Leg Spin

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Re: Leg Spin

I think the mental toughness is the most difficult aspect for kids. I know our young bloke who's 13/14 has been taught and encouraged with his bowling by his Dad, Grandad and the other Leggies, but despite all the teaching and learning he goes to pieces when it goes wrong, yet he has the patience and respect of all the other team members but can't cope with the sense of failure he feels within in himself when it does go pear shaped. It'll be interesting to see how he gets on over the years as he matures if I'm still playing for them.
 
Re: Leg Spin

It sounds like he may feel a bit too much pressure from those closet to him - have seen it quite a bit in youth football.

Also, its hard when you're young to handle getting smashed for 4,4,4,6 etc in an over, that's when a well timed wicket can do wonders for the confidence. My mate was a great chinaman spin bowler but he lost it mentally between 16 and 18, never the same after (well he gave the game up).
 
Re: Leg Spin

Yeah you're probably right - his Dad is so obviously disappointed at his inability to internalise and contain his emotions and feelings. The kids head drops when it happens and then his Dad starts to try and give him encouragement, but the kid then reacts adversly to his Dad trying to lift his spirit - it's a difficult one to call. It might be better that his Dad didn't play on the same team?
 
Re: Leg Spin

It sounds like it would, do you have more than one team?

A lot of the clubs I've played for have had 3 generations of the same family playing cricket but luckily most of the youngsters have been able to find their feet in the 3rd or 2nds before moving up to play along side 'Dad'. You can still see the tension with some though, especially if they fail with the bat or ball.

It's a hard one to call but the last thing you want is for the kid\s to be put off the game.
 
Re: Leg Spin

Yeah there's several - Sat 1sts and 2nds and then Sunday 1sts and 2nds. Last season they were both in the Sunday 2nds and the Dad was the captain. There's a new captain this year so the dynamic may change?
 
Re: Leg Spin

Maybe not, he could well take it upon himself to field at mid-off and be the boy's personal coach :p.

Hopefully the new captain will have a bit about him and bring the kid on, spin bowling can be hard on a youngster, so a good 'support' team is useful.
 
Re: Leg Spin

I finally got my spin sorted :)

Getting alot of turn in matches now. Had one ball lost week that pitched on leg and span past off. :)

I've taken 12 wickets this season at an average of about 11.

One problem I do have now, is that whenever I try and bowl a wrong un, it spins like a leggy. And whenever it spins normally, it doesn't spin at all. I think I may be bowling the toppy instead.
 
Re: Leg Spin

Almost_Austwick said:
Was just thinking, is it better to start bowling leg spin as a young age in order to get (or retain) extra flexibility?
Click to expand...
I don't know, but I've been bowling leg spin since I was atleast 11. I've got no idea if I'm more flexible.
 
Re: Leg Spin

someblokecalleddave said:
Good on ya for giving it a go! It's going to take time and shed loads of practice. Once you get the hang of it, it's a good ball, it's faster than the others I find except maybe the slider. if you read through the threads here you'll read about the problems I have with it. I think in hindsight if you're at the very early stages of learning Leg Spin you really need to put learning the flipper to one side and concentrating on the basic Leg break. If you can bowl a good leg break and get it in the right areas and get it to turn at will I'd say have a go at the flipper and spend some time developing it as one of your other balls.

I find I can bowl my flipper so that turns like a leg break but does so really low, so it looks like a leg break but instead of bouncing it skids in low - it can be useful if you can bowl both balls.

How is your basic Leg Break?
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I find the flipper impossible to bowl. Does it come out of the back or front of the hand?
 
Re: Leg Spin

It is a ball squeezed out of the front of the hand with the thumb and first and second fingers - hence spinning backwards; causing a float and then skid off the pitch. Richie Benaud does not recommend the ball to anyone with not fully developed shoulders.
 
Re: Leg Spin

That's interesting that Benaud says that about the flipper. What's his theory?

Yeah the flipper comes out of the hand but from the underneath/bottom of the hand, it's nothing like any of the others but it's a good un. I've just been practicing outside just now as it's sunny and 13 degrees centigrade (Spring-like).

I've been bowling Leg Breaks today and been getting a lot of turn which is promising as that's the ball I have problems with.

As for Seans Wrong Un. I'd stick with your leg break and practice that the most. If you're looking for another variation the Top-spinner would be the one I'd recommend as it's pretty much the same ball as the Leg break but with the hand twisted round just a bit and maybe your arm more vertical. Have a look at the Leg Spin videos on youtube the 2 x Terry Jenner clips and the Shane Warne clip off of the Cricket Show in OZ. If you watch these you'll see the difference in the hand positions (The Flipper is on there as well).

I reckon if you can crack the Top-spinner and still keep your Leg Break turning in nicely to off it might an idea them to look at the Wrong Un. But in the short term leave the Wrong Un.

The reason I say this is that each transition from one to the other Leg Break to Top - spinner to Wrong Un is just a case of the wrist being turned slightly more. I find that if you bowl the top spinner with a really straight arm my wrist only has to be slightly angled more towards the wrong un position and it starts to turn to leg, they all seem to follow on from each other. It'd be interesting to hear if other people agree?

Does anyone bowl sliders?
 
Re: Leg Spin

Having said that I went outside and threw a few Top-Spinners to see how much of a difference there is between the top spinner and the Wrong Un. I've said this before but the variation I find that stresses my shoulder the most is the wrong un and just now I found that not only is it the wrist that turns more but the whole arm in order that it comes out of the back of the hand? I couldn't get it to spin a great deal because I find that you also need to have the wrist flick combined with speed and where I was practicing there wasn't the room to really go at it. But I still feel that the Wrong is similar to the Top Spinner with regards the vertical arm it's just that your arm and wrist are turned more acutely in order that the ball leaves the hand from the back - have a look at the videos I mentioned.
 
Re: Leg Spin

hi can someone help me, when i deliever a leg break i just flick my hand really hard and fast from right to left getting good amount of spin as i hear a tweak in the wrist and i have read on the internet to include your fingers aswell for more spin but how do i include my fingers in the deliever whenever i try the ball doesent spin at all
 
Re: Leg Spin

It's more a case of having to straighten the fingers as you release the ball rather than ripping them across the ball for spin.

The spin is generated by the wrist, the fingers just help to add a little more but also aid control. Just try to straighten them, its should come fairly naturally.
 
Re: Leg Spin

Your ring finger and your little finger should be the last part of your hand that has contact with the ball, it's the combination of the wrist flick and these fingers dragging down along the seam as the ball leaves your hand that imparts the spin.
 
Re: Leg Spin

This is slightly out of context but illustrates the extent of my determination to learn this stuff through involving as many people as possible in order that I can bowl balls at them. You'll see though even though it's extremely convaluted - I learned something new that no-one has ever picked up on before (The 4 yard thing) and the bloke illustrated it by picking up a lump of tree (a bat) and marked the crease and then stretched out his bat and drew an arc at his furthest reach while keeping his back foot on the crease. He explained it's in the area of the arc that you need to bowl. This is all in the depths of an English winter on a rough old patch of grass!

Again lovely and sunny and warm 13 degrees. So late in the afternoon I drove over to the field at Gloucester Park for a bit of a practice and look at the prospects of marking out and maintaining a wicket there this summer to try and encourage the blokes that play there to take their cricket a step further.

Got over there and there was no-one around, but the light was low in the sky and was picking out the lumps, bumps and undulations in the field allowing me to have a good look and make a decision as to where I might position the wicket. I found a relatively flat spot running in the same line as the blokes had their wicket last year but more towards the centre of the field. I measured it out and pressed some of those flourescent orange lucozade lids into the ground to mark out where the stumps will go. I set up some stumps and bowled a few overs to see if I could get someone's attention even at this early stage.

My bowling was pretty good which was nice, even the leg breaks looked okay, all in all it seemed pretty good with me hitting the stumps very frequently especially with the wrong Uns which I was getting to turn nicely (Maybe I'm Off spin bowler more than a leg spin bowler)? Anyway I kept bowling and was enjoying myself and had just delievered a nice Flipper hitting the stumps and I heard someone shout something in approval from the outfield. Looking round I saw one of the blokes from last summer and he came over and offered to keep while I bowled. It turns out that he bowls a Chinaman normally but screwed up his shoulder some years back. We threw some balls had a chat and he gave me some advice about my bowling saying that pitching the ball 5 yards/metres in front of the stumps was too short - it would allow the batsman to step back and hit the ball which is true as that's what my mate Nakul always did.

At the end of the session he said "Do you come over here often"? I said not normally and explained what had happened last year at Great Berry had kind of forced me to look at this field as a practice option. I then told him about my intentions of maintaining a practice wicket and that usually the council support me with this and that they'd even offered the use of the nearby council wickets free of charge if I was encouraging "Grass Roots" involvement in the sport. He asked if I'd be back next week or if I played in the evenings? I said yeah and went on to explain if he was up for it (Or indeed if he'd turned up earlier as the gear was in my car) I'd bring all my gear - bats, gloves you name it. He then said he'd bring his over as well next sunday and we'd meet up at 4pm.

So brilliant already and it's only February and my plan is swinging into action! Furthermore a couple of the blokes from our team last year - Rod the Aussie and Thomas are both syaing they're up for a knock about as well. So things are on the up!

See it in context at www.mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com
 
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