Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)

[macca]

Well the season is over which means I expect my injuries to heal in time for me to play in the non-existent mid-winter cricket league.

You could join most of the rest of your former citizens and move to New Zealands East Island, (also called Australia), where you can play cricket all year round. Remember though the last person to leave Aotearoa has to turn out the lights.

 

[leftie600]

You could join most of the rest of your former citizens and move to New Zealands East Island, (also called Australia), where you can play cricket all year round. Remember though the last person to leave Aotearoa has to turn out the lights.

We're doing our best to colonize and civilize Aus but these things take time.

My brother's a golf coach based up in Qld and has always hinted that I should move there but as I remind him I am unlikely to get paid to coach the daughters of millionaires how to hit a ball. In general I like Aus and the food there but you really need to work on your pies.

 

[Darth Spin]

Keeping it simple, try hard, very hard to keep your follow through as consistent as you can and 'at' your target. The deliveries that went off target landed exactly where your follow through indicated they would.

Leg spin generally is about balancing the twisting (pivot) that gives you extra revs and the forward momentum at your target (the follow through), if the pivot isn't that effective you lose spin and if the follow through isn't right you lose pace and accuracy.

Better than me at the moment though, season's over

Yeah it is a pretty obvious flaw, I try to work on it but it's hard to get the timing right. Thanks for your feedback. I hope your season goes more according to your plan next year but it sounds like you did well to me and the protege likewise.

 

[Darth Spin]

I noticed the follow through wasn't always consistent. The right arm gets into a bit of a strange position just after the ball is released. It didn't do that with every delivery, so that is a sure fire sign of a little bit of an issue. It is spot on to suggest a focus on getting the consistent follow through. When I've looked back at footage of myself bowling, I've seen that I have a very mechanical action that repeats very well. The variation (ie poor delivery) comes when I try to spin it hard, too hard, and that shows up in the follow through as my balance is lost a touch. If a bowler has a nice, balanced and conistent follow through, chances are he has good control of line and length.

Yeah it is something that has been with me since I started wrist spin, timing the pivot and getting the release right, everything coming together. getting the follow through at the target and not falling away - very tough. Anyway I have some more vids from today I will post.

My biggest turning leg break.



I took SLA's advice and tried to mix up side spin and top spin. The sequence here is big leggie, big leggie, small leggie, top spinner, top spinner, small leggie, big leggie, big leggie... and I couldn't resist a wrong un to finish.



Some leg breaks. Follow through issues again before consistency comes and then some not great wrong uns at the end.

 

[The Edge Of Willow]

To me it looks like you often coming over with your arm before you have started moving your hip in the pivot. I'm not certain though.
The video quality and camera angle make it hard to be sure.

It would fit you tendency to follow through down the offside though. If the bowling arm gets caught behind the body, you have to bring it around further later in the action, to avoid spraying the ball down leg-side.

 

[leftie600]

Yeah it is a pretty obvious flaw, I try to work on it but it's hard to get the timing right.

Well good luck but all I can say is be aggressive in your pivot and follow-through no matter what variation you are bowling, don't just 'put' the ball down the wicket. You should feel the stress through your front leg, torso, shoulder, arm, wrist and fingers at the same time when sending the ball down the wicket, if not you may be holding back or not getting the coordination of all your levers right.

 

[Cleanprophet]

Well good luck but all I can say is be aggressive in your pivot and follow-through no matter what variation you are bowling, don't just 'put' the ball down the wicket.

This is exactly what I was going to post. It looks like you are putting the ball there rather than spinning it there. It's a little bit like watching someone demonstrating leg spin when they are not really bowling at full tilt. The problem is, if you are not bowling with consistency it is hard to feel confident about really ripping it hard. Everything leftie600 says about really feeling it in your body is spot on. Really, you should be putting the same effort in as a quick bowler and your arm speed should be pretty much as quick also. But, it is hard to feel you can do that if you are struggling with accuracy. Most people will tell you to focus on spinning it hard and then work on controlling that spin and I wouldn't argue with that.

The Edge of the Willow is right too about your arm coming over. It is much more pronounced with the top spinner. Your right arm follows through almost around your neck at times. You really want that right arm to come through under your left arm and across your torso/ribs.

Your run-up is also not consistent. Sometimes you run through where the bowler's stumps would be. You want to run towards the bowler's stumps and jump towards them a little, aiming the bowl towards the stumps. A lot of those deliveries in those clips the angle of the ball is away from the stumps and a little bit away from the batter. Ideally, you want to release the ball just outside off-stump and angle it into off-stump or slightly outside off-stump. If you are getting consistent drift, you can alter that line or, if it is also spinning consistently, stick with landing the ball on leg-stump (that's a pretty decent position for a leg-spinner if he is getting good spin, but it does take the wrong un out of the equation).

I would advise getting that right arm coming through a bit lower and try to spin it hard. Use your body more and try to get that power in the delivery (what Warne used to refer to as an explosion of power as you hit your delivery stride). Above all else, don't beat yourself up if you don't get it right. As we all know, leg-spin is very tough and most people quit because of the time, effort and patience it takes to get it right. You've got to enjoy that process of working on it.

 

[Spin Lizard]

to reiterate: aggressive, explosive pivot. leg, hip, torso, shoulder, arm, wrist. follow through towards your target.

pivot. pivot so hard you make involuntary grunting noises. rip the bejezus out of it. get sweaty.

enjoy.

 

[Darth Spin]

Cheers lads, I will take all that on board and post more vids soon.

 

[Cleanprophet]

Cheers lads, I will take all that on board and post more vids soon.

That thing about making a grunt is actually a very salient point. Some people don't make a noise, even at full tilt. But the vast majority of people do. It is a sure sign that you have put a huge amount of effort into the delivery.

 

[SLA]

Its more useful to see you bowling against live batsmen in games tbh. Theres no point just changing your action for the sake of it, we need to know what goes right and what goes wrong when you're out in the middle before we can tell what needs fixing.

Never forget that a bowling action is just a means to an end. You can't judge it just by looking at it, its not a painting.

 

[Cleanprophet]

Its more useful to see you bowling against live batsmen in games tbh. Theres no point just changing your action for the sake of it, we need to know what goes right and what goes wrong when you're out in the middle before we can tell what needs fixing.

Never forget that a bowling action is just a means to an end. You can't judge it just by looking at it, its not a painting.

There is plenty that can be learned from the videos above. Sometimes there isn't the opportunity to film bowling to a batter (although there is some videos of Darth Spin bowling to a batter up there), much less in a match.

 

[Darth Spin]

Its more useful to see you bowling against live batsmen in games tbh. Theres no point just changing your action for the sake of it, we need to know what goes right and what goes wrong when you're out in the middle before we can tell what needs fixing.

Never forget that a bowling action is just a means to an end. You can't judge it just by looking at it, its not a painting.

You're welcome to come and watch (seriously). Although I suspect you have better things to do/your own matches to play.

I've always thought it would be useful for some of the wristies on here to hook up and check out each other's actions in the flesh. That's why I'm mad keen on this coaching workshop.

 

[Darth Spin]

I am not overly worried as last season I had a strike rate of 16.7 which is beyond my wildest dreams and way in excess of anything I ever achieved as a seam bowler. My action is getting me wickets. A little expensive, but that can be worked on and was improving rapidly as last season drew to a close.

I think the wrong un has messed my action up slightly, as I'm not getting side on properly in some of the newer videos above. I might just stop bowling wrong uns for a while. But again I am not overly concerned as at winter nets I was getting plenty of wickets, more so than at the same time last year.

 

[Darth Spin]

That thing about making a grunt is actually a very salient point. Some people don't make a noise, even at full tilt. But the vast majority of people do. It is a sure sign that you have put a huge amount of effort into the delivery.

I can put Monica Seles to shame on my day

 

[Cleanprophet]

I can put Monica Seles to shame on my day

That sounds like you are certainly putting plenty of effort in. Of course, as you get older and stronger, your top effort has more power in it.

I am not overly worried as last season I had a strike rate of 16.7 which is beyond my wildest dreams and way in excess of anything I ever achieved as a seam bowler. My action is getting me wickets. A little expensive, but that can be worked on and was improving rapidly as last season drew to a close.

I think the wrong un has messed my action up slightly, as I'm not getting side on properly in some of the newer videos above. I might just stop bowling wrong uns for a while. But again I am not overly concerned as at winter nets I was getting plenty of wickets, more so than at the same time last year.

If you have any doubts about the wrong un, then I would forget about it for a while.

The only issue with the action, as it is, is that if you continue with it and further down the line find that better batters are coping well against you, you have to amend an action that is hard wired.

If you make a change now with that right arm following through a little lower, it will be tricky and take a few weeks to get used to. If you are bowling well and taking wickets, there's no need to change. But if you are finding consistency a problem, then you may have to look at that right arm again. It doesn't matter what it looks like, if it works. It's only if it isn't working or isn't working as well as it could that you look to make some changes.

 

[Spin Lizard]

I'm going to hazard a guess - based purely on his choice of comparison being Monica Seles - that young Darth Spin is someways beyond getting 'older and stronger'.


well, okay, of course he's going to get older. You know what I mean.

 

[Darth Spin]

Haha. I'm 38. But I only took up wrist spin just before I turned 37. I am about 18 months into it and about to start my second season. I never thought I'd get this far with it, to be honest. One night I was messing about at the end of a net session and tried to bowl some leg breaks. One of the batsmen said I should drop my seam and bowl spin. So I did some google searches that night and found Dave's blog. I found it all fascinating. The part which really appealed to me is that you have to be obsessive about it to be any good. That suits me down to the ground, it's one of my defining characteristics. But I didn't think I'd be able to bowl it (some might say I still can't) and now find myself in the first team for my club.

In short, young in wrist spinning terms but old in real life terms.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Haha. I'm 38. But I only took up wrist spin just before I turned 37. I am about 18 months into it and about to start my second season. I never thought I'd get this far with it, to be honest. One night I was messing about at the end of a net session and tired to bowl some leg breaks. One of the batsmen said I should drop my seam and bowl spin. So I did some google searches that night and found Dave's blog. I found it all fascinating. The part which really appealed to me is that you have to be obsessive about it to be any good. That suits me down to the ground, it's one of my defining characteristics. But I didn't think I'd be able to bowl it (some might say I still can't) and now find myself in the first team for my club.

In short, young in wrist spinning terms but old in real life terms.

Brilliant post Darth! Good to hear you're in the first team bowling!

 

[Darth Spin]

Brilliant post Darth! Good to hear you're in the first team bowling!

Thanks mate. Your blog was a real inspiration.