Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

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boogiespinner said:
You can't use a net, or have a bucket of balls, or bowl without a batsman present either.

I don't accept that practice conditions need or indeed should for a great part match those of the competitive situation, and the general way to learn skills is to master them at favourable conditions and then increase the difficulty. That's why you don't ski down a black run first time out. It's why you don't windsurf in a howling gale until you have had a great deal of experience. It's why boxers might practice punching bags that don't hit back. It's why high wire walkers will first practice with a net below them. etc
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It depends on what you are netting for. For out-and-out technical stuff, you can just go for it with a set of stumps. But, the main reason a top spinner takes wickets is because of his ability to figure out a batsman and stay one step ahead of him. So, really useful and effective match practice requires that you bowl to a batter.

The issue with using something like Rosin on your fingers is that once you get into a match you won't have it available to you. So, if your problem isn't technical but simply a traction problem, then you need to find a solution that is applicable in the nets and in a match. As I say, the best option is use saliva and maybe have something sweet and sugary in your mouth so that your saliva makes your hands sticky. That is something you could get away with in a match.
 
Yes I get that. The boiled sweet is a good idea.

I am going to try applying a little tar to the practice balls. Maybe it's a silly idea, maybe not, I'll certainly say if I think it helped.

Feel I need all the helping I can get really:)
 
I can't think of anything worse than trying to bowl with a sticky cricket ball. You're never going to get your release right with the ball sticking to your fingers.
 
You'll end up on a sticky wicket...

About this bowling over shorter distances thing. I can see its use, kind of like a musician slowing down the tempo to master something technical. But surely you want to move on from, erm, chopsticks and play a full concerto, or something.
 
Darth Spin said:
You'll end up on a sticky wicket...

About this bowling over shorter distances thing. I can see its use, kind of like a musician slowing down the tempo to master something technical. But surely you want to move on from, erm, chopsticks and play a full concerto, or something.
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Absolutely!

I see it like this though... how do I practice for the concert - do I wind up chopsticks to 180bpm, or slow down the Rachmaninov?
 
I had my first proper net of the season yesterday evening. The bowling lanes were quite a bit wet (wet enough that the ball needed drying off everytime it came back to you). But, I still got a few balls to turn, which is promising. Mainly, I was focusing on getting it on a good length and trying to get that little bit of drift. I was getting drift consistently and enough of it to cause a few problems. I was bowling to a few decent batters (including one who's spent the winter playing grade cricket in Australia). I bowled pretty well to them all, although the batter who's been playing grade cricket did hit me out of the nets a couple of times and well enough to have cleared mid-wicket.

All in all, I was quite happy with how it went. There were about 3 or 4 balls that went down legside but they probably would haven't turned back to the stumps if it wasn't so wet. There was also one or two drag downs. Overall, I probably bowled about 50 balls, so 5 or 6 bad balls out of 50 isn't too bad.

I did try one googly and it came out poorly, so I didn't bother again.
 
Having done some ebaying I now have a massive stock of old cricket balls. Something like 70. People are going to think I'm a bit crazy possibly. Haven't netted though for the last few days though thanks to weather and social stuff. I may have to knock the social stuff on the head for a while, it's not helping me bowl legspin.
 
boogiespinner said:
Having done some ebaying I now have a massive stock of old cricket balls. Something like 70. People are going to think I'm a bit crazy possibly. Haven't netted though for the last few days though thanks to weather and social stuff. I may have to knock the social stuff on the head for a while, it's not helping me bowl legspin.
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Sounds like your priorities are mixed up - socialising is far more important than leg-spin.
 
As you say SLA :)

Well tonight I took out my new vast collection of balls to the nets and twirled them down from a short distance.

If only I'd done this years ago!
I must have bowled at least 400 deliveries in pretty short time.
A lovely thing happens when you are deep into such practice which is you just stop consciously thinking about stuff.

I also discovered that the one Readers Indoor (plastic) ball I have is really nice to practice with. I think I'd swap all my cricket balls for these indoor things. They are 4oz which makes it really easy to send down and gentle on the fingers but the feel and spinning seemed really true and responsive.
 
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boogiespinner said:
I also discovered that the one Readers Indoor (plastic) ball I have is really nice to practice with. I think I'd swap all my cricket balls for these indoor things. They are 4oz which makes it really easy to send down and gentle on the fingers but the feel and spinning seemed really true and responsive.
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I remember having a two-colour plastic/rubber ball. That might be better for you than using something like Rosin because they are very easy to grip and get traction on.
 
ok. I have now finished a three month working contract so have some free time. Serious practice starts here. Friendly match tomorrow but I'm not feeling ready to bowl. I am definitely spinning the ball harder than before but don't have it under control. I don't want to trot up to the wicket and send down flighty things which might deviate a little.

I want the thing to fizz!

And leap from the pitch as if I had put the devil into it!
 
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Had a shambles of a game to start the season on Sunday. I turned up and we only had 5 players! Apparently, the captain had 10 players on Saturday night and lost one of them to the 3rd team. Then, on the day, 4 players just didn't turn up. Might be time for me to find a new club. Just not turning up is very disrespectful. I could have a go for the 3rd team but they're not much better, so a different club could be the way.

The opposition, a team established only about 18 months ago and without a proper ground of their own, turned up early with 11 players and a 12th man. Talk about showing us up! They wanted 11 v 11, so we took to the field with 6 of their players fielding for us. Before I got to bowl, the rain swept in and it kept sweeping in for the next hour or so. The ball was like a bar of soap, so I just couldn't grip the thing. I ended up bowling some seam because I couldn't bowl spin. Needless to say, I took no wickets (although one of their players dropped a simple catch off my gentle seam bowling). They allowed us to bat twice to keep the 11 v 11 thing going. I got out for duck, sweeping a very, very slow leg spinner who was bowling around the wicket into legstump. Really, a very ordinary bowler but I'd never faced moon balls bowled on leg stump and my batting isn't very good. I swept and top edged it to square leg. When I came in for my second go, we were something like 80/9 chasing 220 and our captain has an agreement that you have to take 10 wickets to win rather than it being score based. We just batted out the last 10 overs without really playing any shots. The opposition were not impressed that we didn't play any shots. The very slow leg spinner was complaining "that's not cricket". But of course, it very much is. He just couldn't put any real fizz on the ball (when he tried, he didn't bowl drag downs - he actually nearly landed the ball on his toe!). Bottom line, he just wasn't good enough to get a batter out who wasn't attacking him. He'd bowl this horrible moon ball and let the batter get himself out. Not proper bowling. And yet, he picked up 6 wickets! He was helped by the fact that the rain had long stopped by the time they were bowling, so there ball was nice and dry.
 
I am having trouble introducing a strong front arm action to my standing start practice.

Which of these should happen first?

Powering down of the front arm
or
fingers commence spinning the ball
 
boogiespinner said:
I am having trouble introducing a strong front arm action to my standing start practice.

Which of these should happen first?

Powering down of the front arm
or
fingers commence spinning the ball
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For me it feels more like a chain, the push with the front arm leads into flicking the wrist; I don't think I've thought about powering down as an action because it sort of automatically happens after the push with the front arm. This would suggest to me the powering down of the front arm comes first, as ball my ball release is after my front arm has been fully extended.
 
The Edge Of Willow said:
For me it feels more like a chain, the push with the front arm leads into flicking the wrist; I don't think I've thought about powering down as an action because it sort of automatically happens after the push with the front arm. This would suggest to me the powering down of the front arm comes first, as ball my ball release is after my front arm has been fully extended.
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Yeah, it's one linked action but definitely the front arm pulling down happens before the fingers start to impart spin. The fingers imparting spin is pretty much the last link in the chain.
 
boogiespinner said:
Not sure sweeping is the best way to deal with a moon ball! Best not to let them bounce!
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For sure. If I could bat or if I had more confidence in my batting, I would use my feet to get to the ball on the full or as it bounces. Without doubt, a better batter or more aggressive batter would have done exactly that to this bowler.
 
boogiespinner said:
I am having trouble introducing a strong front arm action to my standing start practice.

Which of these should happen first?

Powering down of the front arm
or
fingers commence spinning the ball
Click to expand...

Its hard to do anything in a "strong" fashion from a standing start, because you don't have the natural rhythm and momentum you have through a full action.

Standing start drills should just be used to groove the shape and alignment of the action. They also need to be done with care because if you use a starting position that doesn't replicate a transitory position you would actually use in a full bowling action, you are liable to inadvertently give yourself serious timing issues. I would only do a standing start drill under the supervision of a professional coach.
 
Cleanprophet said:
For sure. If I could bat or if I had more confidence in my batting, I would use my feet to get to the ball on the full or as it bounces. Without doubt, a better batter or more aggressive batter would have done exactly that to this bowler.
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Your causality is backwards. They wouldn't move their feet because they are a better batsman, they are a better batsman because they move their feet.

The sweep shot is an advanced shot that you should only think about playing after you have fully mastered both front foot and back foot orthodox strokes against spin bowling.
 
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