Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

[SLA]

Great to see Tahir finally get his start eh ?

I go for the legspinner, always, even against oz and especially when we dont play one.

Me too, I always support any decent attacking spinner, although with mixed feelings when they're playing against England.

I was at Trent Bridge when Murali took 8 wickets to bowl us out in the 2nd innings when we should have won the game comfortably. I still can't decide whether I was gutted to have lost or just happy to have been there.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Me too, I always support any decent attacking spinner, although with mixed feelings when they're playing against England.

I was at Trent Bridge when Murali took 8 wickets to bowl us out in the 2nd innings when we should have won the game comfortably. I still can't decide whether I was gutted to have lost or just happy to have been there.

The Spinners Union!

 

[macca]

Big game today. Jimmy is overdue to go for some runs and today could be the day. If he gets a few overs today i will be happy if he can just keep it tight and maybe get a wicket. He is going for 1.8 an over at the moment but i expect that to blow out a bit today.

Coach was telling the team last night about these 2 big sluggers in the opposition team he has heard about and how they might run them out because they are not good runners.

No-one in the team has played them before, except my son. That was 2 years ago and my jimmy got both their wickets! I might tell the coach this morning before the game that jimmy got both these guys out on oct24 2009. One skied a catch the other stumped. I posted about it here way back then.

Or maybe i wont say anything till after the game.

 

[macca]

The other thing im lookin forward to is the opposition have aquired the little legspinner from up the coast we played a couple of years ago. I posted about him here, i couldn't believe this little guy. Long sleeves, cap and a real round arm and mad spin he got. No-one could hit him he just spun it so much. I thought at the time "gee his dad must have swallowed all the grimmett books as well".

The downside is that their batsmen will now have had a season to practise against good quality legspin, which makes my sons job a little bit tougher this time 'round.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

The other thing im lookin forward to is the opposition have aquired the little legspinner from up the coast we played a couple of years ago. I posted about him here, i couldn't believe this little guy. Long sleeves, cap and a real round arm and mad spin he got. No-one could hit him he just spun it so much. I thought at the time "gee his dad must have swallowed all the grimmett books as well".

The downside is that their batsmen will now have had a season to practise against good quality legspin, which makes my sons job a little bit tougher this time 'round.

Yeah I remember you posting about that kid, It'll be good to watch though if he's on form, I wonder if he'll still be wearing the Grimmett attire?

 

[chippyben]

We had some really big storms the other day and my modem copped it but Im back online now. I am captain again today as our regular captain is away. We have a pretty depleted line up today, especially in the bowling stakes. I think Im going to put myself on first change today. Its always a bit of a hard one when your captain but I was the only one that looked like taking wickets last week and I dont think I should have to go through all of our mediocre medium pacers before bringing the spinner on as happens in just about every team Ive ever played in.
I had a bowl in the nets last night and was bowling really well so for the first time I feel quite confident going into a match. (Probably get belted all over today!!)

 

[someblokecalleddave]

We had some really big storms the other day and my modem copped it but Im back online now. I am captain again today as our regular captain is away. We have a pretty depleted line up today, especially in the bowling stakes. I think Im going to put myself on first change today. Its always a bit of a hard one when your captain but I was the only one that looked like taking wickets last week and I dont think I should have to go through all of our mediocre medium pacers before bringing the spinner on as happens in just about every team Ive ever played in.
I had a bowl in the nets last night and was bowling really well so for the first time I feel quite confident going into a match. (Probably get belted all over today!!)

Yeah, that's always the way, you kind of feel as though it'd be better just to say nothing and go and bowl! As soon as you say to someone 'Watch this' it all goes wrong!!! Fingers crossed it wont and you'll get a bag full. I'm just watching the highlights now of the SA v Aussie game - Smith and Amla are facing your Offie.

 

[chippyben]

Yeah, that's always the way, you kind of feel as though it'd be better just to say nothing and go and bowl! As soon as you say to someone 'Watch this' it all goes wrong!!! Fingers crossed it wont and you'll get a bag full. I'm just watching the highlights now of the SA v Aussie game - Smith and Amla are facing your Offie.

Gee wizz how bad were the aussies in the second innings. I dont think there was one wicket you could blame on the pitch. Whatever happened to having a boring no risk, patient batsman in the side who could see off the early overs.

 

[chippyben]

Great stuff Ben and I wont even chastise you for looking for your figures! As you say a first baller is always going to help you to relax, but as I said, let the batsmen worry about you rather than the other way round. If you can try to remember the feeling today both before and during your spell, as its pretty clear you were in control, you can then draw on that in the future when you think the tide is turning and the batsmen (as they will from time to time) start to get the upper hand. Well done again, cracking weekend for the BigCricket leg spin fraternity and a bright spot for Dave and myself looking forward to fireworks in the cold and rain of the south-east of England in November

The local newspaper put my figures in as 4/42 instead of 4/21 anyway!!
Id say just thinking about bowling good deliveries has taken some of the pressure off in a match and simplified things and helped me focus. And hey when I do bowl good balls the result is pretty good.
Last weeks performance was ok without being outstanding. I give it a pass mark because of the nerves and being the first bowl of the season but I bowled too many short balls and 2 wides. I can certainly bowl better.
The thing that gave me most confidence though was the difference in batsmans attitudes from the nets and in a game. They are a lot more timid in a game and a lot less likely to move their feet and get to the pitch of the ball which plays into my hands. Plus my bad balls arent as bad as I thought.
Cant wait for the match today.

 

[chippyben]

I was checking my sons bowling card yesterday and it was pressure that got the wicket. 11 dot balls and then a stumping. The batsmen were being urged by their coach and parents and team mates to get stuck into jimmys legbreaks, they had wickets in hand and these were the final overs of a 30/30. He went out with a plan to give the ball a real rip yesterday even if he lost some accuracy in the process. Did not bowl one overly short or anything like a long hop yesterday.

I mean they must have looked like lollipops from the side lines, but a keen eye could detect the drop from topspin on his delivery. His own, unique in this comp, parabolic flight that turns a full toss into a good length. He is so hard to score against. I know from playing him myself. He gives you very little room, except for the odd wide one outside off where he "tests the edge of the table" to see if he can grab a wicket out there but he bowls on the stumps on a good length and varying spin and pace. If i try and attack him he gets me out within a few balls usually.

The safest way to play him is off the back foot, and watch for his shorter faster staight one. The smaller kids go best against him. But lately everyone is coming forward to drive him, like they cant help themselves. Probably they see the ball go high up out of the hand. This lefthanded rep player was playing him beautifully yesterday, coming out to drive him for an easy single every ball but he ran himself out in the first over. The player he got out stumped is no mug though because he topscored last week against the top of the table team, but had no clue against legspin.

I was thinking about the parabolic flight Macca and the advantage young kids have when bowling. The way I see it the pitch for your young fella is like a pitch being 28 yards long for me. So I imagine the great shape I could get over that distance. I think philpott mentions something about teenage shape (trajectory?) in his book. Do you reckon you will have to work hard on this as Jimmy gets older.
Sounds like you almost hope he goes for a few in a game, maybe it wouldnt be such a bad thing as he would probably learn more from that than 4-5 good spells. Best result would probably be taking a few wickets so he is still confident but maybe having one batsman get on top of him just so you can show him what to do because its bound to happen at some stage down the track.

 

[shrek]

Great to see Tahir finally get his start eh ?

I go for the legspinner, always, even against oz and especially when we dont play one.

One aspect of Tahir's bowling I didn't like was that he bowls too many googlies. Even in the test match, I could count atleast (if not more) one googly every over.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

I was thinking about the parabolic flight Macca and the advantage young kids have when bowling. The way I see it the pitch for your young fella is like a pitch being 28 yards long for me. So I imagine the great shape I could get over that distance. I think philpott mentions something about teenage shape (trajectory?) in his book. Do you reckon you will have to work hard on this as Jimmy gets older.
Sounds like you almost hope he goes for a few in a game, maybe it wouldnt be such a bad thing as he would probably learn more from that than 4-5 good spells. Best result would probably be taking a few wickets so he is still confident but maybe having one batsman get on top of him just so you can show him what to do because its bound to happen at some stage down the track.

I'll have to look at that again at some point I always thought the issue with lads in that age bracket was the growth spurt aspect. Isn't there something to do with the fact that physically and outwardly boys especially, grow rapidly in size and bulk, but there's some important bone structure in our ears connected closely with the balancing canal which doesn't grow at the equivalent rate and it causes temporary issues with balance and coordination? They have to be guided through this phase very carefully because they go from be stars to being virtually useless for a whole season, while the ear bone catches up with the growth rate and the coordination comes back. I witnessed it at Grays with a Leggie and he used get very upset about the situation, but the following year having been guided through it by the captain and his Dad he got his form back, but it's one of those things that could put a young Leggie off the art or even the game I reckon.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

One aspect of Tahir's bowling I didn't like was that he bowls too many googlies. Even in the test match, I could count atleast (if not more) one googly every over.

What I saw of the highlights and have seen before is just that, but in previous games it looked as though it worked well for him. In the highlights yesterday the slo-mo sequences showed a lot of scrambled seamed balls and they weren't spun that hard. Do you reckon this is initentional at this level or it was just that the ball wasn't coming out that well?

 

[macca]

Had a great morning at cricket. Sons team had a big win chasing a huge total with relative ease in the end.

Jimmy took 1/10 off 4 overs and once again avoided a bullet. Their best batsman had his turn at 12 th man but still my young bloke bowled really well to their other good batsman. He had a late cut into keepers gloves dropped with his 3rd ball but it was a hard chance. Lucky he got the same bloke out next over, this time caught by the keeper off an edged defense prod. In his 3rd over he had a sitter dropped at midwicket. So bit of bad luck there. At this stage he had 1/5 off 3 then he went for 5 in his last over. No boundaries again today.

So that makes his figures 18 overs 3 maidens 3/35. Still less than 2 an over!

He completely outbowled their legspinners today, they got thrashed, i watched them up close from boundary today and they just bowl too much rubbish in between their good stuff. Length all over the place too full, too short. I can throw a towel down on a good length and my bloke can land ball after ball, over after over on that cloth. Thats what you gotta do to get his figures against these good bats in the higher grades.

 

[macca]

Sounds like you almost hope he goes for a few in a game, .

Yeah its my way of innoculating against the day of the bad result that is coming.

 

[macca]

Yeah I remember you posting about that kid, It'll be good to watch though if he's on form, I wonder if he'll still be wearing the Grimmett attire?

Yeah i waited a fair while for him to bowl but when he did it took me a little bit to fully recognise him because his action has changed a fair bit.

I dunno, i wasn't impressed with him as much this time. To me it looked like he has been coached out of his roundarm. He wasn't bowling in his cap and his club uniform is short sleeved. Like i say it took me a bit to recognise him and be sure it was the same kid from oct 2009.

He bowled some really good stuff but not enough. Our guys really took to him and i noticed he didn't cope with it.

Their other legspinner is a bit like my young bloke with his action but he wasn't using his body enough and not enough follow through and grunt. Plus there was something peculiar about his wrist action that looked all wrong.

 

[macca]

Once again the coach gave my son the advantage of the breeze from backward point. Ideal legspin breeze around here. I told the coach how jimmys best ever bowling was against this same team 2 years ago. He told me he was already planning to bring jimmy on as soon as the big hitters came out to bat anyway.

It wasn't the easiest time to bowl because the two batsmen were settled and in a 50 plus partnership in the last 10 overs.

Anyway he had to bowl to a very good lefthander and their second biggest hitter, a right hander, Pugsly we call him. The lefthander played the legspin really well and even though jimmy slowed his scoring rate he was a good player of spin and used his feet well. Of the 10 runs scored in 4 overs this young bloke scored most of them. Only singles and two's though. He was cautious against the legspin and payed it due respect whereas he was disdainful of our fast attack and dispatched them to all parts, He ended up 60. Really pleased about how well jimmy handled the leftie and came round the wicket and didn't stray down his legs.

The right hander on the other hand was all at sea against jimmys legspin. No surprise he got out then the next fellow should have gone too except for a slip up by the mid wicket. Normally a safe pair hands but today he took a skier off my sons bowling but somehow dropped it in the end. Overall the catching was the weakest part of their play today and the coach told them he would be working on that this week.

For most of the game i didn't really think the team would win but in the end they chased down 5 an over that blew out to 7 an over at one stage, easily. And like last week our star batsman finished the game with a towering 6. This team they beat today is a good team but i was surprised how they have a lot more weak links in their team compared to ours. That was a big game in the context of the comp.

 

[macca]

Anyway he had to bowl to a very good lefthander and their second biggest hitter, a right hander .

Checking their online stats both these boys have actually played seniors grade 3 for their club. So that makes jimmys bowling to them even more impressive to my mind.

 

[macca]

Big game last saturday so the young bloke had a couple of days off but back into it and went and bowled a few at nets.

Dont do much nets these days but i like these ones because the crossbar lets me check on the flight. Overpitching a trifle but no short stuff so pretty good for 1st session after a game. Always gets better each session before saturday so good start.

This week they play one of the weaker sides so I dont expect he'll get much of a bowl and the coach will give some others a few overs. Only one bowler in the comp has more overs at the moment.

He plays his old coach from 4 years ago on sat. A top bloke and top cricketer/coach but not quite as good as his current coach. This guy bowls legspin i know but he must also think legspin too because he always, week after week, gives the legspinner the correct end, in terms of breeze.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Big game last saturday so the young bloke had a couple of days off but back into it and went and bowled a few at nets.

Dont do much nets these days but i like these ones because the crossbar lets me check on the flight. Overpitching a trifle but no short stuff so pretty good for 1st session after a game. Always gets better each session before saturday so good start.

This week they play one of the weaker sides so I dont expect he'll get much of a bowl and the coach will give some others a few overs. Only one bowler in the comp has more overs at the moment.

He plays his old coach from 4 years ago on sat. A top bloke and top cricketer/coach but not quite as good as his current coach. This guy bowls legspin i know but he must also think legspin too because he always, week after week, gives the legspinner the correct end, in terms of breeze.

Good to hear that he's still got the bug for it, do you have any days when he's not up for it and has he reached the age where he's due for a growth spurt that might upset his mojo and are you ready for it?