Slow Left Arm Help!

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tkendall

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Hi Guys,

I've just switched from bowling Chinamen to SLA as I find I can be alot more accurate, and compete more in matches despite spinning the ball significantly less. I need some help with my field though; I bowled it for the first time in a game last week and took 1-24 but I had trouble setting my field as I've never bowled SLA in a game before.

In the end I settled for this; Backward Point, Deep Cover (Sweeping), Short Extra Cover, Widish Mid off, Gully, Deep Backward Square, Midwicket, Mid on, Fine Leg on the 45 (stopping the 1s), with the option for swapping the fine leg for someone deep at cow if they started teeing off, or pushing mid on or mid off back. Any help or suggestions on this field would be greatly appreciated. I try to bowl a middle/middle and off line ( from around the wicket) spinning onto off stump or just outside, and the format will be either 50 or 40 overs a side, me bowling about 10 between the 15th and 45th.

Cheers
 
You don't need a deep cover chap, that's only there if you bowl a crap ball! Third man (short) is almost essential, for the thick outside edge or the late cut. My field normally is: Mid off, cover, extra cover, point, short third man, short fine leg, deep backward square, midwicket, mid on. Midwicket and Deep backward square can swap (to deep midwicket and normal backward square leg) if they're looking to slog sweep. Also, if it's ragging square, consider a silly point/very short extra cover, and maybe bring short third man to slip!
 
Tumo said:
You don't need a deep cover chap, that's only there if you bowl a crap ball! Third man (short) is almost essential, for the thick outside edge or the late cut. My field normally is: Mid off, cover, extra cover, point, short third man, short fine leg, deep backward square, midwicket, mid on. Midwicket and Deep backward square can swap (to deep midwicket and normal backward square leg) if they're looking to slog sweep. Also, if it's ragging square, consider a silly point/very short extra cover, and maybe bring short third man to slip!
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Jesus Tumo! Just looked at your blog and saw the dislocated finger picture, that must have hurt! How long was it from when you did it, to when the hospital shoved it back? Then when they did it, did it look dead easy and like 'I could have done that myself'?
 
About 2 hours mate. It's still absolutely huge, over 4 months on! In hindsight, playing 2 weeks later and bowling 15 overs wasn't smart... Although my dad's took about a year to heal properly! I had a local anaesthetic and it still absolutely wrecked, and it took the bloke 10 minutes to pop it back in. I wouldn't have fancied anyone unqualified to do it!
 
Tumo said:
About 2 hours mate. It's still absolutely huge, over 4 months on! In hindsight, playing 2 weeks later and bowling 15 overs wasn't smart... Although my dad's took about a year to heal properly! I had a local anaesthetic and it still absolutely wrecked, and it took the bloke 10 minutes to pop it back in. I wouldn't have fancied anyone unqualified to do it!
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Yeah that don't sound good, I know mine wasn't as bad as yours and mine felt ropey for a year or so after, but I think I gave mine at least a month before I bowled with it properly. Yeah that sounds and looks like a hospital job. I was just really surprised how simple it looked when they did mine at Hospital, but I still wouldn't fancy doing it and I know it's not advised by anyone. Hope it recovers okay.
 
Deep cover and deep midoff are both vital if you're bowling and offstump line on a flat track, because anything even a fraction short can be safely clipped with the spin through the covers and anything a fraction long can be driven down the ground.

If you bowl an off-stump line, you can set a 6-3 field with 2 out, 3 in the ring and a slip on the offside, then 2 in the ring and a man out on the legside. If you bowl a middle and leg line, then you can probably do without an offside sweeper, and instead use a 5-4 field with 6 men in the ring, a slip, a man straight and another man on the legside boundary.

This is a field for a good pitch, if you get onto a spinning pitch you could bring the deep men in and put some men round the bat. Although this may not be the best idea: as Shane Warne himself said "with a good defensive field, you are free to attack with the ball as much as you like: but if you attack too much with the field, then you are forced to defend with the ball". (quote taken from Peter Philpott's blog)
 
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