- Carrom Ball
Carrom Ball is the name for a style of bowling delivery used in
cricket , named because the ball is released by flicking the ball between the thumb and a bent middle finger in order to impart spin.Origin
The delivery was invented by
Jack Iverson of Australia and continued byJohn Gleeson , also of Australia. However it has re-entered the cricketing consciousness after its use byAjantha Mendis of Sri Lanka.Method
The ball is held between the thumb, forefinger and the middle finger and, instead of a regular release, the ball is squeezed out/flicked by the fingers like a
Carrom player flicking the disc on a Carrom board. The term "Carrom Ball" was coined by Mahendra Mapagunaratne, a Sri Lankan lawyer resident in Toronto, Canada. [ cite web | publisher = Cricinfo magazine| url = http://content-www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/359207.html | title = Wide-eyed in Karachi-June 29 | accessdate = 2008-09-08 |date=2008-07-01] [cite web | title = Giving 'em the finger | accessdate = 2008-09-08 | date=2008-08-26
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/366194.html | publisher = Cricinfo magazine]Terminology
Carrom Ball has spawned new off-shoot terms as Carrom Break/ Carrom Spin / Carrom Spinner / Carrom Bowling / Carromed / the Carrom / Carromed-out since it is different to wrist [traditional leg spin bowled with anti-clockwise wrist movement and Muttiah Muralitharan type new-age off spin bowled with clockwise wrist movement] and finger [traditional off spin bowled with clockwise finger movement.
Therefore Carrom Spin is the third category of spin bowling after Leg Spin and Off Spin as the centre [middle] finger and thumb flick/squeeze the ball out of the hand as would a Carrom player flick a striker in the indoor board game of Carrom. When the centre finger is gripped towards the leg side - the ball would spin from leg to off side and when the centre finger is gripped towards the off side - the ball would spin from off to leg side. Depending on the degree the ball is gripped towards the leg side the Carrom Ball could also travel straight.
The Carrom Ball could therefore spin to either off or leg sides or travel straight as opposed to the popular misconception that it only spins towards the off side.
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