Help with Leg Spin??

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Basit770

Basit770

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Help with Leg Spin??

Hi!

When I bowl, i feel as if I am giving the ball too much flight, but then I hear people saying that, as a spinner, flight is what you want. But, I still get the feeling that my bowling is too flighted and extremely slow!! Also, my length can sometimes be an issue, I usually bowl it too full and the batsman play that easily. Is that because of my flight?? I know leg spinners are unique in flight, spin, pace etc but I always think that I am just a bowler who flights it a lot!

One more thing-I find it really hard to follow through-the whole rotating the shoulders thing- When I try this, I feel that I am bowling too fast and I usually drag it down and it goes short and is slogged!

I would appreciate a few tips off you more experienced bowlers, to help me tidy up my bowling!

Thanks!
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

My son has had all the same issues and is working through them now. He was bowling too flighty and slow. His bad ball was a full toss. He didn't have a follow through either. When he was younger, and even now against poorer batsmen, it doesn't matter but bowling slow and loopy against the better batsmen is asking to be hit. They either back themselves to get down to the ball and smack it or play back and play it off the pitch.

So i had a good coach look at him, went and saw Terry Jenner speak, and the majority of the problems comes down to the follow through! Yes, you will drag it down a bit and bowl short more often as you get used to the follow through, but no gain without some pain.

Here are some ideas and points to check, that Alex has been given and uses. It seems to be working, especially in practice. Tends to slip back to old habits under match conditions though, but will take time to be confident.

Improving Speed - is all your energy going towards the target? - have someone put some markers on your delivery stride, one on back foot, one on front foot, and then on first follow through step. Are they aligned to the wicket down the other end or are you falling away? Line the markers up and use them when you next bowl to get the momentum going the right way. If the follow through marker is straight (or very near to straight) in front of the front foot then you will have to turn the hips and shoulders 180 degrees to get your foot onto it.

Rotation/Follow through - You need to be up on the toe of the front foot in the delivery stride to easily get the pivot needed. As you turn on the front foot you need to be scuffing the grass or artificial turf in a circular motion. Follow through - Leg spinner leg - For right armers the right leg doesn't drive down the pitch in the delivery stride, like an offie would. It drives around the hips, or more correctly, the hips drag it around the body to get the rotation needed. One step is all a leg spinner really needs as a follow through. Warner only ever got past that when he wanted to go down and enquire about the batsman's parentage. Have a look at Jenner videos on You Tube and watch his right leg and the action.

Practice the last two points by standing in your delivery stride and bowling.

Balance: Walk in and stop in the middle of the delivery stride with the front foot raised-can you hold that or do you fall over? Good balance means good control and more power.

Also buy Wings to Fly : Standing up to Spin video from ECB. Jenner shows what to practice, especially the follow through.

Good luck and I hope that some of this is helpful.
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

So basically, does it all come down to the follow through? Also, if I get my follow through correct, will I become a more of a flatter bowler because that is what people seem to think. Will I still be able to loop it up there but still follow through correctly?
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

Yep, follow through was certainly the issue at this end.

I expect that as you get the follow through happening, you will flatten out your deliveries. But this really is essential because with a good delivery stride and follow through you will achieve more power. If you keep the same loop with more power you are going to bowl full tosses so you have to bowl flatter.

Without seeing you bowl i get the sense that you are bowling well above the batsmen head, is that right?

Jenner describes flight as that area the ball travels above the batsmen eyeline. It doesn't have to be a long way above the eyeline, just enough so that as it drops below the batsmen's eyes, the eyes have to track down. With more speed and more (top)spin you start to get dip, and that is what helps to get you wickets. When the ball dips quickly and lands where the batsmen isn't expecting it, you have him beaten, even if it doesn't spin sharply.
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

The odd ball is wayyy above the batsmans eyeline and some of my teammates even shout, "come on mate, bit lower now..."

Any tips on how I can improve follow through without bowling quicker and dragging ball down?

Thanks for the replies btw :)
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

I agree, a video would be really useful.
Without a video can you desribe your action. This is how i would have decribed my son Alex's action, that produced all the same problems that you have. Does your action look like this?
An action that stops at the top with a flick of the wrist and little follow through, hips probably ending square on to the wicket, and maybe falling away to leg. This causes the right leg to step through, rather the come around the body. Your front arm, not high ,but if it is not driving back past the hips on follow through. How far down the wicket do you end? Are you bowling on turf or synthetic. What height is the bounce for a shortish delivery, waist, chest?

You are only going to know this by looking at your action, on digital video or even with a phone video.

I can tell you what he has been coached to overcome this but first I need to know what the action looks like and also what you have already tried. But no miracle cure, practice, practice, practice.
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

one of the coaches want to try to change my action to more side on, at the moment its a mixed action he says my hips and shoulders arent in line in my action. But i cant change it to side on because i lose my accuracy, and it doesent seem natural. but im worried if i keep a mixed action i might have some back problems.
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

Barney did they post wings to fly to Australia as to purchase it it seems you have to be some sort of ECB coach. Also my country Malta is not listed in the drop down list of countries, i know i could e mail them but was just wondering if you can get them without being a member
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

You get Wings to Fly when you sign up for the ECB coaching association (you have to be a coach to be eligible). I guess you can also buy it, have a look on the ECB site.

If Malta isn't listed then drop them an e-mail, they're normally keen to promote the game so I can't see it being an issue.
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

Ripping Leg Break, I came about my copy from an English friend who is an ECB Coach living out here in Australia, so I'm not sure who is able to purchase it or whether they will send it overseas but i can't see why not. This site
http://ecbcashop.com/productitem.asp?id=147 looks like they will but I can't gurantee it. Let me know how you get on because I might try to get hold of the others in the series.
Good luck
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

Sorry Mystery Spinner that last message was for you.

Ripping Leg Break, I'm not sure about back problems for mixed actions with spinners being a risk, but certainly with pace bowlers i've seen kids as young as 12/13 have back problems because of their mixed actions. If i were you though I wouldn't risk it and make the change. Practice will get back you accuracy.

I think you might find that you might also turn it a bit more once you have everything aligned. Hitting the right spot is important but as I have been told, a spin bowler who don't rip it and turn it, is after all, only a slow bowler.
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

Thanks MB and barney, from the above link they say you have to be have some ECB qualification and log in to purchase, I will drop them an e mail though to try to purchase the spin one if it is worth it. Thanks again
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

Trust me it's worth it. Paying highly credentialled coaches $80 an hour to tell my son exactly what I watch on that DVD. For 13 pounds you can do it yourself.

Of course coaches add a lot of other stuff like experience and problem recognition.
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

i was under the impression that you needed to get the ball above the batsmen's eye line. Think there is a vid of warne on Youtube saying exactly that!
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

Agree 100 %. Tracking the ball down from above the eyeline is what confuses a lot of batsmen. Warne and Jenner stress this. Warne says one of his key thought processes is to spin up. He also says this is partly due to his habit of dropping the bowling arm too low. The longer you can keep the ball above their eyeline and still hit the pitch in the right length the better.

But like most could things you can overdo it. You've also got to get it down the other end fast enough to have good batsmen guessing. Too much flight and not enough speed and it becomes a speck in the distance as the good batsmen get to the pitch and smash it. Warne was bowling at speeds of 90kmh plus on occasions. I've seen Kumble in the same area and Macgill down in 70's.

The only way to do both, flight above eyeline and bowl with enough speed is to spin it like hell and let the top/side spin bring it down for you.
 
Re: Help with Leg Spin??

Nothing wrong with flighting the ball mate. I bowl leg spin that barely turns, but if you consistently bowl a good line & length to batsmen, with a bit of variation in speed & bounce, you'll get results
 
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