Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

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Played 2 matches at the weekend. Got a call for the 1st XI on Saturday as they were 3 men short, and I am fairly well noted for my fielding now. I was down to bat at 10, but not required, and didn't need to bowl. I fielded really well, and we won easily on the most dangerous wicket I've ever seen (balls on a full length almost hitting our opening bat in the grille, and he is an exceptional batsman!). My fielding was noticed, and I think it might get me some more regular games in the 1's now. Would rather field in the 1's than play for the 2's. They are so negative and boring, and theres as little chance of me bowling or batting in that side as there is for the firsts, and the standard of cricket is higher for the 1's and just more fun.

Yesterday I played for the Sunday side. We only had 7 players due to a football 6-a-side tournament a few hundred yards up the road consuming many of the colts and parents, plus it being a bank holiday and half term. Fortunately the opposition only had 7 as well. So we had 2 batsmen, 2 umpires, a scorer, next batsman in, and the spare man fielding for the other side lol. For some reason we had the movable boundary in 15 yards, which in hindsight was stupid, especially for me.

We batted first, our 15 year old opener had a great knock and almost got to 50 before I went in at 5. Played my best ever innings for a mere 10 runs, but some lovely shots by my standard in there. I ended up bowled off my pads, a little unlucky, I just played down the wrong line to a straight ball, my technique needs work but its made huge improvements this month.

Then for the first time ever, I got my wish to open the bowling, first over no less!! And I got my choice of ends, AND I got to set my own field!!! I wish we had 7-a-side every week haha. The only problem was that for the wind to blow in from 3rd man to mid wicket (the desired direction for a leggie), I had to have the super short boundary on the leg side, which was always a recipe for disaster. In hindsight I wish I had ignored the wind (which wasn't actually strong enough to make a difference anyway by the time I bowled) and just had a tailwind and a monster boundary on the leg side (I was the only player in the match I think to hit the boundary on that side with a massive slog sweep to an offie).

Anyway, first over was brilliant. Dot first ball but a bit short. Second ball pitched on middle and leg, turned to middle and off, absolutely plum LBW shout, everyone knew it was out including the batsman. NOT OUT. "That was out wasn't it? You just couldn'y give it 2nd ball" was my response to the umpire. His reply was "yes". I took it on the chin and counted the wicket in my head, because it was, and as blatant and good an LBW as I could have possibly got (only the one I got midweek to the leftie could beat it!). The first over went for 2 runs, and should have read 1-2, but instead read 0-2.

2nd over, the other batsman had most of the strike, and he loved slogging to the leg side. I landed a couple outside leg stump to realise this (not intentionally, was aiming for leg-middle stump lines), one of which turned huge and gave me some confidence. I knew all I needed to do was land one on middle and leg on a length and he would probably swing at it. Next ball I landed the exact ball I wanted, but he didn't swing. He tried to defend it and it beat him with drift initially, landed on middle and leg, then beat him for turn and took middle and off stump clean bowled :D He came back in to umpire later and just said "well bowled, I couldn't even see it" haha. Thats what drift will do to you. Think I was about 1-8 after that over as I leaked a 4 learning that the batsman I bowled like to slog leg side. Can't remember exactly. I was pretty mad though as the batsman I had already got out LBW spooned a ball between point and cover, closer to point. The point fielder took about 10 mins to move, leaving it for the kid at cover who was never going to get there, and neither of them took the catch. It was a dolly for the man at point, he literally needed to move 4 steps to take it. Not happy. Should have been 3-8!!!!

3rd and 4th overs were rubbish, I had to field 4 balls in one over at 3rd man and I was knackered (bearing in mind there were only 8 men fielding, so I had to cover the entire behind-square region!), and it took me an over to get my breath and composure back, I need fitness training badly. The batsman I should have had out twice was just blocking all my good balls and scoring off the odd bad one. The new batsman in was a bit of a slogger and I couldn't land a good ball to him. Went for a few runs, think I was about 1-17 after 4 overs. It was agreed pre-match that everyone was getting 5 overs.

So I knew I was on my last over. They had a partnership forming (that should never have been allowed to begin, as I had one of them out 2nd ball), and I wanted a wicket. I bowled a fairly tight over, nothing horribly loose apart from a few byes that didn't count on my figures so I wasn't too fussed lol. I'm such a team player! 2nd to last ball I got my man out for a THIRD time, or so I thought. Caught at deep square leg on the boundary (the shortened boundary I must add). But the fielder stepped over, and then had the nerve to admit to it, idiot. I don't advocate cheating, but I'd had the guy out once already, so I deserved it. So I lost my wicket, and went for 6 runs to add insult to injury, and had the boundary been where it was supposed to be it was an easy wicket.

5-0-25-1 when it should have been at least 5-0-19-4, and the batsmen that followed were pretty awful, so I'd have most likely skittled the middle order! Kind of wish I had bowled first change instead lol, but that would have been a hollow victory. I had their 2nd best batsman out on the 3rd ball he faced off me. And their best batsmen (who went on to get past 50) out on his 2nd ball and not given, and then should have had him twice more!

Either way, my bowling has improved massively, and everyone is noticing it. Playing again tomorrow night in T20, so hopefully I might get to open the bowling again, and get myself the much elusive 5-for.
 
Jim2109 said:
We were talking at cricket the other week and someone said "apparently they say you have to bowl 10,000 deliveries as a leggie before you are even close to getting it right". I had heard Warne or someone say this as well, but I did some rough maths and I reckon I've bowled about 6,000-10,000 deliveries already, and I'm probably still another 5,000-10,000 from where I want to be!! Then I thought about why, and the reason is that you have to bowl 10,000 deliveries with near-perfect form to condition the body to have the consistency!! All those rank ones don't count, the counter doesn't even start until you get to a point where you are half decent!! I think I'm just about there now, so another 3 years and I might be where I want to be. So its probably more like 20,000+ deliveries for most people, which means 5 years+ of serious commitment to get good.
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The 10,000 thing is hours not deliveries, its taken from sociologist Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers'. 10,000 hours works out at roughly 3 hours a day for 10 years to become a master of your chosen sport/hobby/whatever.
 
Played a T20 game yesterday evening. Opened the bowling again. They had an Asian guy batting one end who was hitting the opening seamer for some massive 6's and looked pretty solid, and the guy at the other end was less aggressive but still played some shots. I was pretty close to being on the money from ball 1, but still went for 8 runs off the first over. Had an absolutely plum LBW shout turned down!! 2nd over was a bit looser and went for 8 runs again, but they were hitting more than that off the seamer at the other end. They were going at well over 10 an over at that point. I was beating the edge when pitching on the stumps, and hitting the pads when pitching outside leg, it was turning well and the batsmen just couldn't play the good balls at all.

The seamer at the other end got the Asian guy out and that slowed things down a little. My 3rd over was a maiden with every ball on the money, and another LBW shout turned down although it turned big enough that it probably was going to miss off stump. Had one ball drift so much from outside off stump that it hit the batsman on the full on his foot, and had his foot not made contact it would have drifted in enough to clean bowl him!!

4th over then only went for 2 runs, and we had got their run rate down to about 6.5 an over by then! This led to the middle overs being fairly unproductive, but they had a flurry at the end. But we chased down their 149 runs in about 16 overs and won easily for the loss of only 2 wickets. They were a bit lairy for a midweek friendly side, so it was good to stuff them.

My end figures were 4-1-18-0

No wickets, but I was so accurate and consistent that I really wasn't that fussed. Its only the 2nd time I've ever bowled a spell where I got everything right, the last time was at the start of last season in 1 match, and I was awful thereafter for ages. I've managed to string 3 solid performances together in a row now. One of my biggest critics was playing yesterday and when the captain said I was opening he apparently went up to him and said "James is opening the bowling, are you mad?", and my captain just said "yeh trust me, just wait and see", knowing what he had seen from me the past couple of games. And 18 runs from 4 overs whilst the trusted seamer at the other end went for 29 in the same spell proved his point :D
 
GoldenArm said:
The 10,000 thing is hours not deliveries, its taken from sociologist Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers'. 10,000 hours works out at roughly 3 hours a day for 10 years to become a master of your chosen sport/hobby/whatever.
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Perhaps Gladwell might be right? Definitely though the experience from baseball coaches 3000 pitches to change throwing mechanics. Relating to cricket -- really I think it's about putting out a numerical goal. Then making a habit to bowl each day to reach that number to change the mechanic before the next game in pre-season or prep for first game of the season.

5000-10000 is certainly not too much for a leg spinner who needs to work out release, wrist cock, finger work to integrate into new changes.

And remember -- this is generally with pure focus on one mechanical change.
 
GoldenArm said:
The 10,000 thing is hours not deliveries, its taken from sociologist Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers'. 10,000 hours works out at roughly 3 hours a day for 10 years to become a master of your chosen sport/hobby/whatever.
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On the basis that I bowl about six hours a week, one day I'll be the best 59-year-old leg-spinner you've ever seen...
 
This week, I have bowled every single day (since saturday). The more I bowl, the more I discover about my own bowling action, my own capabilities and limitations and am really humbled at the distance we have to go. Part of discovery being, in current state, I'm better off putting away the flipper (admittedly in its nascent stages) and the wrong un, because I don't really need them and to stress my shoulder over unnecessary acts at the beginning of the season is foolishness. In the entire session today, I resisted the temptation to bowl even one wrong un, and have only been experimenting with the combination of side=spin and overspin. The effects are subtle enough to leave batsmen thinking they made a mistake at the same time proving very productive. Have another extended session tomorrow (might bowl 20-25 overs).
 
Shameless plug here, but I've posted a new blog post, detailing my weekend (and how I managed to almost win a game with my much maligned batting!) I'm having a very good season (when I'm not crocked from dislocating fingers!) And I'm currently averaging 61 with the bat, and 13.7 with the ball! I've had a few not-outs this season, but batting at 9 (where I am at least 1 spot too low, if I may say so myself) it cannot be helped. Also took 4 wickets on Sunday, finally had a chance to get a decent spell together. The previous day, I'd bowled my first 22 balls in a row without conceding a run! Figures of 5-3-8-0 were always nice, shame we lost by 9 wickets!
 
shrek said:
This week, I have bowled every single day (since saturday). The more I bowl, the more I discover about my own bowling action, my own capabilities and limitations and am really humbled at the distance we have to go. Part of discovery being, in current state, I'm better off putting away the flipper (admittedly in its nascent stages) and the wrong un, because I don't really need them and to stress my shoulder over unnecessary acts at the beginning of the season is foolishness. In the entire session today, I resisted the temptation to bowl even one wrong un, and have only been experimenting with the combination of side=spin and overspin. The effects are subtle enough to leave batsmen thinking they made a mistake at the same time proving very productive. Have another extended session tomorrow (might bowl 20-25 overs).
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Yesterday's session was productive. Bowled for nearly 2.5 hours straight and by the end of it, wrist and shoulder were a little tired. But, I learnt an important lesson yesterday - during matches when I bowl a couple of bad balls or get hit, I tend to rush through both in terms of action and time between balls. I stand a much better chance at being able to string together a spell if I slow down the action, bowl at a slower pace (but never compromising on the revs ) and landing a couple before I get back to my normal pace
 
shrek said:
Yesterday's session was productive. Bowled for nearly 2.5 hours straight and by the end of it, wrist and shoulder were a little tired. But, I learnt an important lesson yesterday - during matches when I bowl a couple of bad balls or get hit, I tend to rush through both in terms of action and time between balls. I stand a much better chance at being able to string together a spell if I slow down the action, bowl at a slower pace (but never compromising on the revs ) and landing a couple before I get back to my normal pace
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solid effort, keep it up

I think bowling at a slower pace also makes it harder for the batsmen to hit the ball, especially at our level
 
I've only scanned quickly through the last 5 or 6 comments, but it sounds like you can already bowl a basic line and length and you've got an over-arm delivery. Therefore with that in place, you've now got to forget everything else and spin, spin spin! Leg-spin, forget finger spin and do as Jim says - at every opportunity flick the ball, an apple, orange, rubic's cube - anything from one hand to the other exploring the potential for the way it leaves the hand/3rd finger and then convert what you observe to your bowling. Go for the full 22 yards - forget bowling at 18 yards.
 
Had a good game yesterday. The first team played on the wicket on Saturday and my friend said the other team had an offie that was turning the ball huge and it was a great wicket for spin. Sure enough it was, and we bowled first. I came on 1st change at my end after 20 overs and they had scored about 130 runs already, and were going quickly. Number 3 and 4 batsmen in, their number 3 was about 40 and looked solid enough with some huge shots, and the number 4 was younger and looked more technical but probably a better batsman overall.

I landed on my line and length from the outset, bowling around off and middle stump, and sure enough it was turning huge. I was landing 1 or 2 not so great balls an over, generally either a full toss, a long hop, or a wide one outside off. The wide ones outside off were only singles though because the umpire was leniant on wides, and it was turning so big they just couldn't reach them lol. The long hops all went for 4 every time because the batsmen were very good at it, and the full tosses were a mixed bag.

Anyway, first over was ok, plenty of good signs but I think it went for 10 runs. I reeled it in after that up until the last over that went for 2 huge 6's, and about 16 runs. Final figures of 7-0-49-1, but half the runs came in the 1st and last overs, with the 1st over being because I was still getting loose, and the last over was 4 amazing wicket-taking balls that JUST missed out, and 2 excellent shots by the batsman.

My line and length was generally so consistent by my standards though. Generally only 1 bad ball per over on average, there were a few overs with no bad balls. I had 2 definite catches not taken at slip, because we had the oldest most incapacitated fielder there and he literally couldn't move (sideways or upwards), and there were edges fizzing past him on all sides, 2 100% catching chances, but about 5 others that a good fielder could have dived and taken or just reached for and taken. I was annoyed to say the least because I was yet again powerless to alter my own field even though I completely disagreed with 4 or 5 of the field placings.

Also, we only had 9 players, and 2 of them couldn't run at all. So I had no cover for runs, I wanted to go really aggressive because the pitch warranted it, but never got my wish. With the right field I bowled well enough to wipe out their middle order, in the end I only got their best batsman out with some brilliant thinking, even if I do say so myself.

He was playing me fairly comfortably most of the time, the odd ball would spit past his edge, but he obviously had a very good eye and was playing me quite late. Then he reverse swept me off a very good ball, it was a really nice shot I have to admit (I didn't admit that on the field though!), but he assumed it was a 4 and just stood there. The ball pretty much stopped a yard short of the boundary before either batsmen even realised it wasn't going, and they ended up scrambling 2 to much laughter from my teammates. Recognising my opportunity to wind the batsman up I chirped a comment along the lines of "you should have spent less time admiring your own shot, and more time running" with no humour in my voice whatsoever. I was 99.9% sure that next ball he would pre-meditate a charge down the pitch to drive me for 6, and I reckon he was good enough to do it. But I'm not that silly to pitch one up under his nose and allow it, I spent too many games indoor during the winter getting smashed like that. So I bowled the fastest full toss delivery I could muster with loads of overspin on it. And sure enough he charged me, the ball went past him at waist height with him looking all at sea, then dipped hard to clean bowl the base of middle stump. He looked a proper mug, and I imagine he was pretty angry walking off. I was just laughing, my teammates didn't believe that it was on purpose.

That was about the 3rd over of my spell, after that I just got better and better, but never had the field set to take the chances, I needed 2 slips, and eventually got 1 slip and a gully, but the slip still couldn't move, and gully was too wide and short.

My last 2 overs were the best by far. 2 singles and 4 dots in the 2nd to last. Every dot ball was either defended or edged. One ball that pitched outside leg and ripped the batsman padded away!!! I felt like Warnie haha. Then the last over they had a new batsman in who looked a proper rabbit, plus their number 3 who was past 50 by now and swinging hard. The number 3 was on strike and retained it all over!!I overheard them talking before my over though with the new bat coming in, and the set batsman said "hes turning it loads, but its slow enough to just watch and play", which got my back up, and as a result I bowled my best over with more pace and spin than before (with accuracy out the window, but my rhythm was so good that it didn't affect it anyway).

First ball edged for 2 I think. 2nd ball he played as late as is physically possible, I thought I had him bowled but he somehow got the shoulder of his bat to it and edged it away for a dot. 3rd ball was overpitched slightly and he smashed it for a monster 6 through square leg. 4th ball he tried to do the same but it was a cherry and it hit the toe of his bat and almost got through, would have been bowled. 5th ball he edge somewhere for another couple I think. And he finished with a huge driven 6 which was just a nice shot.

I thought I would get another over, and the rabbit ended up on strike. So I was excited about wicket number 2, and then wiping out their tail, only to get told as I walked to get the ball that my spell was done. I pleaded for one more but to no avail :(

I had to leave early so I opened the batting, and got out for 1 to a ball that pitched 8-10" outside off and hit middle stump. The pitch was a joke at one end (not the end I was bowling to unfortunately though lol), the bowler was a dead straight dibbly dobbly, no swing, no spin, nothing at all. The pitch just spat it sideways. I faced 5 balls I think, and not one of them behaved. 2 kept low, 2 popped up, 1 spat sideways for the wicket. I'm glad I'm a bowler!!!
 
P.S. My rhythm was so good that even all my variations were working yesterday!!!!

My stock ball now is a backspun leg break because it turns with the most consistency. I was also throwing in the odd fully sidespun delivery. I bowled a few overspun leg breaks as well, one of which spat up off a length and turned big going through above waist height with bounce.

2 top spinners came out nicely, plus a deliverate overspun full toss to get the wicket. My 1 attempted zooter/OBS didn't come out quite right, it skidded on but the seam was scrambled.

The most impressive deliveries though were the off spinning flippers!! I landed 3, absolutely on the money, 6" outside off stump that turned back in nicely. Unfortunately they all bounced too much and went over the stumps, and one was too wide to turn back enough. Both batsmen were completely done by them, and it definitely had them worried when they saw the ball turn the other way!!

Next time I will use one earlier in my spell as I saved them til a bit later. I only used them after 2 or 3 good leg breaks to set the batsman up, which is rare for me because I'm never normally this consistent. Simply throwing up variations when you're not landing good leg breaks doesn't tend to work because batsmen are assuming every ball is going to be a bad one and go straight on. Yesterday 90% of the balls turned huge so the stage was perfectly set, and it almost came off.
 
Had a good game yesterday as a captain of the team, but nothing spectacular as a player - On a day with fog on the ground and then some rain, I opened the innings. we were 4/2 in second over, but I managed to hang around until 10th over getting 14(23) and got out when the team score was on 25. We rebuilt to 150 in 40 overs and then our seamers tore into the other batting line up getting 60-7 or so. I bowled the 20th over - started off with two short wides outside off, third ball was a beautiful legbreak that lured batsman out and got a stumping, but the leg umpire (provided by the batting team) denied me the wicket. Next ball a waist high full toss, hit straight to the throat of deep square leg fielder - caught. I then bowled terrible long hops which the batsman couldn't hit, and another waist high full toss, that was dipatched to boundary for 4 and a good length ball pushed to cover which was misfielded for a single. 1-0-7-1, and I didn't bowl again in the innings - we won by 34 runs as our seamers came back to finish them off for 116.

Now, coming to my problem- I have decent control over line and length, but only after getting into some rhythm- The first few balls, be it practice or match are generally rubbish. I have been practicing long and hard, but generally the start of each spell has been terrible. If I can get through the first 1-2 overs without giving away too many runs, I know that I will be able to string together a good wicket taking spell, each time. Any suggestions on how to improve on that ?
 
shrek said:
Had a good game yesterday as a captain of the team, but nothing spectacular as a player - On a day with fog on the ground and then some rain, I opened the innings. we were 4/2 in second over, but I managed to hang around until 10th over getting 14(23) and got out when the team score was on 25. We rebuilt to 150 in 40 overs and then our seamers tore into the other batting line up getting 60-7 or so. I bowled the 20th over - started off with two short wides outside off, third ball was a beautiful legbreak that lured batsman out and got a stumping, but the leg umpire (provided by the batting team) denied me the wicket. Next ball a waist high full toss, hit straight to the throat of deep square leg fielder - caught. I then bowled terrible long hops which the batsman couldn't hit, and another waist high full toss, that was dipatched to boundary for 4 and a good length ball pushed to cover which was misfielded for a single. 1-0-7-1, and I didn't bowl again in the innings - we won by 34 runs as our seamers came back to finish them off for 116.

Now, coming to my problem- I have decent control over line and length, but only after getting into some rhythm- The first few balls, be it practice or match are generally rubbish. I have been practicing long and hard, but generally the start of each spell has been terrible. If I can get through the first 1-2 overs without giving away too many runs, I know that I will be able to string together a good wicket taking spell, each time. Any suggestions on how to improve on that ?
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Have a bowl in the outfield before you play - get a bit loosened up, I reckon that works okay for me.
 
someblokecalleddave said:
Have a bowl in the outfield before you play - get a bit loosened up, I reckon that works okay for me.
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I bowl a couple before I run up to the crease, but it's taking me about 10-12 balls before my arm gets going properly. And I actually bowl a few overs before entering the field, but by the time I come on to bowl, usually half way stage in the innings, I would've lost all feeling of rhythm and sense of where my arm is, when I'm bowling - which translates to rubbish output.
 
shrek said:
I bowl a couple before I run up to the crease, but it's taking me about 10-12 balls before my arm gets going properly. And I actually bowl a few overs before entering the field, but by the time I come on to bowl, usually half way stage in the innings, I would've lost all feeling of rhythm and sense of where my arm is, when I'm bowling - which translates to rubbish output.
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Yeah it's not easy, I usually bowl a fairly ropey over 1st up, 2nd one sees and improvement and so on if I don't get smacked everywhere.
 
chippyben said:
Maybe rolling it off the spinning finger but giving it a big flick with the wrist isnt such a bad thing. It has been working well the last couple of times Ive bowled, like I said before less involvement from the spinning finger seems to free up my wrist and I was getting as much turn and bounce as I have ever got when it was working. Its strange though not involving the spinning finger as much and seeing it turn so much.
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I've just had one of those weird practice sessions where you change something and it all comes together for a brief while and you're turning the ball at 45 degrees. All I did was relax the grip and give it a flick using the wrist as you've said and not focussing too much on the finger, but then I added a new aspect that I've never done before...... I watched the ball out of the hand focussing on making sure the seam presentation was absolutely perfect and bingo! Ball after ball was turning like Shane Warnes ball of the century off of a newly rolled paddock wicket that is pretty flat. Strangely even though I was looking at my hand I was still able to bowl a good line and length. See my main blog for details. http://www.mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/

The hope is if I get out there again tomorrow night I'll be able to replicate the same stuff.
 
Are any of you following the India tour of West Indies series? Amit Mishra was simply awesome in the second ODI match. He picked up 4-31 in his ten overs with big spin and incredible accuracy. He has an excellent leg break and a googly that is very hard to pick. He also bowls the topspinner and slider(front of the hand type). I think he is the best leg spinner in the world now.

He has a good bowling action. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1330741171573843315#
 
Kiran Rajkumar said:
Are any of you following the India tour of West Indies series? Amit Mishra was simply awesome in the second ODI match. He picked up 4-31 in his ten overs with big spin and incredible accuracy. He has an excellent leg break and a googly that is very hard to pick. He also bowls the topspinner and slider(front of the hand type). I think he is the best leg spinner in the world now.

He has a good bowling action. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1330741171573843315#
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I'll have to check him out on online cricket tv if they've got it on there.
 
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