That is so true...
Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)
- Thread starter Richard the Third
- Start date
Ab de Villiers has represented south africa in cricket and also played professional rugby, elyse Perry played football ( soccer) and cricket for australia... Is physical form the most important thing to become a professional athlete because practicing two sports as a child and being very good at both of them with enough practice is almost impossible isnt it ?
Not true, they are more likely to bowl off spin as it feels more natural to most people but some will choose legspin. You can see this with kids when they learn to bowl spin.
MOST OF THEM will bowl off spin
Cleanprophet
Active Member
It's tricky to say one way or the other. A lot of young players want to bowl legspin because of the reputation of legspin (big drift, big spin and wickets, wicket, wickets), but many of them switch to offspin when they find legspin a bit too tricky - especially in matches. I've seen it happen a few times where a young lad starts bowling legspin, struggles and switches to offspin or seam during the match.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
I've only ever played for two clubs in my 8 years at this and it's been during what might be seen as the Shane Warne era. At both clubs there have been kids that have bowled Leg Breaks resulting from being able see Warne bowling and the fact that the bloke is a super-star. At both clubs there has been one adult that has bowled wrist spin and on both occasions they've also been young (in their 20's and influenced by Warne).
At the same time, both clubs have had a plethora of finger spinners, at both clubs the biggest wicket takers each season have been fingers spinners. These finger-spinners have been specialist e.g. that's their primary role in the team set up, but at the same time, many of them are also really good batsmen. None of the wrist spinners/Leg spinners I've come across have been good at batting with the exception of one - Frank Farrington.
I've tried finger spin this summer - for me it feels really un-natural, but my younger son who started out with Leg spin - is now a good finger-spinner and he says it's easy. My older son who's also dabbled with leg-spin - had a go at finger spin with me this summer when we were on holiday and he said it was easy as well and he picked up quickly. The evidence would suggest that by virtue of numbers of players that bowl finger spin most people find it easier. Having said that and kind of backed up by what SLA has said, if you show kids (especially) wrist -spin, they pick it up fairly easily, so perhaps if there were more coaches that were confident in teaching wrist spin, there'd be more kids giving it a go?
You know kids that have heard of Shane Warne? I'm impressed.
I tested our juniors, and none of them could name a single cricketer, either current or historical. Most of them were under 4 when cricket was removed from tv and most of them have never watched a single game. If it were not for the junior programme we started, there would not be a single kid in the village who knew even the vaguest rules of cricket.
It will be a miracle if cricket still exists in this country in 30 years time. But Giles Clarke and the urdoch family will be extremely rich, and that is what really matters.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
That is a significant issue and I agree with you whole-heartedly with regards to the Sky/Murdoch aspect, Giles Clarke - I don't know enough to comment on that. Having SKY in this area (South Essex) seems to be one of the priorities in life and therefore lots of kids have some exposure to cricket. Then if their Dads have an interest in the sport, it might follow that they then end up in school teams and eventually our club. If they're watching SKY cricket with their Dads they're going to be introduced to Warnie I'm sure? I'm generally really impressed at the level of knowledge the kids at our club have with regards to players.
Less than 10% of homes have sky tv nationwide. Thats 90% of prospective cricketers that will go and play football or just stick to computer games most likely... and we wonder why we have an obesity crisis...
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
If it wasn't for Warne I'd have never have played cricket let alone bowled wrist spin!
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
I thought about buying it and its over £700 a year for sky sports! Who can seriously afford that? Especially when you have young kids. Its ************** criminal is what it is. Anyone who cares about recreational sport in this country should boycott all Newscorp output as I have been for years.
Spin Lizard
Active Member
There are lots of places to watch online. Quality isn't always the greatest but better than none.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
I've had this discussion on here before coming from the same point of view as you, but the counter argument was one based around the fact that if it wasn't for SKY and all the money they plough back into the game, English cricket would already be dead and buried especially at county level?
Cleanprophet
Active Member
That is undeniable. It's easy to take aim at Sky Sports but the issue, as has always been, is with the whole set up of cricket in Britain. In my school, we didn't even play cricket. Don't worry about which TV station is showing the cricket. The issue is what is happening at grass roots. Most of the young players at my club are not really interested in watching cricket. They'd rather just play.
I think shahidpak makes a good point about other media being used by people to watch cricket.
All that said, it would be much better to have cricket back on terrestrial TV.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Yeah the whole school issue thing is interesting too, like you, I never played cricket at school once in PE back in the 1960's and 70's and that's despite the fact that cricket was on the television on BBC2 back then as I recall and everywhere you went there was cricket being played! We played cricket in the playground at play-time in the summer and messed around with a bat in the garden - that kind of thing. Weirdly, my mates who are 4 years younger than me, who went to the same school played cricket and represented the school in inter-school games.
Locally now, my kids and all their mates at the club all go to schools where they're able to usually sustain a team up till about the 3rd year seniors (Don't know what that is in USA speak). These teams are made up primarily of club cricketers and a number of decoys that they're able to cajole into playing. But they do have phases in the curriculum where for a period of time they have compulsory cricket, it lasts for about 3 weeks according to my son. It does seem as though there is a need for 'Driving force' at the school, because if no-one is interested it's obvious that the enthusiasm for the sport isn't going to be conveyed and kids wont be inclined to take it up?
The other point is primary school - how much cricket is happening in primary schools? I know there's change going on, but in the last couple of decades male teachers had all but disappeared in Primary schools as far as I'm aware. My kids school was lucky in that one of the female teachers quite liked cricket because her bloke played it and she (Although not playing herself) got him to show her some stuff that she could teach the kids and from what they used to say about her, she did a really good job of it.
Going back to my own experience, I never played a game of cricket till I was 47! I never watched it despite working with a northerner between 1982 and 85 who, every day begged me to go home and watch the cricket because of the 'Botham factor'. I used to say 'It's boring' and he'd be in tears nearly pleading with me - "Watch it mate, IT IS NOT BORING"! (Steve Coulson was his name, I'd love to get in touch with him now!). I guess from my experience and the fact that I've engaged my kids with the sport and for the most part they love it, the factor that makes the difference is adult intervention, someone has to introduce you to it, encourage you to play it and support you. Without that aspect it is so easy for give up on it and say 'It's boring'. Additionally I think that the new kids formats have to be a part of the learning process, it means everyone gets a go, it's faster and it's fun and then slowly as they buy into the individual skills and develop their game, introduce them to the longer formats and they then see they have a role to play in the team. It strikes me that this can only ever happen within the context of a club?
Youtube - I reckon is a massive positive and probably (Although I'm loathed to admit it) T20 on the ITV channel here in the UK and the fact that it is screened at the time when kids come in from school. Whether any kid has ever independently without any adult intervention accidentally turned the tele on and caught the cricket and thought Wow - look at this, this is the game for me! Then gone on to find a club and get involved - I'd be very surprised, although that is what happened with me...
Turned the tele on one night in the 90's, fed up of football and all the crap that goes on with that, and stumbled across some test match high-lights. Some fat Aussie bloke with a bleached, high-lighted, mullet, was bowling at an Asian (Nasser Hussein) English captain. He was bowling SLOW and yet Hussein couldn't do a thing about it - I was mesmerised, I'd never seen spin bowling before and within minutes became a fan of test cricket. I'm not sure that happens very often to kids?
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Gutted!Bowled today 3 overs dropped three times easy cathes and missed 1 stumping got out on 0 no wickets
Cleanprophet
Active Member
Very similar scenario for me (bizarrely so in some instances). We played one game of cricket in my school and it was on concrete and without any teaching at all. I remember taking a one-handed left-hand catch way above my head, which I managed to replicate in my last game of the season a week ago! I didn't bat or bowl and we only played for about 40mins and never played again. Not long after I left, the school installed an all-weather pitch and started playing. I remember there were nets in the gym and cricket gear from, it seemed and was most probably the case, the 1950's.
I didn't know anyone who watched cricket nevermind played it. Funnily enough, I only really started to watch when England went to the West Indies and it was on Sky TV. Not sure why but I started to watch it and enjoy it. I remember looking at all the numbers and stats and not having a clue what was going on. I just figured it out and once I did it was more interesting. Of course, the story of legspin is the same for me as many others and was all about Warne. How could you not love watching this bloke completely confuse batter after batter and strike fear into many of them?