Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

[someblokecalleddave]

Seems like everyone is getting it together. I just had a blinding session. Its really just so satifying when it works.
My wrist started to really flick early too which was good considering it was quite cold.
Get yourself all out to oz, We can form a team of leggies only, with not a boring medium pacer in sight!!!
Ive always thought a different take on the iconic surfing movie "The Endless Summer" would make a perfect lifestyle, just travelling the world playing cricket.
Seems like silicon coach has helped you out a fair bit Dave?

Getting colder here now in the evenings by 7.30 the suns gone down and it's damp, it felt cold although the thermometer was showing 17 degrees, but there's a kind of autumnal nip in the air so I'm guessing the wind was in the north this evening. Had an indifferent bowl - thinking about it too much I reckon, once or twice I kind of got loose and a few balls came out okay, too many distractions and things to worry about in my head didn't help. Big Wednesday would be more like it - where the old blokes turn up on the Big day and save the day with some wrist spin.

Silicon coach is pretty good once you kind of get round the glitchy aspects of using it, there's a few people on there that know what they're about including Liz and TonyM and some other bloke, I'm kind of baffled in a way as to why they do it, but then again I reckon I'd do the same if I felt that I was qualified in a specific speciality. I think Liz and the others like it because there are a series of graphic tools that are usable on the freeze frames and they're able to explain things with more clarity than on youtube and other places. The text field at the side for the comments also is far bigger than say youtube, so they can be quite explicit with their comments.

 

[chippyben]

Getting colder here now in the evenings by 7.30 the suns gone down and it's damp, it felt cold although the thermometer was showing 17 degrees, but there's a kind of autumnal nip in the air so I'm guessing the wind was in the north this evening. Had an indifferent bowl - thinking about it too much I reckon, once or twice I kind of got loose and a few balls came out okay, too many distractions and things to worry about in my head didn't help. Big Wednesday would be more like it - where the old blokes turn up on the Big day and save the day with some wrist spin.

Silicon coach is pretty good once you kind of get round the glitchy aspects of using it, there's a few people on there that know what they're about including Liz and TonyM and some other bloke, I'm kind of baffled in a way as to why they do it, but then again I reckon I'd do the same if I felt that I was qualified in a specific speciality. I think Liz and the others like it because there are a series of graphic tools that are usable on the freeze frames and they're able to explain things with more clarity than on youtube and other places. The text field at the side for the comments also is far bigger than say youtube, so they can be quite explicit with their comments.

Frame of mind when you train is a big thing. My problem is I jump around a bit too much rather than concentrating on one thing at a time. Ive improved that a lot lately, and my bowling has become a lot more consistent. I bowled really well again tonight but when I bowl well I just keep getting faster and faster until its really flat. God its hard to get rid of old habits.
Ive been trying a technique that I remembered from years ago playing golf. A pro once told me to visualise the shot you want to play before hit the ball. Its kind of obvious really but it seems to help with concentration.
The weather is starting to warm up here and should be into the 20's by the weekend. Ive been training in the late afternoon though and it cant have been more than 3-4 degrees most days so it takes a bit of warming up, plus the grass and pitch are a bit dewy which restricts the turn a bit.
I was thinking about something like silicon coach a while ago but things are going well at the moment so I just really want to keep things simple, and Im sure they would find lots of things that are wrong and worrying too much about that would just set me back again.

 

[chippyben]

Yeah I had that and was banging my head against the wall, but because of the old Googly syndrome up until recently, I was still bowling with a really 'Fingery' action as opposed to a good old solid cocked wrist action and for the first time in two years I tried the cocked wrist action and since then I've been fine. Liz and a couple of others on silicon coach have gave me some pointers and at the moment apart from the fact that I've got a bit chest on at the minute I'm bowling really well and all the wides at the start has been resolved. I get more energy going forwards now and things have come together including a decent run up. But the cocked wrist seemed to be the thing with the accuracy.

Thanks for mentioning the cocked wrist. That seems to have helped with getting the wrist working quicker. I must have just got a bit lazy with it, what with the thousand other things to think of when you bowl.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Thanks for mentioning the cocked wrist. That seems to have helped with getting the wrist working quicker. I must have just got a bit lazy with it, what with the thousand other things to think of when you bowl.

Yeah I do the same thing, its like that thing where women say (Or is it us that says it)? 'Men can only do one thing at a time'. If I'm concentrating on getting up on the front foot, something like the cocked wrist will suddenly be less focused on and possibly suffer. Practice is the key, bit by bit they all become more natural and inherent, but it just takes years!! Looks like it was all too much in the end for Jim, not seen him on here for some time now and he's taken down all his youtube vids. Maybe he's resting up for a year as I think he had back problems.

 

[chippyben]

Yeah I do the same thing, its like that thing where women say (Or is it us that says it)? 'Men can only do one thing at a time'. If I'm concentrating on getting up on the front foot, something like the cocked wrist will suddenly be less focused on and possibly suffer. Practice is the key, bit by bit they all become more natural and inherent, but it just takes years!! Looks like it was all too much in the end for Jim, not seen him on here for some time now and he's taken down all his youtube vids. Maybe he's resting up for a year as I think he had back problems.

4 years practicing everyday Benaud reckons and a bloke at my old club reckoned on about 7 years. I think if you take it up as an adult, especially if you have bowled another style for years its got to be one of the hardest things you can do. The only way forward is to persist and be obsessed with it. I could have learnt a new language by now or gained a degree or become pretty good on a musical instrument if I put my time into one of those pursuits, whereas some days bowling it would look like your still a real amatuer despite all the effort and hours put in.
I looked at Jims last video a while ago and noticed a lot of good things in his action,things Ive been trying to acheive for a while. Seemed like he was disillusioned a lot of the time so it wouldnt be surprising.
Its hard for you guys over there, trying to get practice in, especially over winter with the weather. Ive managed to practice all winter which has helped me a lot. Its been bloody cold at times and takes some determination to get down there but it is possible wheras for you guys indoor nets is really the only option.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

4 years practicing everyday Benaud reckons and a bloke at my old club reckoned on about 7 years. I think if you take it up as an adult, especially if you have bowled another style for years its got to be one of the hardest things you can do. The only way forward is to persist and be obsessed with it. I could have learnt a new language by now or gained a degree or become pretty good on a musical instrument if I put my time into one of those pursuits, whereas some days bowling it would look like your still a real amatuer despite all the effort and hours put in.
I looked at Jims last video a while ago and noticed a lot of good things in his action,things Ive been trying to acheive for a while. Seemed like he was disillusioned a lot of the time so it wouldnt be surprising.
Its hard for you guys over there, trying to get practice in, especially over winter with the weather. Ive managed to practice all winter which has helped me a lot. Its been bloody cold at times and takes some determination to get down there but it is possible wheras for you guys indoor nets is really the only option.

Nah it's not that bad. Last winter was pretty bad, but it was one of the worst in 2 or 3 decades, generally you can get out and have a bowl through the early part of December. You're then lucky if you get out through Mid Dec through to mid Feb, but there's the odd sunny day where it wont feel too bad.

But going back to what I said yesterday I did this seperation thing today which I've never done before. Liz, TonyM and others on Silicon coach have been giving me pointers recently and it can get to the point where you're trying to do too much at once. Generally because of the Googly syndrome I've always bowled with 75% of my CPU working on what's happening with the wrist, hand and fingers, but I'm now bowling with a cocked wrist and it dawned on me tonight that it kind of looks after itself and I don't rellay have to dedicate as near as much CPU power on that aspect of the bowling. So - what with this new thing where I've got too front on I thought i'd put 45% of my focus on the landing with the 'Out of the bound' foot, making sure it landed sideways to get my body side on and then 45% on getting up on to the toes and twisting in the roatation, leaving 10% for all the other stuff. Man did it work!!! Everything suddenly clicked and worked pretty much perfectly, so if anyone's worrying about what their hand, wrist and fingers are doing - don't! Leave that to standing around or doing it up against a wall, flick the ball all the time so that when you're actually bowling you just do that bit automatically without even thinking about it.

 

[macca]

4 years practicing everyday Benaud reckons and a bloke at my old club reckoned on about 7 years. I think if you take it up as an adult, especially if you have bowled another style for years its got to be one of the hardest things you can do. The only way forward is to persist and be obsessed with it. I could have learnt a new language by now or gained a degree or become pretty good on a musical instrument if I put my time into one of those pursuits, whereas some days bowling it would look like your still a real amatuer despite all the effort and hours put in.
I looked at Jims last video a while ago and noticed a lot of good things in his action,things Ive been trying to acheive for a while. Seemed like he was disillusioned a lot of the time so it wouldnt be surprising.
Its hard for you guys over there, trying to get practice in, especially over winter with the weather. Ive managed to practice all winter which has helped me a lot. Its been bloody cold at times and takes some determination to get down there but it is possible wheras for you guys indoor nets is really the only option.

You must be still out Batlow way by the sound of those temps, Been very mild on the coast here this winter so we had it good but i remember living in a place like where you are and in winter, cricket training was hard to do outside for sure.

What i have noticed is this year everyone is out early and the nets are getting a workout from all the 1sts. If you want someone to bowl to there are no shortage of batsmen looking for a bit of practise.

Probably be good today for a bit of bowling out your way chippyben

 

[chippyben]

Nah it's not that bad. Last winter was pretty bad, but it was one of the worst in 2 or 3 decades, generally you can get out and have a bowl through the early part of December. You're then lucky if you get out through Mid Dec through to mid Feb, but there's the odd sunny day where it wont feel too bad.

But going back to what I said yesterday I did this seperation thing today which I've never done before. Liz, TonyM and others on Silicon coach have been giving me pointers recently and it can get to the point where you're trying to do too much at once. Generally because of the Googly syndrome I've always bowled with 75% of my CPU working on what's happening with the wrist, hand and fingers, but I'm now bowling with a cocked wrist and it dawned on me tonight that it kind of looks after itself and I don't rellay have to dedicate as near as much CPU power on that aspect of the bowling. So - what with this new thing where I've got too front on I thought i'd put 45% of my focus on the landing with the 'Out of the bound' foot, making sure it landed sideways to get my body side on and then 45% on getting up on to the toes and twisting in the roatation, leaving 10% for all the other stuff. Man did it work!!! Everything suddenly clicked and worked pretty much perfectly, so if anyone's worrying about what their hand, wrist and fingers are doing - don't! Leave that to standing around or doing it up against a wall, flick the ball all the time so that when you're actually bowling you just do that bit automatically without even thinking about it.

Terrific Dave!! Im really glad its starting to click for you. Its funny, Im the other way round,if my action and timing is right the wrist really starts flicking so I concentrate on that first.
With the one thing at a time for the old CPU, in my drive to be methodical in my action I start practice just concentrating on my run up til its right, then move on to my timing of my arms til that right and then my braced front leg til thats right and then making sure Im following through til hopefully by the end of the session its all working in unison.
In other words an ordered sequence, not jumping around with this and that. Its helping so far and Im usually bowling well a few overs in and sometimes bloody amazing by the end and other times not and having to go backward and through the process again.

 

[chippyben]

You must be still out Batlow way by the sound of those temps, Been very mild on the coast here this winter so we had it good but i remember living in a place like where you are and in winter, cricket training was hard to do outside for sure.

What i have noticed is this year everyone is out early and the nets are getting a workout from all the 1sts. If you want someone to bowl to there are no shortage of batsmen looking for a bit of practise.

Probably be good today for a bit of bowling out your way chippyben

Gday Macca, good to hear from you. Yep still in Batlow although its glorious today and I should be able to get some good training in over the weekend.
How has Jimmys training been going. When does their season start and is he in the rep side again??
Our local league doesnt start for a month and then we have a bye first round! My club in Sydney starts its season today so its a bit dissappointing having to wait so long.

 

[macca]

Gday Macca, good to hear from you. Yep still in Batlow although its glorious today and I should be able to get some good training in over the weekend.
How has Jimmys training been going. When does their season start and is he in the rep side again??
Our local league doesnt start for a month and then we have a bye first round! My club in Sydney starts its season today so its a bit dissappointing having to wait so long.

They start early in Sydney, dont they ? Even the junior comp. Like you, Jimmy doesnt start for a month. He hasn't ever played rep cricket and his fielding would have to improve an awful lot before he could have a chance at the open rep tryouts they hold. But i have had a bit if feedback that he has been mentioned when the local selectors ask 'any legspinners about ?'

Apparently he went really well at the school team trials and his sportsmaster came up to me and was saying what a good little legspinner he is and how he tangled up even the best senior batsmen but he did throw in the qualifier "as long as he doesn't drop short" which made me think he might have popped a few long hops.

No guarantee he will make the U/14 1sts club team either.They have to trial again this year and even though he was the best bowler at last years pre seasons trials, he will have to be on target again to make the same team this year.

Mate, we just got a simple plan this time of the season. Nice and full aiming for middle stump for right handers and dividing the pitch in half down that middle stump line for lefthanders and hitting the middle of that half pitch. Legbreaks and topspinners with the occassional wrongun or flipper. We practised his variations a lot this winter in big blocks of overs of all wronguns or all flippers but now the season has started i like him to bowl his wrongun only every few overs in training, like he will in games this season.

 

[chippyben]

They start early in Sydney, dont they ? Even the junior comp. Like you, Jimmy doesnt start for a month. He hasn't ever played rep cricket and his fielding would have to improve an awful lot before he could have a chance at the open rep tryouts they hold. But i have had a bit if feedback that he has been mentioned when the local selectors ask 'any legspinners about ?'

Apparently he went really well at the school team trials and his sportsmaster came up to me and was saying what a good little legspinner he is and how he tangled up even the best senior batsmen but he did throw in the qualifier "as long as he doesn't drop short" which made me think he might have popped a few long hops.

No guarantee he will make the U/14 1sts club team either.They have to trial again this year and even though he was the best bowler at last years pre seasons trials, he will have to be on target again to make the same team this year.

Mate, we just got a simple plan this time of the season. Nice and full aiming for middle stump for right handers and dividing the pitch in half down that middle stump line for lefthanders and hitting the middle of that half pitch. Legbreaks and topspinners with the occassional wrongun or flipper. We practised his variations a lot this winter in big blocks of overs of all wronguns or all flippers but now the season has started i like him to bowl his wrongun only every few overs in training, like he will in games this season.

Sorry mate I thought it was a rep side and not the first XI last season. Sounds like the groundwork has been put in for a good season.
Our league here has only 7 teams, playing each other twice so that only makes 12 one day games!!! Not nearly enough, especially when you consider there is bound to be a wash out or two. They have a rep team so Im hoping to make that and get another half dozen games in. In Sydney we played 22 days not including finals and then 4 T20 games as well.

 

[chippyben]

My weekend, Friday- Bowled ok started to lose rhythm a little
Saturday- Bowled rubbish, Went through my checklist to fix the problem with little result
Sunday Morning- A little better but still not great
Sunday Evening- Got it back Hooray!!
The upside is Ive found another thing to add to the checklist for when things go wrong, basically to do with momentum, not jumping off my left onto my back leg with enough energy which caused a real breakdown in rhythm.
So all in all a productive weekend and a reminder that as quick as you get it it can all go wrong again very quickly.

 

[chippyben]

We had our first cricket meeting for the season the other night. The best thing was I was voted in as vice captain which is good news and should help me to get a bit more of a bowl.
Its been 12 years since I played for Batlow but lucikly not too long ago for my reputation as a half decent player to still be noted.(Although whether Im any good not using my main strenght, fast bowling remains to be seen) Only 1 bloke from those days is still playing. The Captain is a young school teacher. I made quite a few points at the meeting about selection, training and player conduct on match day. I hope I didn't come off as too overbearing but I remembered my previous playing days as Captain here and how much of a struggle it can be if you don't start the season out with the right approach and attitude.
Training starts this Wednesday. Lets hope we have a great season.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

We had our first cricket meeting for the season the other night. The best thing was I was voted in as vice captain which is good news and should help me to get a bit more of a bowl.
Its been 12 years since I played for Batlow but lucikly not too long ago for my reputation as a half decent player to still be noted.(Although whether Im any good not using my main strenght, fast bowling remains to be seen) Only 1 bloke from those days is still playing. The Captain is a young school teacher. I made quite a few points at the meeting about selection, training and player conduct on match day. I hope I didn't come off as too overbearing but I remembered my previous playing days as Captain here and how much of a struggle it can be if you don't start the season out with the right approach and attitude.
Training starts this Wednesday. Lets hope we have a great season.

Sounds promising, how far away is your local pitch and how far do you have to travel to away games? Is your pitch in Batlow?

 

[chippyben]

Sounds promising, how far away is your local pitch and how far do you have to travel to away games? Is your pitch in Batlow?

Its only a few minutes drive away in Batlow. They have a practice net now too although its torn up at the crease where everyone lands plus I've torn a hole in the synthetic as well where my right leg comes down after the front (left) leg. Shows how much practice Ive been doing.
Ive been practicing on our home pitch too. It seems very different to the nets. The wide open oval makes the pitch seem narrower and the bowling slower so I guess its good to get used to for matches. Also Ive noticed that one end turns a lot more than the other and its usually against the prevailing breeze. It seems to turn more at one end because of the grain of the sythetic.
The furtherest we have to travel is about 100ks, 60 miles which isnt too bad. Although some rep games are over 2 hours away, fingers crossed I make the team.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Its only a few minutes drive away in Batlow. They have a practice net now too although its torn up at the crease where everyone lands plus I've torn a hole in the synthetic as well where my right leg comes down after the front (left) leg. Shows how much practice Ive been doing.
Ive been practicing on our home pitch too. It seems very different to the nets. The wide open oval makes the pitch seem narrower and the bowling slower so I guess its good to get used to for matches. Also Ive noticed that one end turns a lot more than the other and its usually against the prevailing breeze. It seems to turn more at one end because of the grain of the sythetic.
The furtherest we have to travel is about 100ks, 60 miles which isnt too bad. Although some rep games are over 2 hours away, fingers crossed I make the team.

Is this the pitch at Batlow?

 

[chippyben]

Is this the pitch at Batlow?

Yep that's it.Memorial Park Batlow. It looks a bit dry in this picture. Its lush and green at the moment with all the good rain we have had. The nets are on the right in front of the brick building. The green shed is a grandstand. The ground itself is enormous but we bring the bounderies in. It used to have turf pitches but they went in the 60's or 70's unfortunately.
Its good google streetview isnt it.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Yep that's it.Memorial Park Batlow. It looks a bit dry in this picture. Its lush and green at the moment with all the good rain we have had. The nets are on the right in front of the brick building. The green shed is a grandstand. The ground itself is enormous but we bring the bounderies in. It used to have turf pitches but they went in the 60's or 70's unfortunately.
Its good google streetview isnt it.

Yeah not bad, I've enhanced it a bit though in Photo-shop. The ariel shot appears to have a synthetic strip right over to one side as if it's at the edge of the square, but there doesn't seem to be any trace of the square in the ariel image.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

We're having fantastic weather here for Oct 1st in the UK 29 degrees centigrade, hotter than most of the rest of europe! Means I've been having a bit of bowl and things are coming along nicely, massive improvement on where I was at this time last year when I was just starting to experiment with ways of getting past my old skip technique run-up. I was hoping to get access to the high speed cameras bu this time, but that looks as though it's not going to pan out, so that'll have to be put on hold now and is looking increasingly as though it may never happen which is a shame as I'd love to have slow mo footage of all my releases.

 

[chippyben]

We're having fantastic weather here for Oct 1st in the UK 29 degrees centigrade, hotter than most of the rest of europe! Means I've been having a bit of bowl and things are coming along nicely, massive improvement on where I was at this time last year when I was just starting to experiment with ways of getting past my old skip technique run-up. I was hoping to get access to the high speed cameras bu this time, but that looks as though it's not going to pan out, so that'll have to be put on hold now and is looking increasingly as though it may never happen which is a shame as I'd love to have slow mo footage of all my releases.

We have just had terrible weather for 4 days here, wind and heavy rain. Daylight saving started last night so the clocks have gone forward 1 hr so that is good news. Its gives me an extra hour of sunshine after work so it shouldnt be dark til 730 tonight.
You just have to be patient with leg spin and accept for late comers like us its going to be years before you get it where you want it. I took a few videos the other day and noticed a lot of bad habits which have crept back which tallies as my bowling has become a bit more inconsistant. So now I have to work on correcting them rather than improving something else. Seems like there is about 1 and a 1/4 steps forward and 1 step back all the time but if you keep at it the little 1/4 steps start to add up.
Dave I tried to take a few videos at 1000fps with most not working out too well. I got a good one the other day but the exilim doesnt let you edit it on the camera and I don't have any editing software. So it is a long video with not much in it but I'll post it up now to let you have a look. The second delivery came out of the hand nicely, they are leg breaks but look a lot like top spinners.