someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Nice one, hope it goes well and you make some impact on the game.I have just joined a team, the Coach and Horses CC... might have a game this Saturday!!
I have missed playing cricket so much!
Wrist Spin Bowling (part Five)
- Thread starter Richard the Third
- Start date
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Mate, I'm old enough to have been around when we won the last world cup and I was brought up with the impression that as a footballing nation we were world beaters and I always had the impression that we, in isolation invented football and that the rest of the worlds footballers were rabble. That impression stuck for a very long time and it was only when I started to see that they were being paid stupid amounts of money for not doing a lot and seemingly spent the rest of their time running around in night clubs chasing page 3 girls that I started to smell a rat. It'd be cricket for me every day of the week - a far more noble game, but I'm sure if it was down this way and it involved West Ham who I abhor 85% of our players wouldn't turn up. Hopefully, you'll see the light in the longer term
. That's it on football for me, cos I'm on the verge of ranting now.boogiespinner
Active Member
Thanks SBCD. Your blog has been an inspiration!
Darth Spin
Active Member
God I wish I played for Liverpool. I doubt they need a wrist spinner, though.
boogiespinner
Active Member
Just had my first play around in the nets for years. Pickup session with some friendly locals. I don't think they were that amenable to spin - astroturf - but I had a bit of turn on the legbreaks and good turn on the googly. I managed to get better consistency that I remember with my new legbreak grip, which uses the middle finger to rip the ball (i.e. one up, three down), which I think is working better than the usual grip. I use the two up, two down grip for the googly which is turning hugely but my length it very erratic with it.
Flipper / wrong wrong'un I bowled one of each and clearly they are going to need some solo practice before trying out in front of a visible batsman. However the wrong wrong 'un does turn ridiculously but landed half way down the pitch before dribbling over to gully.
My seam up bowling was better than ever and even described as 'quick'! I am tempted to bowl straight tomorrow if I get given the ball, ah!
Flipper / wrong wrong'un I bowled one of each and clearly they are going to need some solo practice before trying out in front of a visible batsman. However the wrong wrong 'un does turn ridiculously but landed half way down the pitch before dribbling over to gully.
My seam up bowling was better than ever and even described as 'quick'! I am tempted to bowl straight tomorrow if I get given the ball, ah!
Cleanprophet
Active Member
Hopefully, you'll see the light in the longer term
Not much chance of that I'm afraid. I'm old enough to remember watching Liverpool winning European and domestic titles and, as Darth mentions, it's been a long 24 years since we last win the title. The money in the game is a turn off, for sure. Maybe it's a Liverpool thing, but football here is so heavily a part of community and identity that choice barely comes into it. Families develop around football and success is forever entwined with memories of the ones you once rejoiced with. In other words, it completely transcends the individuals playing for the club and, as a result, operates on a whole other plane to money.
Cleanprophet
Active Member
Yep, the same in our nets too. There's a fair bit of uneven bounce in our nets (we've got four lanes and they're all uneven and need the roller on them to flatten the clay underneath). The spin isn't too bad, providing it's dry. Any moisture on the surface and the ball skids on a lot. I assume most 'all-weather' nets on top of clay, so you get no absorption at all. During the winter they are wet all the time because it's just not warm enough for the wet to dry off.
You can't beat netting on a grass pitch.
Darth Spin
Active Member
The raindance worked! Our ever paranoid groundstaff have called off Sunday's game.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Got my first game this Sunday - a friendly, looks like most of the players are from my 4th XI team.
Darth Spin
Active Member
That is really promising to accomplish all of that after such a long break. I reckon you will cause havoc. Sounds like you are a similar bowler to me in terms of preferred deliveries, i.e. leggie, wrong un, flipper albeit you use a different grip to me. Maybe you are my four fingered cousin?
loopylegspinner
Member
Been picked for the school A team as well as the village 1st XI (albeit in a friendly), life is good with four matches this weekend and the leg breaks coming out well...
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Good luck with that Loopy, look forward the post match reports on Monday.
boogiespinner
Active Member
hey Darth
I got cold feet - particularly as our side contained a quality legspinner called Ollie who had played at county level at under-17s. I've never seen such good legspin! And we were on an astroturf pitch. So for 2.5 overs, I bowled seam up, taking 1 wicket for 20 runs. The batsmen in were both looking handy and very comfortable and starting to hit me around quite hard. And I was losing direction. I wasn't really fast at all, alas, despite my earlier delusion.
So for my last ball I bowled spin. It came out really loopy. Too loopy.... the batsman's eyes lit up and he came down to smack it on the half-volley for six. Except he didn't know it was the googly, it turned inside the bat comfortably and the wicketkeeper took a very easy stumping
What joy!
I scored a few runs too before being run out so really didn't disgrace myself. Alas, we lost by 30 runs or so... never mind.
I've bought loads of two-tone cricket balls for net practice so I am going to improve - I hope to post a video soon.
In a match situation, I would only bowl legbreaks and googlies so far. I use the conventional grip for the googly. I wouldn't dare try a thumb spun thing yet...
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Top Stuff! How many did the kid take?hey Darth
I got cold feet - particularly as our side contained a quality legspinner called Ollie who had played at county level at under-17s. I've never seen such good legspin! And we were on an astroturf pitch. So for 2.5 overs, I bowled seam up, taking 1 wicket for 20 runs. The batsmen in were both looking handy and very comfortable and starting to hit me around quite hard. And I was losing direction. I wasn't really fast at all, alas, despite my earlier delusion.
So for my last ball I bowled spin. It came out really loopy. Too loopy.... the batsman's eyes lit up and he came down to smack it on the half-volley for six. Except he didn't know it was the googly, it turned inside the bat comfortably and the wicketkeeper took a very easy stumping
What joy!
I scored a few runs too before being run out so really didn't disgrace myself. Alas, we lost by 30 runs or so... never mind.
I've bought loads of two-tone cricket balls for net practice so I am going to improve - I hope to post a video soon.
In a match situation, I would only bowl legbreaks and googlies so far. I use the conventional grip for the googly. I wouldn't dare try a thumb spun thing yet...
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
Cheers Tony, Hopefully the weather will hold out (And my body)!
Cleanprophet
Active Member
So for my last ball I bowled spin. It came out really loopy. Too loopy.... the batsman's eyes lit up and he came down to smack it on the half-volley for six. Except he didn't know it was the googly, it turned inside the bat comfortably and the wicketkeeper took a very easy stumping
That's the key thing to remember. Your job is to deceive the batter in the air. I've seen a lot of leg-spinners in club cricket, including one or two Lancs academy players. They almost all follow the same practice of bowling it quick and flat. They do so because most club batters and young batters are much more easily beaten for pace than the top club batters and pro batters. It's bad practice because it loses sight of what you should be trying to do which is spin the ball up out of the hand and beat the batter in the air with dip and drift. I see a lot of the young lads at my club try legspin in the nets when they're bored with bowling their seam. All of them push the ball through in the 55mph-60mph bracket and flat. None of them drag the batter forward and induce a play and miss because none of them get it.
The thing is, it is something you see from the "good" legspinners too. I remember watching a 17yo Lancs academy legspinner last season and 90% of his deliveries were quick and flat. But he cleaned up the tail and picked up something like 5 for 20. The problem with that was that he was bowling to poor batters and that type of bowling just won't do it against good batters. As I say, it's poor practice. I doubt I'll see this legspinner playing professional cricket because he hasn't worked enough of the skills he needs to beat good players.
That's what you have to remember. Don't worry about what the other legspinner is doing. Do your own thing and back yourself.
boogiespinner
Active Member
Thanks SBCD! He's a grown man now, I think he took 3 wickets from 5 overs.
Thanks Cleanprophet. I'll go for it!
I must confess though, I don't think a batsman of real class would have been troubled by this particular googly. It could have been intercepted on the full.
someblokecalleddave
Well-Known Member
I did okay today in my first game albeit a friendly. 4-0-14-2 and edge to slips from a leg break playing with a straight bat and an LBW off a really full top-spinner. We lost though badly short by about 50-60 runs. Had a decent bat though (for me) batting at No.9 (10 players) me and a kid frustrated the bowlers for several overs and I score a few runs. Scoring was atrocious though, they had me down as having bowled 10 overs in 2 spells and one poor kid wasn't even recorded! My son Ben bowled 2 spells as well. Bring on League cricket in a couple of weeks, I'm up for it now!
Cleanprophet
Active Member
You're almost certainly right. Really, at the most the ball should come up out of the hand a few inches to a foot before starting to dip on the batsman. If it comes out and is more than that a good batter will certainly meet that on the full and put it wherever he wants.