Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

[zjitu]

To be honest I don’t think a wrong’un needs to turn much, even if it’s literally just a top spinner that can still be very effective.

But I did see, on a off spin video, someone talking about the wrist “breaking” as you go to release the ball when bowling a doosra (essentially a reverse leg break, back of the hand faces the batsman but your wrist is twisted in the other direction, it’s incredibly hard to do). I’m also incapable of bowling a wrongun that isn’t just a leg break with lots of top spin, but I think it might come down to how well you hold your wrist position. So basically you might have your hand in the right position for a leg break but right before you release the ball your hand snaps back around into near it’s natural position.

This pretty much happens because your hand isn’t really supposed to be bent in the direction you need it to be for a wrongun/doosra. I honestly have no clue how you would fix it other than concentrating really hard on keeping your wrist in the right position.

Yeah, I guess it could be thought of as a top spinner variation with the ball going inside a bit.

 

[Darth Spin]

Yeah basically they were going so deep I had to put the ball more in the Yorker zone.

That is the correct thing to do. If a batsman refuses to leave his crease and is trying to cut you off the back foot, bowl fuller and fuller until you're almost pitching it at their foot on leg stump. They've got nowhere to go.

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

Wow, seems like you are bowling those flippers really nice and accurate and they are not going for many runs. That pitch on your blog looked like mud! How did it play like? Was it pretty damp like the outfield?

Yeah I've had 2 games where it's been very wet with long grass, here in the UK what with it being an El Nino year, the weather's pretty messed up.. cold, damp, cloudy, lots of rain and If I'm honest it might be helping. I've been bowling really full in order to take the wicket out of the equation to some extent and it seems to be working, that coupled with very good accuracy and blokes that don't want to lose their wicket. I'm being brought into the attack relatively early... 10th over so I'm bowling at higher order bats and they play differently.

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

Nice figures there, Dave - I'd kill for economy like that.

Your early season pitches sound consistent with ours, not much bounce with all this rain around. I think it's helping me because on harder wickets my stock ball would turn and bounce past off, but it's turning less, bouncing less and hitting the stumps more. As a result I've got four bowled, one lbw and two stumped with just one wicket from a catch so far.

I see that you're scoping out the oppo in advance, I used to do that but I've stopped now. I don't want to know what their averages are etc, I think that would get inside my head. I want to bowl without thinking of the reputation of the batter, I want them more worried about me haha.

Yeah I do check them out, I'm just about to do it now for this Saturday! I want the big scalps, the blokes that come after me - love making them look silly and the word from the captain last week was that there's a new better keeper joining us, so possibly increased chance of stumping with a bit of luck? In the last couple of years what with bowling the flippers and simplifying things I've been choosing to bowl against the best batters in the nets and have been working them out, that combined with the general success I've been having with the flippers I've got far more confident and I'm probably bowling better than I have been? Also drawing these wagon wheels, I'm far more confident about what I need to do to negate the runs and where to put specific fielders, the accuracy has just meant I can set plans and set blokes up.

Just looked and seen the Captains name for this fixture. Because of the wagon-wheels I've done on him in the past, he can't get the ball off the square against us. He's a very correct player generally and not a bloke that hits it in the air and he knows we've got all the intel on him and it gets in his head, he gets frustrated and ends up playing out of his comfort zone and always comes un-done. It'll be interesting to see if he's come up with a solution.

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

All of my wickets have been taken while I've been wearing my Kylo Ren boxer shorts. I'm genuinely not into superstitious shit like this, but I'm going to have to wear them for every game.

Classic!

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

Wow, seems like you are bowling those flippers really nice and accurate and they are not going for many runs. That pitch on your blog looked like mud! How did it play like? Was it pretty damp like the outfield?

Yeah it's been mental how wet and damp things have been and I don't think you were looking at the previous week...

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

Hello everyone, have been lurking in this thread for a week or so, so thought I would say hi.
I have started playing cricket (recreationally) for a year now (two season, second one running, T25). I have been away from cricket for 15 years (last was back when I was 15 or so). Started bowling leg spin for last two games (bowling pace before that, used to bowl spin in my youth), got no wicket (couple of dropped catches )but economy is under 6 till now. any advice would be appreciated.

I saw a post by @doc8176 on Fulltrack AI, thought I would give the free trial a try. From that it seems like my speed varies from 60-70. I can bowl faster and get spin in the practice net, but the turf I play in the league, doesn’t seem to offer any spin if I put more pressure (seems like it just doesn’t grip). Do you think I should bowl faster in the game and give it a try or should stick with a slower pace? Thanks.

I feel like Obi Wan Kenobi (keeping with Darths star wars underwear expose') replying to these questions Welcome to the 'Darkside'? Hold on now I'm being Vader! Be prepared for the long haul unless you discover that you're a total natural. All Darth's points are valid and I think he refers you to the Stuart MacGill vid which I think is one of the better ones. I would say (1). learn how to spin the ball hard - really hard. (2) Get your approach to the crease sorted - relaxed and consistent. (3). Only bowl Leg-Breaks till you've got them nailed e.g. land them on a target about 25cm x 80cm (I use a bit of carpet) fairly regularly. After that it starts to get complicated. If you're able to spin the ball hard and get it around the right kind of area, you'll get wickets. Last one - find a captain that'll look after you while you're learning, they're gold dust.

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

Thanks a lot.
I have video of some of my bowling. I have included my stock balls, wrong-un and a flipper (the first one). Do you guys think my stock ball has too much flight? Also should the flipper be more faster? (All the stock balls are around 39-42 mph while the flipper is 49-52). Also my wrong-un is not turning much, any advice (second one)? I have too many questions as I have just begun , Thanks again.


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All looks good to me, you might want to try looping the ball more - slowing it down, but get more revs on it and make use of any dip, but if this works in game stick with this, don't fix anything that doesn't need fixing!

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

This maybe due to the pitch we use (syntho, actually a baseball practice net but we use it as that’s the best we have) which has more bounce. I feel like they are about 10-20% bouncier. Also some of them just don’t feel comfortable playing spin in front foot.

Thanks, I also think that the flipper stays much lower in the turf we play league in. Btw this is the pitch map.View attachment 1969

Has this been done on that App?

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

Good to see this Thread come alive again. Well done to Darth and Leggy88 for sticking with it.

 

[Darth Spin]

Yeah, it's great to see new members and more chat going on.

Talking of the dark side, I started bowling googlies in the nets again. I even bowled one in a match at the weekend, it was telegraphed and I think he picked it from the hand. He just watched and blocked it.

The question is, do I bowl more googlies or stick with the flipper? I don't want to ruin my leg break, but those googlies are starting to come out nice in the nets.

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

Yeah, it's great to see new members and more chat going on.

Talking of the dark side, I started bowling googlies in the nets again. I even bowled one in a match at the weekend, it was telegraphed and I think he picked it from the hand. He just watched and blocked it.

The question is, do I bowl more googlies or stick with the flipper? I don't want to ruin my leg break, but those googlies are starting to come out nice in the nets.

Honestly, you have to be really careful, you'll be mesmerised if you get it coming out really well. Have a re-read of what Philpott says about it in his book! Having spent the best part of 4 or more years only being able to bowl Googlies and nothing else and then taking 3 + years trying to un-learn it, I can tell you it's no fun. Unless of course you'd be happy to be an off-break bowler?

 

[Darth Spin]

Honestly, you have to be really careful, you'll be mesmerised if you get it coming out really well. Have a re-read of what Philpott says about it in his book! Having spent the best part of 4 or more years only being able to bowl Googlies and nothing else and then taking 3 + years trying to un-learn it, I can tell you it's no fun. Unless of course you'd be happy to be an off-break bowler?

I've been there, Dave. I got googly syndrome during my second season playing for Milton Keynes open uni, all of a sudden I couldn't land my leg break properly. I was struggling in a match so resorted to googlies, someone said "you should bowl more of them". I knew then that I had over practiced it.

After that I had some time out from cricket for other reasons, but the problem was still there and like you it took a while to fix. It's hard to tell, but I think it took several years to restore my leg break to what it was.

But this time I think I can incorporate a googly into my repertoire without ruining my leg break, if I'm more cautious like you say.

Then again, maybe it's not worth the risk and I stick with what I have.

 

[SomeblokecalledDave.]

I've been there, Dave. I got googly syndrome during my second season playing for Milton Keynes open uni, all of a sudden I couldn't land my leg break properly. I was struggling in a match so resorted to googlies, someone said "you should bowl more of them". I knew then that I had over practiced it.

After that I had some time out from cricket for other reasons, but the problem was still there and like you it took a while to fix. It's hard to tell, but I think it took several years to restore my leg break to what it was.

But this time I think I can incorporate a googly into my repertoire without ruining my leg break, if I'm more cautious like you say.

Then again, maybe it's not worth the risk and I stick with what I have.

I reckon If your cautious and bowl a ratio of 10:1 or something when practicing and you can develop it slowly, always bowling at a high ratio of Leg-Breaks you might be on to something. I try them every now and then, but they just come out as Leggies! So I leave it another 500 balls or so, so I'm working on a 500:1 ratio!

 

[zjitu]

Has this been done on that App?

Yes, I wouldn’t say it’s fully accurate, especially it gets the dip wrong for the leg spin. I bowled someone yesterday where the ball dipped so much that it became a yorker. The ball tracking showed it hits the stumps directly which is wrong, as you can see the ball drop if you zoom in the video. Overall though I would say it’s accurate enough.

 

[zjitu]

All looks good to me, you might want to try looping the ball more - slowing it down, but get more revs on it and make use of any dip, but if this works in game stick with this, don't fix anything that doesn't need fixing!

I have actually slowed down my bowling a bit in the last match ( from the app, I calculated the average speed to be 40 mph). I saw that when I put more pressure in the ball just skids through. It maybe due to the synthetic pitch. I am basically getting all the speed from my run up now, with the lowest amount of hand speed. I will try some faster ball with more top spin next game to see if I can make the ball grab with a bit more top spin.

 

[Darth Spin]

I reckon If your cautious and bowl a ratio of 10:1 or something when practicing and you can develop it slowly, always bowling at a high ratio of Leg-Breaks you might be on to something. I try them every now and then, but they just come out as Leggies! So I leave it another 500 balls or so, so I'm working on a 500:1 ratio!

Yeah I think you're right. I would love to know what the optimum ratio is so that you don't ruin the leg break. I think you are in the right ball park. I am thinking if I bowl two overs in the nets, I'll go 9 leggies, 2 flippers, 1 googly. Up until now I've been doing 10 leggies + 2 flippers.

Then at the end I usually bowl ten or fifteen minutes of only flippers, to hone that delivery.

 

[zjitu]

I feel like Obi Wan Kenobi (keeping with Darths star wars underwear expose') replying to these questions Welcome to the 'Darkside'? Hold on now I'm being Vader! Be prepared for the long haul unless you discover that you're a total natural. All Darth's points are valid and I think he refers you to the Stuart MacGill vid which I think is one of the better ones. I would say (1). learn how to spin the ball hard - really hard. (2) Get your approach to the crease sorted - relaxed and consistent. (3). Only bowl Leg-Breaks till you've got them nailed e.g. land them on a target about 25cm x 80cm (I use a bit of carpet) fairly regularly. After that it starts to get complicated. If you're able to spin the ball hard and get it around the right kind of area, you'll get wickets. Last one - find a captain that'll look after you while you're learning, they're gold dust.

(1)Most of my deliveries are around 9-10 degrees with 40 mph. Should I try to rev more?


(2,3) working on these right now. Thanks a lot.

 

[Darth Spin]

I have actually slowed down my bowling a bit in the last match ( from the app, I calculated the average speed to be 40 mph). I saw that when I put more pressure in the ball just skids through. It maybe due to the synthetic pitch. I am basically getting all the speed from my run up now, with the lowest amount of hand speed. I will try some faster ball with more top spin next game to see if I can make the ball grab with a bit more top spin.

Do you practice alone in the nets or always with a batsman? I love both, but I think when you're starting out then time alone is so useful to assess what happens after each delivery without a batsman there trying to clobber or smother it.

I agree with Dave you should try to spin the ball really hard. Try to do a lot of hand to hand practice at home, or against a wall or something. Great spinning practice, you will notice subtle nuances the more you do hand to hand practice, it builds the muscles and perfects the timing of the release. I assume you know about some of this stuff already, though.

How long have you been into wrist spin? There are some great resources out there: the Philpott book (essential), YouTube videos and this place.

 

[zjitu]

Do you practice alone in the nets or always with a batsman? I love both, but I think when you're starting out then time alone is so useful to assess what happens after each delivery without a batsman there trying to clobber or smother it.

I agree with Dave you should try to spin the ball really hard. Try to do a lot of hand to hand practice at home, or against a wall or something. Great spinning practice, you will notice subtle nuances the more you do hand to hand practice, it builds the muscles and perfects the timing of the release. I assume you know about some of this stuff already, though.

How long have you been into wrist spin? There are some great resources out there: the Philpott book (essential), YouTube videos and this place.

Well I have not been playing cricket for 15 years. Picked it up again last year, and bowling spin this season for the last two games. So I have been practicing leg spin for 3-4 weeks now.
I do practice spinning in the hand at home, but in the net most of the time I bowl to a batsman.