asters of the art. They include Bill O’Reilly, who Sir Donald Bradman claimed to have been the greatest bowler of his experience; Clarrie Grimmett, arguably the 'father' of spin bowling in Australia; and the greatest spinner of the modern era, Shane Warne. The many other spin bowlers included in the book include Arthur Mailey, Don Blackie, Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, Jack Iverson, Richie Benaud, Jim Higgs, Tim May, Stuart MacGill and Nathan Lyon. <br /><br />Spin bowlers in cricket are masters at making the ball loop slowly through the air to confuse batsmen. Legends of the game know the magic combinations of top-spin, side-spin and off-spin necessary to fool the opposition. <strong>The Magic of Spin</strong>, dissects the various aspects of spin bowling through the stories of the bowlers themselves. In addition it includes the history and evolution of spin bowling: the wrong’un or googly was 'invented' by Bernard (BJT) Bosenquet; Grimmett 'invented' the flipper, the ball Warne in later years bowled so brilliantly; and Bill O’Reilly learned about spin bowling by watching Grimmett like a hawk in Test matches. The batsmen who have played the great spinners through the years will also help to explain the dark art of spinning.<br /><br /><em>'Spin bowling is magical and to a lot of people [a few batsmen included] a mystery.'</em> – Ian Chappell</p>