Save your Toes: 6 Bowlers with best Yorkers

Save your Toes: 6 Bowlers with best Yorkers: The sight of a Yorker screeching under the bat and scrambling the stumps has grown less common recently, as various bowling theories are tried to counter the increasingly brazen batsmen and their hitting prowess. But be it any batsman, on any pitch, at any time, a good Yorker can turn an innings. It is a difficult ball to negotiate, even for a well set batsman. Bowling a Yorker is not about having a natural talent for it, but it’s more about practicing so that you can get it right under pressure. But if it is such a lethal delivery why don’t bowlers try it more often? This is because the Yorker is not an easy delivery to bowl, a minor mistake in pitching one can either result in a full toss or half-volley which can be easily dispatched. They are also popularly referred as sandshoe crusher, toe crusher, cobbler’s delight or nail breaker. Here we have a look at some of the great bowlers who mastered this art. Save your Toes: 6 Bowlers with best Yorkers: 1. Wasim Akram: Wasim Akram. (Photo Source: PA Photos) One can never keep Pakistani’s out of such lists and Wasim Akram is one of those who perfected the art of bowling probably the most lethal and the one with the best results, inswinging Yorkers. His ability to ball six wicket-taking deliveries in an over was the standout feature. The result was batsmen had no way out of the predicament. Akram had the unique ability to bowl Yorkers with great accuracy. His Yorkers are often summarized as “You save your legs, the stump goes for a walk and you save the stumps, then you cannot walk”. The legendary pacer finished with 502 ODI wickets which is the second highest after Muttiah Muralitharan. Quick Link – Watch: Wasim Akram bowls an amazing Yorker and effects an incredible runout vs India 2. Lasith Malinga: Lasith Malinga. (© Getty Images) Lasith Malinga has been one of the most accurate fast bowlers, and the reason why batsmen all over the world have been made to look foolish by his toe-cruncher’s is his highly unorthodox bowling action. He is the only bowler in the world to have two World Cup hat-tricks, the only bowler to have taken three hat-tricks in ODIs and the only player to have taken four wickets in four consecutive balls in any form of international cricket. Credit to his slinging action, the Yorkers look even more menacing when Malinga delivers them. 3. Brett Lee: Brett Lee. (© Getty Images) Brett had genuine pace and was always coming at you. He was, the perfect foil for Glenn McGrath. He played a vital part in Australia’s success in the limited overs format of the game. Lee had two major weapons the bouncer and the Yorker. Talking about the latter it damaged many careers and surely halted some. He used to bowl at an average speed of around 145 kph throughout a match. Lee was named Wisden’s cricketer of the year in 2006. “Binga” as he is popularly called was entrusted with the difficult job of bowling at the death quite regularly and he hardly disappointed. 4. Dale Steyn: Dale Steyn. (Photo Source: AFP) It doesn’t matter where you play. It may be at the Wanderers, Chepauk or the Lord’s, a Yorker @150 kph will always be lethal. Steyn, widely regarded as the best fast bowler of his generation is a master while operating at the death. He recently completed 400 Test wickets with a strike rate better than any other bowler in the history of the game. He has occupied the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings from 2008 onwards. He is a shrewd and astute thinker and plans each of his wickets cleverly. Natural Speed, Accuracy, and Variations make a bowler the best in the world and Dale Steyn has got all these attributes. 5. Dennis Lillee: Denis Lillee. (Photo Source: Getty Images) At a time when fast bowling was at its richest in the entire Cricket history, Dennis Lillee was the man everyone looked up to. Considered to be the most complete fast bowler, Lillee was one of the key figures in the Australian set up in the 70s and early 80s. Allied to his new ball skills was the most devastating toe crunching Yorker the game had seen since that of Charlie Griffith. Watching a genuine fast bowler is one of the greatest thrills in cricket and watching Lillee in full flow was the pinnacle. In ODI cricket, particularly in the overs at the end of an innings, when the unhittable Yorker speared in relentlessly, he was priceless. 6. Waqar Younis: Waqar Younis. (Photo Source: Reuters) Last, but by no means the least, the king of reverse swing, Waqar Younis. When Wasim Akram is on the list, how can Waqar be far behind? He is the one famous for his ‘toe-crushers’ and during his career had destroyed many a batsman’s toe with his deadly Yorkers. He did not just bowl Yorkers but delivered them with immaculate precision and accuracy. His 416 ODI wickets are testimony to his talent. Waqar was a trendsetter. He brought about a big paradigm shift in the art of fast bowling. As opposed to the ‘fast and short’ bowling that used to dominate those days, Waqar used to bowl full and fast, aiming for the batsman’s toes. This ability also earned him the nickname ‘The Toe crusher’. Also Read – Top 10 fastest deliveries ever bowled in international cricket

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Save your Toes: 6 Bowlers with best Yorkers

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