Delhi spinners remember Jenner

Now 20,Manan Sharma,a left arm spinner was selected for Jenner’s camp as he was considered a promising prospect for the state. Manan recalls that in the one week camp,the spin guru was impressed by his control and sharp spin. Without changing his action drastically,Jenner adviced him to work with his run up. Like most orthodox left arm spinners in India,Manan used to bowl with a diagonal run up. He was made to run straight towards the crease and deliver. “He would make us bowl a lot of single wicket and when he saw me bowling according to what he said,he was impressed and told me that I have the potential to represent the country. I am still bowling,keeping in mind what he told me and think I am still reaping results as his suggested technique in both the longer version and the one day format,” Manan recalls.

Parting gift

Manan was also handed a t-shirt signed by Jenner as a memento. What Manan regrets though is that even though he got Jenner’s email address he never kept in touch.

Karan Harit is a left arm spinner from Delhi who has represented the Capital in different age groups. Harit used to be one of the mainstays of Delhi and thus got a chance to train under the watchful eyes of Jenner. “The best thing about him was that he didn’t have a fixed style of coaching. He used to work according to a spinner and what would suit him individually. He helped me with my grip and asked me to bowl a lot of single wicket stuff and also to the batsmen. He focused a lot on alignment which I believe is the most important thing in spin bowling. He once said that a spinner should always have a ball in hand and spin it from one hand to the other as often as possible. We later came to know that it helps a bowler impart extra spin to the ball easily in match situations,” Harit explains.

Simple motto

Arun Khurana,a veteran first class off spinner was Jenner’s assistant during the 2008 spinners’ clinic. According to Khurana,Jenner’s kept his motto simple.

“He used to say the action of a spinner should be as less complicated as possible. It should have a smooth transition at every stage of bowling which consists of run up,delivery stride and finally delivery.

Khurana says Jenner focused really hard on the use of the non bowling arm which he described as a rudder. “A rudder is something that helps the ship to steer. He said that if the rudder goes to a wrong direction,the ball cannot land at the desired spot. Then he taught us the PEP formula which means power,energy and pivot. If a bowler encompasses these three things in a single ball,there is a very slight chance of the ball getting hit,” Khurana adds.

While sharing the memories,he praised Jenner as a wonderful human being who believed in helping young cricketers. “He was really fond of red wine and I remember he used to discuss various techniques that can be put into the coaching manual. I used to talk to him online a lot and I received an email from his wife when he passed away,” Khurana says.