Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)
- Thread starter Richard the Third
- Start date
Any tips for deciding when you are 'Ready' to bowl spin for the first time in a game?
Assuming a normal game situation (i.e. not specifically looking to restrict scoring) how might one decide that they are ready to bowl in a game. I'm pleased with how I have progressed in the nets but at the same time I can't be certain of 6 accurate deliveries every time.
Whilst my games have a low failure penalty (no league games - each game is win/lose for that game alone), the pressure is still there (my seam bowling debut involved bowling the death overs as the opposition chased down our score)
Any suggestions on when to try and join in the fun?
Assuming a normal game situation (i.e. not specifically looking to restrict scoring) how might one decide that they are ready to bowl in a game. I'm pleased with how I have progressed in the nets but at the same time I can't be certain of 6 accurate deliveries every time.
Whilst my games have a low failure penalty (no league games - each game is win/lose for that game alone), the pressure is still there (my seam bowling debut involved bowling the death overs as the opposition chased down our score)
Any suggestions on when to try and join in the fun?
I would get involved in bowling in games as soon as possible.
Obviously the absolute lowest standard possible to give yourself the best chance of success.
Longer formats (eg 30 or 40 overs) might work better than 20 over games, in that its less of a disaster if you get a bit of tap
Bowling relatively early in the 1st innings is probably the least pressured time to bowl - bowling at the death during a run chase is obviously not a good place to start
Give yourself plenty of cover for your occasional rank bad ball. Its absolutely acceptable to start with 4 men on the boundary.
Robert Walker
New Member
Any tips for bowling in cold temperatures? Last match couldn’t feel fingers and was dishing up full tosses.
Darth Spin
Active Member
I would say you're ready when you're taking "wickets" regularly in the nets. By wickets I don't mean clean bowling batsmen left, right and centre. I mean beating the bat if someone comes down the track at you (stumping), finding the edge, lbw shouts and most of all those dolly catches that either go straight up in the air or loop to mid on/mid off etc. Roughly 50% of your wickets in a match situation will come from easy catches.
If you can do all of the above relatively consistently, you are most definitely ready. Bear in mind that NOBODY bats in the nets like they do in a match. Not one batsman does this in the nets at club level, unless they're really taking things seriously and working on their game or something technical. But in the main the club level batsman in the nets will be looking to play shots from the start, not protect their wicket. And when they see that it's the spinner's turn to bowl, their eyes light up as they think "cool, I can hit this guy and it will be a welcome relief from the pace merchants".
Take these batsmen out of their comfort zone (the nets) and put them in a match against a decent leggie and the tables are turned, in my experience; the leggie usually holds the upper hand.
The bottom line is - and I guess you know this yourself already but it bears repeating - eventually you will have to bowl in a match or all of the work you have done to get to this point will have been wasted. So make yourself available for selection and say to your club "I'm ready to bowl my legspin in a match situation". What's the worst that can happen? You get slogged around a bit and taken off.
In any event, ultimately it is not your choice - that privilege belongs to the captain. So the best you can do is to make yourself available to be called upon should the situation arise.
If you feel you are ready, you should not hesitate. There is nothing better than getting your first wicket as a leg spinner, apart from getting your second, third, fourth and so on. It is a euphoric feeling, up there with scoring a screamer in the lesser sport known as football. That warm glow of satisfaction of reflecting on the wicket(s) you've taken when your over has finished and you're back in the field - it is highly satisfying. Take a wicket, break a partnership, help your team win the game - these things should be relished, embraced, celebrated. Remember Philpott and his "circle of satisfaction".
Final tip - get yourself on good terms with the captain. Even if the captain is an insufferable, egotistical douchebag. In fact, especially if the captain is an egomaniac. Swallow your pride and buddy up with him as best you can. You must be on good terms with the captain, otherwise you're not going to be bowling very often, if at all.
Darth Spin
Active Member
Anyway, it has been another long break from this forum for me. Life has been complicated with a change of career and three(!) house moves in the space of a year.
I am settled now, though, and enjoying my solitary legspin practice again. I am lucky enough to live very near a concrete tennis court which nobody seems to use except me. Basically, it's my tennis court. Tennis courts are the best place to practice, in my humble opinion (well, the next best thing to a decent net). I am pondering upon joining the local village club towards the mid-point of this season. I am self-employed now, so my personal time is precious. Time=money and all that. I don't want to play for the whole season, as cricket can be all consuming, but I reckon I'll give it a bash towards the end of this season.
I only played one match last season, but it went really well. I took three wickets in two overs, one of them a googly. The others were leg breaks. There was a highly amusing one, where I bowled a full leg break that landed somewhere near the batsman's crease. He tried a strange pull shot and completely cleaned his stumps out with the bat. Hah!
I am settled now, though, and enjoying my solitary legspin practice again. I am lucky enough to live very near a concrete tennis court which nobody seems to use except me. Basically, it's my tennis court. Tennis courts are the best place to practice, in my humble opinion (well, the next best thing to a decent net). I am pondering upon joining the local village club towards the mid-point of this season. I am self-employed now, so my personal time is precious. Time=money and all that. I don't want to play for the whole season, as cricket can be all consuming, but I reckon I'll give it a bash towards the end of this season.
I only played one match last season, but it went really well. I took three wickets in two overs, one of them a googly. The others were leg breaks. There was a highly amusing one, where I bowled a full leg break that landed somewhere near the batsman's crease. He tried a strange pull shot and completely cleaned his stumps out with the bat. Hah!
Thanks Darth Spin (and others).
Finding places to practice has been challenging of late. Wish I had a tennis court nearby like that. At present I'm stuggling to find anywhere (save for the £75 an hour net nearby) as football fever has churned up anything made of grass and cars occupy anything covered in tarmac.
Glad to hear things are settling nicely for you. Good luck this season!
Finding places to practice has been challenging of late. Wish I had a tennis court nearby like that. At present I'm stuggling to find anywhere (save for the £75 an hour net nearby) as football fever has churned up anything made of grass and cars occupy anything covered in tarmac.
Glad to hear things are settling nicely for you. Good luck this season!
Darth Spin
Active Member
It can be a real pain finding somewhere reliable. I would say it's worth setting aside a few hours and going out in the car, driving around various spots and seeing what you can find. Or looking on google maps for any open spots nearby.
Darth Spin
Active Member
In my opinion, hours and hours of hand to hand practice. And then more practice. Until you can do it with your eyes closed.
Objects should be spun, too, like Philpott says. Anything that gets you used to finding that centre of gravity and imparting a whole heap of revs.
boogiespinner
Active Member
A way to practice which I'd like to do is to bowl to a partner from a standing start, he catches on the full, then you swap, wearing baseball gloves
boogiespinner
Active Member
I am having a major life change, I've been offered a job in Costa Rica and am emigrating in a couple of weeks. Quite keen to keep up my legspin practice but don't know what it will be like over there. Haven't done any for months but I'd made massive progress last summer. It might be possible for me to play for the Costa Rica national team and still be eligible to play for England.
Cleanprophet
Active Member
Costa Rica is a lovely place with a fast growing economy. There is a Costa Rica nation team. Something to shoot for
That might be possible. I believe the minor nations rules allow for players who have played for the major nations to play. I seem to remember an england player going to Papa New Guinea(?) and of course Ed Joyce went from england to ireland.
Sounds great though! Almost the plot of a book if you were to create your own team (bit like 'Up Pohnpei' by Paul Watson) in order to get some extra practice.
Cleanprophet
Active Member
Geraint Jones played for PNG, but he was born there of course.
Thivagar
Member
Leg spin bowling is one heck of a drug and I'm just starting to get high off it after years of suffering and toiling. The best decision I've ever made is to join the best and most professionally ran Cricket Academy in North America back in December. We have Shane Shillingford of West Indies and Davy Jacobs(former Mumbai Indians and South African FC player) playing for our Super 9(highest division in Canada). I'm willing to learn few things from Shane, but I don't play at their level and we don't practice at the same time. He doesn't seem like he likes to talk a lot either. Nevertheless, I got to see him practice 2 weeks ago, and the difference is very subtle variations, pace and accuracy. I also got to bowl to him and he isn't really a batsmen but one shot he hit in nets would have been a 100+ metre six anywhere.
Since our club own their own nets, we get to practice at least twice a week and I just stopped batting. All i do is bowl, bowl to tailenders, front foot batsmen, backfoot players, attacking batsmen, defensive batsmen, batsmen that score runs in V, batsmen that score 360, batsmen who like to come out of their crease, batsmen who never leave their crease and etc. We have couple of Canadian and U-19 and former u19 players and I'm trying to bowl to them often as I can. They always win the battle but I'm losing less. If they were averaging 50(throwing a loose number) against me before, now they are averaging 37. The lower division guys, u-17, u-19 and u-15 guys are in total shambles when I bowl to them and I'm loving it. Some of these guys are on verge of representing the Canadian u-17 and U-19 team mind you. I'm 24 and I have dark fetish when It comes to seeing despair in teenage boy's face when I bowl
. Perhaps because I was benched all my teenage cricketing period at school and was smashed all over the nets/ground.
I'm starting of in a lower T20 division this weekend and I'm playing club cricket after 2 years and this is the first I'm actually confident in my bowling. But I still suffer PTSD from all the abuse from batsmen, especially attacking batsmen; I was once smashed for 40+ runs in an over
.
Wish me luck !!!
Since our club own their own nets, we get to practice at least twice a week and I just stopped batting. All i do is bowl, bowl to tailenders, front foot batsmen, backfoot players, attacking batsmen, defensive batsmen, batsmen that score runs in V, batsmen that score 360, batsmen who like to come out of their crease, batsmen who never leave their crease and etc. We have couple of Canadian and U-19 and former u19 players and I'm trying to bowl to them often as I can. They always win the battle but I'm losing less. If they were averaging 50(throwing a loose number) against me before, now they are averaging 37. The lower division guys, u-17, u-19 and u-15 guys are in total shambles when I bowl to them and I'm loving it. Some of these guys are on verge of representing the Canadian u-17 and U-19 team mind you. I'm 24 and I have dark fetish when It comes to seeing despair in teenage boy's face when I bowl
. Perhaps because I was benched all my teenage cricketing period at school and was smashed all over the nets/ground. I'm starting of in a lower T20 division this weekend and I'm playing club cricket after 2 years and this is the first I'm actually confident in my bowling. But I still suffer PTSD from all the abuse from batsmen, especially attacking batsmen; I was once smashed for 40+ runs in an over
. Wish me luck !!!
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
How did it go? My clubs lost loads of players and everyone has basically had to move up two grades. I normally play in our 4th XI and this weekend I'm in the 2nd XI for the 2nd week running. If we have to field first I may have to bowl some overs, hopefully none of them will go for 40 runs in an over! I don't know what my worst over was, I had a pretty bad one last summer when I had the Yips, that was around 22 off the over.Leg spin bowling is one heck of a drug and I'm just starting to get high off it after years of suffering and toiling. The best decision I've ever made is to join the best and most professionally ran Cricket Academy in North America back in December. We have Shane Shillingford of West Indies and Davy Jacobs(former Mumbai Indians and South African FC player) playing for our Super 9(highest division in Canada). I'm willing to learn few things from Shane, but I don't play at their level and we don't practice at the same time. He doesn't seem like he likes to talk a lot either. Nevertheless, I got to see him practice 2 weeks ago, and the difference is very subtle variations, pace and accuracy. I also got to bowl to him and he isn't really a batsmen but one shot he hit in nets would have been a 100+ metre six anywhere.
Since our club own their own nets, we get to practice at least twice a week and I just stopped batting. All i do is bowl, bowl to tailenders, front foot batsmen, backfoot players, attacking batsmen, defensive batsmen, batsmen that score runs in V, batsmen that score 360, batsmen who like to come out of their crease, batsmen who never leave their crease and etc. We have couple of Canadian and U-19 and former u19 players and I'm trying to bowl to them often as I can. They always win the battle but I'm losing less. If they were averaging 50(throwing a loose number) against me before, now they are averaging 37. The lower division guys, u-17, u-19 and u-15 guys are in total shambles when I bowl to them and I'm loving it. Some of these guys are on verge of representing the Canadian u-17 and U-19 team mind you. I'm 24 and I have dark fetish when It comes to seeing despair in teenage boy's face when I bowl
I'm starting of in a lower T20 division this weekend and I'm playing club cricket after 2 years and this is the first I'm actually confident in my bowling. But I still suffer PTSD from all the abuse from batsmen, especially attacking batsmen; I was once smashed for 40+ runs in an over
Wish me luck !!!
I'm starting of in a lower T20 division this weekend and I'm playing club cricket after 2 years and this is the first I'm actually confident in my bowling. But I still suffer PTSD from all the abuse from batsmen, especially attacking batsmen; I was once smashed for 40+ runs in an over
Wish me luck !!!
Good luck. Getting smashed can happen to anyone. Google '38 runs in one over' and you'll see a professional fast bowler go for a lot of runs as he misses his length. If the pros can do it - we can try and emulate them right
Thivagar
Member
It actually went pretty well. I finished my 4 full overs, gave 12 or 13 runs and picked up 2 wickets. Keeper & a fielder dropped a catch and there were 3 other hard chances that went down. First 2 of overs my fielding was way too defensive and after 2 overs I brought the fielders in. I played in the lesser known league and this is where every one starts of for our club and we did have an U-19 player moving down the division that played in the recently concluded U-19 world cup, he seems very chill and he actually encourages me to toss up. This weekend I'm playing Saturday and Sunday in the same T20 league. I have to pick up loads of wickets before I can move up. I realized by not batting, padding up, padding down and waiting at the non striker during practice I pretty much added 18 hours of bowling practice in the nets. I never thought I could bowl a proper googly, but now I can actually bowl a top spin googly and a regular googly very well. I can't bowl quicker googly, quicker leg break or a proper slider but i'm surprised with my progress in the last 5 months. It is hard to believe how much practice could actually help you, I mean you hear about it everyday but it is special to experience that yourself.
We had our practice session yesterday, as our session was ending Shane Shillingford came early for their practice, he padded up and was warming up. I thought i could bowl few overs to him and get some feedback before everyone showed up. As I was re-measuring my run-up, another Super-9 player yelled "Brooooo" and I turned around and he said "Your practice session is done" and pointed towards the exit door so I had to leave. Man I wish I had a 10 year head start like some of the guys in my Academy. Some kid asked me how I'm able to bowl bigger and smaller leg breaks. As I was enthusiastically explaining, he got distracted and just walked away
. These guys got 10-15 year head start, clearly they are stronger, much more athletic, sometimes much more aggressive and competitive. But most of these guys have no heart. Most of these are kids of immigrant parents that were never given a proper cricketing opportunity, sometimes their parents seem much more excited than the players themselves.
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Thivagar
Member
Good luck. Getting smashed can happen to anyone. Google '38 runs in one over' and you'll see a professional fast bowler go for a lot of runs as he misses his length. If the pros can do it - we can try and emulate them right
The biggest hurdle for me was the mental aspect . Even If I bowled well, I'd be worried about getting smashed the next ball. It took me 2-3 years to come over that and during this time I didn't even play organized cricket. I'm at a point that I no longer care about getting hit for big sixes but just before my last game I became a bit fearful. However, after I bowled my first two deliveries it was gone. I put my hours, I practiced harder than anyone in my academy so I knew I was ready for the particular level I'm playing at.
Thivagar
Member
This weekend sucked. Saturday game(t20) got rained out. On Sunday(T20) it was an 8:00AM game again, the pitch was damp, grass was 5 inches tall in some places, the astro turf was splashing water whenever the bowlers bowled and spinners struggled to turn. We had 6-7 bowlers in the side and all had to get at least 2 overs as per our coach's order as this was more of an experimental game since we were facing last year's champ and we didn't want to expose our players earlier on this season. I bowled my first 2 balls and the balls were going gun barrel straight. Switched my line to off stump, pulled back the line just a tad bit, bowled leg spin, topspin, googly and topspin legbreak deliveries all only turned and did just a bit. First 2 overs, 6 runs, an LBW wasn't given and a stumping wasn't given and I was happy considering those conditions. The pressure got to the batsmen, they tried to attack the other guy and 2 wickets fell. I was brought back for my 3rd over at the 19th over and by this time the cheap arse ball became deformed and made it difficult for me to grip for my googly. Despite this circumstance I became selfish, greedy and bowled googly anyway to try to get some wickets. Despite it being the 19th over in a T20 game we only had a long on and a long off at 45 and no one at the boundary. I was smashed for 2 boundaries back to back one of them being almost a six, a third delivery would have been a four as well but it landed on a wet spot and just got stuck in there for 2. I realized my selfishness and finished it off by bowling 3 leg break in the last 3 balls to finish my 3 over spell. Overall, 3 overs for 18 runs, no wicket and 10 runs of 3 balls due to my greed and we lost by 6 runs when we came to chase.
I'm actually happy that I committed this mistake much earlier in the season rather than late. I will never try something I'm not comfortable with just because I feel the intense urge do it.
I'm actually happy that I committed this mistake much earlier in the season rather than late. I will never try something I'm not comfortable with just because I feel the intense urge do it.