Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Two)

[shrek]

Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Two)

It's been some time since I've last posted on this forum. At that time, I had problems with blisters on fingers and problems with bowling the legbreak - it used to come out as topspinners a lot of times even when I didn't intend it to.

Meanwhile, our keeper broke a bone, forcing me to take up the gloves during which time I managed to hurt my left shoulder (probably rotator). Surprisingly then, I was given a bowl this weekend in a 40 over game.
Came on to bowl in 18th over when the opposition was 60-2, By the end of my short spell I had the figures of 4-0-20-3,

One batsman, (I believe their best) caught at long off, one caught at cover, and one(apparently also a good batsman) embarrassingly swiped at a full toss that hit him plumb in front. I got good amount of turn, although I felt a little uncomfortable rotating with my leading (left) arm due to the injury so had to make a minor adjustment. Trouble was that in my fourth over, I bowled a long hop that a batsman hit for a six, Almost caught by the square leg, but the boundary was so small -probably 55 yards or so that it just carried over. By that time, the opposition were 98/7 and the captain decided to finish it off with the strike bowlers.

On sunday, we played another league - 35 overs a side. They started slowly but steadily at 33/1 after 11 overs when I was introduced. I got their one drop batsmen caught at slip trying to cut the ball. Bowled a fairly decent spell and got another batsman caught at mid on off a full toss. But ended up getting hit in my fifth over for 9 runs including a sweep that went to the boundary and a couple of very closely called wides on the offside. Thus ended my spell with figures of 5-0-23-2

Decent returns for someone supposed to be a part-timer.

The problems are aplenty with my bowling right now. I have very good control over the line - I didn't bowl a single ball down the legside, but I ended up bowling too many short balls or full tosses for my liking - about 2 an over erred in length easily. I'm getting the legbreak to spin away consistently, even though I am not pivoting at all. In the entire spell, I tried to bowl only one googly and it came out very nicely bouncing over the off stump. and one top spinner that pitched on off and almost sneaked through to hit the pad after taking an inside edge- more an accident, because my arm went up to 12 oclock position instead of 10-11. I get very good bounce when I bowl due to my high arm action - and a height of 1.81m. But, I do believe that flighting the ball becomes that much more difficult for me to do because of the height. I need to really slow it down, if I am to flight it up. otherwise it becomes a full toss.

I did tell my captain, that if he wants a full spell from me, he needs to let me bowl more often in the nets instead of asking me to take up the gloves.
Surprisingly though, my full tosses are also getting wickets .

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Full tosses often do, usually at the start of my spell or if I try and bring in a variation the first ball often comes out wrong as a full toss and probably as much as 60% of the time it's caught by a fielder. Having said that I don't think I'd ever use it as a tactic.

 

[Frenetic]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Hi guys,

I've decided to just take up leg spin after realising my aging knees can't cope with the demand of a full season bowling fast anymore. I still have endeavours to play the highest grade in my local competition, and noticed they were short a spinner (and my batting will definately not get me there!).

So I grabbed a ball, and threw out some leggies (for the first time ever). Training session 1, they came out well - beginners luck I think. Training session 2 was disastrous - bowling far too short, then overcompensating with waist high full tosses! Still, I guess it's not meant to be easy, or everyone would be doing it!

I have been searching the internet looking for tips and came across this thread - a lot of good information in here. I've been bowling 10 overs a day in the back yard, applying some tips i've learnt, in which i've seen marked improvement.

The season begins in a month - so I have that month to get the captain's trust that I won't be put into the stands every second ball. I am just focusing on the stock ball at the moment, but after reading this thread I am looking fwd to trying some of the variations discussed.

Good work on the thread, and I will be sure to be posting back here telling of my recent fortunes/misfortunes of my new pursuit, and asking for plenty of assistance.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Hi guys,

I've decided to just take up leg spin after realising my aging knees can't cope with the demand of a full season bowling fast anymore. I still have endeavours to play the highest grade in my local competition, and noticed they were short a spinner (and my batting will definately not get me there!).

So I grabbed a ball, and threw out some leggies (for the first time ever). Training session 1, they came out well - beginners luck I think. Training session 2 was disastrous - bowling far too short, then overcompensating with waist high full tosses! Still, I guess it's not meant to be easy, or everyone would be doing it!

I have been searching the internet looking for tips and came across this thread - a lot of good information in here. I've been bowling 10 overs a day in the back yard, applying some tips i've learnt, in which i've seen marked improvement.


The season begins in a month - so I have that month to get the captain's trust that I won't be put into the stands every second ball. I am just focusing on the stock ball at the moment, but after reading this thread I am looking fwd to trying some of the variations discussed.

Good work on the thread, and I will be sure to be posting back here telling of my recent fortunes/misfortunes of my new pursuit, and asking for plenty of assistance.

Yeah, good work! Keep us posted on how you go. Sounds like you're aware of the fact that it's not going to be a walk over, so if you keep that in mind and are realistic and think in terms of it maybe coming together over a period of years rather than months you should be okay. We'll look forward to hearing your reports and questions.

 

[Paulinho]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

For all those starting out here is the advice of the spin doctor Terry Jenner taken for an ECB publication.

"He is a firm believer that a repeatable and effective bowling action can be developed through the promotion of a set of basic principles - in particular, he promotes a strong grip, a rhythmic approach, weight forward, a healthy aligned delivery stride, a spinning action up and over the ball, the rotation of the hips and shoulders and a full completion in the follow through."

He doesn't mention that you may have to bowl in this manner 10,000 times before it becomes second nature but I think we all know the practice involved by now.

 

[Mr_Cricket]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Had training tonight and i bowled pretty well with a bad ball that had basically no seam. It didn't turn that much but had most of the batters struggling at times. Didn't get any close LBW got a couple of them bowled also they seemed to be hitting a lot of balls in the air around the short-leg/forward short-leg area which is interesting. I have indoor cricket tomorrow so i hope to get a couple of wickets with my 2 overs.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

For all those starting out here is the advice of the spin doctor Terry Jenner taken for an ECB publication.

"He is a firm believer that a repeatable and effective bowling action can be developed through the promotion of a set of basic principles - in particular, he promotes a strong grip, a rhythmic approach, weight forward, a healthy aligned delivery stride, a spinning action up and over the ball, the rotation of the hips and shoulders and a full completion in the follow through."

He doesn't mention that you may have to bowl in this manner 10,000 times before it becomes second nature but I think we all know the practice involved by now.

The strong grips a revelation. But as Philpott would say that if it works for you don't change it.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Recently just as I was on the verge of patting myself on the back for a series of good performances with my wrist spin our team was put in a situation where we were playing 'out of our league'. We were faced with a situation where we had 2 x 1st team openers one of whom went on to make a 100 and the other bloke not much short of that. Both of these blokes used a variety tactics to negate my bowling, but as the 40 overs game drew nearer to it's close one of them took to bounding down the wicket and lofting the ball over my head for 4's and 6's ensuring that I went for 10 an over by the time my spell was finished. The last over I went for 24 runs and it was this over that he really went to town with the coming down the wicket tactic.

I suppose the fact that he waited till he got past his 100 that demonstrates that as a technique he acknowledged that it was a high risk strategy. But when he did start it - what should I have done? I think the 2nd time he didn't it I kind of panicked and was a bit lost as to what I should do.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Had training tonight and i bowled pretty well with a bad ball that had basically no seam. It didn't turn that much but had most of the batters struggling at times. Didn't get any close LBW got a couple of them bowled also they seemed to be hitting a lot of balls in the air around the short-leg/forward short-leg area which is interesting. I have indoor cricket tomorrow so i hope to get a couple of wickets with my 2 overs.

Nice one, post up your figures - how many over, maidens, runs and wickets in your spell. Let us see how you get on - you might have some good tactics we'd like you to share. Did you have anyone come down the wicket at you like I had in my last game, what would you have done?

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Recently just as I was on the verge of patting myself on the back for a series of good performances with my wrist spin our team was put in a situation where we were playing 'out of our league'. We were faced with a situation where we had 2 x 1st team openers one of whom went on to make a 100 and the other bloke not much short of that. Both of these blokes used a variety tactics to negate my bowling, but as the 40 overs game drew nearer to it's close one of them took to bounding down the wicket and lofting the ball over my head for 4's and 6's ensuring that I went for 10 an over by the time my spell was finished. The last over I went for 24 runs and it was this over that he really went to town with the coming down the wicket tactic.

I suppose the fact that he waited till he got past his 100 that demonstrates that as a technique he acknowledged that it was a high risk strategy. But when he did start it - what should I have done? I think the 2nd time he didn't it I kind of panicked and was a bit lost as to what I should do.

Every spinner is going to get that treatment occassionally. If batsmen start to dance down the wicket before you release the ball then you should have an advantage as the bowler.

You can try pitching a bit shorter so they cant get to the half volley or full toss and force them to play half cocked on the up. But a good batsman will counter that.

I supposed you tried pitching wider of off stump as well?

Easier said then done.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Every spinner is going to get that treatment occassionally. If batsmen start to dance down the wicket before you release the ball then you should have an advantage as the bowler.

You can try pitching a bit shorter so they cant get to the half volley or full toss and force them to play half cocked on the up. But a good batsman will counter that.

I supposed you tried pitching wider of off stump as well?

Easier said then done.

I'd been bowling leg breaks and attempted a wrong un out of no-where and it didn't turn and that went for 6 straight down the ground. I don't think I even considered looking to see if he was going to come down again for a 3rd time. I think keeping your cool in these situations as you've said is easier said then done, there were another 2 overs yet to come and I assumed I'd be bowling the last over, so I was thinking in terms of what I'd do in that final over and was unconvinced that he'd come down the wicket again and again. Which he did and that was it for me then - I was taken off bowling duties!!

I'm just thinking what I'd do next time it happens, but it strikes me it's not going to happen that much because normally the bats are looking to get to their 50's or 100's or PB's and this type of batting would normally be suicidal mid-way through a match unless they were phenomenally confident and superior batsmen. Maybe it's something to work on in the nets next Feb?

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

I'd been bowling leg breaks and attempted a wrong un out of no-where and it didn't turn and that went for 6 straight down the ground. I don't think I even considered looking to see if he was going to come down again for a 3rd time. I think keeping your cool in these situations as you've said is easier said then done, there were another 2 overs yet to come and I assumed I'd be bowling the last over, so I was thinking in terms of what I'd do in that final over and was unconvinced that he'd come down the wicket again and again. Which he did and that was it for me then - I was taken off bowling duties!!

I'm just thinking what I'd do next time it happens, but it strikes me it's not going to happen that much because normally the bats are looking to get to their 50's or 100's or PB's and this type of batting would normally be suicidal mid-way through a match unless they were phenomenally confident and superior batsmen. Maybe it's something to work on in the nets next Feb?

Sounds like they were confident. It takes courage on the batsmans part to dance down the wicket to the slow bowlers. You try pitching a bit shorter to stop them driving and straight away the better batsmen adjust and they are just as good off the backfoot.

Harping back to my sons trials, the reason the lespinners did so well was only one kid was prepared to use his feet and come forward. my young bloke also went down once himself to the other legspinner and played a straight drive that probably got him picked. I noticed the two selectors nodded after that stroke.

There was one kid, who plays rep, that did use his feet very well. As I said earlier my son had this kid in more trouble than anyone and when he had him caught behind the kid said something like "good ball" or bowling.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Sounds like they were confident. It takes courage on the batsmans part to dance down the wicket to the slow bowlers. You try pitching a bit shorter to stop them driving and straight away the better batsmen adjust and they are just as good off the backfoot.

Harping back to my sons trials, the reason the lespinners did so well was only one kid was prepared to use his feet and come forward. my young bloke also went down once himself to the other legspinner and played a straight drive that probably got him picked. I noticed the two selectors nodded after that stroke.

There was one kid, who plays rep, that did use his feet very well. As I said earlier my son had this kid in more trouble than anyone and when he had him caught behind the kid said something like "good ball" or bowling.

Macca, does your lad put the ball down both sides and is he playing on matted concrete?

 

[micoach]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Hi leggies. I put my thoughts on leg spin down today (from the persepctive of a captain, wicketkeeper and appreciator of the fine art): Classic bowling dismissals: Leg spin | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Let me know what you think with a comment. I'd love to hear what 'real' leggies think of my perspective.

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Dave, in that aggressive situation i think you are almost forced to go "defensive", but sometimes i think defence is the best attack. youve got good accuracy from what youve said in the past, so you just have to out-think the batsman.

firstly, i reckon changing bowling tactics is probably quite a bad idea. nobody in this world is free of errors. keep bowling good line and length and let the batsman go after you. just make sure youre trying to turn to ball big whenever possible, it doesnt matter which way it goes. just get it to deviate off the line and move in flight.

if hes going to smash you down the ground then stick 2 fielders in the deep there and one midway back. stick a close fielder in around the bat as well. then he knows that hes got to connect with every ball perfectly or hes getting himself caught. it pressures his shots more than it pressures your bowling, since hes already going after you and theres little you can do about that.

if he then reverts back to a sensible batting approach because hes scared of the fielders in the deep then youve won the battle. if hes still going for it with success then its only a matter of time if you keep pitching the ball up.

maybe then think about bowling tactics. throw in some variation on line and length. drop one shorter, try bowling an arm ball faster and flatter maybe. i reckon the flipper and slider have their merits here!! all hes got to do is miss ONE shot and its through to the keeper for an easy stumping. if you can turn the ball big enough (even better if its a googly) then pitch one well wide, hope he goes after it anyway, and that it gets through to within the keepers reach for a stumping.

but if you ultimately cant control the batsman then take yourself off strike. theres nothing worse than getting smashed for 10+ 2 overs in a row, staying on and then getting smashed for a giant one like 24. the captain is going to have no choice but to take you off strike and it may affect both your confidence and the captains confidence in your bowling. if a batsmans got your number then you just have to accept it. that isnt to say that as soon as a batsman gets aggressive you should give up, but if he isnt even giving you any signs of a chance of getting his wicket then i reckon its time to call it a day and live to come back on later in the innings (if applicable). its also a sign of good captaincy when he knows at what point he should change his bowling attack. its no use waiting until a bowler has been hit for 20+ an over and THEN changing it, the damage is already done. it has to be judged sooner than that. if you as a bowler can judge it first and remove yourself then the captain may never even realise that you werent in control.

thats how i would treat it anyway. granted i lack experience though, but ive watched enough cricket on the telly. you cant think in terms of the top guys like Warne though, because he rarely lacked control, and had the ability to pull it back when he did. but watch Kevin Pietersen go after him a few times during the 2005 Ashes and he had no answer then either.

 

[Paulinho]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

YouTube - 27 runs in an over Vs Shane Warne

Watch the vid above, it can happen to anyone.

My mate always says to me that coming down the wicket isn't always about big shots it's more a statement of intent and being in charge of the situation. changing your line and length and disrupting your rythum is exactly what the batsman want's to do. it's fine to change plans in the middle of an over and adapt to what's happening but sometimes it's just the batsman's day.

I think what's really importantly though is that you want him to come after you, sometimes you get whacked but more often than not you can make the batsman look a fool. Like you have mentioned in the past Dave you can bowl a load of crap and take five wickets and sometimes it's the other way around.

That's not to say just accept that you are going to get smacked by the way or that you shouldn't have a plan for a really aggressive batsman.

Always back yourself to come out on top eventually.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

YouTube - 27 runs in an over Vs Shane Warne

Watch the vid above, it can happen to anyone.

My mate always says to me that coming down the wicket isn't always about big shots it's more a statement of intent and being in charge of the situation. changing your line and length and disrupting your rythum is exactly what the batsman want's to do. it's fine to change plans in the middle of an over and adapt to what's happening but sometimes it's just the batsman's day.

I think what's really importantly though is that you want him to come after you, sometimes you get whacked but more often than not you can make the batsman look a fool. Like you have mentioned in the past Dave you can bowl a load of crap and take five wickets and sometimes it's the other way around.

That's not to say just accept that you are going to get smacked by the way or that you shouldn't have a plan for a really aggressive batsman.

Always back yourself to come out on top eventually.

Nice one, that's made me feel slightly better and the fact that he had two overs preceeding that one where he'd gone for 7 in each over or was it 6? I don't reckon it's something that'll happen often and I think this bloke only did it because he'd reached his 100 and there was only 3 overs left and they had a commanding lead. Plus they were 'Out of our league' as a team anyway. They bowled us out for 80 and were a far superior team to ours, so the bloke didn't have anything to lose and he could probably sense that as a collective unit we'd already thrown in the towel, there were lads that were sitting down in the outfield and walking after the ball and taking ages when it went beyond the boundary, most of the team had given up around about the 200 mark and by the time the 40 overs were done they'd posted 270 or so for us to chase. So I'm going to call it an unusual situation.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Dave, in that aggressive situation i think you are almost forced to go "defensive", but sometimes i think defence is the best attack. youve got good accuracy from what youve said in the past, so you just have to out-think the batsman.

firstly, i reckon changing bowling tactics is probably quite a bad idea. nobody in this world is free of errors. keep bowling good line and length and let the batsman go after you. just make sure youre trying to turn to ball big whenever possible, it doesnt matter which way it goes. just get it to deviate off the line and move in flight.

if hes going to smash you down the ground then stick 2 fielders in the deep there and one midway back. stick a close fielder in around the bat as well. then he knows that hes got to connect with every ball perfectly or hes getting himself caught. it pressures his shots more than it pressures your bowling, since hes already going after you and theres little you can do about that.

if he then reverts back to a sensible batting approach because hes scared of the fielders in the deep then youve won the battle. if hes still going for it with success then its only a matter of time if you keep pitching the ball up.

maybe then think about bowling tactics. throw in some variation on line and length. drop one shorter, try bowling an arm ball faster and flatter maybe. i reckon the flipper and slider have their merits here!! all hes got to do is miss ONE shot and its through to the keeper for an easy stumping. if you can turn the ball big enough (even better if its a googly) then pitch one well wide, hope he goes after it anyway, and that it gets through to within the keepers reach for a stumping.

but if you ultimately cant control the batsman then take yourself off strike. theres nothing worse than getting smashed for 10+ 2 overs in a row, staying on and then getting smashed for a giant one like 24. the captain is going to have no choice but to take you off strike and it may affect both your confidence and the captains confidence in your bowling. if a batsmans got your number then you just have to accept it. that isnt to say that as soon as a batsman gets aggressive you should give up, but if he isnt even giving you any signs of a chance of getting his wicket then i reckon its time to call it a day and live to come back on later in the innings (if applicable). its also a sign of good captaincy when he knows at what point he should change his bowling attack. its no use waiting until a bowler has been hit for 20+ an over and THEN changing it, the damage is already done. it has to be judged sooner than that. if you as a bowler can judge it first and remove yourself then the captain may never even realise that you werent in control.

thats how i would treat it anyway. granted i lack experience though, but ive watched enough cricket on the telly. you cant think in terms of the top guys like Warne though, because he rarely lacked control, and had the ability to pull it back when he did. but watch Kevin Pietersen go after him a few times during the 2005 Ashes and he had no answer then either.

Yeah some sound advice there, I just think on the day I kind of went blank and didn't have any immediate answers and was looking for the next bloke to bowl his over and re-group and come up with a strategy. Given some time in the field if I'd had the last over I might have tried some of that and possibly controlled the situation slightly. But I've got to admit that field placings isn't something I do and I leave to the captain. He did ask me where I wanted the fielders but I said for him to make those decisions. Maybe it's something I'll do in these last 3-4 games in september?

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

i think setting your own fields as a leg spinner is crucial. i dont know that captains necessarily know what is best and what to do for a leggie. every leggie bowls so differently that its hard to have a standard field setting. even if you have a captain that is reluctant to listen to your fielding advice, i think just having the knowledge of where youd like someone and confidently asking for it is sometimes enough convincing lol.

bearing in mind i was playing my first proper game at the weekend, and the captain knew this, he had me straight down on the bowling sheet prior to the game, and asked me straight away when i came onto bowl where i wanted my fielders. i wasnt really sure so i said play it safe, so he stuck just about everyone on the boundary lol. as i got some rhythm and confidence i moved everyone in closer and set a more conventional field. i wanted a silly point to the left hander but no-one was brave enough.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

i think setting your own fields as a leg spinner is crucial. i dont know that captains necessarily know what is best and what to do for a leggie. every leggie bowls so differently that its hard to have a standard field setting. even if you have a captain that is reluctant to listen to your fielding advice, i think just having the knowledge of where youd like someone and confidently asking for it is sometimes enough convincing lol.

bearing in mind i was playing my first proper game at the weekend, and the captain knew this, he had me straight down on the bowling sheet prior to the game, and asked me straight away when i came onto bowl where i wanted my fielders. i wasnt really sure so i said play it safe, so he stuck just about everyone on the boundary lol. as i got some rhythm and confidence i moved everyone in closer and set a more conventional field. i wanted a silly point to the left hander but no-one was brave enough.

Yeah - close in fielders is a bit much to ask I reckon unless you're doing so well that you've got them totally tied down. Other than that people are gonna end up in hospital and a lot of people are self employed these days and that's never a good thing! I generally have a captain who knows how I bowl and he sets my field and adapts it as the overs roll over, but recently the new bloke who asks me what I want, he doesn't seem so confident in setting my field hence the request from me to make the decisions.

I'd have blokes at

1. Slips
2. Gully
3. Point
4. Extra cover
5. Long Off
6. Mid Wicket
7. Square Leg
8. Deep Square Leg
9. Fine Leg

How's that sound or is that a pile of twaddle? That's what I'd do for starters and see how it goes with bowling line on the off-stump looking to turn it away from the bat.