Field Settings for Leg-Spinners

[someblokecalleddave]

On the subject of Chaz if he's still around. Here's the modifications that he suggested to my field, initially I was unsure, but thinking it through I reckon it is an improvement. Have a look at my blog and you'll see my slightly more in depth analysis of why this is the case - http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-field-modifications-by-chaz-adams.html

 

[SLA]

On the subject of Chaz if he's still around. Here's the modifications that he suggested to my field, initially I was unsure, but thinking it through I reckon it is an improvement. Have a look at my blog and you'll see my slightly more in depth analysis of why this is the case - http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-field-modifications-by-chaz-adams.html

Hi Dave, that looks very similar to the kind of field I set for myself as a left arm spinner bowling a middle stump line before I figure out exactly what the batsman is trying to do. Its a great field to start from, the singles covered with the classic box pattern (4-5-8-10), and boundary cover in the main 3 scoring areas against spin (cover, square leg and straight). Its a nice symmetric field, which means you can safely bowl whatever line you like, and the deep men straight should allow you the confidence to pitch the ball up. Because its quite defensive, it gives you the freedom (and the responsibility) to attack with the ball.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Hi Dave, that looks very similar to the kind of field I set for myself as a left arm spinner bowling a middle stump line before I figure out exactly what the batsman is trying to do. Its a great field to start from, the singles covered with the classic box pattern (4-5-8-10), and boundary cover in the main 3 scoring areas against spin (cover, square leg and straight). Its a nice symmetric field, which means you can safely bowl whatever line you like, and the deep men straight should allow you the confidence to pitch the ball up. Because its quite defensive, it gives you the freedom (and the responsibility) to attack with the ball.

Hooray - we've got one that people like (Well - Me, Chaz and SLA)!! SLA - do you bring the Mid off and Mid on up once you've bowled a couple of overs and settled down?

 

[SLA]

Hooray - we've got one that people like (Well - Me, Chaz and SLA)!! SLA - do you bring the Mid off and Mid on up once you've bowled a couple of overs and settled down?

It's more a case of making an assessment of how the batsmen seem to be playing when I come on. I will either have both back, both in, or just the mid-off back, depending on how both the pitch and the batsmen are playing. I occasionally bring in either the deep cover or the deep square leg (but never both) depending on the line I am trying to bowl.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

It's more a case of making an assessment of how the batsmen seem to be playing when I come on. I will either have both back, both in, or just the mid-off back, depending on how both the pitch and the batsmen are playing. I occasionally bring in either the deep cover or the deep square leg (but never both) depending on the line I am trying to bowl.

That's a good idea to have them slightly staggered - mid on and mid off, I suppose if the batsman has only got a small range of shots - say he's weak hiting the ball straight down the on-side, the Mid on could start in that position? I suppose it's a case of assessing the bowling before your spell, especially as in cases like when I played for G&CCC I generally always got to bowl after drinks at 20 overs, so leading up to that I could watched the bats more carefully?

 

[Tumo]

Never been a fan of having long off and long on at the start of the spell unless the bowler is a very inexperienced bowler. Heck, I barely have them out at the death, never mind during the middle/beginning of the spell!

 

[SLA]

That's a good idea to have them slightly staggered - mid on and mid off, I suppose if the batsman has only got a small range of shots - say he's weak hiting the ball straight down the on-side, the Mid on could start in that position? I suppose it's a case of assessing the bowling before your spell, especially as in cases like when I played for G&CCC I generally always got to bowl after drinks at 20 overs, so leading up to that I could watched the bats more carefully?

My perspective is that if the batsmen are playing sensibly, with orthodox drives along the ground, then the man is more useful at long-off, because that is where an orthodox off-drive with the spin will go. If they are slogging and hitting the ball in the air, then the ball is more likely to go to long-on who might also have a chance of a catch.

There is no one field that works for every spinner: I bowl aggressively at the stumps, so I tend to use a reasonably defensive field, and I get driven a lot because I bowl quite flat and pitch the ball up, so I like at least one man back straight. The leggie in our club never has men back straight because he wants to tempt people to try and hit over the top. So its really up to you to figure out what tweaks to that starting field work best with your particular bowling style.

 

[chippyben]

I like the idea of Long on and mid off up. The reason being mid off up encourages the shot over the top. My theory is because a shot over the top uses more bottom hand it is likely to get pulled around to the on side, especially by batsmen at our level with poorer techniques. I also like mid off up to stop singles being milked with the easier shot that is played more with the spin. They can try and get singles to mid on as they have to play a riskier shot more against the spin, bringing slip and gully into play for the edge or point/cover for the leading edge.

 

[SLA]

I like the idea of Long on and mid off up. The reason being mid off up encourages the shot over the top. My theory is because a shot over the top uses more bottom hand it is likely to get pulled around to the on side, especially by batsmen at our level with poorer techniques. I also like mid off up to stop singles being milked with the easier shot that is played more with the spin. They can try and get singles to mid on as they have to play a riskier shot more against the spin, bringing slip and gully into play for the edge or point/cover for the leading edge.

All good thinking there - its good to have a thought process behind your field settings.

Another way to look at it: I tend to think of myself (left arm round the wicket), mid-on, and a straightish extra cover as being a three man line of defense to the straight single, because that's generally the easiest scoring shot off a spinner. The idea being that if you want to play straight, you have to hit it hard or aerial to get it past us, where I have someone waiting - hitting hard or aerial is a lot of risk to take just for one run. All of this hopefully should encourage the batsmen to try and work the ball through midwicket or the covers, which is a much lower percentage shot than playing straight.

 

[SLA]

heres my standard field setting....

ive indicated my typical line as well. i tend to bowl on or around leg stump and turn the ball a little. when i hook it up the ball will turn big. ive started to move toward a more middle stump line though. most of the runs i go for are through cover and mid wicket. if i drop short or overpitch then i tend to go for more square on the leg side due to my legside nature.

i like to invite batsmen to hit over the top down the ground. we have short straight boundaries at my club so sixes arent too hard to hit, and lots of batsmen will spoon shots up in the air to mid-off against me. hence mid-off stays back a bit, but mid-on is in to save the single. i like to have square leg and deep backward square, but its rare the captain will allow it, because its 2 fielders doing the same job. but one is there to stop the single, and the other to take catches in the deep. invariably i end up without anyone on the single and it drives me insane!! instead they end up at fine leg where they are completely and utterly pointless off my bowling.

I think this is a really good starting field as well. The difference between this one and the one above is that this works well for a loopier spinner who gets swept/pulled/cut, and the one above is better for a flatter spinner who gets driven more.

Attacking options here are to bring one of the leg side sweepers across to short cover or gulley if the batsman is simply playing with the spin into the offside, or bring deep cover into leg gulley if the batsman is insistent on sweeping.

 

[chippyben]

I think this is a really good starting field as well. The difference between this one and the one above is that this works well for a loopier spinner who gets swept/pulled/cut, and the one above is better for a flatter spinner who gets driven more.

Attacking options here are to bring one of the leg side sweepers across to short cover or gulley if the batsman is simply playing with the spin into the offside, or bring deep cover into leg gulley if the batsman is insistent on sweeping.

Good stuff SLA. I hope you stick around on bigcricket for a while.

 

[Paulinho]

http://terryjenner.blogspot.com/2008/09/coaching-tipfield-placements.html

you've probably all read this but thought I'd put it up anyway.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

http://terryjenner.blogspot.com/2008/09/coaching-tipfield-placements.html

you've probably all read this but thought I'd put it up anyway.

I hadn't read it for a while, but it would have been better with an illustration or two, but the basic premise I'm coming round to understanding.

 

[Chaz Adam]

Sorry that I haven't been around for a while been a busy man! Looking at the above fields, they are definitely more balanced than what was being discussed earlier in the thread.

Seems to me that everyone is starting to think about the kind of fields that different bowlers would bowl, which is fantastic! You can take this information into game day (for example: if you are a loopy spinner and need to bowl flatter and faster - what changes you might need to make). So all of us here will be able to draw on what we are discussing, whether we are bowling flat, loopy, off stump, leg stump or even if we are a big turner or not.

Remember as spinners we need to think aggressive - not start with everyone back. We don't want to be milked, everytime someone hits us for a boundary we are wanting them to take a risk to do so.

@Someblokecalleddave The field that we were discussing do you think you would be comfortable bringing your mid on up every now and then? Spin bowling is all mind games, and us changing our fields to influence a batters thought process is one way we can do this. (Bringing the mid on up, brings the deep mid off into play massively!)


Chaz

 

[Andrew Bourne]

I would have to agree with what chaz is saying, that bringing the mid on up really is a good move, especially for someone like yourself who bowls a line nearer the off-stump. Bringing the fielder up, invites the batsman to take you over mid-on, and with the ball turning away brings into play the leading edge, which a straightish long-off is waiting for. You also mentally test the batsman by bringing the fielder up, as he takes it as an insult that you think you are on top of him enough to bring a fielder in the deep up and cut off a single.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Sorry that I haven't been around for a while been a busy man! Looking at the above fields, they are definitely more balanced than what was being discussed earlier in the thread.

Seems to me that everyone is starting to think about the kind of fields that different bowlers would bowl, which is fantastic! You can take this information into game day (for example: if you are a loopy spinner and need to bowl flatter and faster - what changes you might need to make). So all of us here will be able to draw on what we are discussing, whether we are bowling flat, loopy, off stump, leg stump or even if we are a big turner or not.

Remember as spinners we need to think aggressive - not start with everyone back. We don't want to be milked, everytime someone hits us for a boundary we are wanting them to take a risk to do so.

@Someblokecalleddave The field that we were discussing do you think you would be comfortable bringing your mid on up every now and then? Spin bowling is all mind games, and us changing our fields to influence a batters thought process is one way we can do this. (Bringing the mid on up, brings the deep mid off into play massively!)

Chaz

Yeah I'm warming to this idea, I suppose a big part of it has been that in the last 2 years my bowlings been going through some pretty dramatic changes and has been a bit tatty, so I've been looking for a defensive/cautious field. This year in the last 3 or 4 months I feel that the changes have been coming together and my bowlings got a lot better in many areas meaning that I may arrive at the crease next year relatively confident rather than worried? The fact that I've had a few games this year in the 3rd and 4th XI's playing league cricket has helped with the confidence factor as well and the bowling whilst still developmental and experimental during those games went okay and I got the support of the blokes in the teams. So perhaps, if I can carry the momentum through the winter to January when winter nets starts I might be looking at a far more positive outcome in that sitaution and hopefully start the season with mid on and mid off up? As you've said, it helps with the psychological aspect of the game as it suggests the bowling is going to be relatively attacking rather than tentative?

In the off season my kids, thier team mates and I, all carry on playing a form of backyard cricket on tarmac using wind balls in a double tennis court with fences all around it - so it's a little like indoor cricket. There's only a few of us, so we use cones as the fielders and have a rule that if the ball passes the cones within catching distance we toss a coin to see the outcome 'Catch or no catch'. This enables us to play about with fielding theory and explore the effects on the batsmans approach to his game when you move the field around to negate shots and encourage other shots and the stuff me and the kids are picking up on here seems to be making an impact both with our batting and our bowling and choice of fields. See here http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2011/10/rec-langdon-hills-off-season-cricket.html

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Tumo, this surely has some potential for your project? It's a shame that more people don't get on here and post their own theories and plans, there's so little of this on the internet, I think the only other place is Pitch Vision and there's a bloke on there who's been trying to collate more fields for spinners.

 

[legspinbowler]

I think spinners should get enough confidence to start placing 6-3 fields (more fielders with the spin)

Especially for longer formats. Get the batsman playing across the line and against the spin

 

[SLA]

I think spinners should get enough confidence to start placing 6-3 fields (more fielders with the spin)

Especially for longer formats. Get the batsman playing across the line and against the spin

It depends on your line and strategy, though, doesn't it. If you're bowling a containing off stump line looking for nicks to the slips, then a 6-3 field makes sense.

On the other hand, if you're bowling an aggressive leg stump line trying to spin the ball across the batsman and hit the top of off, then you're much more likely to leak runs into the legside so a 5-4 field is sensible, and if you've got a good wrong'un, maybe even 4-5.

 

[legspinbowler]

It depends on your line and strategy, though, doesn't it. If you're bowling a containing off stump line looking for nicks to the slips, then a 6-3 field makes sense.

On the other hand, if you're bowling an aggressive leg stump line trying to spin the ball across the batsman and hit the top of off, then you're much more likely to leak runs into the legside so a 5-4 field is sensible, and if you've got a good wrong'un, maybe even 4-5.

Yea definitely depends on your tactics. I would've thought most leggies should bowl a middle-off line unless it's a rank turner?