Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

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someblokecalleddave said:
I'm not fussed, prefer to have a dipping top-spinner myself, they occasionally come out with a some googlyness. I don't think I'd ever go back to putting any effort into resurrecting mine, so damaging.
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Did it really kill your leg break then? Im strugggling to remember when I finally cracked it you know. I know I had a lot of trouble at the start and could only bowl it by accident but it never gave me full on googly syndrome. There came a point where I could just set my wrist a certain way at the top of my run up and the only thing that was going to come out would be a wrong un. Would probably be unbelievably pickable to top batsmen but it does for clubbies like me!
 
GoldenArm said:
Did it really kill your leg break then? Im strugggling to remember when I finally cracked it you know. I know I had a lot of trouble at the start and could only bowl it by accident but it never gave me full on googly syndrome. There came a point where I could just set my wrist a certain way at the top of my run up and the only thing that was going to come out would be a wrong un. Would probably be unbelievably pickable to top batsmen but it does for clubbies like me!
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Totally, I bowled 2 seasons bowling off-breaks and Flippers because of GS, took a load of wickets, but could not get it to break away from off. Took 3 years trying to re-learn how to bowl the leg-break to the point I was happy with it - that's 3 years of not bowling anything that was even marginally like a Googly. It was bowling hell. Only this season have I tried to bowl the odd one, using a very different action for fear of regression.
 
I will try to work on the googly for next season but not at the expense of the leg break... the reason its that it's always been a bit special for me as I have produced really quite extravagant turn with it. At a very slow pace, I once turned one in that bounced outside the popping crease just inside the strip! And the umpire who gave an LBW for it said he was concerned it had done too much. Happy memories!
 
A couple of balls from today's little net session with a batter. This batter has improved a lot and played me quite well today, but I did manage to get the better of him a couple of times and here they are:





I like the first one because that's a bit more like the sort of pace and trajectory you look for as a stock delivery. The second one was purposely thrown up a bit to try and beat him in the flight (because I'd pushed a quicker, flatter one through the ball before and he smashed it back past me!).

I bowled a few googlys today. They were so, so and no more. I had planned on not bowling any more of them for a month or two but you get carried away when bowling to a batter. The rest of the bowling was pretty decent. The release was very consistent and the turn was there consistently too. Accuracy was ok, but needs more work. The surface is quite slow and the batter was using his feet quite well, so the length was tricky. That's all good for practice.
 
Going back to basics, I don't think I have the ball coming off the spinning finger correctly. I was spinning fairly hard hand-to-hand (or so it seemed) but I don't think the spinning finger was in great contact, I don't think the ball was coming off the pad of the finger, which it seems to do in Warne slo-mo videos. So I am working on this.
 
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Played a 30 over match today. I am quite happy with my bowling. First over was to a right handed batsman, so I went around the wicket like usual. Remember I am a left arm wrist spinner. First ball went down the legside as the pitch resembled one made in Bangladesh. 3rd/4th ball I bowled a wrongun, but it wasn't straight enough and was wide down the offside. I took no wickets that over. Next over, I faced a left handed batsman, so I went over the wicket. I was trying to land the ball at his feet, inline with the stumps and spin it away, which worked pretty well, as I repeatedly beat the bat. I bowled a wrongun which landed outside off and went between bat and pad, but turned too much and missed leg stump. On my last ball of the over, I really ripped it and put a lot of spin on the ball. It landed outside leg stump and bowled the batsman around the legs. My last over came a bit later. In it, I took 2 wickets, both right handers. The first one I was going around the wicket and bowled a leg break that landed on the edge of the pitch and spun back in and hit his off stump. It wasn't a short ball either. Later in the over, I bowled a topspinner a little shorter and quicker which forced the batsman blocking on the back foot. As he ran to take the single, we realised that he had knocked off his bails in his effort to block my delivery. I ended up with figures of 3/something, I will check later when the scores are updated on the website.

I also dropped several catches. I don't want to talk about that :(
 
boogiespinner said:
Going back to basics, I don't think I have the ball coming off the spinning finger correctly. I was spinning fairly hard hand-to-hand (or so it seemed) but I don't think the spinning finger was in great contact, I don't think the ball was coming off the pad of the finger, which it seems to do in Warne slo-mo videos. So I am working on this.
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Well, from my experience, that happens either when the ball is released a bit too early and the wrist position isn't right (ie when the palm of the hand isn't towards the batter but more to the legside). Drag downs are caused by that spinning finger getting stuck on the ball because it is released too late and, by contrast, the full ball is usually full because there isn't enough contact on the ball from the spinning finger because it is released too early.

Providing your grip is correct (and the spinning of the ball from hand to hand suggests it is), then it is usually just a question of timing that release. Are you finding a lot of balls are a bit too full with too high a trajectory?
 
eiglow_ said:
Played a 30 over match today. I am quite happy with my bowling. First over was to a right handed batsman, so I went around the wicket like usual. Remember I am a left arm wrist spinner. First ball went down the legside as the pitch resembled one made in Bangladesh. 3rd/4th ball I bowled a wrongun, but it wasn't straight enough and was wide down the offside. I took no wickets that over. Next over, I faced a left handed batsman, so I went over the wicket. I was trying to land the ball at his feet, inline with the stumps and spin it away, which worked pretty well, as I repeatedly beat the bat. I bowled a wrongun which landed outside off and went between bat and pad, but turned too much and missed leg stump. On my last ball of the over, I really ripped it and put a lot of spin on the ball. It landed outside leg stump and bowled the batsman around the legs. My last over came a bit later. In it, I took 2 wickets, both right handers. The first one I was going around the wicket and bowled a leg break that landed on the edge of the pitch and spun back in and hit his off stump. It wasn't a short ball either. Later in the over, I bowled a topspinner a little shorter and quicker which forced the batsman blocking on the back foot. As he ran to take the single, we realised that he had knocked off his bails in his effort to block my delivery. I ended up with figures of 3/something, I will check later when the scores are updated on the website.

I also dropped several catches. I don't want to talk about that :(
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Wait, you bowled a left-hander around his legs with the last ball of the over and then got taken off by the captain :eek: . Tssk, captains eh?

Why don't you bowl over the wicket to right-handers? I'd seriously think about sticking with over the wicket to all batters. That angle is a left-arm wrist spinner's friend. Grimmett used to say that left-arm wrist spinners are probably THE most effective bowlers there are because of that angle they have to the right-handed batsman. Trust me, no right-handed batter enjoys facing a left-arm wrist spinner bowling that over the wicket line.

The catches? Yeah, it happens. Forget about it. Usually, one drop increases the chances of a second which will then increase the chance of a third and so on. It's all psychological, so forget about it and move on. I remember not dropping a catch for about 30 games and then put two very easy catches down in the slips and the second one was purely because of the first one.
 
Cleanprophet said:
Wait, you bowled a left-hander around his legs with the last ball of the over and then got taken off by the captain :eek: . Tssk, captains eh?

Why don't you bowl over the wicket to right-handers? I'd seriously think about sticking with over the wicket to all batters. That angle is a left-arm wrist spinner's friend. Grimmett used to say that left-arm wrist spinners are probably THE most effective bowlers there are because of that angle they have to the right-handed batsman. Trust me, no right-handed batter enjoys facing a left-arm wrist spinner bowling that over the wicket line.

The catches? Yeah, it happens. Forget about it. Usually, one drop increases the chances of a second which will then increase the chance of a third and so on. It's all psychological, so forget about it and move on. I remember not dropping a catch for about 30 games and then put two very easy catches down in the slips and the second one was purely because of the first one.
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I'm playing in under-13s and they have to give every bowler a go, so I only got 3 overs. :rolleyes:

I bowl around the wicket because it's how many legspinners bowl to left-handers. It's like an offspinner going over the wicket. I spin it as hard as I can into the pads or stumps, and throw in the occasional topspinner or wrongun to try and get an edge. My leg break usually turns and bounces a fair bit, making the variations quite effective.
 
eiglow_ said:
I'm playing in under-13s and they have to give every bowler a go, so I only got 3 overs. :rolleyes:

I bowl around the wicket because it's how many legspinners bowl to left-handers. It's like an offspinner going over the wicket. I spin it as hard as I can into the pads or stumps, and throw in the occasional topspinner or wrongun to try and get an edge. My leg break usually turns and bounces a fair bit, making the variations quite effective.
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It's a tricky one. Grimmet said that using that angle across the batter makes the wrong un much more effective. But then, Warne would often go around the wicket to left-handers and said he enjoyed bowling to left-handers more than right-handers. I suppose it all depends on what type of wrist spinner you are. If you have a really good leg break, then going around the wicket gives you more scope (this is why Warne liked to go around the wicket to left-handers, so he could spin it big and attack the pads/stumps - the big spinning leg break is often wasted on the right-hander because it turns too much and if you pitch it outside leg to accomadate that spin, you lose LBW's). However, if you don't spin the leg break big and bowl a good wrong un, then staying over the wicket is the way to go.
 
Cleanprophet said:
Well, from my experience, that happens either when the ball is released a bit too early and the wrist position isn't right (ie when the palm of the hand isn't towards the batter but more to the legside). Drag downs are caused by that spinning finger getting stuck on the ball because it is released too late and, by contrast, the full ball is usually full because there isn't enough contact on the ball from the spinning finger because it is released too early.

Providing your grip is correct (and the spinning of the ball from hand to hand suggests it is), then it is usually just a question of timing that release. Are you finding a lot of balls are a bit too full with too high a trajectory?
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Although improved I was still bowling one howitzer per over which would (of course) be despatched for 4 or 6.

I'm a bit puzzled at to what you mean but I don't think my spinning finger has been properly governing the release in a basic sense. I think it's this - it hasn't had a great range of motion, just flicks out to level with the other fingers. Looking at Warne I think his spinning finger flicks out and extends back all while in contact so then he has the elasticity of the finger further propelling the ball and spin
 
boogiespinner said:
Although improved I was still bowling one howitzer per over which would (of course) be despatched for 4 or 6.

I'm a bit puzzled at to what you mean but I don't think my spinning finger has been properly governing the release in a basic sense. I think it's this - it hasn't had a great range of motion, just flicks out to level with the other fingers. Looking at Warne I think his spinning finger flicks out and extends back all while in contact so then he has the elasticity of the finger further propelling the ball and spin
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The spinning finger is the most important finger on the ball. As the name suggests, this is the finger that imparts the spin. So it has to rip over the top of the ball. To do that whilst bowling a legspinner, the palm of the hand (as we all know) has to be towards the target. If the spinning finger isn't generating spin on the ball, then it is probably because the ball is slipping out of the hand. The only other way the spinning finger would not be doing its job is because the grip/action is wrong. That's not likely to be the case, so the most likely scenario is that the ball is being released a fraction too early and that prevents the spinning finger from imparting spin.
 
eiglow_ said:
I'm playing in under-13s and they have to give every bowler a go, so I only got 3 overs. :rolleyes:

I bowl around the wicket because it's how many legspinners bowl to left-handers. It's like an offspinner going over the wicket. I spin it as hard as I can into the pads or stumps, and throw in the occasional topspinner or wrongun to try and get an edge. My leg break usually turns and bounces a fair bit, making the variations quite effective.
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I think that you should definitely start over the wicket and then if nothing is happening for you, then you should come around the wicket. In other words, only use around the wicket as a last resort.
 
eiglow_ said:
I'm playing in under-13s and they have to give every bowler a go, so I only got 3 overs. :rolleyes:

I bowl around the wicket because it's how many legspinners bowl to left-handers. It's like an offspinner going over the wicket. I spin it as hard as I can into the pads or stumps, and throw in the occasional topspinner or wrongun to try and get an edge. My leg break usually turns and bounces a fair bit, making the variations quite effective.
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It's definitely tough with the over restrictions and one of my main gripes with the junior system. Prior to me play U/17's this year (jumping up from 14's), the most overs I bowled in a day was 4 with 2 spells of 2 overs :rolleyes:. Was part of a bloody ridiculous set-up as well, which means you only play 'normal' cricket (one team bats one day and bowls the next) in 17's and then get into seniors:rolleyes:
 
VD28 said:
It's definitely tough with the over restrictions and one of my main gripes with the junior system. Prior to me play U/17's this year, the most overs I bowled in a day was 4 with 2 spells of 2 overs :rolleyes:. Was part of a bloody ridiculous set-up as well, which means you only play 'normal' cricket (one team bats one day and bowls the next) in 17's and then get into seniors:rolleyes:
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I know that feel bro. The weekly 'coaching' I do is kind of dumb as well. For 1 1/2 hours, its just waiting in line at the nets and getting a bowl every 5 minutes because our club has so many teams that 1 team of 11+ players only has 1 net. The only reason I play cricket is just to bowl, I just really love it. Batting and fielding can be fun, but I just want to bowl as many overs as I can, and 3 overs in a match and perhaps 20 balls in a training session is really not satisfactory for me. I know I can go down to the nets and just bowl at the stumps for an hour or so, but there are so many team at my club that unless its on the weekend when all the matches are on, there is likely a team using them.
 
eiglow_ said:
I know that feel bro. The weekly 'coaching' I do is kind of dumb as well. For 1 1/2 hours, its just waiting in line at the nets and getting a bowl every 5 minutes because our club has so many teams that 1 team of 11+ players only has 1 net. The only reason I play cricket is just to bowl, I just really love it. Batting and fielding can be fun, but I just want to bowl as many overs as I can, and 3 overs in a match and perhaps 20 balls in a training session is really not satisfactory for me. I know I can go down to the nets and just bowl at the stumps for an hour or so, but there are so many team at my club that unless its on the weekend when all the matches are on, there is likely a team using them.
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Definitely know where you are coming from. Not so much this season as last, but I used to bowl shite in the nets and good in game:oops:. The whole limiting overs bowled, balls faced etc is stupid. It drops the skill level etc. And I'm someone who definitely benefited from that up until 15 months or so ago. Nothing better than bowling a good spell for me.
 
eiglow_ said:
I know that feel bro. The weekly 'coaching' I do is kind of dumb as well. For 1 1/2 hours, its just waiting in line at the nets and getting a bowl every 5 minutes because our club has so many teams that 1 team of 11+ players only has 1 net. The only reason I play cricket is just to bowl, I just really love it. Batting and fielding can be fun, but I just want to bowl as many overs as I can, and 3 overs in a match and perhaps 20 balls in a training session is really not satisfactory for me. I know I can go down to the nets and just bowl at the stumps for an hour or so, but there are so many team at my club that unless its on the weekend when all the matches are on, there is likely a team using them.
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Mate you are blessed in that you are young and have already worked out what is wrong with most cricket coaching and practice. It took me twenty years. Of course, it is the sheer volume of balls that is the key. Can you find out what times the net practices are for the teams? That can't be secret information. If there is one person in charge of net allocations, I would speak to that guy, explain that you really desire the solo practice and see if you can actually book the thing for yourself. If I was that man I'd be keen to keep you encouraged and would after allocating times for the teams let you know when you could have your hours. Surely the teams won't be taking up all the hours and you can have some of the leftovers. Maybe there isn't one guy in charge but I would go to the most senior there is and ask for help. If legspin bowling is your passion which I think it is as you are here, it is at your age that champions are made and they do it with vast amounts of solo practice so go for it and be persistent.
 
eiglow_ said:
I know that feel bro. The weekly 'coaching' I do is kind of dumb as well. For 1 1/2 hours, its just waiting in line at the nets and getting a bowl every 5 minutes because our club has so many teams that 1 team of 11+ players only has 1 net. The only reason I play cricket is just to bowl, I just really love it. Batting and fielding can be fun, but I just want to bowl as many overs as I can, and 3 overs in a match and perhaps 20 balls in a training session is really not satisfactory for me. I know I can go down to the nets and just bowl at the stumps for an hour or so, but there are so many team at my club that unless its on the weekend when all the matches are on, there is likely a team using them.
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Mate just find an empty field somewhere that's relatively flat, stick up some stumps or a target in front of a fence or something, buy yourself 12 balls, ignore the turn you get as it'll be exaggerated, but work on line and length and get yourself an old car mat and try and hit the car mat. What about your back yard, I thought all you Aussie's had massive yards with acres or space?
 
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