Mastering the art of spin bowling is tough. So, imagine attempting to do it with both your right arm and your left.
It is a skill that almost no one in the sport has ever managed to pull off. But Glamorgan’s Ben Kellaway tells i that he is determined to carve out his own place in cricket history, using both hands.
The 20-year-old all-rounder made his debut for the county in the T20 Blast last month, playing back-to-back matches against Gloucestershire and Surrey.
He didn’t get an opportunity to showcase his party trick, but sooner rather than later, he will be able to demonstrate a skill that has already bamboozled Second XI batters this season.
“Like a lot of things, it started in lockdown,” he says. “Me and my brother both play cricket and we obviously didn’t have a lot to do, so we started playing in the driveway of my parents’ house.
“We basically did it for days on end. I’m naturally a right arm bowler and I was trying to get him out with the one that went away, but I’m not great at bowling leg-spin.
“I started trying to bowl with my left arm and found there was some sort of natural coordination, which I found a bit bizarre.
“Everything else I do left-handed feels completely unnatural. I split the webbing on my right hand at the start of the season and I had to try and eat with my left, which I just felt so uncoordinated doing.”
When it comes to the far from simple art of bowling, though, it turns out that Kellaway has a gift bestowed on very few others.
He has taken six wickets with his slow-arm orthodox in Second XI cricket, alternating with his right and left arm at various points of the over.
Unlike batters, who can switch hit whenever the fancy takes them, Kellaway loses part of the element of surprise by having to inform the umpire if he is planning to change the hand he’s releasing the ball with.
“It would be good if you could just run in and leave them guessing,” he says, laughing.
“I first did it in a match when I was at school but that was a fairly low level of cricket. Even though I had started experimenting in Covid, I hadn’t really tried to develop it until this winter. Before that it was a cool thing that I would try and mess about with in the nets, but I just figured there was nothing to lose from trying to take it further.
“I did it in the domestic game this year in the twos. There have been a few ups and downs with it, a few pretty poor deliveries, but you have to accept that when you’re trying out a new skill. Who knows where it’ll be four or five years down the line.”
He’s right. And in an age where innovation is encouraged, perhaps more at any time in the sport’s history, Kellaway could find himself at the forefront of a revolution that both the right and the left can get behind.
“The way that the sport has progressed, particularly batting-wise, has been pretty phenomenal,” he says. “The shots and the scores being posted are pretty outrageous at times. The bowler has to find a way of combating that.
“Hopefully what I’m doing will encourage others to give it a go as well. As I said, I’m not a complete natural, I’m just giving it a go. And taking a wicket with my left-arm has felt pretty special this season, better than taking one with my right!
“I’m focusing on T20 at the moment but in the future, I’d love to be able to bowl 10 over spells, where I’m mixing it up. I’m not striving for perfection – I’m just looking for consistently and trying to get better.”