To Spin, Or Not To Spin, That's The Question...

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We have all been hit for a huge six. Not the kind of six that just clears the fielder on the boundary. No, not that kind. The kind that seems to go further and further, never stopping, until it lands way outside the stadium, into trees or houses or parking areas. That one hit can deflate your ego and make you wish you could just disintegrate into a few specks of dust on the ground and float off into the horizon in a light, cool breeze...

Then, as if that isn't enough, you suddenly realize that you have to bowl the next ball. So, as the batsman is glaring at you and smiling devilishly, you start the first step of your run-up, you gradually build up momentum, and glide over the infield grass onto the pitch...

Would you:
1) bowl the ball much, much quicker into the pads so that the ball can't be hit for yet another gigantic six.
2) just roll the ball out of your hand without trying to impart lots of spin so the ball lands on a good spot.
3) toss the ball up even higher, but without significant spin.
4) try to rip the cover off the ball, toss it up, make it drift and dip all over the place.
5) tell the umpires that you have hurt your bowling shoulder and can't finish the over.

Honest answers please:D
 
loopylegspinner said:
I'm probably guilty of option 1:oops:
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Although it does often get people out. I am quite a slow, loopy bowler (hence the name) so if the batsman is getting cocky he'll probably come down the pitch to me. The ball then sneaks under his bat and hits the stumps. Shane Warne used to bowl a flipper after he had been hit for a big six!
 
loopylegspinner said:
I'm probably guilty of option 1:oops:
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No worries, 90% of all spinners have done that before and the other 10% are lying:D

When I was a less experienced bowler I always went for option 2):( Now that I know I can land the ball on a good line and length with lots of revs I always go for #4! It makes a lot of sense too, why would you sacrifice your most deadly weapons (drift, dip and turn) in a pressure situation? Rather make a few mistakes by trying to impart fierce spin! After all, we don't learn from the things we do right, we learn from mistakes.


Warne!!!???:eek:
 
loopylegspinner said:
Although it does often get people out. I am quite a slow, loopy bowler (hence the name) so if the batsman is getting cocky he'll probably come down the pitch to me. The ball then sneaks under his bat and hits the stumps. Shane Warne used to bowl a flipper after he had been hit for a big six!
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If I was facing a slow loopy bowler, a faster ball would definitely surprise me! Do you get a lot of turn by bowling slower? And have you ever noticed drift or dip in your bowling?
 
Jacques Voigt said:
We have all been hit for a huge six. Not the kind of six that just clears the fielder on the boundary. No, not that kind. The kind that seems to go further and further, never stopping, until it lands way outside the stadium, into trees or houses or parking areas. That one hit can deflate your ego and make you wish you could just disintegrate into a few specks of dust on the ground and float off into the horizon in a light, cool breeze...

Then, as if that isn't enough, you suddenly realize that you have to bowl the next ball. So, as the batsman is glaring at you and smiling devilishly, you start the first step of your run-up, you gradually build up momentum, and glide over the infield grass onto the pitch...

Would you:
1) bowl the ball much, much quicker into the pads so that the ball can't be hit for yet another gigantic six.
2) just roll the ball out of your hand without trying to impart lots of spin so the ball lands on a good spot.
3) toss the ball up even higher, but without significant spin.
4) try to rip the cover off the ball, toss it up, make it drift and dip all over the place.
5) tell the umpires that you have hurt your bowling shoulder and can't finish the over.

Honest answers please:D
Click to expand...

Depends why I got hit for 6. If it was because I bowled a shite ball, my main aim would be to not bowl another one and get hit for another 6. Its only sensible.

If it was a good ball that got hit because the batsman just swiped and got lucky, I would either go with 1), 4) or possibly 6) bowl a wrong'un depending on what I think is most likely to cause a miscue.

I think the single most dangerous thing any bowler can do is think that after getting hit for a boundary or two you have to "rescue" the over with a magic ball. That's when things start falling to pieces. Keep your head and try to finish the over quietly and hope you get another one.
 
Jacques Voigt said:
If I was facing a slow loopy bowler, a faster ball would definitely surprise me! Do you get a lot of turn by bowling slower? And have you ever noticed drift or dip in your bowling?
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I do get loads of turn, drift and dip. I'm twelve years old playing in senior club level cricket so I'm not physically able to bowl at 40-50MPH. It's only been at the end of this season that I've accepted this and realized that the attributes that are going to get me wickets are turn, drift, dip and flight. From then onward I have bowled 34 overs and returned figures of 134 for 9 (40 over cricket for the 2nd XI).
 
loopylegspinner said:
I do get loads of turn, drift and dip. I'm twelve years old playing in senior club level cricket so I'm not physically able to bowl at 40-50MPH. It's only been at the end of this season that I've accepted this and realized that the attributes that are going to get me wickets are turn, drift, dip and flight. From then onward I have bowled 34 overs and returned figures of 134 for 9 (40 over cricket for the 2nd XI).
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That's great! I'm 14 years old and I also play at senior club level:) Last season I tried to bowl quite fast, but like you I realized that drift, dip turn etc. are much more dangerous than a medium paced ball which has a bit of spin. My stock ball's perfect speed is about 60kph (not sure how many miles that is)

It would be nice if I could see a video of you bowling, since I'm not sure if I am bowling at the right pace. Lots of adult spinners at my club bowl much faster than me, and other much slower. I do vary my pace a lot, but do you think that 60kph is the right speed? (I think that I get my maximum number of revs on the ball when I bowl 60kph) If I bowl slower the ball naturally turns more, but I like to bowl spin at a nice pace so the batsman has less reaction time, bigger chance to rush the batsman etc. What are the pro's and con's of bowling slower / faster in your opinion?
 
SLA said:
Depends why I got hit for 6. If it was because I bowled a shite ball, my main aim would be to not bowl another one and get hit for another 6. Its only sensible.

If it was a good ball that got hit because the batsman just swiped and got lucky, I would either go with 1), 4) or possibly 6) bowl a wrong'un depending on what I think is most likely to cause a miscue.

I think the single most dangerous thing any bowler can do is think that after getting hit for a boundary or two you have to "rescue" the over with a magic ball. That's when things start falling to pieces. Keep your head and try to finish the over quietly and hope you get another one.
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So I shouldn't try to rescue myself with a magic ball...
Every ball that I bowl IS an attempted magic ball:confused:!!! But I accept when it wasn't a magic ball and instead a waist high full toss, and just try again the next ball. Should I rather just use the regular bowling method of opening my bowling, then gradually get on line and length and finally trying to take wickets?
 
Jacques Voigt said:
That's great! I'm 14 years old and I also play at senior club level:) Last season I tried to bowl quite fast, but like you I realized that drift, dip turn etc. are much more dangerous than a medium paced ball which has a bit of spin. My stock ball's perfect speed is about 60kph (not sure how many miles that is)

It would be nice if I could see a video of you bowling, since I'm not sure if I am bowling at the right pace. Lots of adult spinners at my club bowl much faster than me, and other much slower. I do vary my pace a lot, but do you think that 60kph is the right speed? (I think that I get my maximum number of revs on the ball when I bowl 60kph) If I bowl slower the ball naturally turns more, but I like to bowl spin at a nice pace so the batsman has less reaction time, bigger chance to rush the batsman etc. What are the pro's and con's of bowling slower / faster in your opinion?
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The older you get, you will find that anything less than 70kph just gets smashed because the batsman has soooo much time to watch the spin after it bounces, and if you pitch it up they will just come forward and hit it on the full toss. That's why most decent club spinners upwards bowl at 70-90kph.
 
Jacques Voigt said:
So I shouldn't try to rescue myself with a magic ball...
Every ball that I bowl IS an attempted magic ball:confused:!!! But I accept when it wasn't a magic ball and instead a waist high full toss, and just try again the next ball. Should I rather just use the regular bowling method of opening my bowling, then gradually get on line and length and finally trying to take wickets?
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Well obviously you want every ball to be as good as it can be, but generally its best off to start just bowling your stock ball for a couple of overs, and try to find a length and get in a nice rhythm. Like Warne said in that video about just spending a couple of overs sussing out the pitch and the batsman before coming up with a plan. Then find the right balance between attack and defence in both your bowling and your field settings.
 
SLA said:
Well obviously you want every ball to be as good as it can be, but generally its best off to start just bowling your stock ball for a couple of overs, and try to find a length and get in a nice rhythm. Like Warne said in that video about just spending a couple of overs sussing out the pitch and the batsman before coming up with a plan. Then find the right balance between attack and defence in both your bowling and your field settings.
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Makes sense. Usually I start out spinning the ball as hard as I possibly can, (I can't spin the ball any more than that) every ball after that is the same, unfortunately my spinning finger gets tired very fast from doing this. But I was never a fan of trying to start out with a 75% effort ball, then building up. I like to start at 100% effort and try to build up even more. As the overs go by I don't put as much effort into putting spin on the ball. But rather which type of spin, accuracy, variation in speed etc.
 
Jacques Voigt said:
That's great! I'm 14 years old and I also play at senior club level:) Last season I tried to bowl quite fast, but like you I realized that drift, dip turn etc. are much more dangerous than a medium paced ball which has a bit of spin. My stock ball's perfect speed is about 60kph (not sure how many miles that is)

It would be nice if I could see a video of you bowling, since I'm not sure if I am bowling at the right pace. Lots of adult spinners at my club bowl much faster than me, and other much slower. I do vary my pace a lot, but do you think that 60kph is the right speed? (I think that I get my maximum number of revs on the ball when I bowl 60kph) If I bowl slower the ball naturally turns more, but I like to bowl spin at a nice pace so the batsman has less reaction time, bigger chance to rush the batsman etc. What are the pro's and con's of bowling slower / faster in your opinion?
Click to expand...

It's the off season right now in England so I can't get a video. :(

Peter Philpott talks about your 'natural pace' in his book. He says that the ideal pace is that which you bowl naturally as long as you have correct technique and are exploding through the crease. The effort should make you grunt or nearly grunt as you deliver the ball. I like this idea as it changes according to your physical abilities.

I reckon that I probably bowl at the sort of speed that, once I'm eighteen or so, I'll be bowling at a decent pace. The main advantage to having a lack of pace compared to the standard pace for spinners is that batsmen have to add the pace themselves. This often leads to them having to sacrifice technique in favour of power.
 
loopylegspinner said:
It's the off season right now in England so I can't get a video. :(

Peter Philpott talks about your 'natural pace' in his book. He says that the ideal pace is that which you bowl naturally as long as you have correct technique and are exploding through the crease. The effort should make you grunt or nearly grunt as you deliver the ball. I like this idea as it changes according to your physical abilities.

I reckon that I probably bowl at the sort of speed that, once I'm eighteen or so, I'll be bowling at a decent pace. The main advantage to having a lack of pace compared to the standard pace for spinners is that batsmen have to add the pace themselves. This often leads to them having to sacrifice technique in favour of power.
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True. I do grunt from effort and explosion at the crease. Sometimes it's a full blooded clearly audible grunt, I've even been called various tennis-player names on the field because I sound similar to them when I bowl:D

I'm not sure if I have a natural pace, I can bowl at three paces, 70kph , 60kph or 50 kph without sacrificing any spin. I settled for 60kph because when I bowl at 70kph many batsmen claim that I'm easier to play. Do any of your coaches advise you to bowl faster? When I was bowling slower everyone told me to bowl faster which eventually made me crazy so I upped my speed considerably.
 
loopylegspinner said:
My natural pace is about the same as yours in the videos from this thread:
http://www.bigcricket.com/community...-advice-thoughts-would-be-appreciated.183997/


I've never had any coaching which to a certain extent is a good thing as I now have a nice, smooth, natural action which produces a lot of revs.
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Oh, I think that pace was about 50kph, not 100% sure though, could be slower. I have had coaching, unfortunately:( ...
Luckily I learned how to judge advice and ignore anything that I know won't help me at all. Do you have a low arm action or a higher one? I've heard some people saying that a lower arm action leads to more revs, I think it's a bit of a myth though. Depends on your wrist and shoulder flexibility.
 
My arm comes over at about the same height as Shane Warne's, maybe a bit lower.
images
 
I do get quite a bit of drift from maybe the ball going from off stump to middle and leg for a stock ball. The main thing with my drift is that I get it consistently every single ball I bowl and so when I bowl a variation it deceives them completely as it doesn't drift inwards.
 
loopylegspinner said:
I do get quite a bit of drift from maybe the ball going from off stump to middle and leg for a stock ball. The main thing with my drift is that I get it consistently every single ball I bowl and so when I bowl a variation it deceives them completely as it doesn't drift inwards.
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My drift is also very consistent. If I spin the ball at my hardest now I can drift it from the edge of the pitch to off stump for a left handed batsman. (given the right amount of flight and the ball coming out cleanly) If I lower my arm considerably so it's lower than 45 degrees (or that't how it feels) the ball stays straight through the air, possibly because I sling it in the opposite direction of the drift, and I use that as a good variation. I've noticed that that the ball doesn't turn as much if it drifts, and if it doesn't drift at all it tends to turn a bit more. (a la That ball to Strauss)

Does your top spinner drift a bit occasionally? And have you managed to get drift with a googly?
 
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