someblokecalleddave's Blog

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Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Yeah - see I don't get this. Why can't a left arm spinner bowl wrist spin and just do everything as a mirror image of R/H wrist spinner and isn't that what they call a Chinaman? Surely as a left arm spinner Virender could bowl a flipper?

Or is it just down to the fact that most batsmen are R/H and therefore more susceptable to the R/H wrist spinner?
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Dave,
Ur point seems valid.

The reason i wanted ur help is to understand if there are any theory more for left arm spinners in Peter Philpott's book.
So accordingly i can buy that book..
As such besides the leg spin and chinaman there is no other variation for left arm spinners other than pace change.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

You can also add an arm ball,topspinner and flipper. But as dave says your stock ball with variations in speed,flight and length should be practiced most frequently
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Virender I take it you've seen this - http://www.bigcricket.com/forum/t60610/ which I found very interesting. I suppose the big question is do you bowl wrist spin or finger spin? If your answer is wrist spin the book will be useful because all you'd be doing is exactly what we do but the other way round. I suppose with that in mind you'd then be more effective against Left Handed batsmen?

It's a good book without doubt and it helps you understand what you should be trying to do. But you've got to remember I'm new to this game so all these theories regarding drift and dip are new to me and I'm only starting to recognise them now in my own bowling and realising how strategically important they are.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Virendersingh.berthwal;340652 said:
Dave,

Are there any tips or advice for Left arm spinners in the book.
Can u share some of the contents..
Hoping to pick something very useful for my spin bowling.

Virender
Click to expand...

Virender if you're bowling wrist spin be it left handed or right handed the whole book is totally relevant. I think one of the key messages that comes out of the book is the neccesity to make the ball spin - give it a BIG flick. He talks about not bothering with making the ball turn off the crease - he demands that you make the ball SPIN off the crease, if you're not getting it to SPIN off the crease you're not really getting there and you need to go bac to the basics and start the book over again and re-learn how to make the ball SPIN. One of the other things that he demands is total dedication and I think that is mirrored in the Clarrie Grimmett book - it sounds as though Grimmett was completely dismissive of batsmen. The attitude being if you practice in nets, you would spend the whole session bowling and would never bother with batting as that's the easy bit - if you get a chance to practice then it would follow that you would bowl. It's a good book.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Finger Blisters
Reading Peter Philpotts book again - The Art of Wrist Spin Bowling (As I do constantly) I came across a quote relating to the 3rd finger (the one that puts the rev's on the ball) and Philpott writes 'Those that haven't bled have never spun' or words to that affect. The thing is I've never even had a blister let alone a bleeding blister so the inference is that I'm doing something fundamentally wrong? Whereas with the Flipper when I was in the process of learning it caused deep blisters and callouses to the point where I had to stop bowling it and let the flesh heal up.

I asked the question on the forum I comment on http://www.bigcricket.com/forum/t58854-78/#post342543 and jad a few responses from the blokes saying that they suffered from blisters when bowling Leg Breaks. Additionally I used to work with a girl who used to bowl good Leg Breaks and she said that at the start of every season she would have to suffer blisters till the skin hardened up and developed callouses.

If you follow this blog or one of my others that have dealt with my problems with the Googly Syndrome Wrist Spin Bowling and my how to bowl wrist spin blog - Legspin bowling you'll know that I'm always changing and varying the wrist position and the grips in pursuit of the elusive 'Biggun' The Big Leg Break. Recently off the back of seeing the images several posts ago of Shane Warnes release I've kind of emphasised the contact that the 3rd finger has with the ball and brought the wrist around more so that the palm and front of the wrist faces the bat. I'm hoping that this combined with a big flick and initially bowling over a shorter distance might result in some progress with my currently weak Legbreak? But I've noticed with this new grip with the emphasis on the 3rd finger and it being a key part of the grip, there is definite potential for more finger wear and tear. So that seems to me to bode well for my spinning and that maybe at last another little piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is Legbreak bowling has slotted into place and maybe I'll be able to get more spin/turn over the next few weeks?

So what with the 2 weeks Easter break coming up starting this weekend here in the UK and some nice weather being predicted I might get myself some blisters!!! Let's hope so?
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Loads of stuff happening running up to the new season. I've just had a good session bowling Leg Breaks on my practice wicket along with Top Spinners, my sons are doing okay the older one has been enthused by the establishment of a wicket on the verge at the end of our road. This and more as always at the usual place - Wrist Spin Bowling
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Good idea if you have no one else eg your children. But i think nothing is a good substitute for batting. How can you simulate swing/pace/off/legspin. Probably godd for hand eye co-ord and moving the feet, but i doubt if it helps much else. Bradman was a freak even his backlift was different. Using a backlift like his will make no-one a bradman. I can buy ponting's bat and practice or do the drills he does but there is no way i have the talent he has. But if you have space and time I assume you might practice that way , but use a golf ball instead.

In the christmas period, I tried with a ball hanging from a tree in a sock. Not as easy as it looks at first, but having pads gloves helmet etc simulates more the real thing. Got bored after 15 minutes though and got hit in the nuts a couple of times as i did not have an abdominal guard.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Yeah that's never appealed to me either - swinging a ball from a tree. But I reckon that this technique using the thin stick has got to improve my batting I can't see how it can't, one of the things I tend to do out of frustration in the nets once I've missed the ball a few times and been bowled out is to then step aside from the stumps and hit the ball with sqaure cut shots like a baseball bat and that always ends in tears as well. Everyone is trying to teach me to drive the ball but my eye/ball/bat coordination lets me down so I figure if I practice with this it's forcing me to drive the ball and therefore get my head in line with the ball and get over it. The other thing it's doing because it's so thin is making me defend the ball if it's looking a bit iffy. I think the wider bat just gives me a sense of unjustified security and this thin bat seems to be addressing the issue. I'll keep practicing with it in the short term and let you know how I get on in the nets this Thursday.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

It seems to be working. This is from my main blog at Wrist Spin Bowling: 3rd from last net session

After some warm up exercises the nets were pulled out pretty sharpish and we had about 6 blokes in the nets. I was hoping to bowl at some of the first team players as I did last week but Matt said that he only wanted 1st team players in the net as they needed to practice seriously as there's only a few weeks left before the season gets under way in a more serious manner.

Initially I bowled rubbish which underlines the neccessity for me to bowl before I go into the nets or a match. After several balls I settled down a bit and bowled primarily Top Spinners, Wrong Uns and Flippers (Grimmett Flippers). It went quite well as I hit the stumps at least twice this week and got it past the bat leaving the batsman stranded out of his crease several times too which is the technique that I tend to favour in the nets. Then the chance came to bat, I got all my gear on and then realised I hadn't brought my special 'Box pants' with me and that I was wearing baggy boxer shorts. So I stuffed the box down there and then got some support from the elastic from my hip protector but to be honest the box was rattling about all over the gaff, but I was so determined to see if the Bradman bat had caused any improvement I decided to risk it. What it did mean was that every 4 seconds or so I was having to re-adjust it, but I persevered and despite the fact that I had to concentrate more on my balls than the balls that were coming out of the hands of the bowlers I did remarkably well. Without doubt this was the best net session with the bat I've ever had. I reckon I managed to get the bat on the ball 9 out of 10 times and 8 out of 10 times it went somewhere in a safe fashion rather than high and potentially into the hands of a batsman. So for me this represents an exponentially large improvement that I'm going to attribute to the Bradman bat practice and therefore means I'm going to continue with it for the forseeable future. Additionally I was having to face some of the faster bowlers who bowl in excess of 60mph - a bloke called Mason in particular and some new bloke I've never seen before and with all of their balls I was either able to make contact with the ball or leave it. So this was very encouraging especially in view of the fact that I had problems with my box. I'm now looking forward to next week after another week of practice with the 1" bat and I'll be wearing my special pants.

Speed Gun

Again they had the speed gun in the nets and this time I had my bowling speed measured. I've always been under the impression that I bowl ridiculously slow and that even my faster deliveries were not going to be that much faster. So I was very surprised that with very little effort my Flipper came in at 43mph and my wrong un was measured at 47mph (And it took the wicket clean bowled). The faster version of my wrong un I don't generally bowl that much and it reminded me that when I first learnt to bowl it we used to practice with a Pakistani bloke over on the field (Suhail) who claimed to have toured England with the Pakistani under 21's team or something when he was younger and it was with this fast Wrong Un that I was always able to bowl him out and he was a very handy player and was always full of praise for that particular delivery. So maybe I should start to use it again as a variation, perhaps any time I bowl the wrong un this is the way I should bowl it in future? Seems to make sense?
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

It wasn't me! I was only quoting someone else EOW I think and he's an Aussie! Anyway I've got some stuff from my own blog with the continuing frustration with my leg break and the googly syndrome - if you want pictures as well you'll have to go to

Wrist Spin Bowling: Frustration with the Leg Break

But without images here it is.....

A quick re-cap. I've played cricket for the same amount of time that this Blog has existed, so this coming summer will be my 2nd full season. Prior to that I had almost another year mucking about with a team formed at work. When I started out the main inspiration was Shane Warne and Leg Spin Bowling and right from the outset I was able to bowl a leg break that I was more than happy with. But then as I learned more about cricket I came across the notion of 'Variations' and very quickly learned the Flipper, Top Spinner and then not so quickly the Wrong Un. But after months and hours at a time practicing it, I got it only to discover 'The Googly Syndrome'. I then spent the best part of a half a year trying to recover my Leg Break and last January I made the declaration that I'd got a Leg Break back.

My Leg Break; I have got a Leg Break, the ball pitches on Middle and Off and then deviates away towards slips. Note the use of the word deviates rather than spins. The fact of the matter is it's a piddly leg break that I reckon is more akin to leg cutter than a break. I find it exceptionally difficult to bowl in comparison with all my other variations yet this is supposed to be my stock ball. I work on it all the time trying to get it to spin more, but probably the same as most people it's difficult to practice in an intensive manner and have a life that isn't consumed wrist spin bowling (My wife would say it already is). Directly outside my house there's a walkway and a bit of a wall that I can bowl to but it's short and to the left of it is a big dense prickly bush, so if I'm ever bowling Leg Breaks and getting it to turn well the ball ends up in this big bush every single time and it's difficult to recover the ball and it breaks up the rhythm.

Recently I've been bowling out in the road up against a narrow bit of wall that divides my garage with a neighbours garage, which in itself is good practice as the bit of wall is about 18" wide so if I miss the wall it clatters against the neighbours metal garage door (leg side) or disappears into my open garage (Off-side).

Today I've been on the field with 20 balls and must have bowled in the region of 160 balls + bowling primarily leg breaks. I go through spells where the bowling is good and I'm happy - balls that turn well and have a good amount of bounce and obviously have an element of over-spin as well as side-spin. If I could reproduce this again and again I think I'd be happier, but it always seems that as soon as I recognise what is happening 'Ooh - that's 4 or 5 balls now that have been good - what is it that I'm doing'? I then start looking at my grip and start to try and analyse what it is that's going right and it always then seems to gradually go from being good leg breaks at that point to worsening leg breaks from then on in. So this is exactly what happened today. I then bowled my usual weak leg breaks and towards the end of the session saw further improvement that seemed to have been created by -

1. Strong and evident leading front arm reaching up very high in the gather.
2. Ball hand also starting high in the gather.
3. Good strong exaggerated step through in the explosion through the crease.
4. Loose grip with the ball lower in the hand.
5. Third finger placed on the seam methodically when positioning the ball in the hand.

I always go through a phase where I also incorporate the idea that I need to be pushing the ball forward out of my hand, but I've had a couple of people recently including Joe my younger son say 'You're chucking it Dad' or in the nets one of the blokes said that my action looked suspect from the back. Today it felt that rather than the bowling action being smooth I was trying to put so much effort into the pushing forward aspect that my arm may have been bending. So towards the end of the session when I incorporated the 5 elements described above I also went for a more of a slinging action rather than a push and it still produced a fair bit of turn plus good line and length.

But....... I'm still not happy because all of this seems to rely entirely on the 3rd finger being the part of the action which produces the spin and there is nothing of the flick that Peter Philpott talks about in his book that I'm able to incorporate into my wrong uns and Top Spinners. The thing that is driving me mental is the fact that outside the house over a shorter distance up against the wall I can produce a big flick and the finger emphasis and get the ball to turn exceptionally well - but I can't convert it to 22yards of grass! So once again today I tried it on the grass over 22 yards and it just turns into a wrong un. So straight from the session on the grass I went back to the bit of wall between the garages (I'll have to get a picture) and bowled there. Now, this bowling is completely different, it's far more fingers e.g. the ball is higher in the hand and it incorporates the use of the wrist flick and it is accurate and it turns massively, the only downside is that it's only across 11 yards at best. What I need is either someone to bowl back and forth to or somewhere bigger with a wall or a fence to bowl up against that's right outside my house so that when I get the urge to bowl I can just go there for a matter of seconds or minutes and try some of these ideas out. I'm pretty damn sure that if I had the means to gradually work the ball over an ever-increasing distance I'd get there, but I just haven't got that kind of space near my house in order that I can do this. Or have I? I've just thought of somewhere very near that might be okay and it's on our field. Watch this space.......
Look in the background of this image - this is 'Our Field' where we practice and it's literally a matter of 60 seconds from our house and I've just realised that the building has a car park area around it which is concrete and the wall is nice and flat with no windows and potentially ideal for bowling up against? So I'll have a look tomorrow and see how much potential there is for this to be a better place to bowl.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Just updated my main blog at Wrist Spin Bowling: 7 days to go


Here it is without images - Seven days to go till the first match of the season assuming I get a game. But I am so up for it and I cannot wait.

A good day with the Leg Breaks

Once again the field was used for football (When does all that lark finish)? The damage sustained wasn't too bad, but I reckon some repairs will need to be made over the next few weeks as later in evening I cut the grass and it does seem pretty uneven. There's some bare patches that should be filled with some earth and some seed so I might look at doing that over the coming weeks especially if there's more rain due as that'll get the seeds going.

I had a look at the potential for bowling up against the wall of the building at the edge of the field and it's do-able but not that good. I gave it a go but wasn't happy about it and decided instead to set the stumps up on the field with a bucket of balls. I started with 11 yards and gave it a go but it wasn't that productive and after a short while I reverted back to the 22 yards and worked on some proper bowling. With a bucket of 34 balls throwing them from one end to the other for an hour and half I got through the equivalent of a lot of overs and it was very productive right from the outset. Remembering all the points from yesterday I started out with all those attributes included and it went great right from the start. There were still dips and troughs were instead of turning away to off the ball went straight, some of the balls bounce ridiculously low others bounce high like Top Spinners, but over all my line and length was good pitching the ball right up and on the off stump for it to turn away towards off in varying degrees of spin, with varying degrees of bounce. I didn't muck about with hardly any variations and kept plugging away at the leg break and it seems to be paying off as I was more than happy with my progress. How well it'll convert to a proper wicket I don't know, all I know is on this sticky and damp wicket I can get it to turn well and on concrete with a hockey ball I can get it turn well too. But I know from bitter experience last year that real wickets are often dead with no potential for the ball to turn, so I've got to keep this in mind.

I was so pleased with the results today that I'm tempted to get the video camera and set it up on the stumps at the bowlers end and chuck down a bucket of balls and upload the results onto youtube so that all my chums can have a look and evaluate my progress. I've also been bouyed by learning about Anil Kumble Anil Kumble - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia & Cricinfo - The 100-per-cent cricketer This bloke reputedly had a weak Leg break and a bucket full of variations including a killer Fast Wrong Un, Flippers and Top Spinners (A man after my own heart). The bit I like about him is the fact that despite the fact that he had this weak leg break he is the 3rd most successful bowler of all time behind Warne and Murali. For years he lacked variations and it wasn't until a long way into his career and nearing the end of it did he learn the variations. His tactics included varying the speed and length and this apparently was one of the key elements to his bowling that brought him the wickets.

I had a couple of hours break and had my dinner, batted with the Bradman bat and tennis ball up against a wall and that's still going well and then cut the grass. Then found I had 1/2 and hour and went and threw 2 buckets worth of balls (70 balls) wondering if I could repeat the earlier success. The answer is yes. The second session also went really well including some bowling wide of leg that came back in and hit the bails. I also bowled a few variations earlier today including The Gipper which I don't really bowl that much, but despite this I managed to pitch them all up at a good length and they all turned like leg breaks. I also looked at the potential of bowling it mixed with Wrong Uns and starting the Wrong Un with the ball held like the Gipper because it has got a very distinctive grip at the start of the gather. So if I was to use it the bat would see the grip at the gather and think 'This is that weird ball that's going to turn away from me' and then it would come back in faster into the stomach! The Gipper also has the potential to go straight without any reason, so it's dodgey old ball for the batsmen.

With 7 days to go I'm going to focus on the Leg Break and try and improve on the accuracy with my line, length and flight. I'd like it to be more loopy with dip and at the minute I don't really know how well it dips, so it'll be good to see how it works at nets this week? Overall running up to the new season I reckon I've improved a lot over the last six months. I've put in a lot of work to get my Leg break back and this now looks as though this work is coming to fruition. At the close of last season The Gipper was still in a developmental stage. I'd lost my confidence to bowl flippers and I couldn't bowl a leg break at all. I go into this season with -

1. The Leg Break.
2. A good Wrong Un with variations in speed, dip, bounce and spin.
3. A decent Warnesque Flipper.
4. The Clarrie Grimmet Flipper with In-swing.
5. A good Top-spinner that dips.
6. The Gipper.

In addition I'm beginning to grasp tactics and starting to recognise weaknesses in batsmen's play. I know longer get the Yips and will probably bowl with a lot more confidence.

So it's looking good - I can't wait! All of which leaves me very optimistic with regards this season and beating my mate the Wizard.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

seems like your still regularly improving dave keep at it, hope you can get a good game tomorrow
 
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