Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

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I was given a tight fisted spell of 3 overs right at the end of the game with scoreboard pressure on, 0 wickets for me today. Don't know my figures but went for several boundaries, one of them the captain tried to do a quick pick up and throw, contrived to throw it backwards and out for four runs. Got nothing against him personally but not enjoying playing for him and getting sick of this shit, three overs in the last two matches. It was a great game which finished as a draw with scores level but my involvement in it was peripheral at utmost best.
 
Darth Spin said:
I was given a tight fisted spell of 3 overs right at the end of the game with scoreboard pressure on, 0 wickets for me today. Don't know my figures but went for several boundaries, one of them the captain tried to do a quick pick up and throw, contrived to throw it backwards and out for four runs. Got nothing against him personally but not enjoying playing for him and getting sick of this shit, three overs in the last two matches. It was a great game which finished as a draw with scores level but my involvement in it was peripheral at utmost best.
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Man, sorry to hear that. Hopefully this is just a temporary rough patch. As legspinners you have to expect these periods to happen.
 
I can barely string three good balls together in the nets at the moment, my stock ball and technique has gone to pieces. It's very frustrating. I have asked the skipper not to bowl me on Sunday.
 
Darth Spin said:
I have really improved my flipper, I'm going to start bowling it in matches. Anyone else bowl a flipper?
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Yep me it's my stock delivery. I've got loads of videos on-line showing how you do it and the variations. Not sure who I show up as on here as these days, but a few years back I was a regular on here and was one of the major contributors. Back then I was known as someblokecalleddave.
 
LOL - says I'm a new member! As there's some chat on here, I'll look in every now and again. I haven't gone away at all, I've been playing every year virtually every weekend during the seasons. I've started a few new blogs including one that was really successful. I've still got Stuart MacGills ear, but to be honest I don't really contact him that much, worried that I might pi** him off. I came on here as I was looking for a field setting that was posted on here by a bloke called 'Angryranger'. Does the field settings thread still exist?
 
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SomeblokecalledDave. said:
Yep me it's my stock delivery. I've got loads of videos on-line showing how you do it and the variations. Not sure who I show up as on here as these days, but a few years back I was a regular on here and was one of the major contributors. Back then I was known as someblokecalleddave.
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Hi Dave, I remember you we used to chat on here about 7 or 8 years ago, it's good to see you again. I'm glad you are doing well.
 
SomeblokecalledDave. said:
Yeah that'll be me! How you doing?
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I'm fine thanks, I was having a decent season but recently have lost form. I don't know if it's from practicing too much, or stuff that's going on in my work life that's affecting me. It's quite frustrating. The ball isn't coming out of my hand properly, I don't even like how it feels just flicking it hand to hand, and I'm bowling a load of muck falling away down off side or getting my footwork and alignment wrong and just not feeling it.
 
Darth Spin said:
I'm fine thanks, I was having a decent season but recently have lost form. I don't know if it's from practicing too much, or stuff that's going on in my work life that's affecting me. It's quite frustrating. The ball isn't coming out of my hand properly, I don't even like how it feels just flicking it hand to hand, and I'm bowling a load of muck falling away down off side or getting my footwork and alignment wrong and just not feeling it.
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I don't know if you remember but I was always agonising over all the technicalities of wrist-spinning - trying to bowl with totally perfect form and alignment and just kept going from one idea to another. One would seem to work and then it would just all fall to pieces again and I'd be back to square one bowling dross. About three seasons ago, maybe four? I bowled in a game at the end where there were overs in hand, but only a couple of tail-enders still in the shed. They had about 40 runs to get in order to win the game. I was brought on to bowl. I bowled well got all of the batters to totally mis-hit the ball or play risky shots. 2 shots were played over/through mid-on. One went through the mid-ons legs at thigh level... Not caught burst through his hands for 4. Same bloke over his head - bursting through his hands (no jump attempted). One edged straight to gully... dropped. A strumping - fumbled and the bloke got back. The game should have been over during the 3 overs this all happened in. They went on to get the runs needed. The following 2 weeks I played and didn't get to bowl and batted at No.11, so didn't bat either. Reflecting on it and almost on the verge of changing clubs, I realised that I was half decent, but playing in a 4th XI with old duffers like myself and small boys, the brutal facts were - these types of chances were never going to be taken. Watching the others I realised I needed to attack the stumps in a way that brought LBW and bowled into the equation, so decided to resurrect my flipper which I'd only used as a rare variation and was rusty. Long story short - I practiced for a week or so and plotted my length and line and realised this is what I needed to do to get a bowl. 3 seasons later bringing you up to-date, I now bowl regularly in our 3rd XI (We get 6 teams out on a Saturday) and have averaged 2 wickets per game and I generally bowl at the top and middle order and generally get my full allocation of 8 overs. I bowl almost exclusively Flippers, but in the last 6 weeks have been working on a cunning plan and next year might be wholly different again! Alongside that, I now just bowl off of 2 steps and don't give a toss what I look like and whether it's 'Correct' or not.
 
Darth Spin said:
I'm fine thanks, I was having a decent season but recently have lost form. I don't know if it's from practicing too much, or stuff that's going on in my work life that's affecting me. It's quite frustrating. The ball isn't coming out of my hand properly, I don't even like how it feels just flicking it hand to hand, and I'm bowling a load of muck falling away down off side or getting my footwork and alignment wrong and just not feeling it.
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How often are you practicing?
 
SomeblokecalledDave. said:
How often are you practicing?
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I practice nearly every day for about an hour or so, I'm 46. I have some days off.

I think the callous on my hand is wrong or something, it is smooth on the ring finger at the moment and my forefinger feels wrong too. My forefinger is quite important with how I grip the ball. My legs are tired too and I feel lethargic, but even if I give it a couple of days rest to let my legs recover I'm still not bowling well at the moment in the nets so don't want to bowl in a match. I will figure it out in time I'm sure.
 
Darth Spin said:
I practice nearly every day for about an hour or so, I'm 46. I have some days off.

I think the callous on my hand is wrong or something, it is smooth on the ring finger at the moment and my forefinger feels wrong too. My forefinger is quite important with how I grip the ball. My legs are tired too and I feel lethargic, but even if I give it a couple of days rest to let my legs recover I'm still not bowling well at the moment in the nets so don't want to bowl in a match. I will figure it out in time I'm sure.
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Is your flipper just a basic back-spinning version... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb39dRG4mak or are the callouses from your wrist-spinning action?
 
SomeblokecalledDave. said:
Is your flipper just a basic back-spinning version... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb39dRG4mak or are the callouses from your wrist-spinning action?
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Yeah the flipper is a backspinner, that is actually coming out alright so I could just bowl that as a stock ball but don't really want to.

I also bite my finger nails and think I have bitten my forefinger nail too short, and I think it plays quite an important part in my grip and how much purchase and leverage I can get on the ball. I think I might be okay when it grows back and my grip gets sorted. Or maybe I am just overthinking this shit and should just chill out, hahaha.
 
Darth Spin said:
Yeah the flipper is a backspinner, that is actually coming out alright so I could just bowl that as a stock ball but don't really want to.

I also bite my finger nails and think I have bitten my forefinger nail too short, and I think it plays quite an important part in my grip and how much purchase and leverage I can get on the ball. I think I might be okay when it grows back and my grip gets sorted. Or maybe I am just overthinking this shit and should just chill out, hahaha.
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Yeah I reckon there's something to the whole over-thinking aspect. Why wouldn't you consider bowling the Flipper as your stock ball? So few people bowl it and it totally flummoxes most batters. If you give it a bit of a practice - honestly there's no reason why you'd not get accurate with it, especially if you're bowling an hour a day. Mix it up as well, by bowling it with a diagonal or cross seam and honestly its a win win situation.
 
SomeblokecalledDave. said:
Yeah I reckon there's something to the whole over-thinking aspect. Why wouldn't you consider bowling the Flipper as your stock ball? So few people bowl it and it totally flummoxes most batters. If you give it a bit of a practice - honestly there's no reason why you'd not get accurate with it, especially if you're bowling an hour a day. Mix it up as well, by bowling it with a diagonal or cross seam and honestly its a win win situation.
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Yeah I hear what you're saying, just that in my head I'm a legspinner and I want a killer leg break as my stock ball as I think that's the most dangerous.

I am getting quite accurate with the flipper though and find it comfortable to integrate into my natural action. I can also bowl it out of the back of the hand and get it to turn slightly like a leg break, the so-called "wrong wrong un" as described on your blog.
 
Darth Spin said:
Yeah I hear what you're saying, just that in my head I'm a legspinner and I want a killer leg break as my stock ball as I think that's the most dangerous.

I am getting quite accurate with the flipper though and find it comfortable to integrate into my natural action. I can also bowl it out of the back of the hand and get it to turn slightly like a leg break, the so-called "wrong wrong un" as described on your blog.
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Do you remember the bloke on here 'SLA' he was quite provocative, but a lot of the things he said when you read between the lines made a lot of sense. One of the things that resonated with me that got me out of that purist 'I'm a leggie' mind state that was holding me back and threatening to see me totally disillusioned was his advocacy of thinking of yourself as a 'Spin-bowler'. That, coupled with the fact that 'Flippers' are a part of our armoury were instrumental in me moving to bowl flippers exclusively. It's meant that I've gone from being all washed up and disillusioned and being dropped and not given overs to really enjoying the game again and being an integral part of the team. Over the last three years, in amongst the Flippers I've been in games and thought 'I'll bowl a leggie now' and almost without exception those leg breaks have been hit for 4's in overs that should have been 3 or 4 runs and ended up being 7 or 8's. But I'm now coming back to bowling leg-breaks and mixing the two, but with a very solid foundation for doing so.
 
SomeblokecalledDave. said:
Do you remember the bloke on here 'SLA' he was quite provocative, but a lot of the things he said when you read between the lines made a lot of sense. One of the things that resonated with me that got me out of that purist 'I'm a leggie' mind state that was holding me back and threatening to see me totally disillusioned was his advocacy of thinking of yourself as a 'Spin-bowler'. That, coupled with the fact that 'Flippers' are a part of our armoury were instrumental in me moving to bowl flippers exclusively. It's meant that I've gone from being all washed up and disillusioned and being dropped and not given overs to really enjoying the game again and being an integral part of the team. Over the last three years, in amongst the Flippers I've been in games and thought 'I'll bowl a leggie now' and almost without exception those leg breaks have been hit for 4's in overs that should have been 3 or 4 runs and ended up being 7 or 8's. But I'm now coming back to bowling leg-breaks and mixing the two, but with a very solid foundation for doing so.
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Yeah I remember SLA, he often advocated bowling quicker and straighter.

I'm glad the flipper is working for you mate, I guess each one of us is different and maybe I will give it more of a whirl but I do want to sort out my stock leggie too.
 
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