Aspects Of Getting Spin?

TomBowler97

Member
Hi guys,
what are these? Feel free to mention any you believe to be reasons to get more spin.

Wrist and finger flicking forwards
Back of the hand facing our face
following through, hands finish next to left hip (if you're right handed)
Chest,hips and shoulders driving through
Front arm pulling down
Bowling slower?

So what else is there to add to how we can get more spin?
 
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The pitch.

The softer the surface (green, mud or dusty) the more it will favour 'underspin' (ever wonder why those part-timers get extravagant turn? This is normally why).

The harder and 'flatter' the surface the more it will favour 'overspin'.
 
Honestly one of the best things you can do which Nathan Lyon mentions towards the end of the video I've posted on the Off-spin thread is to always have a ball around the house or an apple or orange and just constantly be spinning it. Never stop doing it, winter summer all the time just keep flicking the ball, change the position in your hand, tighter, looser, change the wrist position. Look for the method that makes the ball spin harder and faster and look how the ball comes out of the hand in relation to the way the balls seam spins. All of the conventional advice makes no sense to me with regards to what I think I'm doing and what actually occurs. But just through observation and practice you'll get to see how much of a difference the hand/wrist/release has on the outcome of the ball spinning off the pitch.

This kind of relates to some of the stuff Chino and Leftie have both said, if you can get the ball coming out of the hand then vary the angle of the spin it gives you options. Hard wicket which isn't offering much turn - use top-spinners or a leg break with a lot more over-spin and use the bounce the hard wicket might offer? If the wicket is taking spin and the balls turning, change the wrist angle and try and get pure side spin and bowl slower and loopier especially to the lesser batsmen and get it above their eyes.
 
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Honestly one of the best things you can do which Nathan Lyon mentions towards the end of the video I've posted on the Off-spin thread is to always have a ball around the house or an apple or orange and just constantly be spinning it. Never stop doing it, winter summer all the time just keep flicking the ball, change the position in your hand, tighter, looser, change the wrist position. Look for the method that makes the ball spin harder and faster and look how the ball comes out of the hand in relation to the way the balls seam spins. All of the conventional advice makes no sense to me with regards to what I think I'm doing and what actually occurs. But just through observation and practice you'll get to see how much of a difference the hand/wrist/release has on the outcome of the ball spinning off the pitch.

This kind of relates to some of the stuff Chino and Leftie have both said, if you can get the ball coming out of the hand then vary the angle of the spin it gives you options. Hard wicket which isn't offering much turn - use top-spinners or a leg break with a lot more over-spin and use the bounce the hard wicket might offer? If the wicket is taking spin and the balls turning, change the wrist angle and try and get pure side spin and bowl slower and loopier especially to the lesser batsmen and get it above their eyes.

With experimenting just will a ball in my house I have found that flicking the wrist with the palm facing down after the rip makes the ball spin harder and faster with the seam being perfect for spin and bounce. I also watch regularly your video Dave where you explain the release of the big leg break, by spinning the ball back to you, this helps me understand the release when I am up there.
 
My favourite thing at the moment is bowling a salvo of legbreaks over a short distance from a bag of balls. Can do hundreds in a practice session no problem.

I think there are subtleties in the action which are very difficult to put into words. I am finding practising the topspinner very helpful.
 
With experimenting just will a ball in my house I have found that flicking the wrist with the palm facing down after the rip makes the ball spin harder and faster with the seam being perfect for spin and bounce. I also watch regularly your video Dave where you explain the release of the big leg break, by spinning the ball back to you, this helps me understand the release when I am up there.
The subtleties of the release are tricky to put into words, videos would be better to help explain it and I'm guessing still images would almost be as good too? But, I think I missed an important point earlier, one of the main reasons for experimenting and continuously flicking the ball is not only to make observations with regards to the angle of the seam, but possibly far more important is you discover how to spin the ball harder. You should be trying it with the ball lower in the hand - cupped, loose and hard grip, higher in the hand with a more 'fingery' grip, harder and softer grip, off two fingers, stupidly loose grip, numerous variations and till it's coming out of the hands with maximum rotations.

I found that simplifying things a couple of years ago made a significant difference; I found the grip and release that put the spin on the ball meaning that I could bowl a ball with a 45 degree angled seam, this turned with good dip. I just focused on that primarily knowing I could spin the ball and then started to look at accuracy. That then became a decent stock ball that I could bowl with confidence. I think to get to that kind of stage is really important, because it then means if you start looking at other options and they're not working you can just return to the 'Stock Ball'. Once you've got that stock ball and you're able to flick it hard, the subtle variations then become far easier put into place. I'm with Boogiespinner on the value of the Top-Spinner, I think it's the next variation Leggies should look at to explore as it gives you something very different and it makes you realise that there's the potential for 'Sub Variations' that are in between the top-spinner and the stock ball.

The chances are if you nail the top-spinner, you'll then accidentally bowl balls that break towards the off - you've discovered the Wrong Un accidentally! With just a smidge of work and a slight change of wrist/fingers or body action you'll be able to walk up to the crease and say to yourself 'Wrong Un' and execute it. I personally think that when you've reached this point you need to err on caution, because it is massively tempting to go further and look for the extra turn off the wicket, if you do that you're likely to end up with Googly Syndrome. Don't be tempted to turn to the Darkside, feel the force of the legbreak and be a Leg Break Jedi! Your Top-Spinner on it's own will bamboozle batsmen, they'll be thinking they've been bowled by a Googly 50% of the time I've found.
 
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