Left-handed doesn’t mean left behind because the success of cacky-handers in Australian sport is remarkable.

The recent naming of Australia’s cricket squad for the Ashes in England focussed mainly on the recall of all-rounder Mitch Marsh.
No headline was made of the fact that the 17-man squad actually includes a majority of left-handed batsmen. It was a day of quiet celebration for the population’s leftward-leaning minority.

When lefties make up only 10-to-15 per cent of the population, how can such a crazy balance occur? It is extraordinary that nine of those 17 should be lefties with the bat.

Yep. Dave Warner, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Alex Carey are all left-handed staples in the top-order. Back-up opener Marcus Harris, Matt Renshaw, new spinner Todd Murphy, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Starc also take guard with a leftie look at the bowling.

Great Australian lefties of the past like Allan Border, Neil Harvey, Adam Gilchrist, Matt Hayden and Mark Taylor will simply smile that the world is spinning exactly as it should be.

Scratch a little deeper and Border would probably name Shirley Bassey as his favourite singer, watch re-runs of old Marilyn Monroe movies and tell you that Rafael Nadal is the greatest of the modern “Big Three” in tennis.

We won’t pin any political persuasion on him. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was right-wing in his views but wrote with his left wing. Watch an absorbing document-signing spree and former American President Barack Obama puts down his autograph that certain way as well. We wonder how many smudged signings he narrowly avoided.

All are famous lefties in their fields of success.

The late David Hookes was a classical left-handed batsman. He stirred the pot on the “left v right” debate more than most.
“Left-handers are smarter…and just look much better in full flow,” he once told me, “I mean, a David Gower cover drive is far better to watch than a David Boon cover drive.”

Would you have rather watched the wizardry of left-hander Brian Lara or the more calculated plunder of right-hander Sachin Tendulkar when both were in their primes?

The great Alan Davidson built a reputation as one of Test cricket’s finest all-rounders in the 1950s before another leftie, West Indian Gary Sobers, took that tag to another level.

The late Davidson always had a theory on the success of left-handers in the game.  “Right-handers basically grow up facing right-arm bowlers and bowling to right-handed batsmen,” he would say.

“Along comes a left-hander who bowls on a different angle. He comes onto the bat in a manner that the right-handed batsman is not used to. I remember playing Englishmen who seemed to have a phobia about left-arm fast bowlers. Right-handed bowlers are also not the same mystery to the left-handed batsman.”

Evil, witches, being clumsy and the unclean hand were linked with the left over centuries. Northern Irish Protestants even called Catholics “left-footers.” The prejudices in everyday society are well documented.

A century before school teachers had policies to tackle excessive mobile phone use and vaping, they were cracking kids over the knuckles with rulers to prevent them writing with their left hands and blotting the ink.

Many grew up with experiences like Rod Marsh. The former Australian wicket-keeper was a natural left-hander with the bat. He played golf right-handed because that was the only equipment available in his youth. It also helped that he scored a few hand-me-down, right-handed sets from older brother Graham, who became a pro golfer.

All Blacks great Dan Carter was another who used different sides of his body for different tasks. He kicked over 1400 points in Test rugby with his left boot yet plays golf right-handed and signs autographs the same way.

There have been books written on strong and mixed handedness reasoning about the superior development of one of the two hemispheres of the brain which each control different operating functions for the body. Upbringing, hereditary, nursing, habit, natural selection…all have been debated in the origins of handedness.

The Sydney Swans have little interest in such theories. They just thank Lance Franklin’s booming left boot for the bulk of his 1000-plus goals in the AFL.

Some sports make it much harder for lefties. There is no such thing as a left-handed hockey stick. In polo, left-handed play is forbidden for safety reasons to prevent head-on collisions.

Basketballer Ben Simmons is a notable Aussie in the NBA. His left-handed shot is often under fire simply because he doesn’t sink as many as he should.

“Cack-handed” or “cacky-handed” is a term for left-handedness from England. “Southpaw” is another which denotes how a left-handed boxer stands in the ring. Not all surfers tagged as a “goofy-footer” are left-hand dominant. It’s more a natural, comfort level with the left foot at the back of the board a la the great Aussie surfer Tom Carroll.

Davidson never had a left-handed instruction manual in cricket.  “I used to put the books and the photos of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller on the table and go by my reflection in the wardrobe mirror,” Davidson said of his method of copying the Test greats.

Maybe, that’s why kissing causes confusion for novice left-leaning lotharios. In greetings, left-handers tend to move to their right and try to kiss a left cheek. Most right-handers have a tendency to do the opposite so embarrassing clashes are not uncommon.

The world is designed around right-handers. Just think of the setting of a knife and fork at the dinner table, the cord on an iron or right-handed scissors.

The young Paul McCartney had enormous frustration trying to play a guitar right-handed. In the end, the answer for the famous Beatle to be was to reverse the guitar and reverse the strings. You can also buy left-handed guitars.

Lefties do have their own day. In 2023, August 13 will be celebrated as International Left-Handers’ Day.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong didn’t see the right-handed order of knife and fork as a barrier to higher achievements. He was the first left-hander to land on the moon. As he said, “That’s one small step for left-handed men and women, one giant leap for mankind.”

JIM TUCKER has specialised in sport, the wider impacts and features for most of his 40 years writing in the media. He has always been intrigued by his handedness, writing right-handed but bowling average left-arm medium-pace.