Search results

Only run when you know you're going to make it

Have you tried rubbing your hands in the dust at the start of each over?

Interesting masterclass with Warne and Vettori on sky last night. Nothing new to anyone who has read up on spin bowling, but still worth reminding ourselves of. Some of the takeaway points: 1) always bowl to stay on for the first 2-3 overs. Keep it simple, give yourself protection, and focus on...

Well you're the guinea pig here. How many hours have you been practicing leg spin using this method, and how effective has it been? For reference - most 10 year olds are able to bowl legspin in a junior game - with maybe 1 wide per over - after maybe 2-3 hours guided practice. I would estimate...

Skill acquisition is the process of building a series of small improvements into your muscle memory over a long time-frame. You take a particular technique, such as a bowling action, identify one single aspect that can be improved, and then consciously do that thing differently for a number of...

Repetition doesn't make you better. Repetition ingrains habits and builds muscle memory. But it works both ways: Repetition of sloppy or technically sub-optimal actions ingrains sloppiness and makes it harder to remove sub-optimal techniques from your muscle memory. Far from getting better...

Would it not be far more beneficial to do a fraction of that number, but do it properly, with 6 balls that are in similar condition (not cheap plastic ones or old balls looking like they've been chewed by a dog) a proper run-up and working on bowling a good over with subtle variations from ball...

Do you not find it difficult maintaining consistency bowling with so many different balls, that all have a different feel in the hand? Whenever a ball is lost in a game, it takes me a couple of deliveries to find the right grip and release point for the new ball.

To say nothing of unemployed?

Lets all guess: I reckon if you have 6 balls, an over takes ~2 minutes, so 500 balls is just under 3 hours.

That sounds ok. If you get any pain or soreness, stop for a few days. In terms of development, bowling by yourself is useful if no-one is around as you can experiment freely, nets are ~ok, but nothing comes close to the rhythm and feedback of actually bowling in matches. The more you bowl in...

When I was a kid (9-13), I used to practice for hours on end, every day in the summer holidays. 50% batting (throwing a golf ball against a wall) and 50% bowling at the stumps. I'd bowl 6 balls, sprint to collect them, sprint back, and repeat. Even though I was barefoot, I wore a series of...

Is the "art" of spin bowling not the ability to out-think and dismiss batsmen by spinning the ball? If you're not actually interested in the bowling aspect of spin-bowling, why not just play with a yoyo or something?

Why? Leg spin is really not that hard. Most kids pick it up far easier than finger spin, it's far easier to get dip and drift, and googlies are easier than doosras. You just have to bowl full and not too slow and batsmen will struggle.

Its a matter of personal priorities. If you're mostly interested in developing some party tricks to show off down the nets, then focus on working on 20 different variations, with massive spin, and make sure to bowl them short enough that we all get a chance to see how far they turn before the...

You're knocking down a strawman. I don't know anyone who discourages 12 year olds from trying to bowl fast or spin the ball hard. If anything, coaches get carried away in the other direction and constantly try to produce the next Shane Warne or Brett Lee. If you're 12 years old, practice...

Didn't Chris Rogers lift up his bat like that?

Most (professional) batsmen start out in a side-on position, and then rotate to more of a front on position as they hit the ball.

What were your feet doing before? Most batsmen lift their bats up towards 2nd slip, this is not a problem. The key is to keep your hands in nice and tight to your body, then if you do decide to play a vertical bat shot, as you move into position you dip your front shoulder at the ball, which...

In terms of troubling the batsman, there is a trade-off between spin, accuracy, pace and cunning. As you have identified, the slower you bowl, the smaller the margin of error you have, particularly on the short side. Against a moderately competent amateur batsman, a bowler who bowls under 45mph...