Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

Thanks Dave, its a while since I watched the clip and has given me an idea for a session tomorrow morning when I have a young leggie as part of the group. I think its more likely you are over thinking with empty stumps rather than under but whatever it is, if it isn't working change something (even if its bringing an old pair of shoes along to represent the batters feet)
 
Run up and bowl with eyes closed to encourage the feeling of a repeatable action

https://www.metarasa.com/cricket/spin/coaching-spin-bowling/

From wikipedia - this...

  • Balance: lack of balance in the approach translates into lack of balance in the later stages of the action and so absence of accuracy.
  • Consistency: a consistent approach allows the later phases of the bowling action to be consistent. Moreover, inconsistency is likely to lead to bowling no-balls.

Could this be part of the reason why this is working for me - the only way I'm going to close my eyes 4 steps or so from the bound, is if my balance is 100% - maybe because I have got my eyes closed, I'm being forced to run in, bound and explode through the action with my balance being 100% or thereabouts, thus all the other aspects are then coming together producing a far better outcome than with my eyes open (At the moment)?
 
Run up and bowl with eyes closed to encourage the feeling of a repeatable action

https://www.metarasa.com/cricket/spin/coaching-spin-bowling/

From wikipedia - this...

  • Balance: lack of balance in the approach translates into lack of balance in the later stages of the action and so absence of accuracy.
  • Consistency: a consistent approach allows the later phases of the bowling action to be consistent. Moreover, inconsistency is likely to lead to bowling no-balls.
Could this be part of the reason why this is working for me - the only way I'm going to close my eyes 4 steps or so from the bound, is if my balance is 100% - maybe because I have got my eyes closed, I'm being forced to run in, bound and explode through the action with my balance being 100% or thereabouts, thus all the other aspects are then coming together producing a far better outcome than with my eyes open (At the moment)?


Definately something in doin some time practising with eyes closed.

Remember how Grimmett was into it and used to wear a blindfold to show how he could bowl blind and still land on the spot. He even used to bat with a blindfold, in coaching mode.
 
Definately something in doin some time practising with eyes closed.

Remember how Grimmett was into it and used to wear a blindfold to show how he could bowl blind and still land on the spot. He even used to bat with a blindfold, in coaching mode.

Your recall of all that Grimmett stuff is amazing Macca, I'd have to read the books 5 or 6 times over, to get anywhere near your level of recall!
 
Your recall of all that Grimmett stuff is amazing Macca, I'd have to read the books 5 or 6 times over, to get anywhere near your level of recall!

Grimmetts blindfold isn't in his books.

Mallett wrote about it in his grimmett bio "Scarlet" and Keith Stackpole tells the story of how he went to his first legspin lesson from Grimmett, paid for by a former Prime Minister no less, and Grimmett puts on his blinfold and straightup bowls a beautiful legbreak that hits top of off and turns around to Stackplole and says "There you are son, that's what you need to be able to do". Grimmett was in his late 60's at the time and it was mid winter in Adelaide.

Mallett says somewhere how he wasn't sure just how much Grimmett could actually see with the so called 'blindfold'. Because Grimmett loved to don the blindfold and bat against a young bowler to prove some point. He got mallett to bowl his very first ball at him during his first lesson and pulled him up and said " No, no thats no good you're too predictable, you might have to give it up son"

Mallett protested how could he tell from only one ball he was predictable Then Grimmett put on the blindfold and played the next ball from mallett straight off the middle of the bat and says "There you are son, like i told you. too predictable"
Then he starts to to teach mallett his first lesson which was to get the ball just above the bowlers eyeline with the emphasis on "just".
 
I wont be on here much over the coming week or so, my younger lad - Joe (10) has been mown down by a car in an accident (Friday) and is in bad way - his right leg has been smashed - both tibia and fibia smashed in half - bones sticking out and all sorts. At the moment he's got another op tomorrow and hopefully after that with no complications he'll be on a long road to recovery.
 
I wont be on here much over the coming week or so, my younger lad - Joe (10) has been mown down by a car in an accident (Friday) and is in bad way - his right leg has been smashed - both tibia and fibia smashed in half - bones sticking out and all sorts. At the moment he's got another op tomorrow and hopefully after that with no complications he'll be on a long road to recovery.

So sorry to hear that news Dave. I hope Joe isn't suffering too much. It's just not fair. Poor little fellow. Be strong old mate and dont worry about replying if you get around to reading this.
 
Dave, can only echo Macca's post, sorry to hear your news and hopefully the op went well. Best wishes to you, Ben and most of all Joe.
 
I wont be on here much over the coming week or so, my younger lad - Joe (10) has been mown down by a car in an accident (Friday) and is in bad way - his right leg has been smashed - both tibia and fibia smashed in half - bones sticking out and all sorts. At the moment he's got another op tomorrow and hopefully after that with no complications he'll be on a long road to recovery.
Terrible to hear, hope he recovers well!

My leggie ends up sliding on or if anything turning into a bit of a googly - I know its because I roll my wrist over too much, but can anyone help me stop doing this?

(I'm a pacer actually - 120kph-ish at 17 - but I'm always interested in bettering my game in other spheres)
 
Highly recommend picking up the new Wisden Almanack, there is an article by Jarrod Kimber called 'Not Picking The Wrong Un' about Australian spin and specifically a precociously talented but unfortunate leg spinner called Craig Howard, its a heart breaking tale of what could have been, well worth a read.
 
I haven't posted on here in while but I have been trying to keep up with reading everything on the thread. First off, I really hope Joe's operation went well and he's feeling better. That's an awful thing to happen to anyone but at ten it must be especially tough for him.

I haven't bowled much since I started last summer, and since I got back into it recently it hasn't been going all that well. I'd been walking through the delivery stride last year, and when introduced a bound into the stride I felt like I could get much more power as well as spin on the ball. The problem was that, although it seemed to work well the first few times I tried it, over the next few days it got steadily worse, until I was spraying most balls all over the place, down leg, over the wicketkeeper, or dragging them down outside off towards third man. So for now I've gotten rid of the bound and am back to a three step walking delivery. I'm much more accurate bowling this way, but how long should I wait before I start trying to bring the bound back?

Also, I made an interesting change to my grip today. I had noticed that, when spinning the ball to myself at home, I could get a bigger rip off the third finger and a lot more revs on the ball than when I was actually bowling. As I was spinning the ball to myself, I noticed that I was using my little finger quite a bit, but when I bowled it felt like I wasn't getting enough purchase on either the third or little fingers. So when I bowled today, I moved my little finger from beside/underneath my third finger, to on top of the third finger, so that it's actually resting on or wrapped around the first knuckle. And it seemed to work really well. It made sure that the little finger isn't the last in contact with the ball, so it wasn't messing with the spin or the seam position, and it acted as a brace for the third finger, and suddenly I was getting a ridiculous amount of revs on the ball. Has anyone else thought about what their little finger is doing when you're bowling? It seems to be something of a neglected digit, but it gave me a great deal more spin as well as a little more accuracy and more consistency, even though it's the only finger not touching the ball! It's only been one day, of course, so I'll have to see if it still works later this week, but I'd be interested to know what you all think.
 
Bowled a couple more times this week, still tucking the little finger behind/on top of/around the spin finger. Still seems to be working, getting more spin and more accuracy as well (which I find a little odd). So might be worth a go if anyone has time to try it.
 
Terrible to hear, hope he recovers well!

My leggie ends up sliding on or if anything turning into a bit of a googly - I know its because I roll my wrist over too much, but can anyone help me stop doing this?

(I'm a pacer actually - 120kph-ish at 17 - but I'm always interested in bettering my game in other spheres)

Ah! Pace bowler I just asked the question elsewhere about what you do! Yeah the lads doing well, in good spirits and slowly getting better, the long term prospects are good as far as we can tell and from what we're being told. Have a look at my blog see the link below mpafirsteleven - there's images on there now and a diary about his road to recovery. Good to have you on here and if you are interested in spin bowling at all on top of your pace bowling there's plenty to discuss on here.
 
First friendly yesterday, we gave everyone a bowl so limited overs per person. I got 1-8 off 3 overs. The one wicket was bowled off the inside edge from an undercutter that just went straight on. Had 2 thin nicks go straight past our keeper as well, although it would be a bit harsh to blame him as he's a part-timer. Only a couple of loose balls, both of which were fortunately hit straight to the man on the boundary. We ended up winning both games - it was an odd format, because of the impending rain, rather than a 40 over game we played a 20-20 and then a 15-15, but because everyone had been expecting a 40 over warm up for the season everyone just played at 40 over pace until the final couple of overs of each innings (ie sensible batting, 4/5 runs an over, relatively attacking fields). In the first game We scored 105-8, they scored 60 odd for 9, then in the 2nd game they scored 84 and we chased it down with an over and 2 wickets to spare. It wasn't the nicest pitch to bat on as you can probably see.
 
my leg spin video. Tell me what you think, will be another video soon :)


We probably need better footage of your bowling but for a start i would like to see you try and get a little more round arm.

Its a bit over the top at the moment but then again you might be one of those types of higher arm action legspinners anyway.

It would be good to see some clips of your bowling in the nets or practise pitch.
 
We probably need better footage of your bowling but for a start i would like to see you try and get a little more round arm.

Its a bit over the top at the moment but then again you might be one of those types of higher arm action legspinners anyway.

It would be good to see some clips of your bowling in the nets or practise pitch.

I'm with Macca - more footage and you've promised more, so we'll wait and see what you come up with - work on the over rotation in the next video.
 
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