A good proportion of Warne's 56 bowled and 55 LBW dismissals owe to this particular delivery.

The grip is essentially the same, except that Warne tends to hold the ball more loosely along the seam than he does for the leg break. Another giveaway is the position of his third finger. Warne is what, in the trade, they call a 'third-finger spinner' -- in the sense that for his leg breaks, he tucks the third finger under

the ball, flipping it out at the point of release to get that extra degree of turn. When bowling the flipper, however, his third finger remains in the more conventional position, fingertip just touching the ball, by way of support, on the side.

When bowling this, what Warne essentially does is to spin the seam straight at the batsman. Try it, holding a rubber ball with thumb tucked back under it, fingers along the seam -- and propel it forward, underarm, with a flip of the thumb (this demonstrates the effect, not the actual style). On pitching, the ball hurries forward faster than its progress through the air, thanks to the forward spin of the ball - and that is all the mystery of the flipper.

Again, batsmen who read turn off the wicket get in trouble -- at the moment of pitching, they are still in anticipation of the one that turns away and when, instead, the ball hurries on to them straight, they either adjust too late (which gets them bowled through the gate, or rapped on the pads) or give the bat-pad to either of the two close in fielders.

The Indians, in contrast, have been playing this ball to its length. When it is fuller, they go forward and defend with bat angled far forward, to keep it down. When even fractionally short, they go right back and either drive on the up in the V, sweep if the line is middle and leg, or cut if it is outside off.

Every so often, Warne tries for the faster flipper, and ends up 'dragging' it down to pitch midway down the wicket -- the kind of delivery Laxman, Sidhu, Tendulkar and Dravid pulled with obvious glee during the Calcutta marathon.

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