The ball bowled by a 16-year-old boy from Moodbidri spun from outside the leg stump towards the off stump in the nets. Ace spinner Anil Kumble, who saw the boy’s delivery, said, “You have put you body behind while delivering,” and demonstrated the move.
Around 200 young bowlers got tips at the nets at Nehru Maidan on Friday from Mr. Kumble. These students had come to attend the camp that aimed to select spinning talent for grooming in the State.
TENVIC, a firm run by Mr. Kumble, is conducting camps in Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Hubballi to select 20 potential spinners.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Kumble said the firm was looking at talent in the 10-19 age group. “We are looking purely at talent, regardless of the number of matches they have played,” he said. The 20 shortlisted players will be trained in Bengaluru.
The ace spinner said the 20 players selected for the camp will be given cricket kits.
The top three players will be given a scholarship of Rs. 1 lakh for their education.
Dismissing the notion that shorter formats of cricket had brought down spinning talent, Mr. Kumble said it was all about bowling more.
Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim said the district administration is ready to give seven acres of land in Bondel to any organisation that wants to create cricket training facilities.
Mr. Ibrahim said the land was near the ‘Samskrutika Bhavan’ proposed in Bondel. “We want organisations to develop facilities for training cricketers,” Mr. Ibrahim said, adding that he had discussed this with Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports K. Abhayachandra Jain. A decision would be made in a month’s time, he added.
