Batsmen Facing Spin

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someblokecalleddave

someblokecalleddave

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Batsmen Facing Spin

How do you lot feel when you're facing spin bowlers? What kind of spin attack/tactics cause you the most problems?

Is off-spin worse to face than leg-spin?
How affective/dangerous is Leg-Spin when bowled down the off-side?
What do you hate most about facing spin?

All that kind of stuff....
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

I love facing spinners but being an opening batsman it doesnt happen enough

I struggle most with left arm wrist spinners or right hand finger spinners, prefer it spinning away and they will bowl onto the pads more

A left arm finger spinner coming around the wicket i hate alot though. Any spinner who bowls darts can be hard to get away but sensible batting wont see them getting too many wickets

Leg spinners who drift onto the off side and allow the cut shot to be played will get smashed, just see MacGill at his worst. To defend against it you would need a deep cover and really its spreading the field too much

When facing left arm finger spinners or leg spinners I will use the sweep alot, can get me in trouble though, someone who likes to bowl wrong uns at the off stump I bring out the reverse sweep :D But my best shot against spinners is straight back over their head if they over pitch
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

Eddie so how difficult/easy do you find it playing against Right Arm Leggies that bowl googly's and are you a right handed bat? If I'm bowling googly's combined with top spinners primarily at the off stump and they're flighty pitching at differing lengths but not short - how problematic would that be?
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

To me that sounds pretty easy to play, just like facing a slow off spinner. Leggies get wickets usually from batsman slogging against the spin which wouldn't be the case if they only bowled wrong uns. I had the same problem as you Dave a couple of years ago, but came back after the Christmas break and remembered how to bowl leggies. Maybe you just need some time off?
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

I've mentioned a couple of times in my blog how much I hate spinners (no offense Dave ;) ). If the ball is straight I don't care how fast it is (within reason), but if it moves I go to pieces, I can't read it and I just lose all confidence. I'm an equal opportunities employer when it comes to these things though - I hate leg-spin as much as off-spin, but traditionally leg-spin is considered more dangerous. Partially because you can potentially get more turn with the wrist and fingers working together, and partially because the stock-ball movement is more likely to induce an error like an edge.
I suppose if you primarily bowl googlies, you need to be thinking like an off-spinner from a tactics point of view. There are some good articles on wikipedia about spin - I think they must have been revamped recently, don't remember them being that comprehensive.
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

someblokecalleddave;270612 said:
Eddie so how difficult/easy do you find it playing against Right Arm Leggies that bowl googly's and are you a right handed bat? If I'm bowling googly's combined with top spinners primarily at the off stump and they're flighty pitching at differing lengths but not short - how problematic would that be?
Click to expand...
Depends, if I am in survival mode, it would be difficult and I have offered chances to in close fielders when that happens, but if in a position to attack, I would love it

Put in a long on, deep mid wicket and gully however and that might contain me and thats when I would be trying the reverse sweep
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

It depends how accurate the legspinner is. A lot of them will drop it short quite often so you can hit the bad balls and block the length ones. I've always found off-spinners harder to play personally.
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

carn tigez;270645 said:
To me that sounds pretty easy to play, just like facing a slow off spinner. Leggies get wickets usually from batsman slogging against the spin which wouldn't be the case if they only bowled wrong uns. I had the same problem as you Dave a couple of years ago, but came back after the Christmas break and remembered how to bowl leggies. Maybe you just need some time off?
Click to expand...

Tigez - you might be right, but I've had some success today by taking a completely different approach. I just tried to bowl straight using the 2 fingers up 2 fingers down leg spin grip and NOT spin it and guess what - I bowled a whole bunch nice accurate small leg breaks!!!! So I may have made a bit of a break through.

I'll have a look at the wikipedia pages as well cheers. Keep the comments coming though.
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

I guess it depends. Most offies that I play with and against sort of dart it, not giving it any air, so they are easy. The ones I hate are the extremely flighty leggies, which drift into my pads, although I think I'm getting better
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

Love spinners who loop it up, gives me a chance to play back or get to the pitch of the ball. Spinners who dart it however, I really struggle against and i cant seem to find the happy medium of back and forward, and if I play forward I edge it constantly (Leg Spinners). I find off-spinners harder to face usually as they dart it, but as I'm more wary of off spinners, I hardly lose my wicket to them.

Medium Pacers who swing it away are still my favs to play against.
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

breeno;270918 said:
Love spinners who loop it up, gives me a chance to play back or get to the pitch of the ball. Spinners who dart it however, I really struggle against and i cant seem to find the happy medium of back and forward, and if I play forward I edge it constantly (Leg Spinners). I find off-spinners harder to face usually as they dart it, but as I'm more wary of off spinners, I hardly lose my wicket to them.

Medium Pacers who swing it away are still my favs to play against.
Click to expand...

That's the thing though, if you bowl darts you won't get many wickets because people won't play stupid shots, whereas people tend to relax against the flighted leggie and that's when you go out ;)
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

i believe the best way to face a spinner is to first understand and know what balls he can bowl (leggie, wrong un, slider, toppy)

designate a patch where you believe is your 'square of uncertainty'.

this may include not sure if forward or back etc..in this spot respect balls in that square.

next then make a spot on the pitch where you know if he pitches it up enough you can get to it on the full or half volley. this will include moving out of your crease.

if the ball is shorter then this designated area rock back by nearly standing on your wicket to give youself as much time as possible to hit the ball where you want.

this is also useful if you have not picked the ball as it gives you time to recorrect your shot.

it may not work for everyone but it has helped me to punish a ball a touch short....:)
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

I am a left handed batsman and love facing either leg spinners or offies. Doesn't faze me, I feel really comfortable facing them and scoring runs.

My technique is to use my feet as much as possible. By using the whole crease (moving right back when short, moving right forward to cover the turning ball) it allows extra time to pick up the singles on offer nearly every ball. Using my feet down the track is the best way to cover the spinning ball and open myself up to scoring the cheap singles and cheap boundaries.

One thing I still struggle with is playing a sweep, my paddle sweeps are fine its when I try and put some effort in to connecting in the middle of the bat. Trying to hard to get the bit shot. LBW and balls hitting me have happened all to often in my career.
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

I like spin bowlers quite a bit. I tend to charge them if they flight it up, so that I can make into a slowish half volley. I guess you have to be confident to do that, if you hesitate they can fool you really easily. As you probably guessed, I like to drive down the ground to spinners, or through the air (there's always space in the air :p ).

If they dart it in, I tend to stay back in my crease and play it on its merits, because it doesn't tend to spin when they dart it in. I have always found it easier to play bowlers who dart it in if you give yourself room, i.e. move around on the crease and play more cuts, and squarish drives or move towards leg and play leg glances.

I really don't mind if the spinners are offies or leggies, I try to negate the spin.
 
Re: Batsmen Facing Spin

It is very important to observe the spinner's wrist very closely.
Unfortunately at club level this is ignored and that is one of the reasons batsmen get out very cheaply against spinners.

Secondly; Having patience against spin bowling is very important- a spinner(if smart enough) judges ur batting instincts then he is bound to tempt u playing a rash shot and gifting him ur all important wicket.
 
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