Which current WI player would you say is the best at playing spin bowling?

In reply to googley

Shai Hope has the best batting technique of any batsman in the Caribbean right now.

In reply to googley

Shimron "Kalli" Hetmyer

In reply to WestDem

He seemed to have problems with Nabi and Deyal!

In reply to WestDem

Hettie came to mind, but he is no Kalli!

In reply to StumpCam

Dem ah nat spinners bro...they are bowling through a gutter....

In reply to googley

Hettie reminds me of Kalli but a little too aggressiver

In reply to googley

shai hope by a mile......used to be bravo but he's shot as a batsman. Hope is a real anomaly...a bajan batsman who masters spin but struggles against short pitched bowling

In reply to WestDem

Hope is a Kohli lookalike in stature and shots gives the impression he's influenced by Kohli

Kalli was neat and dapper at the crease...text book batting stance...Slim..slightly built fella...Tony Cozier would refer to him as the complete batsman.

I would say hetty is more like Freddo

so far all we got is Hope and Hettie.

In reply to googley
Can they play real pace? There are more pace bowlers in a team than spinners

Hetty is the best player of spin in the current WI setup.. Sadly there isn't much competition

In reply to WestDem

Blasphemy!

Hety and Alvin Kallicharran have 2 things in common

Both are Guyanese
Both are left handed batsmen

That’s where any similarity ends. Hety is not and will never be in the class of Alvin Kallicharran, arguably the best ever batsman produced by Guyana.

In reply to anthonyp

Dukes wants to know if that is a data driven statement.

Because if it’s not, it’s simply a case of vibes and senses.

for all the talk about Hetty being good against spin, I find he gets out too often missing straight ones from spinners / hitting across the line and missing etc

he is good against spin but surely not yet in the tier 1

In reply to Narper

I've only seen Freddo on tapes but he was quite nimble on his feet and very wristy in addition to his power...

Hetty is not there...not yet

and he is surely not close to Kali...as imusic said, Kalli was at another level

In reply to doosra

Freddo's preference was pace. Not sure how he was with against quality spin.

In reply to Curtis

perhaps he preferred pace but for all those clips I've seen of him against spin he was quite good

don't take this the wrong way but sometimes the way he plays it looks peak Clayton Lambert

In reply to WestDem

Wessy...man...you actually comparing Hety to Kali


I cant even blister blind yuh in cuss...

man close you laptop

In reply to imusic

was Kali better than Kanhai

In reply to googley

Hetty is the best for a couple of reasons.
1.He is amazing in his ability to correctly judge the length of a ball.He very rarely plays forward to a spinner and is not to the pitch of the ball resulting in either an inside or outside edge taking place.Balls that are just short of a length he is on the backfoot deep in the crease and able to play an attacking shot.
2.Like many WI batsmen he is mediocre at reading the wrist spinners from the hand.
In terms of past WI batsmen the best clearly is Brian Lara,closely followed by Alvin Kallicharran.

In reply to tc1

Never saw Kanhai in his heyday so not fair to compare them.

What I will say is Alvin Kallicharran is the best Guyanese batsman I have ever seen.

In reply to imusic

I am biased...but I believe he was better than several other country's batsmen too

In reply to imusic


thanks for your review.

Carl Hooper was an exceptional player of spin as well.

In reply to mikelegend

Carl Hooper was exceptional against everything when he was in gear…..reverse swing, express pace. The most naturally gifted batsman in history

In reply to Jumpstart

The most naturally gifted batsman in history

That’s quite a statement, to which I do not agree. However, I do maintain that he was one of our very best when it came to handling top class spin bowling

In reply to googley

Hope no1.
Hetmeyer a distant no 2 and De Silva
DeSilva needs more exposure on all 3 formats to develop more

In reply to Dukes

I’m surprised, bordering on shocked.

Nowhere in that post speaks to, or even suggests a scintilla of data.

Where is the data to support what you posted?

Nah. Somebody teef Dukes handle

In reply to googley

Hope and Brooks.

In reply to imusic

If you were paying close attention to what has been taking place on the field you would not be



I see you posting a tremendous amount of opinions yet I very rarely see any data to back up what you say.I FREQUENTLY post DATA to back up my assertions but in this case I opted for just stating my opinion, hoping that it would not be challenged or at least only be challenged AFTER this THINKING about challenging it would make sure that the data showed otherwise.As it is you decided to challenge me without checking the data.I would be charitable and assume you just wanted to see the data KLNOWING that it is there.If that is the case, then say so and I will oblige by posting the data. If you checked and felt there is no data then SAY SO

In reply to imusic

Just because you are unaware of the data, does not mean it is not out there.
I am the person on this message board who posts the most data.Allyuh dus just spout opinions based on feelings.
If you want to challenge my statement then you post the data to do so.Post evidence that player X is a better player of spin bowling than Hetty.Why I must post to show.
I already know what I know BASED ON THE DATA.

Go AHEAD MAKE MY DAY

In reply to Dukes

I’m not the one that declared that your posts are DATA DRIVEN bruh

So you decide to respond to my post twice essentially to agree that you posted no data to support your vibes and senses that Hety is the best player of spin in the region.

I repost again. “where is the data to support what you posted?”

Keep wrigglin bruh

Joe Joyce and Joseph Parker

In reply to imusic

Do you want to see the data or do you doubt that Hetty is the best of the current bunch when it comes to playing spin bowling?

I can assure you that I do have the data,

Not posting it is not the same as not having it.

I accept the reality that not everyone is treated the same as I see opinions here all the time but nobody posts any data.

I might post the data before the match starts tonite or I might not, depending on how my afternoon goes.I have some stuff to do which is more important than shooting the breeze here.

BTW The Honorable President of the Co-Operative Republic of Guyana, Dr. Mohammed Irfaan Ali has invited the Honorable Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Dr. Keith Rowley to Guyana to watch the match tonite and Dr. Ali said whether it is Curry Chicken or Chicken Curry, there will be Curry tonite!!!!!

In reply to Dukes

You declared Hety to be the best olayer of spin currently in the region.

Prove it.

All de lyrics bout “I have the data” and “trust me” is unbecoming of a posture of your data driven stature.

I can’t be any clearer than that

In reply to Dukes


Sometimes it's not so much posting of the data per se but the interpretation! So a lot of people don't bother - that's my guess!

In reply to imusic

First I will make some general points about debating a topic, then I will define what it is we are trying to decipher and then go into specific criteria I used to come up with my opinion.

There are only a few things that captivate my interest and when those things are being discussed,I spend a lot of time on them because I feel that if it is worth talking about, you must equip yourself with as much knowledge of the topic as possible.I am interested in cricket, medicine and politics and I spend most of my spare time on these 3 topics.My main time is spent on my non-profit work.

Who is the best player of spin bowling currently in the region?
You first have to define what it is you are looking for.At a base level it is going to be how many runs have you scored against spin bowling, the quality of the spin bowling and the pitches where you score your runs and how you looked.

However as the commercial states: BUT WAIT,THERE IS MORE.

I have repeatedly stated how important it is to be able to judge the length of a ball.That is, as the ball leaves the bowler's hand to be able to judge whether you should go forward or play back.This is almost INSTINCTIVE.This is VERY IMPORTANT in assessing how good a player of spin bowling a player is and UNFORTUNATELY,either due to ignorance or neglect it is completely ignored by most cricket fans.How can we as cricket fans understand this phenomenon.I can give examples using Pooran and Hope.You can tell when they are uncertain of the length of a ball.They usually end up playing back to good length balls and it is with defensive strokes, many times successfully or having to bring their bats around their pads i.e playing across the line of the ball, leaving them open to being LBW or bowled.This was clearly on display last night with Shai Hope when facing Hosein.He went back to well pitched up balls from Hosein on at least two occasions.He did middle the ball both times but not only did he not score from them he looked decidedly uncomfortable.This is NOT NEW.Similarly I have seen Pooran do exactly the same.
Hopefully all those doubting what I am saying will look at these two players against particularly finger spinners to see how well they judge the length of the ball.Now armed with this information you can more adequately assess who plays spin best.
The important thing about teaching is not to give your students too much to absorb so I will end there for now and revisit this topic when everybody has had the chance to employ these methodologies in their analysis.
Incidentally when it comes to wrist spin I have stated already about the ability to read from the positions of the bowler's hands which way the ball is going to turn and no current WI batsman gets above a Grade C in this category.Kallicharran gets an A and both Lara and Sobers get B in this category.However because in judging length of ball both Lara and Sobers get A+ then..............

SELAH