someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
No chance of that ever happening, they out-number us massively, but they're not up for writing about it, it seems?
Off Spinning Guide
- Thread starter MrOffBreaks
- Start date
No chance of that ever happening, they out-number us massively, but they're not up for writing about it, it seems?
Well leg spinning is more an art, off spinning a science. I go against that and bowl with "leg spinner's" plans and aggression and have come up with different deliveries and ways to deliver it, but even so it's not quite so variable. Plenty to talk about leggies because everything isn't already set in stone.
Also there are actually not that many true off spinners. Most are just trundlers who do it because it's possibly the second easiest style to bowl (after slow and dead straight pace).
Captaincy and tactics have always been a big area of my bowling that I focus on a lot. What fields do you set for different times Tumo? And what fields would you set as an "outsider looking in" Dave?
I started off as a medium-pacer who swung the ball round corners, but I turned to SLA when I realised that there was nobody in my side who bowled spin. Also, I knew that the ball turning away was more dangerous than if I were to bowl chinaman for example. I am also very Ray Price-esque in my attitude. I like to have a sledge now and then, and I am a VERY competitive person. I hate being beaten!
My fields are not defensive, but I don't go on the all out attack. I'll put up a picture of my average field settings
Slip, Backward point/Short 3rd man, Cover, Short extra cover, Mid-off, mid-on, mid-wicket, deep backward-square, short fine leg. If someone is trying to hit me big I might chuck Mid-wicket out, but I like to make the batsmen go for it. To left-handers it's the same roughly, short fine leg comes round so if the leftie plays it on the angle, it won't cost me runs.
My fields are not defensive, but I don't go on the all out attack. I'll put up a picture of my average field settings
Slip, Backward point/Short 3rd man, Cover, Short extra cover, Mid-off, mid-on, mid-wicket, deep backward-square, short fine leg. If someone is trying to hit me big I might chuck Mid-wicket out, but I like to make the batsmen go for it. To left-handers it's the same roughly, short fine leg comes round so if the leftie plays it on the angle, it won't cost me runs.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
I started off as a medium-pacer who swung the ball round corners, but I turned to SLA when I realised that there was nobody in my side who bowled spin. Also, I knew that the ball turning away was more dangerous than if I were to bowl chinaman for example. I am also very Ray Price-esque in my attitude. I like to have a sledge now and then, and I am a VERY competitive person. I hate being beaten!
My fields are not defensive, but I don't go on the all out attack. I'll put up a picture of my average field settings
Slip, Backward point/Short 3rd man, Cover, Short extra cover, Mid-off, mid-on, mid-wicket, deep backward-square, short fine leg. If someone is trying to hit me big I might chuck Mid-wicket out, but I like to make the batsmen go for it. To left-handers it's the same roughly, short fine leg comes round so if the leftie plays it on the angle, it won't cost me runs.
Yeah this field would do for me, that bloke sitting at short fine leg must have taken 3 or 4 catches off me last season, mid wickets another dead cert position. All an Offie has to do to me is bowl either an arm ball to draw me into the belief that he's just a dibbly dobbler, or bowl a slower delivery first up and then increase the pace for the 2nd ball and he'll get it through the gate. Good Offies with a bit of pace I usually last 2 balls. I'd much rather face a pace bowler any day of the week. At nets a couple of weeks back the same bowler (offie) bowled me 5 times consecutively, it took the 6th ball before I came up with an approach to stop him and that was simply to defend.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Boris, I struggle getting my head round coming up with fields for Wrist Spinners let alone Off-Spinners. As I've said in the field settings thread it's difficult to come up with generic fields because as you've also implied there's a series of variables that have to be considered and these vary - Stage of the match, whether the batsman is set, if the batsman is a tail-ender etc. For instance a couple of nights ago India v West Indies harbijan Singh had a very aggressive field with a load of blokes all up around the batsman face. The commentator said 'This is the kind of field Harbijan likes' yet I'd never seen him with a field like that before and then they went on to say it was because there was a new batsman in and he was a lower order batsman.
I'll have a go - but you've got to give me some parameters. Is this against good RH batsmen or RH tail enders and am I asking you to bowl off-side turning it into the stumps and do you have an accurate 'Arm Ball'?
I find setting fields easy, although I was captain for over a season so I got a bit of practise with it. I don't get swept a lot, but I like to have the protection at deep square just in case it comes anyway. Also gives me a bit of cover if anyone slogs. I mainly get catches on the off-side, either leading edges or just mis-timed shots. I get most of my wickets either caught behind, stumped or bowled nowadays, although at the death I might get one or 2 caught (or dropped!!) at deep-mid-wicket. I get a bit of bum's luck with catches dropped, in one game last year I had a lad dropped on 40, 56 and 80, and he went on to make 103*. He scored most of his runs off me too, also they weren't tough catches which disheartened me even more. Sometimes it's difficult to keep your head up when your luck doesn't go your way, like having balls drop inbetween fielders or drop just short. It's a frustrating life, being a bowler. Especially a spinner, where if it doesn't go your way for a few overs and you get some tap, you're off!
MookerjeeAditya
Member
What separates Harbhajan Singh from the rest? He just wants that one chance more, to bowl to the opposition, so that he can bowl a batsman out. In England, this is a great pastime, in the cool, sunny climes, but in India, it takes a lot of passion, to play cricket, for the tenure of the day. In the past, this might have been called lunacy. In India, if you can have a passion for cricket in summer, then you are well on your way to having a full-filling tenure as a cricket player.
Had another decent net with the ball, absolutely dreadful with the bat though, it's on my blog (yes, shameless plug, I do not care 
) and it's getting to be quite a habit, it's something I need to sort out. Ball was coming out of the hand alright, rarely overpitched (apart from my carom ball), but dropped a few short, to be expected when they don't come out right though. I'm making progress!
) and it's getting to be quite a habit, it's something I need to sort out. Ball was coming out of the hand alright, rarely overpitched (apart from my carom ball), but dropped a few short, to be expected when they don't come out right though. I'm making progress!ash kakkireni
New Member
I am an off spinner who can rip the ball pretty well but when i am bowling i tend to ball to slow for some reason. This may not nessicarily be a bad thing but when i bowl the bowl it feels as if the batsmen has a lot of time to adjust to my variations. When I try to bowl a bit quicker i loose my control and the bowl dose not even turn. Any advice
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Not many Offies on here. I'm assuming you're right-armed finger spinner, rather than a Googly bowler? That aside, if you retain that aspect of your game e.g. 'Slow', like me, you'll have develop your accuracy line and length. I've seen some ridiculously slow bowlers in the past who have done exceptionally well and the key to their success seems to be accuracy and some variation. You need to have a ball that goes on straight to accompany your off-break (Arm ball). Imagine if you had a straight ball and you were landing it on a length where the batsman didn't know whether to play it off the front foot or back foot, that in itself stiffles the batting and offers some threat, but then to mix balls that land in the same place on the same length with some turn you're going to cause far more of a problem, but the key is the accuracy.
Andrew Bourne
Member
A shout out to any of the off-spinners on here... why do none of you seem to bowl around the wicket at right handers. You talk about getting cut all the time despite getting massive turn... yet to me the obvious thing to do being able to turn the ball as far as some have mentioned would be to bowl around the wicket. Takes out the necessity of having a good doosra or even that good a toppie... just vary the amount you turn the ball and subtle changes of pace... a right hand bat has to play pretty much every ball from an offie around the wicket...and your arm ball becomes lethal if they aren't picking it.
I think you have less margin for error going around the wicket. Anything short or overpitched is going to get smashed through the legside, anything too straight will join it, and anything too wide of off is not a threat to the stumps and can be easily left. Its easier to stray onto the legs round the wicket and offspinners typically get murdered if they bowl too straight.
Whereas over the wicket, you have a big "safe" area that you can toss the ball up into on a full length wide of off and its unlikely to get punished. Far easier to bowl maidens if the guy is nervous to drive against the spin (which he should be on our pitch).
Basically its a question of:
What shot do I want him playing? The cover drive.
Whats the best line to bowl to get him playing that? 6 inches to a foot outside off stump.
How do I get the ball in that area but still threaten the stumps? Bowl over the wicket and hope you get one to really grip every now and then.
The other factor I have had to consider recently is that spinners rarely get front foot lbws in our league (or indeed most amateur leagues). If I want to get the guy out I need to hit the woodwork, and its far easier to do that by going over the wicket, tossing it up wide and trying to get it ripping back through the gate, than it is going round the wicket, angling it across him and straightening it - his damn pads always get in the way and I end up arguing with the umpire about the quality of his glasses.
I have a quick question that I suppose fits in to this category the best. I'm VERY new to cricket, only really started watching it often in the past year. I've been playing with my friends casually at the nets and am having a really good time. I can bowl decent backspinning medium pace on a good day (and terrible on others...), but I'm much more interested in bowling spin. This is where the problem comes for me.
It seems all my spin bowling comes out about 90 degrees away from where I think it should, and where my action (to me) feels like it should. I bowl a leg spinner, it comes out as top spin. Really ripping the leg spin results in a very nice googly with plenty of turn, though it's not super-accurate (I'm sure with practice it could be).
My off spin always comes out as back spin and even if I try to really move my hand around, I can only just barely get it so that the seam is at a 90 degree angle to the batsman. This feels very unnatural, and a backspinner or off-cutter ish delivery is all I can do whilst trying to bowl 'normally'. I thought it might be that I wasn't rotating my body around enough in the release, but even a bowl standing totally front on or slightly facing left comes out in the same manner, backspin or off cutting.
Is this a common problem at all? I can't seem to find any info of this on the web. If I had it my way, I'd love to bowl off spin, but it seems the only viable option for me at the moment is having googly as my stock ball which feels a bit silly.
Any help greatly appreciated, sorry for the wall-of-text.
It seems all my spin bowling comes out about 90 degrees away from where I think it should, and where my action (to me) feels like it should. I bowl a leg spinner, it comes out as top spin. Really ripping the leg spin results in a very nice googly with plenty of turn, though it's not super-accurate (I'm sure with practice it could be).
My off spin always comes out as back spin and even if I try to really move my hand around, I can only just barely get it so that the seam is at a 90 degree angle to the batsman. This feels very unnatural, and a backspinner or off-cutter ish delivery is all I can do whilst trying to bowl 'normally'. I thought it might be that I wasn't rotating my body around enough in the release, but even a bowl standing totally front on or slightly facing left comes out in the same manner, backspin or off cutting.
Is this a common problem at all? I can't seem to find any info of this on the web. If I had it my way, I'd love to bowl off spin, but it seems the only viable option for me at the moment is having googly as my stock ball which feels a bit silly.
Any help greatly appreciated, sorry for the wall-of-text.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Being a wrist spin purist, I'd say in the short term make a decision about which version you're going to focus on and work on one or the other. I answered in the PM as well and linked a video relating to the Googly syndrome. I think you should be encouraged though by the fact that you're able to produce a Top-Spinner. I reckon if you can keep control of that and give that a good flick and get it spinning/rotating well, you're only a slight tweak away from getting it to break to leg. It might be useful to see some video footage of you bowling the top-spinner?
Thanks heaps for the help. To be honest, I'd rather be bowling off than leg. I feel that I can generate a similar amount of spin through both actions, and I reckon at the level that I'll be playing at that off might be a bit more dangerous. I'll have a crack at the googly remedy in your video though.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Go for off-spin then, its so much easier and you'll probably get far more overs as you'll be able to learn it quicker and to some extent in the short term you'll be more effective. I personally find off-spin really difficult to face!
I had great fun at nets last night just alternating 45 degree topspinners and 45 degree backspinners. I got into a good rhythm with one batsman where he kept charging the toppies and getting stumped and staying back to the sliders and getting bowled.
The week before I alternated stock balls with wrong'uns. That confused a lot of batsmen too :-D
The week before I alternated stock balls with wrong'uns. That confused a lot of batsmen too :-D