release it a bit later?
Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)
- Thread starter Richard the Third
- Start date
Spiderlounge
Member
Haha! Poirot would have made an amazing spinner, for he has the little grey cells... 
If you're bowling full tosses why not just aim a little shorter? I probably do with my back-spinner but I do it so instinctively now I don't even notice.
If you're bowling full tosses why not just aim a little shorter? I probably do with my back-spinner but I do it so instinctively now I don't even notice.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Yeah just practice more with it.
Spiderlounge
Member
I think my captain is trying to give me an aneurysm. He called me on to bowl my first over of the season on Saturday, against a guy with a huge bat who was spanking everyone to all parts. I bowled a couple of reasonable if very slightly (VERY slightly) loose balls to start with and the batsman hit out - 6, 6, 6 off my first three balls, but each only about 5 metres beyond the fielders on the boundary - then I found my length and rhythm, had him baffled by the 4th ball and nearly found an edge off my 5th ball, they just about managed a single off the last ball - and the captain took me off. I was so bloody furious that when he brought me back on later I still couldn't concentrate and bowled a load of filth. 3 overs, none for 54 when if he'd just left me on as I was I think it would have been more like 3 for 30, even with the 19 start. I am so bloody furious, technically it's probably the best opening over of a spell I've bowled and the batsman just connected. If it had been 4, 4, 4, dot, dot, 1 I could have understood it, because that's risk-free runs, but... Should have had a couple of stumpings later on too, but that's another story. Then on Sunday I would have had a nailed-on catching chance, if only the mid-off I'd positioned on the boundary fence had actually STAYED on the boundary fence. The ball actually hit the boundary fence for 6, so a pretty bloody frustrating weekend all round. 6 overs, 70+ runs conceded and no wickets when I should have had at least two or three. GRRR 
macca
Active Member
That sounds like something Arthur Mailey would have penned. Love your work Spiderlounge. I always get a laugh from your pencilcricket.blogspot.com
Bit unlucky really. I mean going on what you wrote you could have got 6/50 off your half dozen overs if things had gone completely your way on the weekend.
I think your skipper blew it by not keeping you on after your first over. I dunno how the game was going but i would almost bet my house you would have gotten that bloke with the big bat out caught if you kept at him after the initial over.
I think my captain is trying to give me an aneurysm. He called me on to bowl my first over of the season on Saturday, against a guy with a huge bat who was spanking everyone to all parts. I bowled a couple of reasonable if very slightly (VERY slightly) loose balls to start with and the batsman hit out - 6, 6, 6 off my first three balls, but each only about 5 metres beyond the fielders on the boundary - then I found my length and rhythm, had him baffled by the 4th ball and nearly found an edge off my 5th ball, they just about managed a single off the last ball - and the captain took me off. I was so bloody furious that when he brought me back on later I still couldn't concentrate and bowled a load of filth. 3 overs, none for 54 when if he'd just left me on as I was I think it would have been more like 3 for 30, even with the 19 start. I am so bloody furious, technically it's probably the best opening over of a spell I've bowled and the batsman just connected. If it had been 4, 4, 4, dot, dot, 1 I could have understood it, because that's risk-free runs, but... Should have had a couple of stumpings later on too, but that's another story. Then on Sunday I would have had a nailed-on catching chance, if only the mid-off I'd positioned on the boundary fence had actually STAYED on the boundary fence. The ball actually hit the boundary fence for 6, so a pretty bloody frustrating weekend all round. 6 overs, 70+ runs conceded and no wickets when I should have had at least two or three. GRRR
I love it when that happens. You say "keep your foot on the rope", you work hard to sucker the batsman to hit it straight up in the air, and then you look round and your fielder has wondered ten yards in. Why? Who knows. maybe he was lonely.
He starts backpeddling frantically, but too late, the ball bounces 3 foot in front of the rope and goes over for 4.
Actually, I'm one of the boundary riders myself (a successful one so far), so I feel the need to defend some of my brethren. You see, we are used to the loneliness of a distance runner- but what we are not used to is decoding the priority order between bowler and the captain.
From the boundary, we mostly look at the captain for guidance - he places the field etc, now the bowler sometimes makes changes, but mostly as soon as a spinner comes on - the captain picks one and says "hey, XYZ you can run and catch well, so go to long on".
Now here's the problem: The term long on is specific enough to require a skilled fielder, yet general enough that it can vary for almost 15-20 yards in each direction. For an offspinner, the long on tends to be wider, for a leg spinner it tends to be straighter.
For a legspinner who uses a lot of overspin, the long on has to be deeper (batsmen tend to hit through the line if they don't get to the pitch), for a legspinner who really puts a lot of sidespin, long on has to be 10 yards in (as soon as ball dips, batsman panics, slogs and the heave causes the ball to shoot straight up and wont carry to the boundary). Of course, not all fielders realize this, but what we do understand is this : if there are 2 overs in which bowler has bowled absolutely everything (including long-hops ), except for a floated ball on the middle stump inviting the lofted attempt at 6, perhaps the bowler doesn't intend to "induce" the mishit. Added to that- he has only been told " go to long on boundary" so, he loses his spot - either wanders wide because he has been chasing the slogs to midwicket, or comes in, if he has been cutting off singles driven to mid on. Sometimes, the fielders also come in if there have been a few chips which float to 45-50 yards, but go to the fielder on first bounce- bloody teasers such hits are.
On the other hand, if the player has been specifically placed at point X, I am guessing the bowler is skilled enough to know the exact setup and when it will come. So, it is the bowler's/ captains' responsibility to check the fielder at the start of every over. Just a cursory glance to your important positions will do.
I found the village grounds in England so small that there was no excuse for not being on the boundary. The grounds we played on this season in Australia though are huge, (Our ground is the same size as the MCG) and then judgement comes into it. Mostly being on the boundry is too far back and it comes down to each individual batsman. Another factor on big grounds is not getting milked for singles but 2's if the man is too far back.
We found this in T20s when we had men back on the boundary thinking a single per ball or 6 an over was ok but found them getting 2's
We found this in T20s when we had men back on the boundary thinking a single per ball or 6 an over was ok but found them getting 2's
very true - (I thought I talked about the size of ground, but missed it in my rant
) The ground we play on has a good 75m on each side to the boundary. Might not be big by international standards, but certainly is for club cricketers. And most of the time, the catches are taken a good 10-15m in from the boundary rope.
Spiderlounge
Member
It was about 120 for 1 after 18 overs (out of 40) when I came on to bowl. I think I was entitled to think it was "buy a wicket and don't haggle" time...
macca
Active Member
You almost did buy a few wickets eh? Missed stumpings and balls hit in the air, fieldsman going walkabout.
You will have to tell us more about your captain as the season goes on. He sounds like he might be good for a few laughs. I might have said something to him like, you know......
"I dont normally do opening one over spells as part of my act. I had big bat all set up to get him in my next over when you lost your bottle and took me off, by the way next time we play them bring a tape measure and check the size of that f****ing bat he's got"
Spiderlounge
Member
Yeah, I think I said as much to him at the time! I'm hoping to educate him as the season goes on. He's a batsman, and a nice guy who's prepared to listen to be fair to him, but last year I was captained by his brother, a seam-up bowler, who was every bit as naive when it came to captaining spin...
GoldenArm
Member
Just catching up on the cricket highlights from today's play and watching them analyse Graeme Swann's bowling. They're focusing on the ball he bowled to Darren Bravo which was a right beauty, a near perfect example of a classic arm ball. Yet they are calling it a slider. Why are they doing that?! Its not like its an undercutter of his own invention or anything like that, its a proper text book arm ball like the one demonstrated here:
I really hate the way professional commentators fuel the fires of confusion when it comes to spin bowling, surely they must know its an arm ball!
I really hate the way professional commentators fuel the fires of confusion when it comes to spin bowling, surely they must know its an arm ball!
Had an interesting opening two league games, a 30 run loss where we collapsed chasing 110, and an easy 10 wicket win. Bowling wise, I had a mixed bag, in total I got 10 overs, 2-37 across the 2 games, but it was really 1 bad over where I completely lost my rhythm and went for 17 that spoiled the figures. Other than that I bowled ok. Was pleased with my last ball - we needed 1 more wicket to wrap it up and I pitched my wrongun up outside offstump, the guy aimed a big drive at it and it spun back through his gate and knocked back off. Just need to get some overs under my belt at this point after all the games that have been rained off.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Yeah I saw that, and I had the same thought, but then to be honest I wouldn't have a clue what an arm ball is other than the fact that it goes straight on and I thought this was done with top spin, whereas the ball you describe was spinning, but he appeared to have angled the axis so that the ball could have landed on the smooth surface rather than the seam. So in a way it is some kind of 'Slider'?
GoldenArm
Member
the
the arm ball is a very definite delivery bowled in a very specific way, just watch that cloverdale video and they show you exactly how to do it. its all about the angle of the seam.
the arm ball is a very definite delivery bowled in a very specific way, just watch that cloverdale video and they show you exactly how to do it. its all about the angle of the seam.
I tried a few arm balls for a bit of a laugh tonight and was surprised to get quite a few of them to swing away nicely.
Spiderlounge
Member
I wasn't laughing much at the weekend. We were doing a warm-up and had moved on to high catches, and I was in the process of trying to catch a ball when the skipper started giving me instructions, which was just enough to distract me resulting in a dislocated little finger on my right hand. Had to miss Saturday and Sunday's games, and don't know when the swelling will go down enough to play again, some say it should be fine next week, others that it may take up to three weeks. Really not impressed.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
I think my captain is trying to give me an aneurysm. He called me on to bowl my first over of the season on Saturday, against a guy with a huge bat who was spanking everyone to all parts. I bowled a couple of reasonable if very slightly (VERY slightly) loose balls to start with and the batsman hit out - 6, 6, 6 off my first three balls, but each only about 5 metres beyond the fielders on the boundary - then I found my length and rhythm, had him baffled by the 4th ball and nearly found an edge off my 5th ball, they just about managed a single off the last ball - and the captain took me off. I was so bloody furious that when he brought me back on later I still couldn't concentrate and bowled a load of filth. 3 overs, none for 54 when if he'd just left me on as I was I think it would have been more like 3 for 30, even with the 19 start. I am so bloody furious, technically it's probably the best opening over of a spell I've bowled and the batsman just connected. If it had been 4, 4, 4, dot, dot, 1 I could have understood it, because that's risk-free runs, but... Should have had a couple of stumpings later on too, but that's another story. Then on Sunday I would have had a nailed-on catching chance, if only the mid-off I'd positioned on the boundary fence had actually STAYED on the boundary fence. The ball actually hit the boundary fence for 6, so a pretty bloody frustrating weekend all round. 6 overs, 70+ runs conceded and no wickets when I should have had at least two or three. GRRR
Eeek 18 an over. You must have the constitution of an Ox. That would have finished me off for the season! It got better though - 70 odd off of 6 overs, that's 11 or something, that just slightly worse than my worse figures, but I still went crawling back into my shell for the best part of 3 months only to bowl with confidence in August as I recall. Well, least your getting a game, I and most of our club have yet to play a game! Shame is I'm spinning the ball far better than I have done!