I'm not sure I entirely agree with those points, not in my own experience anyway. Warne turned the ball big much of the time, but you never found him being cut off the back foot every ball. Without wanting to sound arrogant, when you turn the ball as big as I mostly do, you either have to pitch it outside leg stump to hit the top of off, or perservere with the middle/off stump line knowing that most balls will end up going past way outside off stump. Both have their merits and their downfalls....
My stock line at present, and the root of my success of late, is that I am pitching on the stumps most balls, occasionally wandering outside off. When the ball lands on the stumps, it forces batsmen to play every ball, because they can't assume every ball will turn. And certainly I use the straight ball to great effect, and it has taken a good few wickets this season thus far. When batsmen have to play every ball, the likelihood of taking wickets obviously is much greater. Length is critical because anything rank and short is easy boundaries for good batsmen, and anything slightly short can be cut or dabbed, and good batsmen will milk singles and 2's all day long. Overpitch and its half-volley heaven driving through the covers and straight. So you have to hit that magical length every ball ideally, but at club level there aren't that many batsman that will execute their shot every time, so you get away with it as long as you're consistent.
When the ball turns to outside off, the batsmen can never fully expect it, they have to be cautious of the ball that doesn't turn. A few batsmen this year have assumed that every ball is turning after they've seen 3 go big, and then the 4th ball is the toppie or a zooter and they get trapped plum in front of middle stump. Good batsmen play every ball on its merit though, and at 35-40mph good ones can just about play off reaction, even on a good length, 75% of the time. That still leaves 25% of your deliveries getting missed, edged, spooned, padded, etc, and it gives you opportunities. Only 1 batsman has played me this season and not given me a single wicket chance, and he was probably the highest standard bat I've faced in a game where I bowled awfully.
Batsmen can't play you off the back foot if you get the length right, its physically impossible, and staying back in their crease = wicket every time with the variations I possess. I easily spot when batsmen wan't to do this. If they are really stubborn then the deliberate full toss accounts for them most times, as their eyes light up and they hole out to deep square leg or mid wicket. So it really isn't a problem. Even when I land the ball outside off and it turns miles, batsmen can't resist chasing after it, and it gets you dots if the field is set right.
The other approach is the leg stump and outside line, turning the ball to hit the top of off stump. This would be ideal for me, and its the way Warney bowled. The problem I have is that club batsmen love the pull shot, and they will swing at anything outside leg stump, knowing they are safe from LBW, and that their pads will most likely block the ball if their bat misses it. So you just can't bowl there without gifting runs, even if they are just lucky runs. I started the season setting 4 or 5 men on the leg side for catches, some close, some deep, but you're relying on crappy club fielders who drop EVERYTHING, and I've been dropped almost as many times in the past year as I've taken wickets, so I just can't leave things in the hands of fielders. If I had the extra 5-10mph I need then I could bowl this line and batsmen would struggle a lot more, the only time I purposely try to pitch outside leg is if I'm landing the ball so far wide that batsmen will leave it, and trying to bowl them behind their legs. I rarely attempt this on purpose as its usually wides or byes, but if I'm feeling super confident I do on occasion. When I stray legside by accident its usually the source of most of the runs that I concede, especially if I drag it a bit short as well.
Bowling with overspin has its merits, it probably is the ideal on most days. I struggle to land it consistently (whereas yesterday it was the opposite, I couldn't land the backspun stuff where I wanted, but overspin was working, so I stuck at it), so I favour the big turning backspinners. Then the overspin becomes a deadly variation. I personally think that if you can control a batsmen with underspin then it is better to have your "least effective" delivery as the stock one, as it is still going to take wickets as it is. Then use regular variation with the side and overspun balls to just take things up a notch 2 or 3 balls an over. The other method would be to use the best ball every time (with a bit of overspin on it) and then the variations to mix it up, but I find this less effective. Big turn petrifies even the best club batsmen, so I like to turn the ball big every ball if I can, and then use added bounce, less turn, added drift, etc as variations just to kick into overdrive. So they are thinking "this guy is turning it, what do I do?", then all of a sudden its "this guy is turning it, drifting it, dipping it, and its bouncing more....wicket".
Also the whole flight thing is misunderstood in most peoples perception. At a given speed, ignoring the effects of dip or carry from over/underspin, in order to land the ball on the "perfect" length for that speed, you have to give it a definite amount of flight. You can't lob a ball up at 60mph, imagine Shaun Tait bowling a 100mph delivery with a bit of extra flight on it. The ball would end up in space! Likewise you can't bowl flat at 20mph, because it will bounce 8 yards in front of you and reach the bat on about the 4th bounce. At my stock speed of around 37mph I guess, the required amount of flight is above the batsmans eyeline, but barely above head height. Wicket keepers and straight fielders are forever telling me "flight it up there Jimmy, give it some air", but in order to do that, I have to take pace off the ball, and that doesn't help. Thats where over/underspin comes into play, but not as much as you might think. If I bowl with maximum backspin, bearing in mind I rev the ball pretty hard for a club leggie, I take about 12" off the flight, so the ball doesn't go above head height, but still lands on a length. If I bowl with maximum top spin, I flight it about 2-3 feet higher, and it definitely gets batsmen thinking full toss, you often see the bat come up ready to pull, and the back foot step away to free themselves up. But then it dips on them late, and they end up in a world of trouble, its the classic delivery. But it doesn't dip in some magical way that it will allow you to bowl with more flight at higher speed and still get the same effect. I think you probably get diminishing returns in fact, as if you bowl faster, you have to bowl flatter still. I bowl my best when I find my rhythm enough that I can bowl at my fastest, pushing into the low-40's, and thats when I get maximum turn, maximum drift, maximum dip/carry, etc (even though you'd think less turn than when its slower, but I spin the ball harder when I try to push through my action faster, so it compensates and then some). But the flight is barely above head height for any delivery then, and that isn't the key anyway. The key is that the batsman has to take his eyes up enough to lose sight of the ground, so that he can no longer easily judge the pitch of the ball. If he can keep his eyes down then he will have a better perception of where the ball will pitch. That is what you are aiming for. I achieve that with my backspun leg breaks well enough that I can use it as my stock ball, and use the overspun stuff as a surprise variation which regularly takes wickets.
Thats my theory anyway. It's working so I'm not changing a thing haha. It's taken me 3 or 4 years to get to a stage where I feel fully confident stepping up to the crease, not feeling sick inside wondering where the first over will pitch and how many runs it will go for. Even if the first over goes for 10-20 runs (which it sometimes does), I have full belief that the 2nd over will produce some magic, and then the 3rd, and 4th. I almost never lose faith now, even if I get carted. Some days will just be bad days at the office, its the plight of a leg spinner. The good days have been pretty regular the last 6 weeks though
Lets hope it continues, my goal is to bowl some overs in the 1st XI by the end of the season, and ideally take some wickets. I am determined to cement myself in the team as an all-rounder. Thus far I've got the fielding nailed, bowling is well on its way now, and my batting is improving all the time.
My stock line at present, and the root of my success of late, is that I am pitching on the stumps most balls, occasionally wandering outside off. When the ball lands on the stumps, it forces batsmen to play every ball, because they can't assume every ball will turn. And certainly I use the straight ball to great effect, and it has taken a good few wickets this season thus far. When batsmen have to play every ball, the likelihood of taking wickets obviously is much greater. Length is critical because anything rank and short is easy boundaries for good batsmen, and anything slightly short can be cut or dabbed, and good batsmen will milk singles and 2's all day long. Overpitch and its half-volley heaven driving through the covers and straight. So you have to hit that magical length every ball ideally, but at club level there aren't that many batsman that will execute their shot every time, so you get away with it as long as you're consistent.
When the ball turns to outside off, the batsmen can never fully expect it, they have to be cautious of the ball that doesn't turn. A few batsmen this year have assumed that every ball is turning after they've seen 3 go big, and then the 4th ball is the toppie or a zooter and they get trapped plum in front of middle stump. Good batsmen play every ball on its merit though, and at 35-40mph good ones can just about play off reaction, even on a good length, 75% of the time. That still leaves 25% of your deliveries getting missed, edged, spooned, padded, etc, and it gives you opportunities. Only 1 batsman has played me this season and not given me a single wicket chance, and he was probably the highest standard bat I've faced in a game where I bowled awfully.
Batsmen can't play you off the back foot if you get the length right, its physically impossible, and staying back in their crease = wicket every time with the variations I possess. I easily spot when batsmen wan't to do this. If they are really stubborn then the deliberate full toss accounts for them most times, as their eyes light up and they hole out to deep square leg or mid wicket. So it really isn't a problem. Even when I land the ball outside off and it turns miles, batsmen can't resist chasing after it, and it gets you dots if the field is set right.
The other approach is the leg stump and outside line, turning the ball to hit the top of off stump. This would be ideal for me, and its the way Warney bowled. The problem I have is that club batsmen love the pull shot, and they will swing at anything outside leg stump, knowing they are safe from LBW, and that their pads will most likely block the ball if their bat misses it. So you just can't bowl there without gifting runs, even if they are just lucky runs. I started the season setting 4 or 5 men on the leg side for catches, some close, some deep, but you're relying on crappy club fielders who drop EVERYTHING, and I've been dropped almost as many times in the past year as I've taken wickets, so I just can't leave things in the hands of fielders. If I had the extra 5-10mph I need then I could bowl this line and batsmen would struggle a lot more, the only time I purposely try to pitch outside leg is if I'm landing the ball so far wide that batsmen will leave it, and trying to bowl them behind their legs. I rarely attempt this on purpose as its usually wides or byes, but if I'm feeling super confident I do on occasion. When I stray legside by accident its usually the source of most of the runs that I concede, especially if I drag it a bit short as well.
Bowling with overspin has its merits, it probably is the ideal on most days. I struggle to land it consistently (whereas yesterday it was the opposite, I couldn't land the backspun stuff where I wanted, but overspin was working, so I stuck at it), so I favour the big turning backspinners. Then the overspin becomes a deadly variation. I personally think that if you can control a batsmen with underspin then it is better to have your "least effective" delivery as the stock one, as it is still going to take wickets as it is. Then use regular variation with the side and overspun balls to just take things up a notch 2 or 3 balls an over. The other method would be to use the best ball every time (with a bit of overspin on it) and then the variations to mix it up, but I find this less effective. Big turn petrifies even the best club batsmen, so I like to turn the ball big every ball if I can, and then use added bounce, less turn, added drift, etc as variations just to kick into overdrive. So they are thinking "this guy is turning it, what do I do?", then all of a sudden its "this guy is turning it, drifting it, dipping it, and its bouncing more....wicket".
Also the whole flight thing is misunderstood in most peoples perception. At a given speed, ignoring the effects of dip or carry from over/underspin, in order to land the ball on the "perfect" length for that speed, you have to give it a definite amount of flight. You can't lob a ball up at 60mph, imagine Shaun Tait bowling a 100mph delivery with a bit of extra flight on it. The ball would end up in space! Likewise you can't bowl flat at 20mph, because it will bounce 8 yards in front of you and reach the bat on about the 4th bounce. At my stock speed of around 37mph I guess, the required amount of flight is above the batsmans eyeline, but barely above head height. Wicket keepers and straight fielders are forever telling me "flight it up there Jimmy, give it some air", but in order to do that, I have to take pace off the ball, and that doesn't help. Thats where over/underspin comes into play, but not as much as you might think. If I bowl with maximum backspin, bearing in mind I rev the ball pretty hard for a club leggie, I take about 12" off the flight, so the ball doesn't go above head height, but still lands on a length. If I bowl with maximum top spin, I flight it about 2-3 feet higher, and it definitely gets batsmen thinking full toss, you often see the bat come up ready to pull, and the back foot step away to free themselves up. But then it dips on them late, and they end up in a world of trouble, its the classic delivery. But it doesn't dip in some magical way that it will allow you to bowl with more flight at higher speed and still get the same effect. I think you probably get diminishing returns in fact, as if you bowl faster, you have to bowl flatter still. I bowl my best when I find my rhythm enough that I can bowl at my fastest, pushing into the low-40's, and thats when I get maximum turn, maximum drift, maximum dip/carry, etc (even though you'd think less turn than when its slower, but I spin the ball harder when I try to push through my action faster, so it compensates and then some). But the flight is barely above head height for any delivery then, and that isn't the key anyway. The key is that the batsman has to take his eyes up enough to lose sight of the ground, so that he can no longer easily judge the pitch of the ball. If he can keep his eyes down then he will have a better perception of where the ball will pitch. That is what you are aiming for. I achieve that with my backspun leg breaks well enough that I can use it as my stock ball, and use the overspun stuff as a surprise variation which regularly takes wickets.
Thats my theory anyway. It's working so I'm not changing a thing haha. It's taken me 3 or 4 years to get to a stage where I feel fully confident stepping up to the crease, not feeling sick inside wondering where the first over will pitch and how many runs it will go for. Even if the first over goes for 10-20 runs (which it sometimes does), I have full belief that the 2nd over will produce some magic, and then the 3rd, and 4th. I almost never lose faith now, even if I get carted. Some days will just be bad days at the office, its the plight of a leg spinner. The good days have been pretty regular the last 6 weeks though
Lets hope it continues, my goal is to bowl some overs in the 1st XI by the end of the season, and ideally take some wickets. I am determined to cement myself in the team as an all-rounder. Thus far I've got the fielding nailed, bowling is well on its way now, and my batting is improving all the time.
