Bowling keepers

Something strange happened in the game between India and West Indies. Not the Windies batting collapse, which was as predictable as it was depressing, but Mahendra Dhoni took off his pads to bowl some seam up dobblers. As India needed Australia to lose against Pakistan to stand any chance to qualify, something that did not look very likely as they were hurtling towards a modest target, he must have decided that the match was pointless. A few hours later, with Australians scrambling in the final over, Dhoni may have been thinking that he should have treated things a little more seriously. Nevertheless, his efforts proved surprisingly successful, taking the wicket of a presumably embarrased Travis Dowlin. It all brought to my mind an earlier generation of very-part time bowlers - the likes of Mike Brearley used to come on to bowl underarm lobs, which even then harked back to a bygone era. However, according to Statsguru, only two other wicketkeepers have taken a wicket in one-day internationals, both in the last few years. Tatendu Taibu, possibly the most talented bowler/keeper of the lot, completed an entire ten over spell in a match against Sri Lanka in 2004, snagging a couple of wickets. Only a couple of months ago the West Indies' keeper, Devon Thomas, was brought on when the fast bowler Kemar Roach bowled two beamers, and got wickets with his second and seventh balls