Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

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Yeah its funny how everyone's biomechanics all differ to give the same result.

I think of myself as chest on because that's where I know I want to finish after the ball leaves my hand - shoulders parallel to the wicket. If I set up to bowl with the more classical style (feet in a T shape and body open like a baseball pitcher ) then I struggle to control direction so all my mental cues are based around turning up to the crease with everything aligned towards the batsman.
 
I manage to get noticeable drift on both my leggies and offies but I genuinely could not explain how.

One thing I have noticed is a bit of top spin and dip definitely helps with drift.

I’ve been having a lot of luck drifting my off spinners away from a right hander. I’ll bring a few back in and then bowl an under cutter that drifts out a bit the same as my off break but doesn’t turn and seems to catch the outside edge really well.
 
It looks like I'm to go into the season with the full package this year. I've been working on the Top-Spinner for months now and have finally settled on a conventional grip and all it takes is a slight re-allignment of the wrist angle and it comes out really nice. It's very effective when bowled in a series of leg-breaks where the batter has got it into their mind that the next ball is going to be the same style leg-break either just on leg-stump or outside off. But in addition to that, the last couple of sessions I've just looked to rotate the wrist just that bit more and I'm bowling a very decent wrong-un seemingly with total ease. Those combined with the Flipper - who knows how I'm to go this season!
 
SomeblokecalledDave. said:
It looks like I'm to go into the season with the full package this year. I've been working on the Top-Spinner for months now and have finally settled on a conventional grip and all it takes is a slight re-allignment of the wrist angle and it comes out really nice. It's very effective when bowled in a series of leg-breaks where the batter has got it into their mind that the next ball is going to be the same style leg-break either just on leg-stump or outside off. But in addition to that, the last couple of sessions I've just looked to rotate the wrist just that bit more and I'm bowling a very decent wrong-un seemingly with total ease. Those combined with the Flipper - who knows how I'm to go this season!
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The top spinner is so easy and subtle to bowl but it works so well
 
Here’s an interesting (and very important) one:

What visual cues do you often pick up on and use against the batsman?

I consider this a huge part of how I bowl spin. If I’m tying a batsman down and I notice him getting angry which often causes them to either:

Tap the bat harder, put their weight further forward or a harder grip with their bottom hand it usually means they’re either going to charge me or they’re thinking about it. So I loop up a slower, shorter delivery to make them think they can run down the wicket and smash me over mid on. But because it’s actually shorter they usually get in a whole lot of trouble.

Usually pretty subtle cues but I find I naturally adjust to them.
 
good question, and while I definitely get a feeling that I'm about to get charged, I'm not sure what the cue is, and I don't normally react to it in time if I'm bowling wristpin - if I'm bowling SLA, I'll send it wide, but my action for wristspin seems a lot more "grooved". Thinking about it, I think most batsmen sashay down the wicket by taking a big stride forward with their rear leg, so it would make sense that a premeditated shift of weight onto the front foot is a bit of a tell.
 
Fleetwood said:
good question, and while I definitely get a feeling that I'm about to get charged, I'm not sure what the cue is, and I don't normally react to it in time if I'm bowling wristpin - if I'm bowling SLA, I'll send it wide, but my action for wristspin seems a lot more "grooved"
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I definitely know what you’re talking about by the “feeling”, it’s really hard to put a finger on why. Maybe it’s just knowing that you’ve got the batsman under a lot of pressure.
 
doc8176 said:
I definitely know what you’re talking about by the “feeling”, it’s really hard to put a finger on why. Maybe it’s just knowing that you’ve got the batsman under a lot of pressure.
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yeah, they definitely do it after a few dot balls, especially if struggling with turn - it's a Get out of jail move. Batsmen on my own team give me the charge all the time in nets, and very often fail to get to the pitch - unfortunately in games it tends to lead to a missed stumping. I think it's a lot easier keeping to a right-arm wristspinner as the ball isn't appearing from behind the batsman, it must be hard - even if the ball is turning away from the r/h bat, the keeper is still unsighted for a bit.
 
SomeblokecalledDave. said:
It looks like I'm to go into the season with the full package this year. I've been working on the Top-Spinner for months now and have finally settled on a conventional grip and all it takes is a slight re-allignment of the wrist angle and it comes out really nice. It's very effective when bowled in a series of leg-breaks where the batter has got it into their mind that the next ball is going to be the same style leg-break either just on leg-stump or outside off. But in addition to that, the last couple of sessions I've just looked to rotate the wrist just that bit more and I'm bowling a very decent wrong-un seemingly with total ease. Those combined with the Flipper - who knows how I'm to go this season!
Click to expand...
it's amazing how basic technical things can get away from you - I was bowling in the nets yesterday and turning absolutely nowt, I eventually realised that I really wasn't rotating my wrist at all, as soon as I made a point of emphasising it as I spun the ball pre-delivery, I started turning it round corners again. I still can't bowl a topspinner as reliably as I'd like, but if I stand there spinning it pre-delivery and emphasise getting my hand straight over the top of the ball, it works more often than not.

How's your season going Dave - has your optimism been justified so far?
 
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