Where Should Your Focus Be Through The Legspin Delivery

Darryn

New Member
I thought I would ask a question. I would like to know where the majority of leg spin bowlers focus during the delivery. In the past I looked at the batsman and bowled too many full balls.
I now focus on the batters feet or at a drivable length and this has improved my consistency.

Would like to know where others focus and why? Is there a correct focus area to aim at?
 
I dont think there is anything correct... Before i used to look at the crease afraid to bowl a no ball but know i look at about where i want to pitch the ball.
 
If you can't focus on a spot I always liked Warne and Jenner's advice of focusing on the shot you want the batsman to play.
 
When it's all coming together well, I think I kind of look at the off-stump, but lots of people say I close my eyes as I bowl! I'm generally trying to get the batsman to drive or block with a straight bat, so I'm generally trying to bowl an off-stump line.
 
Its difficult to pick a spot on the pitch, as most pitches are pretty monotone and there is nothing to look at. So as I am bowling, I look at the batsman's front toe and aim to land the ball right on it - the dip then brings it down onto a length.

One thing I do find useful to do before the match, is to walk the pitch. I pretend to be both a RH and LH batsman at the end I will be bowling to, and look for spots on the pitch where I would least like the ball to pitch. I then walk backwards to the bowling crease without taking my eye off these spots, and commit to memory where I want to put the ball and visualise bowling the ball there. Then during my spell I know what adjustments to my length I need to make.
 
Front toe is a good thing to be watching, that's where you want the ball going (short of). As well, it gives you a clue if the batsman is stepping down the track.
 
I've always wondered this and there is no correct answer, however, I would say whatever helps you bowl with consistent accuracy.

On a personal note I tried the following approaches

1. Looking at a spot

This is a logical option and specially recommended by Benaud. I believe this would help you retain concentration while you are bowling any particular delivery. However one downside that made me switch from this approach was the ability to control the flight of the ball, I found it hard to control the ball and the concepts of 'up and over' / 'think high and spin up' were harder to implement personally. I found it hard to start with and was too scared to change to this approach, I wasn't comfortable with it so decided to make a call to not pursue this approach. Also it felt unnatural to me but you could benefit from this approach so do test it out.

2. Looking at the feet of the batter/ looking at the batter/ looking towards the keepers gloves/ and all other variations where your focus depends on someone else, I could think of two downsides with this approach.

a. Your focus/concentration is dependant on an external factor, thus, if a batter wanted to move around the crease and use their feet, there is a chance you might loose concentration. This would also mess with your head position while you're bowling which might result in inaccuracy.

b. Second factor again being able to control the flight/trajectory/line/length of the ball, I found it harder than my current approach(which I'll explain soon).

While an upside is you can clearly see what the batter is trying to do, thus, react accordingly if you have a strong focus. This might even be an advantage for you because then you can change your line/length/spin if the batter reacts too early giving you a comparable advantage. But once you start reaching higher levels, you'll notice batters are smart enough to only react once you've let the ball go but again they have to be on the top of their game all the time and you only have to get lucky once. Remember, the batters only have to make one mistake while you have a little more room for mistakes being a bowler.

3. Looking at the crease, this might work for you but I think it's highly unlikely you'll get anything out of this due to all of the reasons mentioned above plus being somewhat out of control of what you're doing.

4. Fourth option is looking at the position where you would let the ball go(release position) and seeing the ball come out of your hand fizzing. This is the approach I use and have seen some other successful spinners implement. I think a similar approach was used by Murli (I might need to confirm this) who isn't really a leggie but the lesson here is none of them were actually looking at the 'batter', thus, less chances of getting distracted/loosing concentration. I have found this helps me with the following

a. Controlling how high I want to toss the ball up and the line I want the ball to go. The major problem most people find with this approach is they end up bowling a lot of full tosses, which is fair enough but stay with me here. If you really fizz the ball. i,e use all the levers in your body, wrists, fingers, elbows and full body drive you'll note the ball dips sharply instead of staying afloat in the air. It might not work for you straight away but the thing I like about this approach is it forces you to use all the levers available which is a great way to staying focused and getting maximum revs at the same time. However a downside of this approach is that sometimes I try too hard to bring the ball down which causes occasional drag downs. But the key thing is if you practice hard and focus really well, you'll be able to find a balance between 'trying too hard' and 'floating it up'.

b. Visualising what shot I want the batter to play. This is Warne's and Jenner's approach which is a powerful way of training your brain to achieve accuracy and stay concentrated. This video explains the phenomenon to some extent. From 03:40 it kinda shows once a certain physical motion has been developed, we can even practice it by just imagining it, thus, improving the neural pathways/muscle memory as some might call it. The lesson here is just by visualising the shot we want the batter to play/where we want the ball to land we can achieve better accuracy.

c. It also helps me maintain a pretty stable head position during a delivery making my action a lot more consistent and repeatable, it also is a huge red flag when I am not concentrating because then I am not looking at the 'spot'. I believe this is the key to my rhythm.

I hope this answer helps but if you can think of some other techniques/methods I might've missed, I'd be keen to learn them.

Cheers
 
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I've always wondered this and there is no correct answer, however, I would say whatever helps you bowl with consistent accuracy.

On a personal note I tried the following approaches

1. Looking at a spot

This is a logical option and specially recommended by Benaud. I believe this would help you retain concentration while you are bowling any particular delivery. However one downside that made me switch from this approach was the ability to control the flight of the ball, I found it hard to control the ball and the concepts of 'up and over' / 'think high and spin up' were harder to implement personally. I found it hard to start with and was too scared to change to this approach, I wasn't comfortable with it so decided to make a call to not pursue this approach. Also it felt unnatural to me but you could benefit from this approach so do test it out.

2. Looking at the feet of the batter/ looking at the batter/ looking towards the keepers gloves/ and all other variations where your focus depends on someone else, I could think of two downsides with this approach.

a. Your focus/concentration is dependant on an external factor, thus, if a batter wanted to move around the crease and use their feet, there is a chance you might loose concentration. This would also mess with your head position while you're bowling which might result in inaccuracy.

b. Second factor again being able to control the flight/trajectory/line/length of the ball, I found it harder than my current approach(which I'll explain soon).

While an upside is you can clearly see what the batter is trying to do, thus, react accordingly if you have a strong focus. This might even be an advantage for you because then you can change your line/length/spin if the batter reacts too early giving you a comparable advantage. But once you start reaching higher levels, you'll notice batters are smart enough to only react once you've let the ball go but again they have to be on the top of their game all the time and you only have to get lucky once. Remember, the batters only have to make one mistake while you have a little more room for mistakes being a bowler.

3. Looking at the crease, this might work for you but I think it's highly unlikely you'll get anything out of this due to all of the reasons mentioned above plus being somewhat out of control of what you're doing.

4. Fourth option is looking at the position where you would let the ball go(release position) and seeing the ball come out of your hand fizzing. This is the approach I use and have seen some other successful spinners implement. I think a similar approach was used by Murli (I might need to confirm this) who isn't really a leggie but the lesson here is none of them were actually looking at the 'batter', thus, less chances of getting distracted/loosing concentration. I have found this helps me with the following

a. Controlling how high I want to toss the ball up and the line I want the ball to go. The major problem most people find with this approach is they end up bowling a lot of full tosses, which is fair enough but stay with me here. If you really fizz the ball. i,e use all the levers in your body, wrists, fingers, elbows and full body drive you'll note the ball dips sharply instead of staying afloat in the air. It might not work for you straight away but the thing I like about this approach is it forces you to use all the levers available which is a great way to staying focused and getting maximum revs at the same time. However a downside of this approach is that sometimes I try too hard to bring the ball down which causes occasional drag downs. But the key thing is if you practice hard and focus really well, you'll be able to find a balance between 'trying too hard' and 'floating it up'.

b. Visualising what shot I want the batter to play. This is Warne's and Jenner's approach which is a powerful way of training your brain to achieve accuracy and stay concentrated. This video explains the phenomenon to some extent. From 03:40 it kinda shows once a certain physical motion has been developed, we can even practice it by just imagining it, thus, improving the neural pathways/muscle memory as some might call it. The lesson here is just by visualising the shot we want the batter to play/where we want the ball to land we can achieve better accuracy.

c. It also helps me maintain a pretty stable head position during a delivery making my action a lot more consistent and repeatable, it also is a huge red flag when I am not concentrating because then I am not looking at the 'spot'. I believe this is the key to my rhythm.

I hope this answer helps but if you can think of some other techniques/methods I might've missed, I'd be keen to learn them.

Cheers

Nice post, the video's great too.
 
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