Wrist Spin Bowling

[mr bojangles]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

(1) The more you are straying down the leg the more side-on you are becoming this helps spin and importantly drift, but this is a hard line to bowl.

(2) Legbreak, topspinner and a straight one should do you a couple of seasons in the match situation.

(3) Probably the easiest variation is this one you describe, used by Mc Cool, Holland and Warne. In itself this ball is completely harmless and if you bowled it as a stock ball you would be murdered it is only when it is added occassionally to the leg- break- topspinner mixture that it becomes deadly.

Thanks for this advice - really appreciated. In particular the answer to (1) is very interesting. As I understand your answer, the more side-on I am at delivery, the more spin is likely to be generated. But ... the more side on I am the more likely I am to shoot the ball down leg side. Whether I am side-on or front-on at delivery is something I hadn't thought about before but I think you're right - having been out in the garden chucking a few balls around I can see that the more side-on I position myself the harder it is to keep an off-stump line. Something to practice!!!

On your second point I currently only have 3 deliveries - the legspinner, the backspinner and the orthodox offspinner. I don't have a delivery with topspin but I assume that this would be the same as the legspinner but with my wrist twisted further round - i.e. with the back of my hand facing the off side at delivery. Having tried this with a training ball it seems to work in terms of the spin but is highly erratic in terms of line and length - it's a real 'close your eyes and hope' delivery. Something else to practice!!

Is the 'straight one' just a ball without any spin - if so how do you deliver it? My default would be to use the same action as an offspinner arm ball but this would presumably be very easy to spot. It may sound stupid but I can't bowl as 'straight one' using a legspin wrist position at delivery - any tips?

Anyway - I'm playing later this afternoon. I'll stick to my three deliveries for the time being and let you know how I get on.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

In his bio of Grimmett, former Australian test off-spinner Ashley Mallett, who was a student of Grimmetts, talks a bit about the flipper, but he is referring to the backspinning one that is famous today, but Grimmett makes it clear he preferred to deliver his finger clicking spin as the topspinner which is roughly upside down to the "flipper" and would be harder to disguise but not much harder than the backspinner which has a similar wrist positon at delivery. But it still seems to be more an offspinners ball.

He preferred topspin because he was looking to pick up pace rather than lose it off the wicket. He gives a brief description of the modern flipper but sees it as a change of pace ball to be delivered very rarely in the hope of a popped up catch whereas the topspinning one he devotes a chapter to and nominates this as his mystery ball and the one likely to bowl or lbw the batsmen.

I have emailed Mr Mallett a question on the subject and if I get an answer I will post it.[/QUOTE]

Well almost unbelievably, Ashley Mallett ,one of Australias' best ever offspin bowlers and the writer of over two dozen books on cricket, a man who was coached by Grimmett and knew Bradman well and interviewed him often, has answered my email !

But he misunderstood my question so I have had to make my self clearer to him in another email so I hope he doesn't think I am a nuisance. The gist of the question as explained above is which one was Grimmetts " mystery ball" the backspinning flipper or the topspinning, or more correctly perhaps ,overspinning one. He definately nominates the latter as his preferred way of delivering his "finger-clicking" spin.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

With regards the direction/aim I've always been taught that your leading arm and front pivot foot on landing should be directed at the target. So I suppose that once you're comfortable with the side on action these aspects might become the point of focus? I don't know what the others feel about this aspect of directing the ball down the off or leg-side?

With regards the top-spinner it as you say a case of rotating the wrist so that at the point of release it looks like this to the batsman - Legspin bowling: The Top Spinner Needless to say any new variation is going to require some work to get going but I'd also suggest that as you learn it you don't neglect your Leg Break and keep throwing these as well as the new variation that you're working on and this is especially true when it comes to the Wrong un. But for the moment stick with the Top Spinner as your next target.

A straight ball as a tactic is something I've never considered, not sure of it's potential and probably wouldn't fit in with my bowling as it's not particularly fast. A straight ball with back-spin 'Slider and Flipper' obviously have potential as variations, but you've already got a backspinning delivery that sounds like a slider - how does that go - does it deviate off it's line or does it go straight on?

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

So what would the be the Key benefit of this delivery over the usual top-spinner? Just the fact that it's not so obvious and coming out of the hand and it looks like Slider and would be read as a ball that was going to skid in rather than bounce up and increase in speed?

Have there ever been any Medium pace bowlers that have used the Flipper as a surprise ball do you know (The back spinning type)?

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

My 7 year old (Joe) bowls small leg breaks which I think he just does naturally with no real intention, just the fact that he uses 2 fingers up 2 down it just comes out of the hand with the ball spinning in the right direction. For the moment I'm more interested in him being accurate with his line and length and varying the speed of the delivery and flighting the ball. Which he is doing seemingly aware of the fact that it's this that gets him his wickets more than the fact that the ball turns. When he practices with me he often bowls the ball directly at the stumps but then as it hits the deck it turns and spins away to the off-side to miss the stumps which really p****s him off.

Do you think I should stick to this approach and not emphasise the need to spin the ball and let him arrive at that decision on his own, because surely at some point he's going to realise the potential to use the spin or see that people are edging it and it's being caught off of the spinning ball? What do you reckon?

Yeah I know what you mean. At first they cant really spin it much anyway, most of them more or less roll it rather than spin it and the ones I have seen who do spin it hard can get some real drift and spin but are usually wildly inaccurate. But those early years you can work on their overall action and accuracy more than the actual spinning but then relatively early on maybe 2-3 years? I reckon they should be encouraged to really try and spin it, almost to the expense of everything else whilst trying to maintain the accuracy, which is hard.

My kid went through the same thing about not understanding that the gameplan isn't neccessarily hitting the stumps every delivery and practising to hit the stumps from outside leg too much can cause you to bowl a bad line. Mostly they need to keep it more off stump with 5 fielders on that side. They will still bowl plenty of kids, sometimes even round their legs from balls pitched down legside by accident, or as they get better on purpose, all sorts of amazing things happen in junior cricket. But there isn't much justice for the bowlers. The best guide I reckon is their economy rate rather than wickets taken.

Around here , the first few years are rudimentary and the emphasis is on having fun and giving everyone a go and results dont matter, but quite soon it gets competitive and is played hard. What always amazes me is how good so many kids get at their cricket by about aged 12 or so. Some of them you see are so talented and knowledgable , often allrounders, it makes you think the cricket culture must be still strong out there.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

So what would the be the Key benefit of this delivery over the usual top-spinner? Just the fact that it's not so obvious and coming out of the hand and it looks like Slider and would be read as a ball that was going to skid in rather than bounce up and increase in speed?

Have there ever been any Medium pace bowlers that have used the Flipper as a surprise ball do you know (The back spinning type)?

I dont know, lower and faster maybe ? People commented on Grimmetts' "vicous" topspinner, perhaps that is how he got it, but I think they descibed it like that before he began using the flipper. I dont Know if any medium pacers have used a flipper, that would be worth knowing.

Mallett wrote me a slightly patronising note on how to bowl the flipper and describing how Grimmett bowled his topspinner but I told him I knew that but was asking about plate 14 and chapter 9 of his 1948 book and how Grimmetts clearly stated his preference to bowl his flipper as the topspinner mostly and his brief mention of the modern flipper and he only sees it as a rare change of pace ball.

He may go and look up the book and make the same discovery and get back to me or he might think I am some idiot as he seems to think Grimmetts' mystery ball was only the backspinner.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Thanks for this advice - really appreciated.

I would call your backspinner delivered with the palm the straight one or slider these days, although Grimmett meant his topspinner when he talked of his straight one.

Dave has shown you some good descriptions and photos of the topspinner. It is close to the small topspinning legspinner. If you bowl a ball that goes straight on with no sidespin whilst attempting a legbreak you can reasonably assume it to be a topspinner on most surfaces. Any deviation , no matter how slight, and you most likely have the legbreak or wrongun.

You could get by attempting just legbreaks and the occassional slider. The topspinner takes time learn to bowl at will, but for some it is their natural delivery or even ,in Kerry O Keefe's, case their stock ball.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

I originally got interested in Grimmett when I found out he was a signwriter by trade like me.

He was also a keen photographer, still and movies, he had is own darkroom, and made good money screening his homemade movies. His son, who flew Lancasters over Germany during the war and won the DFC, went on to become one of Australias best commercial photographers, his photos of the Beatles in Adelaide in 1964 are superb.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Yeah I'm surprised at how good kids are sometimes at cricket. I didn't play again today even though I was offered a match because I've come down with a cold and just feel really crap. So instead I went over to one of the local fields with Ben and Joe to do some training before their match tomorrow. Just as we were about to head home a group of about 6-7 boys turned up with bats and stumps and we were already set up and I asked them if they wanted to join us and have a game. One of the kids was pretty good at batting but there was one kid that was 9 that had a bowling action that was very similar to Lasith Malinga's but not quite so low an arm action, but he was amazingly accurate and fast for a small 9 year old. Thing is none of these kids play for a club and only seem to play it at school and on the field. It kind of seems that there may be kids that are naturally gifted that just never join a club or go on to play the game throughout their lives.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

This is part of what Ashley Mallett wrote me.... " To bowl a flipper you need to hold the ball between your thumb and third and fourth fingers.(?) best way I can describe how to bowl a flipper is snap your fingers, as you might to attract attention. When there is a ball in your hand and you snap your fingers you produce the flipper. The ball is spun backwards. Try it. The way to learn to bowl the flipper is to spin from hand to hand. If you keep your bowling arm straight and then flip the ball. Gradually you get the knack and increase energy on the ball. Hope this helps. Best regards. Ashley Mallett."

Well he was an offspinner after all, one of Australias best ever, but I thought that description might help someone learning how to bowl a flipper, as many description as possible can only help. I still cant believe he answered me within 12 hours of my email.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

It kind of seems that there may be kids that are naturally gifted that just never join a club or go on to play the game throughout their lives.

I see the same thing at the nets here all the time. A bunch of kids turn up at our training and want a go. I ask some gifted kid what club he plays for and he might say none. I usually try and encourage them to join a club, but I cant remember any actually joining our club as a result of my prompting them.

 

[sadspinner]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

This is part of what Ashley Mallett wrote me.... " To bowl a flipper you need to hold the ball between your thumb and third and fourth fingers.(?) best way I can describe how to bowl a flipper is snap your fingers, as you might to attract attention. When there is a ball in your hand and you snap your fingers you produce the flipper. The ball is spun backwards. Try it. The way to learn to bowl the flipper is to spin from hand to hand. If you keep your bowling arm straight and then flip the ball. Gradually you get the knack and increase energy on the ball. Hope this helps. Best regards. Ashley Mallett."

Flipper with the third and fourth fingers? Maybe he considers that the thumb is the first finger? You still can get backspin with thumb, middle and ring finger. Strange though that one of the top world offspinners and student of grimmett explains it so. The ones we know are those in the you tube clip by dave. The thumb, together with index and middle finger ar the thumb withindex, middle, ring with or without the small finger as the picture I had posted of Kaneria.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

YouTube - no follow through

 

[sadspinner]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

I originally got interested in Grimmett when I found out he was a signwriter by trade like me.

Yes, when seeing your work and seeing how much into grimmett you where I wondered whether it was a coincidence. Do not tell me you use a cap to bowl, have a dog to retrieve your balls and are originally from New Zealand too!

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

My son has picked up a bad habit from indoor cricket. He no longer is following through fully but rather stops and props straight after delivery to get ready to field the ball especially looking for the c & b. I only noticed after batting against him on saturday in the nets and he had lost all his nip off the wicket, it seems to have developed only this last week.

This is the first video analysis I have done of his bowling YouTube - no follow through, and it is just taken with my phone, but I will reshoot him in a couple of weeks after we work on his follow through and hopefully we will see a big difference.

He is a bit upset at me because I am in the keepers position shaking my head and signaling not enough run-up, he is actually slightly decelerating at the end of his run-up which has to be remedied. Lucky his old man is on the job.

 

[sadspinner]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Philpotts backspinner sounds like a very difficult ball. Again I've never seen anyone here bowl anything like that. I don't think I've ever seen a right arm wrist spinner at club level bowl wrong uns even and whenever I do people seem to be surprised. The ball of choice at club level other than the Leg Break is the Top-Spinner, but then they may even be faking that - it maybe their Leg breaks that don't turn!

I have never seen any clips of the backspinner on the net either, which may be because i did not notice it myself. The only clip is that by jenner.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

I have just read former test cricketers Ashley Malletts bio of Grimmett. He was coached by Grimmett and gives a lot of insight into his methods that Mallett says wasn't in his coaching manuals.

This is an example of Grimmetts accurracy, at the end of each bowling session each day, usually 2 hours long , Grimmett would place an exercise book cover or a small towel on the pitch on a good length and not leave practise until he hit that target 6 times in a row !!!!! Now I dont know about you but I would most prabably be there all day and night trying to hit it twice in a row.

I told my son that story and he came up with the idea of starting with one hit on a target then slowly , over time building it up, but I doubt if modern accurate bowlers like Mc Grath and Kumble would be able to end their training with 6 hits in a row.

 

[sadspinner]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

It is a little bit hard at first and feels a bit like rubbing your tummy and patting your head or whatever that thing is that you are not supposed to be able to do.

But practise hand to hand , against the wall etc and build up and you will get it and then it seems easy, like the legbreak itself. I like to get my thumb and little finger out of the way for the grip a bit more than usual other than that it is only a legbreak rotated 90 degrees more.

But you would not really need it cause you have a backspinner, but the best thing about the topspinning backspinner, as Philpott calls it, is if it comes out wrong you usually get a big leg-break albeit slowturning.

I find it difficult to grip it without the thumb and small finger. Tried it today with little finger and thumb over about 15 yards. It went straightish, but did not have much backspin, but kept low. Not as much zip on bouncing as the flipper for me.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

You're making me paranoid about my follow through now having seen that! I tend to pull up quick just so that I can see what the ball does. I also feel that if I keep going I feel like I'm using my legs and feet unecessarily and I do notice when I do follow through that there's a lot of additional impact on legs and feet.

 

[sadspinner]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

In his bio of Grimmett, former Australian test off-spinner Ashley Mallett, who was a student of Grimmetts, talks a bit about the flipper, but he is referring to the backspinning one that is famous today, but Grimmett makes it clear he preferred to deliver his finger clicking spin as the topspinner which is roughly upside down to the "flipper" and would be harder to disguise but not much harder than the backspinner which has a similar wrist positon at delivery. But it still seems to be more an offspinners ball.

He preferred topspin because he was looking to pick up pace rather than lose it off the wicket. He gives a brief description of the modern flipper but sees it as a change of pace ball to be delivered very rarely in the hope of a popped up catch whereas the topspinning one he devotes a chapter to and nominates this as his mystery ball and the one likely to bowl or lbw the batsmen.

I have emailed Mr Mallett a question on the subject and if I get an answer I will post it.[/QUOTE]

Well almost unbelievably, Ashley Mallett ,one of Australias' best ever offspin bowlers and the writer of over two dozen books on cricket, a man who was coached by Grimmett and knew Bradman well and interviewed him often, has answered my email !

But he misunderstood my question so I have had to make my self clearer to him in another email so I hope he doesn't think I am a nuisance. The gist of the question as explained above is which one was Grimmetts " mystery ball" the backspinning flipper or the topspinning, or more correctly perhaps ,overspinning one. He definately nominates the latter as his preferred way of delivering his "finger-clicking" spin.

I have not been following your discussion over the last few days. The topspinning backspinner sounds like a contradiction. I know philpott quotes his and benauds as such but i think this is wrong as it gives the idea that the ball has both backspin and topspin, which obviously is impossible as the revs on the ball have to be clockwise and anticlocwise at the same time....that would really be a mystery ball, or maybe I am missing something here.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

I put a white hockey ball in the position I'm bowling at and over an hour which is probably 150 + balls I hit it 3 times today. If I was specifically trying to hit the ball I might do it more frequently but a book and 6 times in a row is some feat!

 

[sadspinner]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

My son has picked up a bad habit from indoor cricket. He no longer is following through fully but rather stops and props straight after delivery to get ready to field the ball especially looking for the c & b. I only noticed after batting against him on saturday in the nets and he had lost all his nip off the wicket, it seems to have developed only this last week.

This is the first video analysis I have done of his bowling YouTube - no follow through, and it is just taken with my phone, but I will reshoot him in a couple of weeks after we work on his follow through and hopefully we will see a big difference.

He is a bit upset at me because I am in the keepers position shaking my head and signaling not enough run-up, he is actually slightly decelerating at the end of his run-up which has to be remedied. Lucky his old man is on the job.

Very impressive Macca for someone his age. Does he consistently bowl that line and length? Well done. Would that be his norma l leg break or the biggish one?

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

My boys played their first proper match today playing a format of the game called Terrier cricket. A massive learning curve for them, but they both bowled fairly well only 1 wide across 2 overs each Wrist Spin Bowling: Ben and Joe's 1st cricket match

 

[sadspinner]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Mallett says Grimmett was still trying to perfect his "wrong wrongun" on his backyard pitch aged 76 years old, he makes it sound like it was the last delivery he still had not perfected.

I reckon in your flipper you could have deadly weapon at your disposal that a lot of other bowlers who may have played the game longer dont possess. You may only need it plus an average leg-break to do lots off damage on your day. The backspin you generate on that youtube clip is more than enough.

He definitely had OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

In his bio of Grimmett, former Australian test off-spinner Ashley Mallett, who was a student of Grimmetts, talks a bit about the flipper, but he is referring to the backspinning one that is famous today, but Grimmett makes it clear he preferred to deliver his finger clicking spin as the topspinner which is roughly upside down to the "flipper" and would be harder to disguise but not much harder than the backspinner which has a similar wrist positon at delivery. But it still seems to be more an offspinners ball.

He preferred topspin because he was looking to pick up pace rather than lose it off the wicket. He gives a brief description of the modern flipper but sees it as a change of pace ball to be delivered very rarely in the hope of a popped up catch whereas the topspinning one he devotes a chapter to and nominates this as his mystery ball and the one likely to bowl or lbw the batsmen.

I have emailed Mr Mallett a question on the subject and if I get an answer I will post it.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Yes I think Mr Malletts finger numberings were a little confusing. In the Jenner Video where he is in the outside nets, at Adelaide I think , he does something similar when he descibes a grip at one stage.

Philpott also talks about when he and Johnny Martin ( left arm unorthodox) were both bowling in the same team they would both notice that when they were really spinning it they could see the ball really spinning out of their "little" finger, I have wondered in that case does he mean ring finger or pinky, but I think I know the feeling he talks about and though the fourth finger isn't the spinning finger sometimes it sticks out like the proper way to drink tea from a cup, if you know what mean, the wrongun definately feels like the fourth finger is in play a bit even though the 3rd finger is still the spinner. Yes " backspinning topspinner" is too confusing as a description, we know what it means but the term is nonesense really.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

I've tried the Top Spinning 'Upside down Flipper' and for me it's an Off-spinning ball as you've described. Again it's definitely an interesting ball and if I was younger and had years of cricket in me still I might try and develop it. I may look at it again next summer over the closed season if my Leg Break serves me well this season, but for this season I'm working with the Leg Break, Top Spinner and Flipper.

I spoke about the 4 finger 'Grimmett Flipper' a while back and the fact that it swings massively and tried to film myself bowling it somewhat unsuccessfully. But yesterday I was more or less aiming the ball along the line of the return crease bowling it over the stumps again only just inside the return crease and the amount of swing was bringing the ball back in onto the Off-stump. It seems that there's a geographical aspect to this difference in performance and recalled the fact that I'd heard a commentator referring to the fact that one of the pitches up north here in the UK was a lot more conducive to swing bowling than others. He went on to say that the particular ground (It may have been Trent Bridge) was a ground that had buildings all around the pitch and as such created a pretty windless atmosphere in some weather conditions. Added to that the factor of overcast conditions and the ball would readily swing.

The place I practiced last night is a small pitch that is surrounded by trees pretty much on all sides and is down in a dip as well on one side. The conditions were still, warm and slightly cloudy. It seems that on this pitch the ball swings whereas on the other field which is far bigger and open it hardly moved. Is this a factor do you think?

I think we're big aficianados of the Flipper on here, but I've got to say I've yet to see anyone else who bowls the Flipper. None of the other blokes in my team bowl it, The Wizard claims to but he would never show me how he does it and every now and then would claim that he has bowled it. I've had a call tonight and I've got a game this Sunday with my team Grays and Chadwell and it sounds as though they're playing 4 Leg Spinners as a part of the bowling attack! I reckon it's got to be one of the colts, Ross Fulbrook who's one of the biggest wicket takers in the team, The Wizard and me! Ross is about 14 and both the Wizard and I just watch in amazement when he bowls, but as people have said he's got 5-6 years of experience behind him. It's going to be interesting to see how this works because I'm the only one with a Wrong Un and a Flipper. I don't know how the batsmen are going to see a 4 man leg spin attack, they'll either think it's all their Christmas's at once or the opposite.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

One thing Mallett proves in his book conclusively is that statistically Clarrie Grimmett has far superior record to Shane Warne. In fact if 5 wicket hauls = tons than Grimmetts record is about the same as Bradmans!

You could describe it as OCD Saddo, his neighbours did but didn't use that term, but no-one in history would have bowled as many cricket balls as Grimmett for nearly 80 years he kept it up, a wet ball was never a problem for him in a match because he practised even when it was raining never stopping, he also had to hold down a full time job.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

They sound like ideal conditions for swing. I can remember Warnes flipper at its peak would swing like crazy and appear to be bending all over the place, there must be some footage of that somewhere.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

This is part of what Ashley Mallett wrote me.... " To bowl a flipper you need to hold the ball between your thumb and third and fourth fingers.(?) best way I can describe how to bowl a flipper is snap your fingers, as you might to attract attention. When there is a ball in your hand and you snap your fingers you produce the flipper. The ball is spun backwards. Try it. The way to learn to bowl the flipper is to spin from hand to hand. If you keep your bowling arm straight and then flip the ball. Gradually you get the knack and increase energy on the ball. Hope this helps. Best regards. Ashley Mallett."

Flipper with the third and fourth fingers? Maybe he considers that the thumb is the first finger? You still can get backspin with thumb, middle and ring finger. Strange though that one of the top world offspinners and student of grimmett explains it so. The ones we know are those in the you tube clip by dave. The thumb, together with index and middle finger ar the thumb withindex, middle, ring with or without the small finger as the picture I had posted of Kaneria.

I reckon you can use a number of combinations with the fingers. The Warnesque technique with the thumb and middle finger - I'm finding (This is all recent observations because of the face that I'm able to compare it with the Grimmett version) doesn't swing like the The Grimmett version and tends in my case to be more accurate. The Grimmett version which uses all 4 fingers and the thumb swings massively - I'm beginning to think that this version is pacier because with the 4 fingers on the ball you're able to actually bowl it faster because you're gripping it in a more solid manner and it's the pace that's helping with the *swing. But sitting here with a ball in my hand I've now christened a new Flipper the "2 fingered Ashley Mallett Flipper" because it's obvious that you could easily lift the index finger off the ball and use the Middle and ring finger ony and similarly you could then add the little finger to create a 3 fingered Flipper. I doubt if these small changes would have any real benefit over the 2 versions in my video - but then you never know till you give 'em a go and I reckon I will.

*Swing. I was talking to a bloke at work today and he was agreeing with me with regards the fact that atmospherics caused by the close proximity of the trees and the over-cast clouds would affect the swing I get. He was also of the opinion that it was the dampness/humidity caused by over-cast clouds that was a factor to be included and this rings true because as the sun lowers on this particular field the dew levels and the humidity is much higher for some reason, hence the big swing?

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Dave there might be a fight to see who bowls into the wind, unless one of the legspinners wants to. If it is a cross wind I prefer it from cover, it might blow some spin off the ball but definately helps drift.

4 pronged legspin attack could work. It would be good to see, cant wait for a report if it eventuates.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

This is getting very esoteric!!!

I considered sign writing as a profession for a while, did a few signs and vans.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Macca is the Flipper one of your balls?

 

[shuey_cricket]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

update of me
i have wrist tendonitis
so i will be out for a while
injury not from cricket i think

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

They sound like ideal conditions for swing. I can remember Warnes flipper at its peak would swing like crazy and appear to be bending all over the place, there must be some footage of that somewhere.

Next time the conditions are like that again, I'll get the video out and shoot the footage there, because it does seem as though it is a factor.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Sounds bad, what did you do and what does that mean exactly?

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

I was younger and had years of cricket in me still I might try and develop it.

Mallett says Grimmett was still trying to perfect his "wrong wrongun" on his backyard pitch aged 76 years old, he makes it sound like it was the last delivery he still had not perfected.

I reckon in your flipper you could have deadly weapon at your disposal that a lot of other bowlers who may have played the game longer dont possess. You may only need it plus an average leg-break to do lots off damage on your day. The backspin you generate on that youtube clip is more than enough.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

I have not heard back from Mr Mallett yet, I gave him a bit of homework if he follows up and reads the 1948 book closely, he may even have trouble getting it if he has not got a copy, I should have sent him a copy of plate 14. He might also think I am some nut who doesn't know what I am talking about or checking out my theory and its implications ,perhaps even how it relates to his book.

Why is it important? well two reasons it involves a slight rewriting of cricket history in relation to the invention and use of the "flipper" by Clarrie Grimmett.

Secondly Grimmett is saying the "flipper" is a useful backspinner to employ very occassionally, more as a change of pace, in the hope of maybe getting a popped up catch, whereas his "mystery ball" that he wreaked so much damage with especially lbw was the reverse; a topspinner, or perhaps more correctly overspinner. If you can disguise it there must be some future in it for the legspinner. It behaves almost the opposite to the flipper it loops out and up drops incredibly then kicks off the pitch with more venom than the "flipper". and the best thing is the bounce is a lot lower than the conventional topspinner so is a lbw ball. In fact until Grimmett legspinners very rarely got lbw in the old days because of bounce and umpires gave batsman benefit in nearly all lbw appeals ( the stumps were slightly shorter till circa 1932 also)

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

Macca is the Flipper one of your balls?

Never in a game, I used the backspinner like Philpott describes, that is the classic Australian backspinner I reckon.

In fact I bowled it the other day just as good as Jenner in that clip yet I haven't bowled it for years. I never had the control to deliver the flipper and gave up on it.

 

[gundalf7]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling

macca is this overspinning flipper bowled with the orthodox flipper grip and then rotated like the jenner slider so the flipper comes out with top spin?