Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

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Doesn't sound too bad a game. Always good to be able to reflect afterwards and learn some lessons (better than sitting there thinking you did nothing wrong and still weren't performing).

Had a low stakes (team friendly) game on Saturday (24 overs each side) so I bowled my first overs of spin in a game. Got 9 overs in total - albeit starting and ending bowling seam - but I got a solid 5 overs of spin in the middle. The young ringer on the other side displayed quite incredible hand eye coordination to smash me about for 10 off one over (rounders style bat swings but he was able to track even the largest amount of turn I could generate) but I recovered next over with a maiden to keep the other batter on strike. With better command of line, good variations of flight dip and bounce would have been a good option but I don't have that accuracy yet.
As he departed I carried on with spin and kept to good figures. Some lenient umpiring meant I only conceded a single wide for the game (probably should have been about 5 but I'm not complaining). No wickets but some good tidy spells. I fared better against the more classical style of batter than the slogger but that's probably only to be expected. All in all - good confidence building spell and something to try and build on. At least I finally feel like some of my practice has been working. Still plenty to do though.

Not a bad batting performance either. A quickfire 37 before getting stumped trying to force the run rate at the end. We lost the game but it went right down to the wire so was fun for everyone.
 
MagicDave said:
Doesn't sound too bad a game. Always good to be able to reflect afterwards and learn some lessons (better than sitting there thinking you did nothing wrong and still weren't performing).

Had a low stakes (team friendly) game on Saturday (24 overs each side) so I bowled my first overs of spin in a game. Got 9 overs in total - albeit starting and ending bowling seam - but I got a solid 5 overs of spin in the middle. The young ringer on the other side displayed quite incredible hand eye coordination to smash me about for 10 off one over (rounders style bat swings but he was able to track even the largest amount of turn I could generate) but I recovered next over with a maiden to keep the other batter on strike. With better command of line, good variations of flight dip and bounce would have been a good option but I don't have that accuracy yet.
As he departed I carried on with spin and kept to good figures. Some lenient umpiring meant I only conceded a single wide for the game (probably should have been about 5 but I'm not complaining). No wickets but some good tidy spells. I fared better against the more classical style of batter than the slogger but that's probably only to be expected. All in all - good confidence building spell and something to try and build on. At least I finally feel like some of my practice has been working. Still plenty to do though.

Not a bad batting performance either. A quickfire 37 before getting stumped trying to force the run rate at the end. We lost the game but it went right down to the wire so was fun for everyone.
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Great stuff, I too have recovered after being hit few times this season. I'm actually impressed with myself, I got smashed 2 weeks ago in a game for 14 runs in 3 deliveries after bowling a maiden, 2 wicket over and I literally didn't care. EVen today I got smashed for a full toss six and a shortball boundary back to back and I quickly moved on like nothing happened. I'm averaging about 2 wickets per match(T20s) and bowling 3 overs per game. There was one match where I bowled 4 overs without getting a wicket but the condition was the worst you can imagine. Today we were facing our youth team, most guys are U-17 or U-19 national probables and some young guns in early 20s as well These guys have been playing since they were babies, academy bred, competitive jock type players. They scored 194 in 20 , I bowled 3 overs gave 26 runs and took 2 wickets. I went to bat at #10 and put on a 48 run partnership with a #11 batsmen and won the game. I also hit my first ever 6 and first ever 4 in an organized cricket match :D and they were #1 and #2 bowlers as well. Hopefully, in next couple of weeks I get called for competitive 50 over matches as a bowler.

How was your performance in last 2 weeks ?
 
someblokecalleddave said:
I've been here before many a time, now realise that most people don't share my obsession to the same extent and generally keep this stuff short and sweet.
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Even kids who held cricket bats before learning how to crawl have no idea how leg spin works. Couple of younger guys ask me questions, but they are never in the mood to learn, they are looking for me to say one thing that will somehow miraculously change their performance forever. One of the senior player told me to not to share any "secrets" cause they don't "deserve it". Today I bowled a slider/backspinner with angle aimed at 3rd slip to trick the batsmen into thinking it was a leg break, the ball turned out be a carrom ball like delivery that skid away a bit. There is so much to explore in spin bowling in general.
 
In training I bowl well but then when it comes to matches I overthink and bowl badly. I tend to not pivot and follow through enough and the input is only coming from the wrist and fingers. Any tips on how to eradicate these nerves?
 
Confidence works for me.

Put a newspaper down on a length and score each ball in a virtual over in training. When you can hit it 6 from 6 its easy then to work your way in during a game as mentally you KNOW you WILL be accurate from ball 1. Just pick your spot and hit it. Then gradually go through your bowling plan as your confidence peaks. Few batters like to swing from ball 1 - especially if you are bowling threatening looking balls. Sure it may not turn as much as when you are fully set but that can be just enough for the batter to watch a few - which is enough time for you to get yourself going. My issue is I'm only hitting my target 2-3 balls out of 6. More practice required for me.

Also I find asking the umpire to move back a pace or two (if they are right up at the stumps) helps. Means my delivery stride is the same in practice as in a game.
 
Robert Walker said:
In training I bowl well but then when it comes to matches I overthink and bowl badly. I tend to not pivot and follow through enough and the input is only coming from the wrist and fingers. Any tips on how to eradicate these nerves?
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You need the support of your captain and your team, you've got to believe that they value your role in the team. Your confidence and self belief can easily drain away when you've seen the openers and the 2nd change bowlers keep it tight - going for 2 or 3 an over, then you come on and your first over goes for 6 or 8 or worse and three overs later just as you're starting to find your rhythm you get taken off. This can mean that every time you play, you tend to start with a really negative mind set, which is then exacerbated by an awareness that in practice you've been bowling on a dime and looking pretty much like Shane Warne. It's happened to me a couple of times - last year mid season I had it and got the Yips. The solution my captain came up with was - rather than expose me to the middle order batsmen who see themselves as the destroyers of spin bowlers in the 24th over. Or the opener who's been in now for 24 overs and is on 60-70 runs and is seeing the ball like a fluorescent foam rubber football. He lets me bowl at the openers who are expecting to face pace and are looking to stay at the crease for a while. At my level they're kind of put off their mental preparation when suddenly confronted by a leggie and you as a leggie, kind of know this. Additionally you've not had that situation where you're watching the bloke at 18 overs in thinking oh s**t I'm probably going to be thrown the ball in 4 or 5 overs will have to bowl and it's going to be like last week - I know it is. Which just makes you more anxious and tense.
 
Just got destroyed by a David Boon look alike in his late 40s for 4 sixes. He hit me for a six in the first ever ball I bowled. He destroyed our quicks too but hit me for two gigantic sixes which almost killed a dog. My teammates were very supportive but their body language said otherwise. I'm trying to convince myself that it wasn't me and he was just in his zone. What is more humiliating was that he was more focused on checking out the track and field girls and I was just a distraction. Every time he hit me for a six, he just went right back to staring at the girls and the girls weren't even hot:(.
 
I tried my hand at bowling the "wrong wrong 'un" at practice last night. At first it was all over the place, going down the leg side and not turning but merely straightening up a bit. But when I found the correct line (middle stump), sure enough it turned away to the off stump or just beating off stump. A very interesting delivery, flatter in trajectory than my leg break, a touch quicker down the track and skiddier. Without the topspin on the ball it does not have the trademark late dip and exaggerated bounce of my 45 degrees leggie.

Would I be right in saying this delivery is closely related to an off-spinner's doosra? And maybe that's what I was actually bowling, rather than the "wrong wrong un". Regardless, I did actually manage to land a few consecutively. When I get back into playing I would be tempted to bowl one at a tail ender or in other circumstances where the match situation allowed. For the time being, I am just practicing every night in this glorious weather we are having.
 
The Indian Paul Adams aka Shivil Kaushik who played in the 2017 IPL season has arrived at our club.
https://www.iplt20.com/video/7699/m28-gl-vs-kxip-shivil-kaushik-3-wickets

This actually gives me more confidence, this means our club's spin bowling is lacking and I can potentially impress our selectors and coaches during the off season and try to play for the highest level here in Canada hopefully next year. My goal is to at least be at the level where I can be used as a net bowler during practice with the big boys. Also found out that Pakistani Legend Hanif Mohammad's grandson is playing for our club as well. So we have about 7-8 players with FC/IPL/LIST A/ International/TEST experience. I'm willing to work hard, but sometime I just see these guys in nets(Can't bowl to them) and I'm just aww struck.
 
Darth Spin said:
I tried my hand at bowling the "wrong wrong 'un" at practice last night. At first it was all over the place, going down the leg side and not turning but merely straightening up a bit. But when I found the correct line (middle stump), sure enough it turned away to the off stump or just beating off stump. A very interesting delivery, flatter in trajectory than my leg break, a touch quicker down the track and skiddier. Without the topspin on the ball it does not have the trademark late dip and exaggerated bounce of my 45 degrees leggie.

Would I be right in saying this delivery is closely related to an off-spinner's doosra? And maybe that's what I was actually bowling, rather than the "wrong wrong un". Regardless, I did actually manage to land a few consecutively. When I get back into playing I would be tempted to bowl one at a tail ender or in other circumstances where the match situation allowed. For the time being, I am just practicing every night in this glorious weather we are having.
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"Reverse Googly" is the name I want to give. It just sounds more devastating, Afridi actually used to bowl this few times. Which finger do you spin it out of ?
 
Today I started of bowling 2 full tosses in the first 2 balls that were hit for sixes, then bowled 2 singles and I completed my 1st over giving up 14 runs. That would also be my last over for the day. On top of that, I did scoring book since i was a #11 batsmen and the temperature today was 34* celsius with Humidex of 9. I also fielded all day in the 3rd man. #leggielife
 
How did everyone's season go ? I had a pretty inconsistent season, I was put into the 20 overs side, some days i finished it off with 2-3 wickets for 15 to 20 runs and some days I was taken off after going for 30-40 runs in first 2 overs. Something has to be done regarding this.
 
Thivagar said:
How did everyone's season go ? I had a pretty inconsistent season, I was put into the 20 overs side, some days i finished it off with 2-3 wickets for 15 to 20 runs and some days I was taken off after going for 30-40 runs in first 2 overs. Something has to be done regarding this.
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err yeah, it was ok. I mainly played T20s this year due to family commitments at the weekends. I think I took 20 wickets at an average of ~10 and an econ of ~5.

With the bat in the T20s, scoring 320 runs at an average of 80 and S/R of ~140.

I played a couple of 40 over games but didn't do much. Top score of 36 and best return of 8 overs, 4-24.

Important thing is, we had a good season with maximum team spirit and minimal acrimony, and we're all looking forward to next year already.


The times you get smashed, is it that the batsmen are better or that your bowling is suddenly worse than usual?
 
SLA said:
err yeah, it was ok. I mainly played T20s this year due to family commitments at the weekends. I think I took 20 wickets at an average of ~10 and an econ of ~5.

With the bat in the T20s, scoring 320 runs at an average of 80 and S/R of ~140.

I played a couple of 40 over games but didn't do much. Top score of 36 and best return of 8 overs, 4-24.

Important thing is, we had a good season with maximum team spirit and minimal acrimony, and we're all looking forward to next year already.


The times you get smashed, is it that the batsmen are better or that your bowling is suddenly worse than usual?
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Not a bad season. Where do you play ?

Mostly bad bowling, the issue was waking up at 5:30 am for an 8AM start. No matter how well I was rested, it was just hard to bowl well from ball 1 in a T20 game. This was due to not warming up, generally in nets I bowl shit for the first 10-15 minutes before getting into the zone, in game it was just too difficult. My ride comes 30 minutes before the damn game, so I never get proper warm-up either. This was the first time I was playing in a T20 league and it was a pretty competitive league as well. Teams stacked few well known hitters in the country and showed no mercy. There were some good batsmen, but few months ago, I was in "contention"(that's what I was told) to be a second spinner in the highest division, with rumour looming that our original 2nd spinner was about to depart for another club; first spinner was Shane Shillingford of West Indies. I fell off the grid so bad that I didn't even get picked up in the 2nd or even 3rd tier team and ended up playing the whole season for the T20 side. End of the day it all comes down to performance doesn't it ?

I just stopped bowling sliders and topspins. Without feeling "loose" the deliveries were just being either too short or too full. My deliveries were a little bit on the slower side as well. Regardless of how much drift, dip and turn I got, batsmen had ample of time to go on front or back foot. Currently my BMI index is at 29, i'm technically overweight but my limbs are pretty weak. I'm going to hit the gym and also looking to grab few guys from the club and hit the nets in winter often as I can part from mandatory practices. Over this summer, we had a player who played 2 seasons in IPL, he was a spinner as well and I missed a great opportunity by only finding out that during off days, he just chills in his rented condo with no one to practice with. I was working from home and could have easily picked him and learned a few thing or two. I hate myself so bad right now.

My bad for the rant lol
 
Thivagar said:
Not a bad season. Where do you play ?

Mostly bad bowling, the issue was waking up at 5:30 am for an 8AM start. No matter how well I was rested, it was just hard to bowl well from ball 1 in a T20 game. This was due to not warming up, generally in nets I bowl shit for the first 10-15 minutes before getting into the zone, in game it was just too difficult. My ride comes 30 minutes before the damn game, so I never get proper warm-up either. This was the first time I was playing in a T20 league and it was a pretty competitive league as well. Teams stacked few well known hitters in the country and showed no mercy. There were some good batsmen, but few months ago, I was in "contention"(that's what I was told) to be a second spinner in the highest division, with rumour looming that our original 2nd spinner was about to depart for another club; first spinner was Shane Shillingford of West Indies. I fell off the grid so bad that I didn't even get picked up in the 2nd or even 3rd tier team and ended up playing the whole season for the T20 side. End of the day it all comes down to performance doesn't it ?

I just stopped bowling sliders and topspins. Without feeling "loose" the deliveries were just being either too short or too full. My deliveries were a little bit on the slower side as well. Regardless of how much drift, dip and turn I got, batsmen had ample of time to go on front or back foot. Currently my BMI index is at 29, i'm technically overweight but my limbs are pretty weak. I'm going to hit the gym and also looking to grab few guys from the club and hit the nets in winter often as I can part from mandatory practices. Over this summer, we had a player who played 2 seasons in IPL, he was a spinner as well and I missed a great opportunity by only finding out that during off days, he just chills in his rented condo with no one to practice with. I was working from home and could have easily picked him and learned a few thing or two. I hate myself so bad right now.

My bad for the rant lol
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One thing I can sympathise with is the tendency to drop the variations if you're not feeling 100%. This may or may not be the right thing to do, its hard to say.

Its something I have also done in the past few seasons as I've had less time to practice and I've felt very rusty at times, especially in the early season, and so I've simply gone out with the approach of sticking to my stock ball and not give any easy runs away. Sometimes this has worked, sometimes it hasn't.

However, one thing I've tried to do this year is to approach bowling in a more positive, assertive mindset, and start mixing in variations from the off to try and immediately put the batsman under pressure. Partly because this is more fun for me rather than just trying to contain and waiting for a mistake.

Surprisingly, this hasn't led to me getting panned. Although there have been the odd additional poor length ball as a result, the additional doubt in the mind of the batsmen caused by the additional variations has generally made them more cautious about playing aggressive shots.

I'm actually trying to get away from the idea of stock ball + variations. Instead I prefer to think of being able to bowl 4 deliveries that I each bowl 25% of the time. I find this more fun, and it seems to be effective in confusing the batsman as to what is coming next.
 
SLA said:
One thing I can sympathise with is the tendency to drop the variations if you're not feeling 100%. This may or may not be the right thing to do, its hard to say.

Its something I have also done in the past few seasons as I've had less time to practice and I've felt very rusty at times, especially in the early season, and so I've simply gone out with the approach of sticking to my stock ball and not give any easy runs away. Sometimes this has worked, sometimes it hasn't.

However, one thing I've tried to do this year is to approach bowling in a more positive, assertive mindset, and start mixing in variations from the off to try and immediately put the batsman under pressure. Partly because this is more fun for me rather than just trying to contain and waiting for a mistake.

Surprisingly, this hasn't led to me getting panned. Although there have been the odd additional poor length ball as a result, the additional doubt in the mind of the batsmen caused by the additional variations has generally made them more cautious about playing aggressive shots.

I'm actually trying to get away from the idea of stock ball + variations. Instead I prefer to think of being able to bowl 4 deliveries that I each bowl 25% of the time. I find this more fun, and it seems to be effective in confusing the batsman as to what is coming next.
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That is exactly why I dropped my variations and just stuck to variations of leg break and googlies. Generally when I'm warmed up in nets, all I have to do is think about bowling flighted deliveries or quicker deliveries and my body will do its thing on its own. When in game, without getting into the zone, I felt like I was forcing them, so flighted deliveries became to full or full tosses and quicker leg breaks became short ball. Towards end of the season, I stuck to conventional leg break, scrambled leg break and one type of googly. I have to do something about not getting to the zone from ball one. I saw Fawad Ahmed and Sandeep Lamichanee in GT20 Canada come out and bowl for 45 minutes before the game. Fawad must have bowled good 10 overs or so.

I think I should probably start with 4 different variations and then hide them away and just bowl variations of leg break and topspin. I really missed my topspin, in nets not even national players were reading them, I often confused them with scrambled and non-scrambled topspin. I just couldn't bowl that in game, i was willfully forcing it and it was a disaster.

I also found it very difficult to bowl to tall players, these guys have the reach and they can also go quickly very back. How would you bowl to these guys considering say I'm someone that generally flights the ball.
 
Thivagar said:
That is exactly why I dropped my variations and just stuck to variations of leg break and googlies. Generally when I'm warmed up in nets, all I have to do is think about bowling flighted deliveries or quicker deliveries and my body will do its thing on its own. When in game, without getting into the zone, I felt like I was forcing them, so flighted deliveries became to full or full tosses and quicker leg breaks became short ball. Towards end of the season, I stuck to conventional leg break, scrambled leg break and one type of googly. I have to do something about not getting to the zone from ball one. I saw Fawad Ahmed and Sandeep Lamichanee in GT20 Canada come out and bowl for 45 minutes before the game. Fawad must have bowled good 10 overs or so.

I think I should probably start with 4 different variations and then hide them away and just bowl variations of leg break and topspin. I really missed my topspin, in nets not even national players were reading them, I often confused them with scrambled and non-scrambled topspin. I just couldn't bowl that in game, i was willfully forcing it and it was a disaster.

I also found it very difficult to bowl to tall players, these guys have the reach and they can also go quickly very back. How would you bowl to these guys considering say I'm someone that generally flights the ball.
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Only one thing you can do, set your field to give you protection where you need it and then back yourself to beat them either in the air or off the pitch.

Pick the battle you think you've got the best chance of winning. If you pitch it up they'll keep coming forward, but how long before you sneak a topspinner past the edge? If that's your thing, back yourself and go with it. If you combine big revs with variations in pace and topspin, you will succeed eventually
 
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