Doosra Variations?

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OFFspinBOWLER

OFFspinBOWLER

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Hey guys, I'm new here and I was wondering if and of you blokes new and variations of the doorsa you'd share with me? Anything from a blog, experience or videos would be most appreciated. I'm 16 and thought if I could get good at a doosra I'd move out of the seniors 2nd XI into the seniors 1st XI.

My fingers aren't that big so if there is an easier variation for small fingers that'd be more my type.

thank you :D
 
carrom ball is just as effective as a doosra mate and you don't have to change your action to bowl it take a look at mendis to see how it is done
 
someblokecalleddave said:
Have you given this a go yet - how's it going?
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Yes I have! At first I found it hard flicking it out of my middle finger, but with lots of practice I got it all down pat. Then the 2nd challenge was bowling it 22 yards which didn't really take as long as I expected. Bowled one of these in a game and got hit for 6! Thought I'd keep it in the sheds until I can land at least 9/10
 
OFFspinBOWLER said:
Yes I have! At first I found it hard flicking it out of my middle finger, but with lots of practice I got it all down pat. Then the 2nd challenge was bowling it 22 yards which didn't really take as long as I expected. Bowled one of these in a game and got hit for 6! Thought I'd keep it in the sheds until I can land at least 9/10
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Yeah anything like this you have to keep at it and get it well sussed before bringing it out for a game, but it's always worth a try! I knackered my fingers - I think I had a DIY accident and had a cut on my spinning finger or something so had to find a different way of bowling and I tried this then and it looked very promising over the 2 or 3 weeks that I bowled using the technique, as far as I can recall I was only looking at bowling it with Top-spin and it worked quite well, I found in comparison with my usual Leg Breaks it was more accurate. I've had trouble with my Leg Breaks of late due to poor fitness (I'm 52) and I've been experimenting with different deliveries - Top-Spinners and Flippers as they're less stress inducing I'm finding, but I've also been looking at the Iverson Gleeson technique a litte and may do in the nets come January?

Keep going with it and give us an update as you progress, it'll be interesting to see what happens, the only other bloke that bowls it as far as I know is the palmheads bloke in NZ, but he's rarely on here commenting, if ever. You should look at his website, he's done a lot of research into this ball and it's theory and history.
 
someblokecalleddave said:
Yeah anything like this you have to keep at it and get it well sussed before bringing it out for a game, but it's always worth a try! I knackered my fingers - I think I had a DIY accident and had a cut on my spinning finger or something so had to find a different way of bowling and I tried this then and it looked very promising over the 2 or 3 weeks that I bowled using the technique, as far as I can recall I was only looking at bowling it with Top-spin and it worked quite well, I found in comparison with my usual Leg Breaks it was more accurate. I've had trouble with my Leg Breaks of late due to poor fitness (I'm 52) and I've been experimenting with different deliveries - Top-Spinners and Flippers as they're less stress inducing I'm finding, but I've also been looking at the Iverson Gleeson technique a litte and may do in the nets come January?

Keep going with it and give us an update as you progress, it'll be interesting to see what happens, the only other bloke that bowls it as far as I know is the palmheads bloke in NZ, but he's rarely on here commenting, if ever. You should look at his website, he's done a lot of research into this ball and it's theory and history.
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Could you please link the website to me? I'm very interested in this delivery
 
OFFspinBOWLER said:
Could you please link the website to me? I'm very interested in this delivery
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Perhaps I'm in the minority, but you said you are 16 right? Even if you are 26, depending on how long you have been bowling, I'd advise going the traditional route first.Perfect your offbreak first, be able to land it wherever you want, with enough revs. Ensure your action is tip-top with body into it, unlike the indian spinners you saw in the test matches. Somewhere along the line, you can start learning the topspinner first. The traditional top spinner is more difficult to read than a carrom ball but has a lot more bite off the wicket than the carromball. It might not go the other way like a doosra will, but you don't need it. Doosra is a chuck for most of the people. After you perfect the top spinner and the off-break, you can try the arm ball. All three are shown in this video


Here's Ashley mallett on bowling in test matches, where he mentions why he didn't bowl the "doosra" much: http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/524144.html

Similarly, he also discusses shortcomings of Ashwin and Lyon in this article which will be very helpful for most finger spinners http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/548899.html
 
The thing is, to be able to bowl a topspinner you need to be a certain type of offspinner with a particular action. Not many offies are actually able to bowl straight topspinners, its about 100x more difficult than it is for a legspinner.

Swann can't bowl one, Panesar can't bowl one. The only bowler I am aware of that can at the minute is Ajmal.

I can bowl a carrom ball with a tennis ball quite effectively, but its a pretty useless ball in a cricket match, because you simply cannot get much purchase on the ball by flicking at it with a finger, as opposed to gripping it firmly and giving it a rip.
 
Ah, it does my head in when people say "backspinning topspinner". Can't they see thats an obvious contradiction in terms?
Its either a topspinner or a backspinner, it can't be both at once.
 
SLA said:
Ah, it does my head in when people say "backspinning topspinner". Can't they see thats an obvious contradiction in terms?
Its either a topspinner or a backspinner, it can't be both at once.
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I think that's down to the way that the Spin is put on it when bowling the Orthodox Back-Spinner, we put top-spin on it in exactly the same way as a 'Top-Spinner, but with a riculously twisted wrist that means it's released with back-spin. It's not a way that I'd ever describe it. But in essence you still flick/roll the fingers over the top of the ball - maybe it would be better called a forward spinner rather than a Top-Spinner!
 
someblokecalleddave said:
I think that's down to the way that the Spin is put on it when bowling the Orthodox Back-Spinner, we put top-spin on it in exactly the same way as a 'Top-Spinner, but with a riculously twisted wrist that means it's released with back-spin. It's not a way that I'd ever describe it. But in essence you still flick/roll the fingers over the top of the ball - maybe it would be better called a forward spinner rather than a Top-Spinner!
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Is there any footage of anyone actually ever bowling that ball in a game? I know Philpott talks about it in his book, but whenever I've tried to bowl it at match speed it just turns into a slider.

I think there are lots of variations that are more theoretical than practical. If I haven't seen video footage of it in 20 years of obsessively watching spin bowling, I'm inclined to believe its the former.

I've seen:
leg break
topspinner/googly
flipper (very rare)
slider
straight ball

from a leggie, and

off break
topspinner/doosra
arm ball
slider (aka undercutter)
carrom ball (aka Iverson Gleeson)

from an offie

and I've seen offies bowl legbreaks and vice versa.

Everything else I'm unconvinced exists.
 
SLA said:
Is there any footage of anyone actually ever bowling that ball in a game? I know Philpott talks about it in his book, but whenever I've tried to bowl it at match speed it just turns into a slider.

I think there are lots of variations that are more theoretical than practical. If I haven't seen video footage of it in 20 years of obsessively watching spin bowling, I'm inclined to believe its the former.

I've seen:
leg break
topspinner/googly
flipper (very rare)
slider
straight ball

from a leggie, and

off break
topspinner/doosra
arm ball
slider (aka undercutter)
carrom ball (aka Iverson Gleeson)

from an offie

and I've seen offies bowl legbreaks and vice versa.

Everything else I'm unconvinced exists.
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The best and clearest example of the OBS I've ever seen is in the ECB coaching video as demo'd by Jenner, he goes round the loop and bowls it to a keeper, I don't recall whether it's in slo-mo, but it is so perfectly executed you can see every aspect of it, including, as I recall, as the ball goes down the seam presentation and the fact that it is spinning backwards and kind of like you I was sceptical as to whether it was just theory and heresay. I think it's an exceptionally rare delivery and much of the time if people try it, it comes out with a scrambled seam with more akin to the Big Leg-break than a perfectly executed version. But it's a sight to see in that Vid!
 
Hey everybody,

I'm new on here and would like to introduce myself. I'm a 23 year old bowling all-rounder, currently not playing any cricket due to work on weekends but manage to get an hour long net session after work most days with my mates who play between 2nd-5th Grade for various clubs, according to them I would be playing 3rd or 4th Grade . I believe I have no real issues with my basic off-spin bowling or with my actions technicalities.

My "armoury" consists of:
- a 45 degree off-break stock ball (if that made any sense)
- a toppy
- side spinner (90 degree)
- arm ball
- carrom ball which comes out with under-spin and breaks away from a RHB
- flying saucer (sort of hit and miss atm, but working on it)

Recently, I've managed to bowl a few doosras. I have been able to bowl doosra's in the past before I had a major major change in bowling action (from a Saeed Ajmal type action to a sort of Saqlain Mushtaq action) to improve my off-break and the rest of the conventional variations.

Since I've been able to bowl a doosra with my new action the only problem is, I haven't been able to put enough pace on my delivery. My stock ball is a quickish one, although I bowl it with flight and it dips on the batsman (hopefully :p) it hurries off the pitch, sort of like Swann. This makes my doosra very obvious if someone makes the connection, it comes out sort of at the pace of a very slow loopy offie, sort of hangs in the air for a while but lands on a good spot, but the batsman can easily come down the ground and stroke it away, smothering the spin.

Any tips on how I can manage to bowl this faster, I already tried opening up my body and having a very strong front arm to propel me through the crease, it has made it come out faster, but still not good enough you know?

Sorry for posting this here, I couldn't seem to start a thread :s

Thanks in advance!
 
SLA said:
Is there any footage of anyone actually ever bowling that ball in a game? I know Philpott talks about it in his book, but whenever I've tried to bowl it at match speed it just turns into a slider.

I think there are lots of variations that are more theoretical than practical. If I haven't seen video footage of it in 20 years of obsessively watching spin bowling, I'm inclined to believe its the former.

I've seen:
leg break
topspinner/googly
flipper (very rare)
slider
straight ball

from a leggie, and

off break
topspinner/doosra
arm ball
slider (aka undercutter)
carrom ball (aka Iverson Gleeson)

from an offie

and I've seen offies bowl legbreaks and vice versa.

Everything else I'm unconvinced exists.
Click to expand...

Flippers? You've not seen anyone bowl Flippers? With regards the OBS, if you can ever get hold of the ECB's 'Wings to Fly' right at the end of it Jenner goes through his full repetoire. His Flipper isn't that good, but his OBS is a beaut, it's truly a beautiful thing to see, it's not in slo-mo or particularly Hi-def, but the whole action and the release and the action of the ball off the wicket would suggest that it's a perfectly executed OBS.
 
pakistani_doosra said:
Hey everybody,

I'm new on here and would like to introduce myself. I'm a 23 year old bowling all-rounder, currently not playing any cricket due to work on weekends but manage to get an hour long net session after work most days with my mates who play between 2nd-5th Grade for various clubs, according to them I would be playing 3rd or 4th Grade . I believe I have no real issues with my basic off-spin bowling or with my actions technicalities.

My "armoury" consists of:
- a 45 degree off-break stock ball (if that made any sense)
- a toppy
- side spinner (90 degree)
- arm ball
- carrom ball which comes out with under-spin and breaks away from a RHB
- flying saucer (sort of hit and miss atm, but working on it)

Recently, I've managed to bowl a few doosras. I have been able to bowl doosra's in the past before I had a major major change in bowling action (from a Saeed Ajmal type action to a sort of Saqlain Mushtaq action) to improve my off-break and the rest of the conventional variations.

Since I've been able to bowl a doosra with my new action the only problem is, I haven't been able to put enough pace on my delivery. My stock ball is a quickish one, although I bowl it with flight and it dips on the batsman (hopefully :p) it hurries off the pitch, sort of like Swann. This makes my doosra very obvious if someone makes the connection, it comes out sort of at the pace of a very slow loopy offie, sort of hangs in the air for a while but lands on a good spot, but the batsman can easily come down the ground and stroke it away, smothering the spin.

Any tips on how I can manage to bowl this faster, I already tried opening up my body and having a very strong front arm to propel me through the crease, it has made it come out faster, but still not good enough you know?

Sorry for posting this here, I couldn't seem to start a thread :s

Thanks in advance!
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Hello mate, there seems to be far more of us on here that are willing to discuss wrist spin in depth as we're all wristies (For the most part), more in depth discussion re finger spin seem to be a lot less frequent, so I can only talk in terms of the basics. The only thing I can offer is... Practice, the more you practice the more you'll build up the strength and flexibilty, it sounds like with the action that's involved you haven't yet built up the 'Arm speed' to whip the arm over and get the ball moving through the air properly yet?
 
someblokecalleddave said:
Flippers? You've not seen anyone bowl Flippers? With regards the OBS, if you can ever get hold of the ECB's 'Wings to Fly' right at the end of it Jenner goes through his full repetoire. His Flipper isn't that good, but his OBS is a beaut, it's truly a beautiful thing to see, it's not in slo-mo or particularly Hi-def, but the whole action and the release and the action of the ball off the wicket would suggest that it's a perfectly executed OBS.
Click to expand...

I've seen the flipper yes, although for every actual flipper I've seen I've seen three sliders/topspinners/quicker balls misidentified as flippers. OBS just looks like a Warnie slider to me - low trajectory, small amount of spin.
 
pakistani_doosra said:
Hey everybody,

I'm new on here and would like to introduce myself. I'm a 23 year old bowling all-rounder, currently not playing any cricket due to work on weekends but manage to get an hour long net session after work most days with my mates who play between 2nd-5th Grade for various clubs, according to them I would be playing 3rd or 4th Grade . I believe I have no real issues with my basic off-spin bowling or with my actions technicalities.

My "armoury" consists of:
- a 45 degree off-break stock ball (if that made any sense)
- a toppy
- side spinner (90 degree)
- arm ball
- carrom ball which comes out with under-spin and breaks away from a RHB
- flying saucer (sort of hit and miss atm, but working on it)

Recently, I've managed to bowl a few doosras. I have been able to bowl doosra's in the past before I had a major major change in bowling action (from a Saeed Ajmal type action to a sort of Saqlain Mushtaq action) to improve my off-break and the rest of the conventional variations.

Since I've been able to bowl a doosra with my new action the only problem is, I haven't been able to put enough pace on my delivery. My stock ball is a quickish one, although I bowl it with flight and it dips on the batsman (hopefully :p) it hurries off the pitch, sort of like Swann. This makes my doosra very obvious if someone makes the connection, it comes out sort of at the pace of a very slow loopy offie, sort of hangs in the air for a while but lands on a good spot, but the batsman can easily come down the ground and stroke it away, smothering the spin.

Any tips on how I can manage to bowl this faster, I already tried opening up my body and having a very strong front arm to propel me through the crease, it has made it come out faster, but still not good enough you know?

Sorry for posting this here, I couldn't seem to start a thread :s

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...


That's a lot of deliveries, you don't really need that many. Better to have 2-3 you can bowl well than 6 that you can just about get down the other end.

If you really can bowl a topspinner then a doosra is only a few extra degrees. I can't get further than 45 degrees of topspin myself, so I bowl my wrongun out of the front of my hand.
 
SLA said:
That's a lot of deliveries, you don't really need that many. Better to have 2-3 you can bowl well than 6 that you can just about get down the other end.

If you really can bowl a topspinner then a doosra is only a few extra degrees. I can't get further than 45 degrees of topspin myself, so I bowl my wrongun out of the front of my hand.
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Well yes, it seems like a lot of deliveries, but to be honest the first 3 are pretty much slight variatons of each other, the arm ball is a must have, the only majorly different ones are the carrom ball which is pretty easy to bowl because i have long strong fingers, and the "flying saucer" which I'm just not bothering with at the moment, might not either unless I find the need to use it once I play competitive cricket.

Top-spinner isn't that hard to bowl as long as I get really tall and fully extend my arm, the doosra in theory is just a few degrees more of wrist angle, but I can't bowl it with a conventional grip, I use more of my curled up and tucked index finger to give it a tweak while having my wrist as far as it can go the other way (which isn't far enough to bowl it with ease)

Besides, since I first posted that I started developing serious wrist pain, so much so my right hand ended up swollen and my fingers looking like sausages, I suspected carpal tunnel syndrome, and waited for it to ease away and so it did in 3 days, not bowling a doosra ever again, just trying to disguise my carrom ball better, saves the pain.

Thanks though for your help.
 
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