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Rangana Herath: A Tubby Spinner Extraordinary-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Rahul Bhattacharya in ESPNcricinfo’s The Cricket Monthly, October 2016, where the ttile reads “When Ranga comes ’round ….. In praise of a spinner whose contributions are as generous as his girth” Nobody, except perhaps some of Shane Warne’s opponents and text-message correspondents, has ever disputed the theory that the world is a better place with tubby spinners in it. I am not trying to be body-typist here. Tall, limby ones make a fine sight too. Anil Kumble was, so was Daniel Vettori. In his own way so was Ravi Shastri, whose “long levers”, to use what might be a Shastri-ism, met above his head and ran on with his action like successive arches of a viaduct. Neither is it my case that there is no joy in the tubby batsman. Inzy, Arjuna, Aravinda: wonderful. Yet batsmen are responders. They manipulate the bowler’s ...