Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

The great thing about spin bowling, the thing that makes it unique and different from seam bowling, is the tactical and mental element. This is the bit that really fascinates players and gets them hooked. Intelligent spin bowling is like chess on grass.

Which I think is a good analogy: the fundamental and most interesting part of chess, as in spin bowling, is in learning to out-wit your opponent, predict his next move and set a trap. To practice this, you constantly need to practice this skill.

Often the posts I read on here sound like people are obsessing too much about the mechanics without thinking about the strategy. If you think successful spin bowlers are successful primarily because of their bowling actions, you've completely missed the point of what spin bowling is all about.

Beginners' drills like standing start drills and bowling at an empty set of stumps are fine for 12 year olds who are being introduced to the game, and are a useful 5 minute warm-up for adults, but its not a practice that is really going to improve your ability to dismiss batsmen in real games of cricket. Its the equivalent of a chess grand master practicing moving his pieces around on an empty board. You'd think he was an idiot, wouldn't you?

Think of your basic bowling skills as the equivalent of learning the different moves in chess: the stock ball in the pawn, the topspinner is the bishop, the backspinner is the knight, the quicker ball is the rook and the wrong'un is the queen, or whatever.... Learning how to move the different pieces is only the very beginning - the real skill is in watching what your opponent is doing, identifying a weakness, and then figuring out the combination of moves that will win you the contest.

How many of you actually practice the REAL skills of spin bowling? How many of you even think about it? Or are you all like the chess player moving a solitary knight around an empty board? 2 to the front, 1 to the side.... 2 to the front, 1 to the side...
 
I am going to Sri Lanka on a Cricket tour and was wondering if you had any tips for bowling right arm leg spin over there
How do you bowl in the UK?

I would say that the pitches will likely be slower, lower and with more turn. So bowl slightly quicker, slightly fuller, and aim to hit the stumps. Think Kumble rather than Warne.
 
I hope everyone has been watching and learning from the Indian spinners: Bowl full, bowl quick, bowl at the stumps, and don't worry too much about turning the ball off the pitch.
 
I toured sri lanka last year and found that if you bowl quick through the air it should still spin wheres normally that pace for me wouldn't have spun as much back at home. The other thing is that they all play spin very well and that means they all sweep very well to. So if was going there again I would probably think a bit more about how to bowl to a player sweeping me whether is be through variations or lines I bowl or field settings.
 
I toured sri lanka last year and found that if you bowl quick through the air it should still spin wheres normally that pace for me wouldn't have spun as much back at home. The other thing is that they all play spin very well and that means they all sweep very well to. So if was going there again I would probably think a bit more about how to bowl to a player sweeping me whether is be through variations or lines I bowl or field settings.

Most pitches in Asia are fairly low bouncing, so the batters there play the sweep shot a lot. The most obvious way to try and exploit that is to bowl with a lot more overspin on the ball and look to generate the bounce yourself.
 
How should a Leggie bowl to good sweepers, those that smother the ball and batsmen that use the depth of the crease very well like Root, Kohli, Younis Khan and etc ?
 
How should a Leggie bowl to good sweepers, those that smother the ball and batsmen that use the depth of the crease very well like Root, Kohli, Younis Khan and etc ?
Sweeping nullifies the effect of turn, but the payoff is that the batsman has to judge the bounce very accurately, so I would guess the killer deliveries are topspinners (to get the top edge) and flippers / sliders for the lbw
 
Sweeping nullifies the effect of turn, but the payoff is that the batsman has to judge the bounce very accurately, so I would guess the killer deliveries are topspinners (to get the top edge) and flippers / sliders for the lbw

But what if the batsman is very good at using the depth of crease and doesn't premeditate? I can't bowl 3 Topspin/Topspin-Legbreak and 3 sliders per over ?
 
But what if the batsman is very good at using the depth of crease and doesn't premeditate? I can't bowl 3 Topspin/Topspin-Legbreak and 3 sliders per over ?

If a batsman is playing you off the back foot, either pitch it up further, or put a little extra mustard on it and clean him up off the pitch.
 
Of course if your batsman is great at using his feet, likes playing back, is proficient and keen to sweep (not premeditated)... well maybe that's a good time for the quicks to have a go
 
Of course if your batsman is great at using his feet, likes playing back, is proficient and keen to sweep (not premeditated)... well maybe that's a good time for the quicks to have a go

My thought was that if Thivagar is bowling against batsmen who can play front foot, back foot, sweep, all proficiently and have no apparent weaknesses against spin.... which tv channel is showing this test match?

Most amateur batsmen have one or two good shots against a spinner, and if you can cut those options off, they struggle.
 
Anyone have any thoughts on strategies for setting up batsmen for a quicker ball?

Currently I just chuck it in whenever I feel like it, without any rhyme or rhythm.
 
Anyone have any thoughts on strategies for setting up batsmen for a quicker ball?

Currently I just chuck it in whenever I feel like it, without any rhyme or rhythm.

If the batsman is struggling to get to you on the front foot (ie you have just spun a couple of balls past the edge) he is liable to try playing you off the backfoot instead.

If you sense that this is about to happen, this is the perfect moment to pounce - run up the same as normal but push it through much quicker - the ball will skid straight into middle stump before he gets his bat down.

Sometimes he will even practice the shot between balls, which is a real giveaway! Although be careful, when I am batting I deliberately practice shots I have no intention of playing, to try and get the bowler to bowl the ball I want him to bowl.
 
Circa one month ago, when I wasn't bowling like a hack, my bowling off a standing start was extremely poor. I wouldn't get enough power behind the ball, but my full run up provided the energy and follow through required to put the ball in a good area.

Now situation has reversed. I'm bowling extremely well off a standing start, getting loop and putting the ball in good areas. However, when I come off my full run, which hasn't been altered consciously, my bowling action feels foreign and the ball is more likely to hit my foot than a good length.

This is obviously problematic because in a game I bowl from my run up, and my good bowling from the runup is still better than my good bowling from a standing start, just because there is more energy and momentum to work with.

Has anyone got any idea what this could be caused by, or any remedial practice I could do to repair the problem?
 
Circa one month ago, when I wasn't bowling like a hack, my bowling off a standing start was extremely poor. I wouldn't get enough power behind the ball, but my full run up provided the energy and follow through required to put the ball in a good area.

Now situation has reversed. I'm bowling extremely well off a standing start, getting loop and putting the ball in good areas. However, when I come off my full run, which hasn't been altered consciously, my bowling action feels foreign and the ball is more likely to hit my foot than a good length.

This is obviously problematic because in a game I bowl from my run up, and my good bowling from the runup is still better than my good bowling from a standing start, just because there is more energy and momentum to work with.

Has anyone got any idea what this could be caused by, or any remedial practice I could do to repair the problem?

I found myself in a similar predicament,swapping between a run up of 10 steps to a 5.
Some weeks the longer one was better, other times it stunk and vice versa.
I was at my wits end - so I made a measurable plan.
I have use of an indoor net, I marked out a target area, bowled 10 overs with maximum focus, and counted the number of good balls out of 60
2 days later at the same time doing an identical warm up I bowled another 10 overs with the alternate run up.
The longer run up was way better. This data made the choice for me.

Hope his helps
 
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