Lofty leggie is living life to the Max!

Watching Shane Warne tie batsmen in knots at Lord’s inspired a young Max Waller to take up the mystical art of leg-spin.

Following in his hero’s footsteps, Waller has now become the leading leg-spinner in the history of the T20 Blast with 115 wickets.

His success and the presence of so many tweakers among the list of leading wicket-takers in the Blast is testament to the importance of spin in the shortest format.

Waller was first bewitched by leg spin watching Shane Warne at the height of his powers when he accompanied his father, an MCC member, on regular visits to Lord’s. The Australian legend had a huge impact.

“Shane Warne was a massive influence. I used to watch a lot of cricket at Lord’s as a kid and watching Warnie was a big highlight. It was exciting. Leg-spin’s fun, you can make batsmen look silly. It’s a very difficult skill but when it's going well, it’s brilliant. I put it down to Warnie.”

Waller, 32, made his T20 debut for Somerset in 2009 and has bowled predominately in white ball cricket.

When the T20 format was introduced some thought that spinners would become targets for batsmen looking to attack. Instead spinners have adapted and their variations have added another exciting dimension. Hampshire’s Danny Briggs, a slow left-armer, currently tops the list of all wicket-takers in the Blast while among the leg spinners, Waller is just ahead of Adil Rashid and Imran Tahir.

He agrees that spinners are, more than ever, a key component in any T20 attack.

“Definitely with pace off the ball. Not so much at Taunton, the boundaries aren't very big, but especially at other grounds where the boundaries are big and bowling through the middle overs when you’ve got your field out. There's no surprise that spinners have success.

“Being able to spin the ball both ways is definitely an advantage because the batsmen can’t set then. Spinners have the advantage where they can spin the ball both ways and off the surface, so the uncertainty in the batter is created straight away. Then I guess pace-off seems to be the way to go.

“As the batsmen have got scoop shots and tried to reinvent themselves, bowlers need to do the same thing. With spin bowling your variations are so important in the T20 format especially.”

Waller says his own bowling has evolved and is now very different to when he first started. Originally, he bowled a lot more leg-breaks.

“Now the most successful leg-spinners are Rashid Khan, Imran Tahir in white ball cricket. They’re the ones that run the ball into the right- hander and bowl lots of flippers and sliders.

“Over time that's what I’ve done. I’ve bowled a bit flatter, a bit quicker potentially having to bowl at Taunton where the boundaries are so short and the wickets are so good. Just trying to come up with new deliveries year-in, year-out in the off-season and practice those things. You’ve got to keep evolving with the game because every year in the Blast you get new overseas players in and new ideas and people to talk about different balls and you try and develop your skills.”

More recently, he has often opened the attack and bowled during the powerplay, another change from his early years. It is a time when batsmen are trying to get used to conditions and the more variations on offer create uncertainty in the batsman’s mind. Having an over first up also suits Waller’s personality as someone who likes to get into the game straight away.

Bowling leg spin in T20 is also a question of holding your nerve which why Waller says he prefers bowling at batsmen during practice sessions.

“It gives you that that that game scenario situation where you can second guess what the batter is trying to do. I try to work on that in practice. You’re always trying to be one step one step ahead of the batter which is key.”

As well as Warne’s sizeable influence, Waller cites the impact of another Australian spinner. Aged 20, he attended an England development camp run by the late Terry Jenner.

Former England spin bowling coach Peter Such has also played a key role, while he has been keen to pick the brains of overseas spinners who have played for Somerset like Murali Kartik and Piyush Chawla and Fawad Ahmed in last year’s PSL.