Paul Regan Adams (born 20 January 1977 in Cape Town) is a South African cricketer, a chinaman bowler who has played for the national team sporadically since the 1990s.
Adams's bowling action is highly unorthodox and Mike Gatting famously likened it to a "frog in a blender". Though his action initially caught world batsmen by surprise, he was soon exposed for lack of variety by the Australians. As such, he became less effective. However in December 2006 he was recalled to the Test side for the series against India, only to be dropped from the squad before the first Test.
Paul Adams broke onto the scene as an 18-year-old when they visited South Africa in 1995-96. The action itself contributed to his burgeoning wicket-haul for at least a year as batsmen were hopelessly caught in the blurry glare of the impossible contortion. But as soon as the element of surprise wore off, Adams often suffered for a lack of variety and his appearances for South Africa grew fewer. When first discovered by former South Africa great Eddie Barlow, Adams knew nothing of googlies and chinamen, calling his deliveries simply "inspinners" and "outspinners". His head points skyward at the moment of delivery, yet he appears to be able to change his trajectory if the batsman uses his feet. Although photographic evidence suggests otherwise, Adams says he can see enough of the batsman to know what he is doing. His career has been hampered by injury at crucial times, and he lost his No. 1 slow-bowler spot to Nicky Boje, but no left-arm spinner has taken more Test wickets for South Africa. Known as Gogga, meaning insect, or simply Goges to his friends, Adams is a bundle of energy, with a taste in music some of his team-mates find hard to understand.
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*Acknowledgements to Neil Manthorp, Cricinfo.com,Wikipedia.org
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