It's that delayed reaction of seeing the ball that makes beamers so dangerous. If you knew they were coming you could prepare for it.
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