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In a conversation today, one of the memorable "military-medium" (MM) pacers of international cricket came up. Thanks to @connect2balaji I got a little reminder of England& #39;s Mark Ealham. I& #39;ll keep it simple and continue this thread with just names of MMs from past memory.
Whenever I get reminded of Mark Ealham, Robert Croft kind of rolls right into the conversation. Lovely action, outwardly harmless looking bowling that deserved more ODIs.. but a county legend with over 1100 first class wickets through 23(!) seasons. Graeme Hick of MMs. 
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A little known MM bowler was the versatile Steve Waugh..entered in as a bowling all-rounder and ended up converting into a pure batsman. In his day, not an easy bowler to put away at all. (Steve Smith story?)
How can I forget @SGanguly99 when talking of military medium pacers? That spell against Pakistan in Toronto? To date I& #39;ll never understand how batsmen sometimes had no idea how to put him away. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥴" title="Woozy face" aria-label="Emoji: Woozy face">
Another legend in the MM list is Gavin Larsen. Arguably was a defining force in the world of military medium bowling, and one of my all-time favorite players.
Talk of Gavin Larsen, and my mind flits to someone who (to date) noone knows where to fit in the bowling style spectrum... the unique Chris Harris. At various points in his career, I was confused if he was a spinner, military medium, or just right arm slow. Interesting cricketer!
A little known addition to this list (whenever he bowled) was Jesse Ryder. I just wish we saw more of him in international cricket but for his issues. Dude was a proper MM who sometimes got important wickets!
Fair to say Military Medium bowling& #39;s Mecca lies in New Zealand.
Fair to say Military Medium bowling& #39;s Mecca lies in New Zealand.
Before @sachin_rt pivoted to spin bowling, he used to sometimes mix it up and bowl military medium. Rare situations when it happened, most of the time during the 30 to 40 over mark when India needed someone to creatively break partnerships. Legend.
Ravi Bopara came to mind when I was going through my thoughts. Actually a very effective bowler in county cricket, and more than a handful with the bat. Lovely action too! Phenomenal success bowling MM in T20s especially
Not sure if this is valid because we almost always look beyond his bowling ability, but Paul Collingwood was one of the very best at the art. Wouldn& #39;t say he bowled dibbly dobblies that much though.
Almost forgot Stuart Binny. Singlehandedly gave the world of military medium bowling their biggest nightmare.. for whenever he showed up to bowl, dude just kept getting smacked around the park.
India& #39;s ex-coach Sanjay Bangar was a fair proponent of military medium back in his playing days.
Thanks to @connect2balaji adding two more to this list. Jacob Oram (was 50/50 on this one probably cos Oram is twenty foot tall) and Scott Styris (totally agree)
In @IPL, @lionsdenkxip had a fair amount of MM bowlers play for them. Rishi Dhawan, James Hopes, Harmeet Singh (a personal favorite for how ineffective he was), Reetinder Singh Sodhi.
Coming to @ChennaiIPL, Dwayne Smith led the MM parade. Justin Kemp was another one. I guess above all, how can one forget the policeman, the hero of India& #39;s 2009 WC victory himself - Joginder Sharma. Crown jewel of Indian military medium.
Someone who very closely resembled Mark Ealham in Indian cricket was Rajat Bhatia. Dude never got to play internationals for his country, but dug in every single game and tried his very best to punch above his weight.
Before anyone goes there, NO, Ashoke Dinda does not belong to the MM school of bowling. Dude has his own university that we won& #39;t deal with here.
Sri Lanka gems from the 90s. Have y& #39;all seen Asanka Gurusinha bowl? https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤣" title="Lachend auf dem Boden rollen" aria-label="Emoji: Lachend auf dem Boden rollen"> I have and I remember. MM central.
And then after all of these entries into the MM list, comes Eddo Brandes. The man. The myth. What a bowler. Zimbabwe& #39;s pride.
In true Military medium style, Brandes used to farm chickens in Zimbabwe and has since then moved to Australia to continue farming.
