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Twirlymen: The Unlikely History of Cricket's Greatest Spin Bowlers
From W. G. Grace to Shane Warne, Twirlymen is an essential look at that most eccentric of cricketers -- the spin bowler.
They are the masters of deception, the jokers in the pack; illusionists conjuring wickets out of thin air with nothing more than an ambled approach and a wonky grip. Not for them the brutish physicality of the pace bowler nor the reactive slogging of the batsman. Theirs is a more cerebral art. They stand alone in a team sport. They are Twirlymen.
Having himself failed through a combination of injury and indolence to become a leg-spinner of renown Amol Rajan pays homage to that most eccentric of all sporting heroes -- the spin bowler. On a journey through cricket history Rajan introduces us to the greatest purveyors of that craft, from W. G. Grace to Graeme Swann via Clarrie Grimmet's flipper, Muttiah Muralitharan's helicopter wrist, Shane Warne's ball-of-the-century and all the rest.
With illustrations that lift the lid on even the most mysterious deliveries, Twirlymen is full of remarkable matches, incredible stories, and characters with more twists than a googly.
They are the masters of deception, the jokers in the pack; illusionists conjuring wickets out of thin air with nothing more than an ambled approach and a wonky grip. Not for them the brutish physicality of the pace bowler nor the reactive slogging of the batsman. Theirs is a more cerebral art. They stand alone in a team sport. They are Twirlymen.
Having himself failed through a combination of injury and indolence to become a leg-spinner of renown Amol Rajan pays homage to that most eccentric of all sporting heroes -- the spin bowler. On a journey through cricket history Rajan introduces us to the greatest purveyors of that craft, from W. G. Grace to Graeme Swann via Clarrie Grimmet's flipper, Muttiah Muralitharan's helicopter wrist, Shane Warne's ball-of-the-century and all the rest.
With illustrations that lift the lid on even the most mysterious deliveries, Twirlymen is full of remarkable matches, incredible stories, and characters with more twists than a googly.
- GenresNonfictionHistorySports
400 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2011
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103 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 15, 2023
4.5/5 This one is for the connoisseurs of cricketing history and lovers of spin bowling. The writing style is classy.
As a child, I loved watching spinners bowl - especially Warne and Saqlain - both of whom I used to imitate. So this was a real treat - while on bedrest. I have a huge prob with him treating Kumble much below Warne. Our much-envied home dominance in the 90s and 2000s was built on those shoulders. And Warne didnt do too well in the sub-continent !
PS:- Anindya Dutta’s Wizards on the story of Indian spin bowling is equally delightful.
As a child, I loved watching spinners bowl - especially Warne and Saqlain - both of whom I used to imitate. So this was a real treat - while on bedrest. I have a huge prob with him treating Kumble much below Warne. Our much-envied home dominance in the 90s and 2000s was built on those shoulders. And Warne didnt do too well in the sub-continent !
PS:- Anindya Dutta’s Wizards on the story of Indian spin bowling is equally delightful.
April 5, 2018
Amol Rajan ‘spins’ an engrossing tale. His tongue-in-cheek humour makes, what could otherwise be a somewhat tedious subject for an entire book, enjoyable. The way the chapters and protagonists merge into each other over the years, gives the book a seamless flow. The interludes explaining the various grips were very revealing though sometimes too technical.
The book gives one the cosy feeling of belonging to a cabal that shares an esoteric vocabulary comprising of words like ‘doosra’, ‘chinamen’ and the ‘carromball’. Of course, being partisan, I felt the pages devoted to the legendary Indian quartet didn’t do justice to their prowess.
Overall a very smooth, nostalgic read for someone who grew up on a diet of crackling cricket commentary on short wave radio.
The book gives one the cosy feeling of belonging to a cabal that shares an esoteric vocabulary comprising of words like ‘doosra’, ‘chinamen’ and the ‘carromball’. Of course, being partisan, I felt the pages devoted to the legendary Indian quartet didn’t do justice to their prowess.
Overall a very smooth, nostalgic read for someone who grew up on a diet of crackling cricket commentary on short wave radio.
March 30, 2024
I knew Rajan was interested in cricket, but I didn't know he was good enough to have a few sessions with Surrey in his youth after a successful trial. Perhaps his past as a spin bowler explains the gentle tosses towards his interviewees today, whereas I'd previously assumed he was a sycophant desperate to be near the corridors of power.
I found this to be a fairly typical example of a cricket history, in that factual accuracy was generally preferred to a good story, and the same detail was given to men of 200 years ago as the author's contemporaries. This was undeniably well-researched, but if Richie Benaud couldn't tell with the benefit of multiple television replays that a Warne ball to Ian Bell was just a normal leg spinner that didn't turn, the reliability of accounts from more than a century ago, reliant on a reporter beyond the boundary as a witness, is fairly flimsy to me. At least Rajan acknowledged the differences in techniques and equipment to give an idea of how spin bowling has evolved from the first underarm bowlers.
Considering Rajan is a journalist I was expecting slightly more snappy writing however. It was competent, and fairly concise rather than verbose, but there were a number of times I felt I was reading to finish it rather than reading for pleasure. At close to 400 pages it wasn't short, but it was never in danger of feeling short either. I still learnt about bowlers new to me, and his waxing lyrical about Ajantha Mendis showed him to be right: pronouncing greatness early in a career is a fool's errand. Nonetheless I preferred the sections about more recent bowlers, which were richer and went into their quirks in more detail. This is understandable as there is more information and video available now, but the later section of the book was more confident and readable to me.
It was not just bowling analyses ad nauseum and there was colour for most characters from the earliest spinners to the present day. There was never the sense that Rajan was phoning it in either, and yet I felt it was too much like research for homework. Written by a general print journalist I was hoping for something more interesting, and that the sharp prose would make up for 'only' being a cricket fan rather than writing on it all year round.
I found this to be a fairly typical example of a cricket history, in that factual accuracy was generally preferred to a good story, and the same detail was given to men of 200 years ago as the author's contemporaries. This was undeniably well-researched, but if Richie Benaud couldn't tell with the benefit of multiple television replays that a Warne ball to Ian Bell was just a normal leg spinner that didn't turn, the reliability of accounts from more than a century ago, reliant on a reporter beyond the boundary as a witness, is fairly flimsy to me. At least Rajan acknowledged the differences in techniques and equipment to give an idea of how spin bowling has evolved from the first underarm bowlers.
Considering Rajan is a journalist I was expecting slightly more snappy writing however. It was competent, and fairly concise rather than verbose, but there were a number of times I felt I was reading to finish it rather than reading for pleasure. At close to 400 pages it wasn't short, but it was never in danger of feeling short either. I still learnt about bowlers new to me, and his waxing lyrical about Ajantha Mendis showed him to be right: pronouncing greatness early in a career is a fool's errand. Nonetheless I preferred the sections about more recent bowlers, which were richer and went into their quirks in more detail. This is understandable as there is more information and video available now, but the later section of the book was more confident and readable to me.
It was not just bowling analyses ad nauseum and there was colour for most characters from the earliest spinners to the present day. There was never the sense that Rajan was phoning it in either, and yet I felt it was too much like research for homework. Written by a general print journalist I was hoping for something more interesting, and that the sharp prose would make up for 'only' being a cricket fan rather than writing on it all year round.
December 8, 2017
If you are a cricket tragic like me you will truly appreciate this book. I liked it, but felt it could have been better. It didn't tell me too much about what I didn't already know about the spinners themselves. It is however a valuable book to go back to whenever you have a doubt about how a particular delivery behaves as Rajan does an excellent job of adding the technical aspects of various deliveries with illustrations. Overall a good read.
March 31, 2018
Highly entertaining. The most comprehensive anecdotal history available of the sublime art that is legspin bowling. A must read for any fan of the game.
January 15, 2021
I loved this book the first time I read it and re read it in lockdown and it has given me a fresh renewed love for cricket and the mysterious art that is spin bowling
April 17, 2021
If you love cricket, this is sheer indulgence to read. Amol writes with passion and skill.
September 27, 2021
For the hardcore cricketer.
May 27, 2025
Amol Rajan is a frustrated Twirlyman. A trialist for Surrey U17s, subsequently warned off bowling spin on medical grounds, he has nonetheless devoted subsequent years to the study and analysis of some of the greatest exponents of the art across time and space, from Grace to Grimmett, from Murili and Warne to Swann and Panesar. With an obsessive eye for detail, he documents the rise and fall of spin and its practitioners and its more recent resurgence in both limited over and Test formats. He writes with wit and passion and provides insightful interludes into the practicalities and techniques of the leg break, off break and every variation in between.
An excellent read for the cricketing devotee.
An excellent read for the cricketing devotee.
August 15, 2025
Slightly outdated but that’s my fault for reading a 12 year old book. Much preferred the last half, talking about spinners who I know a bit more about.
February 22, 2015
Although they may lack the bang and bluster of the fast bowlers, the three leading wicket takers of all time in Test cricket are all spinners. They may look calmer in their run ups and action, but the effect they put on the ball can be incredible. Rather than blasting a batsman out, they bamboozle them out. That is why Amol Rajan thinks them deserving of a book all of their own, and ''Twirlymen'' is the result of that belief.
''Twirlymen'' is a history not just of the bowlers that confounded the batsmen, but also of the balls they used to do it with. As if borrowing from the spinners' dual weapons of drift and spin, Rajan manages to present his subject both chronologically and thematically. He begins in the 1770s, talking about how one spinner resulted in the creation of the wicket as we now know it and takes us to the present day and the two men who currently top the list of wicket takers; Muralitharan and Warne. Whilst doing so, he tends to focus mostly on a particular form of delivery that was most popular during the period in question and frequently refers forwards and backwards through history to other proponents of them.
Along the way are some delightful interludes, showing us how it is done. On these pages, are diagrams and descriptions of some of the balls spinners utilise. These show bowling positions and the flight of the ball, to the extent that a novice would gain enough to be able to pick up a ball and at least give them a try.
Despite having been a spin bowler himself, Rajan is not looking at them through rose-tinted spectacles. Admittedly, he does enjoy the fact that Twenty20 cricket has not resulted in the predicted death of spin bowling, but he doesn't fail to point out that the wicket was possibly created in response to a spinner's disgust. He is not blind to the faults of spinners; Warne's lifestyle, Muralitharan's action, the vast girth of a number of spin bowlers.
Unfortunately, there is too much technicality and too little colour here. In talking of the spinners, Rajan talks more of the balls they bowled, describing bowling actions and the spin and drift of the ball in far more detail than he does of the men themselves. This, added to the interludes with diagrams of how it is done makes this feel more like a manual than anything else. If you're looking for a manual, as a coach or player, that's no bad thing, but for someone seeking a little bit more rounded, ''Twirlymen'' doesn't quite deliver.
Admittedly, there are some amusing stories and mentions of careers and how they can be interrupted, but such is the high degree of detail here, it's a tough book to read, particularly for the novice. For the cricket fan and perhaps even more so for the aspiring spin bowler, the detail would be welcomed. But for the more casual cricket fan, it's not quite readable enough to be entirely successful. Indeed, this is a book whose readership and subject seem to be one and the same. It's well written and the research and the level of detail are impeccable but, unlike the sport it is based upon, it fails to entertain. This book is a ball that pitches on a perfect length, but doesn't spin enough to deceive the batsman and results in neither runs nor wickets, which makes it difficult to recommend to anyone other than an aspiring spin bowler.
This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
''Twirlymen'' is a history not just of the bowlers that confounded the batsmen, but also of the balls they used to do it with. As if borrowing from the spinners' dual weapons of drift and spin, Rajan manages to present his subject both chronologically and thematically. He begins in the 1770s, talking about how one spinner resulted in the creation of the wicket as we now know it and takes us to the present day and the two men who currently top the list of wicket takers; Muralitharan and Warne. Whilst doing so, he tends to focus mostly on a particular form of delivery that was most popular during the period in question and frequently refers forwards and backwards through history to other proponents of them.
Along the way are some delightful interludes, showing us how it is done. On these pages, are diagrams and descriptions of some of the balls spinners utilise. These show bowling positions and the flight of the ball, to the extent that a novice would gain enough to be able to pick up a ball and at least give them a try.
Despite having been a spin bowler himself, Rajan is not looking at them through rose-tinted spectacles. Admittedly, he does enjoy the fact that Twenty20 cricket has not resulted in the predicted death of spin bowling, but he doesn't fail to point out that the wicket was possibly created in response to a spinner's disgust. He is not blind to the faults of spinners; Warne's lifestyle, Muralitharan's action, the vast girth of a number of spin bowlers.
Unfortunately, there is too much technicality and too little colour here. In talking of the spinners, Rajan talks more of the balls they bowled, describing bowling actions and the spin and drift of the ball in far more detail than he does of the men themselves. This, added to the interludes with diagrams of how it is done makes this feel more like a manual than anything else. If you're looking for a manual, as a coach or player, that's no bad thing, but for someone seeking a little bit more rounded, ''Twirlymen'' doesn't quite deliver.
Admittedly, there are some amusing stories and mentions of careers and how they can be interrupted, but such is the high degree of detail here, it's a tough book to read, particularly for the novice. For the cricket fan and perhaps even more so for the aspiring spin bowler, the detail would be welcomed. But for the more casual cricket fan, it's not quite readable enough to be entirely successful. Indeed, this is a book whose readership and subject seem to be one and the same. It's well written and the research and the level of detail are impeccable but, unlike the sport it is based upon, it fails to entertain. This book is a ball that pitches on a perfect length, but doesn't spin enough to deceive the batsman and results in neither runs nor wickets, which makes it difficult to recommend to anyone other than an aspiring spin bowler.
This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
January 21, 2012
Rajan presents a history of spin bowling from the early nineteenth century until the present day. Included is much space on the technical aspects of spin bowling and the trends throughout the ages. Several pages are dedicated to practical descriptions of how to bowl specific deliveries, such as the leg-break, the googly, the doosra.
As a life-long left arm orthodox bowler, I fell comfortably within the book's target audience - I was mostly absorbed and learned much. The competency of the prose was refreshingly high - I have developed low expectations with sports books.
I had some reservations, however. The historical narrative was a tough read, frequently introducing new bowlers, and leaving the reader feeling that history is just "one damn spin bowler after another". In the bowlers that I feel that I knew well, Rajan presented a rather rosy view of their skills, leading me to suspect that many of the subjects received some "tweaking" in Rajan's analysis. Also, I have some suspicions about the veracity of the research - how far can one trust a book that claims that Daniel Vettori "is the youngest cricketer to play for the All Blacks" (p337).
As a life-long left arm orthodox bowler, I fell comfortably within the book's target audience - I was mostly absorbed and learned much. The competency of the prose was refreshingly high - I have developed low expectations with sports books.
I had some reservations, however. The historical narrative was a tough read, frequently introducing new bowlers, and leaving the reader feeling that history is just "one damn spin bowler after another". In the bowlers that I feel that I knew well, Rajan presented a rather rosy view of their skills, leading me to suspect that many of the subjects received some "tweaking" in Rajan's analysis. Also, I have some suspicions about the veracity of the research - how far can one trust a book that claims that Daniel Vettori "is the youngest cricketer to play for the All Blacks" (p337).
August 24, 2019
In the main this is a good book, well researched and well written. You can tell that the author has a genuine love of the subject.
As with the majority of books covering cricket history, the early parts are entertaining as there always seems to be something that you've not known previously. Or have forgotten. And, with this book, the evolution of spin bowling is fascinating. I really enjoyed the chapters on those bowlers who I know in name only, as well as those who I know little of.
Where I felt the book lost itself was towards the end when we meet bowlers who can't be described as "greatest". These are current players at the time the book was written who are obviously good but not great. And, with the gift of hindsight, have not achieved that status.
For me, the book reached a natural conclusion when the Warne and Muralidaran era closed and we moved into Swann and Vettori. Thereafter, the were some unnecessary and disappointing pages
As with the majority of books covering cricket history, the early parts are entertaining as there always seems to be something that you've not known previously. Or have forgotten. And, with this book, the evolution of spin bowling is fascinating. I really enjoyed the chapters on those bowlers who I know in name only, as well as those who I know little of.
Where I felt the book lost itself was towards the end when we meet bowlers who can't be described as "greatest". These are current players at the time the book was written who are obviously good but not great. And, with the gift of hindsight, have not achieved that status.
For me, the book reached a natural conclusion when the Warne and Muralidaran era closed and we moved into Swann and Vettori. Thereafter, the were some unnecessary and disappointing pages
January 4, 2014
For none cricket fans, it should be noted that cricketers fall in to three categories. Batsman, skilled intelligent sorts, fast bowlers, stupid, and spin bowlers, also stupid but with a belief they are the most intelligent of all. Of course they are wrong, they just think they can smile smugly and knowlingly when smashed for 6 whereras the fast bowler just snarls. That said, for those spin bowlers able to read, this is a pretty good book. Forget about the attempts to give the book a structure, it is largely a tale of amusing anecdotes from spin bowlers of the past with some decent explanations of their craft. Better than most books of this ilk, even if written by a bowler.
January 6, 2022
I am a big fan of spin bowling, as I consider it almost an art form. Rajan looks at spinners who have helped define the techniques. I particularly like the way he has a mini chapter on each type of spin, from the leg break to the googly.
Really good book for all cricket fans
Really good book for all cricket fans
December 28, 2014
This is one of the best cricket books I have read. An intelligent discussion on spinners.
September 16, 2015
Very comprehensive. Glad it explained the talents of Sidney Barnes and why he is probably the greatest bowler ever. But where's Chuck Fleetwood-Smith?
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews