Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

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Bloomin' politics! I try and stay away from all that and bowl when I'm asked to.

Just the one wicket for me from 11 overs so far this season. I'm sure they will come, though, and I'm happy with economy (and so are the captains). I will update my figures once our club website is updated.
 
Darth Spin said:
Bloomin' politics! I try and stay away from all that and bowl when I'm asked to.

Just the one wicket for me from 11 overs so far this season. I'm sure they will come, though, and I'm happy with economy (and so are the captains). I will update my figures once our club website is updated.
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I do as well, but it's there, so I just have to work around it. These people have been with the club for years and are respected players, part of the job I guess?
 
I'm still riding my great run of form with my best ever bowling figures whilst playing this weekend for my school 2-0-2-4. I got three stumped and one bowled - being on a hat-trick twice. Whilst I was on a hat-trick, I had a slip, gully, silly mid-off, silly mid-on, leg gully, short mid-wicket, square leg, extra cover and point up close. Most of that was purely psychological but on one of the two occasions, a sharp chance did go to gully who dropped it. I also ran out a county batsman and they ended up all out for 47. All of this made up for the duck I had got in our innings ;)

I also played my first 30 over district match of the season and scored 30 on a tricky pitch. I then took two wickets for 15 runs off 6 overs whilst bowling at the death, but we narrowly lost the match. First wicket was caught at short extra cover off a top-spinner. The second was LBW having set the batsman up with a square leg break before throwing in the slider.

I'm starting to wonder whether this is just a great run of form or whether I have just improved a load over the winter??????
 
someblokecalleddave said:
No wrong un for me, I'm happy with the current variations, but it's good that you're getting together. Get your figures up and we'll compare.
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The politics of club cricket are ridiculous. I think most clubs have them. We have them at our club too. Lots of cliques and all that. The 2nd team is getting young bowlers selected for them at the moment and the captain isn't using them, which is killing their interest in the game. I wouldn't mind so much but they're not even winning their games.

At the moment, I'm playing for the 3rd team whilst I get my bowling right. Yesterday was another poor day at the office. I was playing at a very nice ground with a very flat and fast outfield. We only managed to post 174 (the captain put me in at 11 because he's keen to give some players a go who won't bowl - but it makes us much less competitive because I'm decent enough with the bat to come a lot lower). Their openers were about 80/0 when I came on and they went after me. I did request that I bowl at the end that would have seen me bowling into a decent headwind that was blowing slightly across to the legside. Basically, ideal wind direction, but the captain wanted me at the other end that also had a short off-side boundary. Not great when your captain knows sod all about legspin. Long story short, I went for about 30 off just 3 overs and then came off. I was bowling too short, which is not a problem I usually have. I still induced a few play and misses and nearly got a stumping, but the batters were well set and had no pressure on them at all. I'd give myself 6 our of 10, even though the figures suggest more like 1 out of 10. To be honest, if I'd have stayed on I think I could have taken a wicket and fixed my figures a fair bit, but the captain wanted to make a change.

I don't get downhearted about such things. Younger lads would do, but once you've been around a bit and you know how tough legspin is, it's water off a duck's back.

On the plus side, I took a very sharp slip catch (just wish the rest of the team could catch a ball!) and I bowled a very nice topspinner. Thinking back, the pitch was a touch slow and I should have bowled lots more topspinners with the leggie as the change up. But, that topspinner is coming on nicely and I've bowled a few googlys in the nets. I'd given up on that delivery, so it's great that I've finally managed to develop it.

It's interesting how you approach an innings in club cricket. I know I could bowl within myself at about 45mph, floating them up there and inducing errors from average batters. To me, that feels like a cop out. It's not proper legspin. I wanted to rip the ball as hard as I can and it's not easy to come on at the start of a spell and rip your first ball on a line and length. The thing is, the tone is set from the first ball. Bowl a very good ball first up and the batter knows he's facing a proper bowler. Bowl a stinker and the batter thinks "oh yeah, I'll fill my boots against this bowler". That's the dilemma you have. Try to bowl a genuine and decent hard spun legspinner and risk bowling something that gives the batter confidence for the chance of bowling a ripper that terrifies the batter or play it safe, make sure you hit a line and a length and not make a statement with the first ball.

For me, I bowl legspin because I want to rip the ball hard, get that drift, dip, turn and bounce. I don't want to bowl at 70%-80% and play it safe because I may as well bowl off-spin or some seam. That's why you can't worry about the bad bowling figures, when they come, because it's all or nothing.
 
loopylegspinner said:
I'm starting to wonder whether this is just a great run of form or whether I have just improved a load over the winter??????
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Best not to question and just go with it. It all sounds promising. When you get on top of the batters and get a psychological edge, it's great fun. So much about legspin is psychological. If you get the batters running scared it just spurs you on even more and the batters become negative and nervous.
 
Hey Dave, hello all. Been a while... Don't know if you've read my blog lately but by coincidence I've also been promoted to a captaincy role, looking after Stafford's new 5th XI on Saturdays. I know what Dave's saying about politics and those one or two individuals who "know better", that's as maybe but don't forget Dave - we work bloody hard all week getting a team together, we deserve a little bit of leeway on a Saturday!!! I think you need to make sure they don't start becoming de-facto captains as it'll make life a nightmare for you when you feel you've learned enough to make your own decisions. You need to make it clear it's just a transitional arrangement while you gain experience. I would say though that when there's a spinner bowling you'll probably have a better idea than anyone, I'm struggling with field changes for our seamers but when I bring our young off-spinner on I seem to have much firmer instincts.
 
Spiderlounge said:
Hey Dave, hello all. Been a while... Don't know if you've read my blog lately but by coincidence I've also been promoted to a captaincy role, looking after Stafford's new 5th XI on Saturdays. I know what Dave's saying about politics and those one or two individuals who "know better", that's as maybe but don't forget Dave - we work bloody hard all week getting a team together, we deserve a little bit of leeway on a Saturday!!! I think you need to make sure they don't start becoming de-facto captains as it'll make life a nightmare for you when you feel you've learned enough to make your own decisions. You need to make it clear it's just a transitional arrangement while you gain experience. I would say though that when there's a spinner bowling you'll probably have a better idea than anyone, I'm struggling with field changes for our seamers but when I bring our young off-spinner on I seem to have much firmer instincts.
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Alright mate, not seen you on here for a while! Yeah, I'm one of your followers as far as I know on your blog and have been waiting to see the update for last weekend! How did it go last weekend? With regards my situation at the moment I don't work that hard at it, I'm not a phone user or a texter and I think the club know that, the way I see it is - this kind of stuff used to come together without texting and phoning and did so for over 150 years, so as far as I'm concerned it can carry on in the traditional way e.g. if you say you're turning up then I'll see you there! Then if you don't turn up I've got a few people I can call if need be. To be honest our club selects Tuesday night, the names go up on the website and people over the next few days confirm or turn it down. I see everyone on Wed night nets and talk to people and the main selector, things get moved about and changed. Friday night kids nets and I'm there again along with a lot of the key people at the club, a few tweaks here and there and If I'm still a man or two down the main selector bloke gets on the phone and usually by the end of the night (so far) I have a team. If I'm stuck for a player my younger son Joe plays and if I'm at home there's two U15's that live in gaffs that back onto the pitch! So... so far it's been a doddle.

Generally I reckon most weeks things will be fine, my 'On field adviser' is a good bloke (off-spinner) and we consult, he doesn't make the decisions he says to me "What do you reckon to this"? Then goes on to explain why he thinks a change should be made. Bowling ideas, he suggests and then leaves it to me with regards who to bowl next and I'm okay with this aspect and quite confident with the decision. It goes slightly awry with the more forceful characters who kind of by their body language and what they say, make it patently clear that they don't like me, but for the most part they're sufferable and I don't expect them to be in this team that much.

I haven't got a clue as to whether I'll grow into the role, at the moment I don't mind it and I kind of feel like I might get to enjoy it. Most of the blokes in the team who've played cricket for years and years are really nice blokes and totally supportive, so things are good so far. A win would be nice though!
 
C Cleanprophet , are you not bowling too short because you're trying to rip it too hard from ball one? Maybe you'll have more joy trying to ease yourself into a spell.

I am coming across a new problem this season; batsmen are being defensive with me. With the amount of practice I've been doing I've become quite accurate and putting it on the spot in the first over. I am being treated with more respect and the batsmen are being way more patient and waiting for anything short or down leg side to put away for runs. One guy on Sunday was desperate to get off strike after I'd nearly bowled him with a wrong un and put down a c&b half chance. I swear he had nine lives. He was very complimentary afterwards, said i was the best bowler he'd faced. Anyway, i need to work past this and put together plans on how to get these defensive batsmen out on wickets with little bounce.
 
Darth Spin said:
C Cleanprophet , are you not bowling too short because you're trying to rip it too hard from ball one? Maybe you'll have more joy trying to ease yourself into a spell.

I am coming across a new problem this season; batsmen are being defensive with me. With the amount of practice I've been doing I've become quite accurate and putting it on the spot in the first over. I am being treated with more respect and the batsmen are being way more patient and waiting for anything short or down leg side to put away for runs. One guy on Sunday was desperate to get off strike after I'd nearly bowled him with a wrong un and put down a c&b half chance. I swear he had nine lives. He was very complimentary afterwards, said i was the best bowler he'd faced. Anyway, i need to work past this and put together plans on how to get these defensive batsmen out on wickets with little bounce.
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Bowl your stock ball get them committed to playing the defensive block and the throw up the biggun and get the edge or bring in the fielders right under his nose and mix your leg break up with your top spinner - that should do the trick?
 
Well so far it's been a little frustrating for me, we played our first game of the season against our own 4th team, then had two games abandoned because of rain and another game called off because the team we were playing couldn't find a team. We did play this weekend but I only had 10 players, 7 of whom I'd never seen play before. It's going to be a tough year for me but so far my players seem to be enjoying it and that's my main target.

My own bowling's suffered a little as the club have finally put a locked fence round the nets so I can't just pop down when the clubhouse is shut and practise like I used to, and I'm spending a lot of time in the evenings finding players so that's cut down my time when it is open. Given how inexperienced my team is I feel I need to pitch in myself more, but in home games our astro wicket is just a graveyard for me - too much bounce so I can't threaten the stumps off a good length, and the zooter I'd normally counter this with isn't coming out too well so far. Next week we're away so I should be more threatening on grass.
 
Darth Spin said:
C Cleanprophet , are you not bowling too short because you're trying to rip it too hard from ball one? Maybe you'll have more joy trying to ease yourself into a spell.
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You could be right. I don't usually try to rip it as hard as I can from the first ball, so it's quite likely that doing this is the reason I'd be dropping it short. I didn't want to ease into a spell because I wanted to be at the batter from ball one. However, I'm not quite there as a bowler, it would seem. So I may have to bowl at 80% or so and make sure I get some rhythm going. It's probably a case of doing that and gradually ripping it hard earlier and earlier in spells until I am doing it from the first over.

Incidently, I was bowling to a couple of batters 2 or 3 weeks ago who were blocking and playing very defensively. Going wide of the crease and really angling the ball into the batter works well because they find it difficult to leave the ball. In the last couple of weeks I have developed the topspinner and even have the googly going a little bit too. Going wide and angling it in, with the topspinner/googly in your armoury, is a very good line of attack against defensive batters.
 
Cleanprophet said:
You could be right. I don't usually try to rip it as hard as I can from the first ball, so it's quite likely that doing this is the reason I'd be dropping it short. I didn't want to ease into a spell because I wanted to be at the batter from ball one. However, I'm not quite there as a bowler, it would seem. So I may have to bowl at 80% or so and make sure I get some rhythm going. It's probably a case of doing that and gradually ripping it hard earlier and earlier in spells until I am doing it from the first over.

Incidently, I was bowling to a couple of batters 2 or 3 weeks ago who were blocking and playing very defensively. Going wide of the crease and really angling the ball into the batter works well because they find it difficult to leave the ball. In the last couple of weeks I have developed the topspinner and even have the googly going a little bit too. Going wide and angling it in, with the topspinner/googly in your armoury, is a very good line of attack against defensive batters.
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For me when I practice ball one is often a "find my bearings" delivery. I doubt any of us are quite at "ball of the century" level yet when it comes to opening a spell. At nets or practice it will take me a few deliveries until I can ramp up the revs and pivot quickly/confidently. It's the same in a match. Philpott also mentions not trying to bowl too quickly when opening a spell.

Yeah I need to be a touch more imaginative and use the crease and variations in pace a bit more. But what I was doing was bringing chances so I just kept going with stock leg breaks and the odd wrong un. I probably need to threaten the stumps more as the catches aren't sticking.
 
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someblokecalleddave said:
Bowl your stock ball get them committed to playing the defensive block and the throw up the biggun and get the edge or bring in the fielders right under his nose and mix your leg break up with your top spinner - that should do the trick?
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My top spinner isn't really reliable enough yet for a match so I go with the odd wrong un instead. With the leggie I rely on natural variation in flight and off the wicket. I will make a concious effort to mix up side spin and top spin more, though. I was quite close to bowling a right hander (Mr 9 Lives) around his legs on Sunday. I couldn't see how close as his leg was in the way but there were "oohs" and "ahs" from behind the stumps.

I should have bought the fielders in a bit possibly but again what I was doing was working, just the chances weren't sticking.
 
Darth Spin said:
My top spinner isn't really reliable enough yet for a match so I go with the odd wrong un instead. With the leggie I rely on natural variation in flight and off the wicket. I will make a concious effort to mix up side spin and top spin more, though. I was quite close to bowling a right hander (Mr 9 Lives) around his legs on Sunday. I couldn't see how close as his leg was in the way but there were "oohs" and "ahs" from behind the stumps.

I should have bought the fielders in a bit possibly but again what I was doing was working, just the chances weren't sticking.
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I kind of feel that you need to be a really accurate bowler that's able to bowl to their field in order to get blokes to come up and field around the bat. I've got a bloke in my team that'll do it, but as yet he hasn't done it when I'm bowling and he generally asks where I want him and I've never said 'Close in'. Maybe if I continue to bowl as I am and do so right from the outset he might consider it. But for the moment it's not something I'd ask people to do.
 
someblokecalleddave said:
I kind of feel that you need to be a really accurate bowler that's able to bowl to their field in order to get blokes to come up and field around the bat. I've got a bloke in my team that'll do it, but as yet he hasn't done it when I'm bowling and he generally asks where I want him and I've never said 'Close in'. Maybe if I continue to bowl as I am and do so right from the outset he might consider it. But for the moment it's not something I'd ask people to do.
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I've only ever had the privilege of crowding the batsman once - for one ball when I was on a hat-trick.

Maybe something more subtle would still have the desired effect, though? I always start with a long off and a long on, so perhaps bring them in 20 yards if the batsmen stay on the back foot? Or move cover or mid-wicket in just a few paces. Something to make the batsman think about the field instead of concentrating on the next ball.
 
Darth Spin said:
I've only ever had the privilege of crowding the batsman once - for one ball when I was on a hat-trick.

Maybe something more subtle would still have the desired effect, though? I always start with a long off and a long on, so perhaps bring them in 20 yards if the batsmen stay on the back foot? Or move cover or mid-wicket in just a few paces. Something to make the batsman think about the field instead of concentrating on the next ball.
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Yeah definitely bring the mid on and mid off up at the start, I think SLA advocates this - it kind of says...
(1). If you're going to hit it down the ground for 4, you need to go over the top.
(2). I don't think you're going to be able to.
 
Bring them up to mid on/off for sure. No easy single, forces them to be more aggressive. Good plan.

Midwicket coming a bit straighter (I think I read this in Ashley Mallett's Grimmett book) is another trick...opens a gap to midwickets right hand side, gets the batsman thinking across the line/against the spin.

Dunno if you have a bloke on the leg-side fence but if so and they aren't swinging, you can put him in at short cover (if only to open up the leg side boundary and have them thinking across the line again).

So long as you aren't putting yourself off more than the batsman!
 
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