Spin bowlers in cricket are masters at making the ball loop slowly through the air to confuse batsmen.  Legends of the game know the magic combinations of top-spin, side-spin and off-spin necessary to fool the opposition.  The Magic of Spin  dissects the various aspects of spin bowling through the stories of the bowlers themselves.

These masters of spin  include Bill O’Reilly, who Sir Donald Bradman claimed to have been the greatest bowler of his experience, and the greatest spinner of the modern era, Shane Warne. The many other spin bowlers included in The Magic of Spin are Clarrie Grimmett, Arthur Mailey, Don Blackie, Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, Jack Iverson, Richie Benaud, Jim Higgs, Tim May, Stuart MacGill and Nathan Lyon.  The batsmen who have played  the great spinners through the years also chime in to explain the dark art of spinning.

You’ll learn all you’ll ever need to know about the history and evolution of spin bowling: that the wrong’un or googly was ‘invented’ by Bernard (BJT) Bosenquet, or that Grimmett ‘invented’ the flipper, the ball Warne in later years bowled so brilliantly.  ‘Spin bowling is magical and to a lot of people [a few batsmen included] a mystery.’  – Ian Chappell  – but The Magic of Spin will explain all.