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Sport Nation
'He's the John Daly of cricket': Ric and Chappy draft their Mt Rushmore of spin bowlers
Sport Nation • August 21st, 2025 2:42 pm
Every Thursday, Sport Nation Mornings hosts Riccardo Ball and Alex Chapman nominate a new sporting Mount Rushmore.
But it's with a twist - they make their selections via draft.
After a coin toss to decide who goes first, Ric and Chappy take turns selecting the athletes that will make up their personal top-four list of greats.
Once someone has been picked, they can't be named again, giving two very unique lists. This week, Ric and Chappy delve into the art of bowling to find cricket's greatest spinners.
As the motto of 'tails never fails' once again delivers, Ric has the honour of making the first selection for this week's Mt Rushmore.
Round 1
Riccardo: Shane Warne
"Durries, diet pills, Liz Hurley, the ball of the century, Shane Warne - (it's) the king for me.
"I know Muralitharan has got more wickets, but Shane did it with more style. He was just such a charismatic figure, did a lot for the game of cricket.
"This isn't a size thing - but he's the John Daly of cricket. He was that extrovert that did things differently - cricket used to be quite a conservative game...Warnie kicked all that. He took it into the 90s when it was still stuck probably in the 1950s for a long time."
Alex: Muttiah Muralitharan
"I can already hear people angrily yelling at their phones or radios, calling him a 'chucker' - but he's the highest wicket taker in Tests and ODIs, he's the only man to take 800 Test wickets. The story of him needing eight wickets in his final Test to get 800 is scriptwriter-esque.
"He could turn the ball both ways, obviously with that Doosra. He has the most ten-wicket hauls with 22, the most fifers by far, 30 more than Warne, who sits second."
Ish Sodhi on the future of spin bowling in New Zealand | Sport Nation Cricket
Round 2
Riccardo: Saqlain Mushtaq
"He changed spin bowling for a lot of people from just being 'these guys are too fat to be able to bowl fast, so they bowl dibbly-dobblies' - he actually reinvented spin bowling in a lot of ways with the invention of the Doosra.
"208 Test wickets, 288 ODI wickets, but it's more what he did to spin bowling is why I've got him on my Mount Rushmore."
Alex: Anil Kumble
"619 Test wickets, the third most of all time, and one of only three players to have taken ten wickets in an inning, obviously Ajaz Patel is one of the others.
"Absolute accuracy was needed with him for someone who wasn't an enormous turner of the ball. He was very wicket to wicket, very tall. He got good bounce, which meant he was particularly tough in the subcontinent to get on the front foot too."
Round 3
Riccardo: Sophie Ecclestone
"I'm going to somebody that has only ever played nine Test matches, but has taken 40 wickets, has 125 wickets in 75 ODIs, and 142 wickets in 101 T20s - the best female spin bowler of all time, Sophie Ecclestone out of the UK.
"I don't think there's anybody close to her (in the women's game) when it comes to the art of spin bowling - maybe Melie Kerr is getting there."
Alex: Melie Kerr
"99 ODI wickets, 95 T20 wickets - she is a modern marvel.
"Ecclestone is a different sort of bowler, Melie is way more attacking, that comes with being a leg spinner."
Photo: John Davidson/Photosport
Round 4
Riccardo: Paul Adams
"This was more about the impact he had from a fan point of view, and watching him was just so entertaining. He still took 134 Test wickets, but he was described as being 'a frog in a blender.'
"I'm taking this from different angles - I got the best of the best, so now I'm going for guys that stand out."
Alex: Daniel Vettori
"Not an enormous turner, he's probably a lot more a slow bowler than a spinner, but absolute master of flight and deception, probably changed the way that left-arm spinners in particular get viewed in white ball cricket.
"He'd bowl a 76km/h ball and then a 92 arm ball. And then another 91 arm ball and then an 86. He must have been awful to face.
"Give me Vettori with notable mention to Rashid Khan, Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon."
