Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

our books always have wickets-runs so you have "4 for 10" meaning 4 wickets for 10 runs. But then the other way round for score. wierd

Yeah we normally have it arse about to your mob. Ask the score and you will always get wickets-runs here.

Going on from jims bowling from no run-up reminds me of a coaching clinic i took my young bloke to a couple of years ago where the bowling coach told all of them that the best thing they could do through their teen years was to try and do some standstill bowling practise every day all year round.

Exagerating some of the key positions and trying for things like looking through a window with your left forearm as the right side of the window frame, stuff like that.

Now he told them to copy a classical action like warne or mcgrath. I was not sure who this guy was, there were several ex aussie test and sheffield shield players there but this guy was English, he might have been an ex county player or something, I might do a search and try and find out who he was. I have tried to follow a lot of the stuff he showed us, that was about three years ago.

If you do send one of your kids to a coaching clinic it pays to hang around and watch and listen to the pro coaches. You get your moneys worth then.

 

[SteveyD]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Sigh, just back from the evening work match. It was terrible
Captain couldn't make it, so we had the major problem of fielding positions. The vice captain (who just happens to be my boss)knows eff all about cricket, and his wicket keeping leaves a lot to be desired . So for my bowling, I had :
Deep fine leg
Deep 3rd man
Gulley
Deep Point.
Sort of cover/mid on
Straight Hit
Mid Wicket
Deep square leg (slight forward for 2 fielders behind ump)
Leg Slip

So I went for about 16 off an 8 ball over. Yay. Most annoyed

 

[chippyben]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Gday gents, Well I had my first bowl at the nets for the first time in months on Monday and got down there on tuesday and tonight too and it feels great to bowl again. Things have been hectic with study,having our first child, moving house and just the rubbish weather lately, but now Im back into it.
I was a bit rusty to start with obviously but by tonight Im surprised that Im bowling quite well. I have decided to try and get a lot more accurate and ditch my variations for now and just bowl leggies and topspinners. I see from all your posts that it seems the biggest hurdle to getting a bowl is the wayward deliveries, especially in the first few overs.
Jim I find I bowl poorly when I overstride the last step. It stops good rotation through the crease. It sounds really simple but it took me a long time to realise that when Im bowling badly to slow my bowling down and try and be really loose and relaxed.
And its wickets/runs in my book.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Being relaxed is essential, all the work with trying to get the big turning leg-break I've found that the break through comes when I relax. Once I relax the whole thing flows far more and things start to happen - this is on top of the 'Total focus' aspect and all the other things, rotation, follow through, arm angle, wrist flick, getting it to come off the 3rd finger etc!!!

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

my issues definitely begin with my over-striding. i spent hours last night mulling it over in my head, and going through the bowling motions whilst walking around the house. i watched a lot of Shane Warne and Terry Jenner videos to get some ideas on where to go next. i can see everything in my action that is wrong, and i know exactly how to fix it. its just difficult to put that into physical action.

their actions both start with a very comfortable step into the action, their bodies stay very upright, and they rotate around the front foot. my action used to be like this, but for whatever reason it has strayed this year, pretty much revolving around trying to implement a stronger front arm, which has wound up with my transferring too much weight backwards early in the action.

im definitely going to stick to not using a run up, and just trying to sort things out off of 1 step. i think a major stumbling block will be that i dont have the shoulder strength to propel a sufficient delivery 22 yards with the Jenner/Warne action though. thats probably why ive ended up where im at now in the first place. i wont know until i try it out. il probably have to really flight the ball, but that isnt necessarily a problem anyway, well flighted deliveries rarely get smashed in club cricket, batsmen find it so hard for some reason.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

The one step in is working for me, it simplifies the whole thing loads and seems to allow me to contemplate and analyse other aspects.

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

i had a fantastic net session this evening i was there for about 3 hours in the end, im going to pay for that in the morning, im aching already. but it was well worth the effort.

i started out just doing a very slow walk-through of what i perceived to be the Shane Warne/Terry Jenner one-step video action. side-on, feet pointing to square leg, upright delivery stance, rotating the shoulders over each other, rotate around the front foot, all with a very small delivery stride.

i thought i was doing it as a perfect copy of their actions, but the video says otherwise. but whatever i was doing, it was working fantastically! off of no run up at all, and without having to really overflight the ball, i was hitting a great length and getting massive turn, on a very consistent basis, with very good accuracy. i thought i was over-rotating, but im actually not, and im not putting anywhere near as much stress into my lower left leg as i was, it doesnt hurt at all!!

over the course of the 3 hours i had good and bad spells. but ultimately if i just came back to that basic first method, it was always repeatable after a few balls of reminding myself what to do. im also finding that i can sometimes do it with a short runup too, but when i go back to no run up its a seamless change. i can bowl using either method with good repeatability, so in a match situation i can always fall back on no runup if things go awry.

id say that tonight is possibly my best ever net session. im basically back to where i was in september last year, but with a lot more knowledge about how to move forwards, so there are lots of little things about my action that are suddenly clicking into place, which wasnt the case back then. so the end result is massively improved even though the technique isnt that much different. its annoying that ive basically wasted 8 months of practice this year, but im relieved that im back on track. my bowling in the past few months has been dismal, and getting worse and worse.

the problems pretty much all stem back to overstriding in my delivery stride, and having my weight too far back in the action. now that ive got a small step my weight is forwards and im rotating again.

i think if i played in a match right now and bowled like i did in the nets, id land 9 out of 10 balls within 2 yards of my perfect line and length (which is more than acceptable), 7 out of 10 would turn, and 1 out of 10 would turn very big. my accuracy is the best its ever been, and i seem to have solved the legside wide issue which ive never managed to overcome before, not even for one session, its always been there. now that im trying to get more side-on i seem to be a lot more consistent. even the really bad balls (e.g. drag downs) are still pretty good!

for the first time in a long time ive rediscovered my drift!! id been getting a bit of drift in more recent times, but compared to what i got tonight it was nothing. because im flighting the ball so much more im observing reverse-drift as the ball floats upwards (drifting to the offside), it then starts to drop and the drift starts to move the ball back to the leg side. as the ball drops more it dips sharply, and maximum drift occurs as the ball nears the ground. it then bounces and turns sharply. my bowling speed is probably 5-10mph down on "normal", so it just goes to show how important the action is in achieving drift. its not like im spinning the ball any harder than i was before.

on the subject of bowling speed, because my action is so much more fluid i think its probably more efficient, so even though ive taken most of the energy out of the action in terms of throwing my body into it, i reckon its actually just moved into places where its more useful (e.g. my shoulders and back are aching like mad, they normally dont. whereas my legs arent aching much and they normally are) so my bowling speed hasnt dropped away much. certainly when i add my very slow and short runup im overpitching quite significantly, which says a lot about the transfer of energy. im actually struggling to shorten the length lol, hows that for a 2 day turnaround!

i ordered one of these earlier today SpeedTracX Speed Sport Radar which should be arriving tomorrow. ive heard good things about them. im going to mount it to the front of the net frame facing me so it should read the ball speed out of my hand, il use my camcorder to verify it. then il be able to mess around with my bowling speed and see where its at and where my bowling works best. it cost me £150, but im counting on fellow club players being really excited to see their speeds, and im going to charge them all a one off £5 fee if they want to have a go, which they all will, and theyll all gladly pay, so i reckon il recover most of the outlay. genius.

 

[chippyben]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

I had a good long session today. I went to a different set of nets that have just had new sythetic turf laid. I was the first person to use them as I had to move a barrier set up by the council. I was thinking you beauty, this'll turn a mile and with a good strong headwind things couldnt be better. Unfortunately is was like bowling on a sponge with no bounce and very little turn.
I gave up after a while and went back to my usual nets. I am bowling with a lot more accuracy which is very pleasing. I find I hit my rhythm and get the my wrist flicking nicely after 10-15mins of bowling but I am thinking that this is probably after 7-10 overs of bowling. In a game situation though I'm hardly likely to be kept on if it takes me this long. Does anyone have any tips on getting it on the spot a bit quicker. I know this is the age old curse for the leggie.

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

I had a good long session today. I went to a different set of nets that have just had new sythetic turf laid. I was the first person to use them as I had to move a barrier set up by the council. I was thinking you beauty, this'll turn a mile and with a good strong headwind things couldnt be better. Unfortunately is was like bowling on a sponge with no bounce and very little turn.
I gave up after a while and went back to my usual nets. I am bowling with a lot more accuracy which is very pleasing. I find I hit my rhythm and get the my wrist flicking nicely after 10-15mins of bowling but I am thinking that this is probably after 7-10 overs of bowling. In a game situation though I'm hardly likely to be kept on if it takes me this long. Does anyone have any tips on getting it on the spot a bit quicker. I know this is the age old curse for the leggie.

brand new nets are usually rubbish for spin bowling. no net surface in the world ever gets designed with spin in mind, they are designed primarily for batsmen, and secondly for pace bowlers. so the pitches are designed to replicate the bounce of an average grass wicket for the batsmen, which is based on the average pace bowler. so when you bowl spin they are far too soft, and the surfaces never grip.

give it a couple of years whilst pace bowlers and batsmen wear the surface down and then it will be nicer.

 

[shrek]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

The stride length is primarily decided by whether you can get over and around it. If you look at bowling videos of warne and others- their final bowling steps are quite long - almost the length of the bowling crease.
When I do that, I get more pace on the ball, but because I don't pivot as forcefully, I don't get the same amount of turn. But, I guess with practice you can get your stride to be about the length of bowling crease at the very least without losing out on the turn or bounce

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

I had a good long session today. I went to a different set of nets that have just had new sythetic turf laid. I was the first person to use them as I had to move a barrier set up by the council. I was thinking you beauty, this'll turn a mile and with a good strong headwind things couldnt be better. Unfortunately is was like bowling on a sponge with no bounce and very little turn.
I gave up after a while and went back to my usual nets. I am bowling with a lot more accuracy which is very pleasing. I find I hit my rhythm and get the my wrist flicking nicely after 10-15mins of bowling but I am thinking that this is probably after 7-10 overs of bowling. In a game situation though I'm hardly likely to be kept on if it takes me this long. Does anyone have any tips on getting it on the spot a bit quicker. I know this is the age old curse for the leggie.

We christened a brand new synthetic last season for the council as well, moved the barrier just like you did.

One good thing was every delivery leaves a distinct mark when the matting is new so if your the first to use is it, at the end of your session you get a pitch-map like they use on tv and you can see where every ball landed.

On the other question, bowling at targets probably helps improve accuracy more than anything else

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

The stride length is primarily decided by whether you can get over and around it. If you look at bowling videos of warne and others- their final bowling steps are quite long - almost the length of the bowling crease.
When I do that, I get more pace on the ball, but because I don't pivot as forcefully, I don't get the same amount of turn. But, I guess with practice you can get your stride to be about the length of bowling crease at the very least without losing out on the turn or bounce

Warnes stride isnt huge, but its all relative to the momentum being carried and as you say, whether you are able to pivot over and around the front leg. thats the most important thing! i was working off of a very slow walk up, planting my front foot, and then id end up with my weight too far back and wouldnt rotate enough. this is probably one of the reasons why during matches when sometimes i would try a fast run up, my bowling would suddenly become more effective (because it enabled me to pivot better).

my delivery stride is now tiny, but thats only relative to what it was before. considering im taking no run up at all, im only about 4-6" short of the popping crease whilst landing my back foot on the bowling crease (inline with the stumps). and thats with no run up. im a few inches taller than Warne, with longer legs.

those old Warne cliches are so correct though, they are the key to bowling leg spin. "think tall, spin up". those are the 2 things i had lost sight of, and having added those features back into my bowling it has literally transformed overnight.

i got a call up for a league match today (not sure which side im playing in yet, presumably 2nd's), and im playing tomorrow as well, so hopefully il get a fair few overs of bowling. although im not counting on getting any today given a fairly weak performance last sunday. il definitely get some tomorrow though. my goal for the weekend is to bowl a spell (or 2) with solid consistency. wickets would be nice, but arent pivotal, i just want to finish my spell knowing that i bowled solidly, and that my action was repeatable. bowling 1 cherry an over surrounded by 5 long hops might still take a wicket every over (if im lucky), but good batsmen just punish it. in the long term its more important that i can put together a good spell, rather than just the occasional good delivery.

 

[chippyben]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Ive finally got some videos of my bowling up on youtube. Im not sure how to link it here but if you type in 1chippyben on youtube they should come up on top. There is one from behind and one from side on. Let me know what you think.

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Ive finally got some videos of my bowling up on youtube. Im not sure how to link it here but if you type in 1chippyben on youtube they should come up on top. There is one from behind and one from side on. Let me know what you think.

your bowling arm gets very high (near enough vertical), youll generally get more spin with a slightly more roundarm action. maybe try to drop your arm 15-20 degrees.

in conjunction with that, your body is past upright (leaning to the left) which drags the arm with it.

i think the main reason for both of the above probably stems from your front foot, which steps across your body quite a long way, and the toes land past straight (pointing towards the slips), when they would be better off pointing to the leg side, with your shoulders squarer on. one thing to also try here is to bring your leading arm down into your ribs. you tuck it down nicely, but you bring it away from your body. if you bring it down into your ribs then it stops the chest from opening out so early, and increases your rotation, which means your legs have to do less.

id say your action looks fairly similar to mine (except your delivery stride is a lot more synchronised than mine has been previously, im making improvements in that department now). all of the above (apart from the high arm) are things that ive struggled with, and the solutions ive found in the past (and some more recently). it looks a nice action though to me.

one thing that you may want to ask advice of an expert on (Liz Ward) is your front leg from an injury perspective. where you step across and straighten the foot, you then put a lot of strain on the lower leg as you pivot over it. this caused me (and still does at times) to have a lot of recurring pain in my lower leg. its better if you seek advice now and correct it if its a problem than wait until it starts hurting. because its a long term injury, and it doesnt go away without correcting the action.

 

[chippyben]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Thanks Jim. I was a very front on fast bowler and I think I struggle with getting properly side on. I felt like I was bowling a bit round arm but when I saw the video I see that I look nothing like that. Some other videos actually go past the vertical.
I had the same problem at the end of last season when I last videoed myself. I thought Id improved it a bit but I couldnt work out how to get more round arm without it feeling really awkward. I didnt really equate stepping across myself or leaning to the left so much with the problem. In fact I hadnt really noted that I leant back so much .
We have our first training session of the year this morning so I am hoping to impress so I get a go bowling leg spin. Ive heard on the grape vine that me and a couple of others from our team are to be put up a grade this year, in my case because of my good pace bowling figures last year. That could hinder my leg spin hopes.
I havent had any leg problems but its worth checking out as that is the leg I had a knee reconstruction on a couple of years ago.
Thanks again Jim, Im off now to try your tips out.

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

i had a mixed weekend. i played for my clubs 2nd XI yesterday in a league match. i didnt really expect to get a bowl, but they were scoring quickly and nobody was taking wickets, so i got a 3 over spell in the middle to try and make a breakthrough. it didnt go too well. my first over was tidy, one loose ball went for 4. the 2nd and 3rd overs werent at all bad, not as bad as the figures suggested, but through a combination of 1 or 2 bad balls per over, plus a well set opening batsman smacking me around, they went for 9 runs each.

so i ended up 3-0-23-0 when the captain took me off because i hadnt got the job done. if it wasnt for the odd bad ball id have been fine.

today was a similar situation, and whilst it was a sunday game, the other side dont play league cricket, and they were a very serious sunday outfit. i came on to bowl with 1 wicket down and theyd been scoring very fast prior to my spell, at 8 an over for a while. my first 2 overs both went for 2 runs each (1 run was a wide), and i got a wicket with my 3rd ball heaved up into the air and caught very well at mid off. i was finding my line and length fantastically, and was getting good turn. for some unknown reason i lost my way a bit in the 3rd over, and the ball kept getting stuck in my fingers and dragging down. then i tried to correct it and overpitched. i went for a few runs as a result.

i had 2 LBW shouts turned down. one pitched marginally outside leg stump, the other was absolutely plum. the umpires just werent giving anything at all. including a couple of 2 yard+ run outs. it was ridiculous. i also had an outside edge "dropped" by the keeper, but it was very low off the bat and would have been some catch.

on another day it might have resulted in more wickets. the runs all came as a result of bad balls, when i landed it right it caused lots of problems. it was one of my most consistent performances for sure, there were lots of positives.

4-0-25-1

my season average in all matches is at 26.32 now, with a strike rate of 23.00, and a wicket tally of 19. i dont think the figures are at all bad for an aggressive leg spinner. there are always those that can spin the ball hard and keep their average in single figures and bag plenty of wickets, but most of my games this year have been T20 or against solid batting opposition. im fairly happy with the figures considering how poorly ive bowled on multiple occasions. my target for the remainder of the season is to just bag lots of wickets and bowl consistent spells. 19 wickets in 20 matches just isnt enough. if you factor in all the dropped catches, missed stumpings and denied LBW shouts then it would be more than double that. but thats life.

i batted at 9 yesterday and went in at the end and got 2 not out off of 4 balls. that was my 4th innings in a row where id finished not out. so i foolishly proclaimed myself as a batsman as a result, and someone was silly enough to bat me at 5 today. i had a warm up in the nets against our premier pace bowler and felt very good. went out into the middle, blocked a few, then played a cracking drive over mid-on that fell a yard short of a 6. hit a single and a 2, missed a few, got dropped twice, blocked a few. then my usual across-the-line lazy slog instinct shot came into play, and got me clean bowled like an idiot. thats a mental flaw rather than a technical one, but its cost me my wicket most games this season. if i can sort my mental game out i reckon my technical game is good enough for me to bat middle order and score some proper runs.

ive got potentially 3 games this week. a T20 friendly on tuesday night, a 40-over day game against a touring side on thursday, and then another sunday game at the weekend.

 

[shrek]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Had a disappointing weekend with the bat with two innings in single digit scores at No.3 but couldn't have asked more with the ball.

The first game we played was on a newly layed out astroturf in an 60 yard small ground with lightning fast outfield (think hard, surface all of grass you have is dry and 1cm long), our bowlers went for 280 off 35 overs and we chased it down with 1 ball to spare. On this pitch i bowled their batsman no:4 with a topspinner that bounced as he tried to defend and went onto hit the wickets - the only genuine wicket in our entire innings. 6-0-40-1 read my figures. i was fairly happy with it considering very small margin of error.

Today's match i bowled a full spell 8-0-35-2. One wicket of the leftie was very satisfying- got him bounce as he tried to hit it to legside with the turn and skied it to midwicket. (within 30 yard circle). The other was a short pitched ball pulled to long on. I should've had two more wickets including one of Ashar mehdi - (who is US national team wicket keeper) who tried to pull me and the bounce got big on him when he pulled it straight to deep square leg who put down a sitter. The same over wicket keeper put down a catch (another short of good length ball that got big on the batsman who edged a pull). I was hit for one six by the national team player off a full toss, the other was a four off another full toss. Bowled 4 wides but rest were all runs in singles, so i would say it wasn't too bad. Hopefully, on present performance iwill get another bowl next week.

 

[doctortran]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Thanks Jim. I was a very front on fast bowler and I think I struggle with getting properly side on. I felt like I was bowling a bit round arm but when I saw the video I see that I look nothing like that. Some other videos actually go past the vertical.
I had the same problem at the end of last season when I last videoed myself. I thought Id improved it a bit but I couldnt work out how to get more round arm without it feeling really awkward. I didnt really equate stepping across myself or leaning to the left so much with the problem. In fact I hadnt really noted that I leant back so much .
We have our first training session of the year this morning so I am hoping to impress so I get a go bowling leg spin. Ive heard on the grape vine that me and a couple of others from our team are to be put up a grade this year, in my case because of my good pace bowling figures last year. That could hinder my leg spin hopes.
I havent had any leg problems but its worth checking out as that is the leg I had a knee reconstruction on a couple of years ago.
Thanks again Jim, Im off now to try your tips out.

Hi Chippyben,

Nice to see some Aussies on the forums.

I was just watching your video and thought I would make a comparison between you and Warney. This is all about speed - i remember reading in the forums a topic about getting to 50 mph or 80kph and then landing it on the pitch. I hope this helps you and everyone reading the leg spinners thread.

This is Warney

This is you

You both are at about the exact same moment in your delivery stride and notice the difference. The biggest difference in mechanics for speed come from your back leg. Warney bowls like a fast bowler! See how he stretches his back leg out -- he really works his thigh, calf and groin muscles to push from the ground. Similar in fact to a 98-100 mph pitcher (i.e. 156-160kph).

Daniel Bard.
http://a.imageshack.us/img826/2986/warnecomparison3.jpg

Stretching out further will add 3-4mph. It is actually very rare to see pitchers in high school/ college in the US stretch out properly (i.e. club and state/county for us cricketers). I can only surmise this to be true for cricketers too.

Stretching out that back leg will help in this next thing you should consider. Stride length and stride momemtum. There is a strong correlation between stride length and velocity -- not because you cover more distance but because you need to apply more force to get to that distance. However, most people including Warney are not going to stretch that far when they get past age 28. The point is -- momemtum. Get that body shift moving faster and you will get that stride where it needs to be. This should add another 3-4mph.

And now the piece de resistance -- or however you spell it. Centre of gravity. Warney and Daniel Bard share a slight feature in common that you can improve on. Their heads are in line with the centre of their body. Draw a straight line from their head straight down and it is over the top of their own bodies. Your head is more over the top of your front leg than your belly button. This is perhaps a feature of your front on action. Counter-intuitive? How can having your centre of gravity centred possibly help your power? Have a look at this man.

Tiger Woods
http://a.imageshack.us/img822/7533/warnecomparison4.jpg

Compensating for the weight of his arms and club moving forward, his head moves back! Keeping a good balance at the bowling crease will help you greatly with length. I'm going to guess that your control of length is not as ideal as you want it. This will help.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warney again

This is the well known youtube video of warney doing his master class. He's talking about bowling short when you open up and drag the ball down. When you drag it down your head, your body, your balance is dragging down --- and forward! How can you be dragging down over the centre of your body? You have legs that stop you! Only when you are leaning forward do you drag the ball down.

One final thing -- your leading left shoulder. That shoulder is already going down at the beginning of your delivery stride. You haven't landed and its already going down. This tells me your rhythm is out of kilter. Fast bowlers say when their rhythm is out then they can't bowl quick, or well. This is because bowling mechanics is about transference of force. Your arm strength has about a 5% say in the speed of the delivery. Your torso and your legs provide the speech and the after party conversations (35%-60% importance to power respectively I reckon and don't quote me). You need good transference of force from your legs to your upper body and then to your arm, which means moving your arms too soon slows your speed down.

Consider our final exhibit


Jeff Thomson: Fastest Bowler Competition

Jeff Thomson had a different bowling action than the normal leg spinner. His leading arm had a different effect on his bowling arm than say a leg spinner requires, but it serves a larger point in any case. Warney and Thommo are the same -- they let their bodies move with their bowling arms back. Just look at that arm of Thommo's and Warney's... particularly Thommo's -- the front foot has landed and it's still back and behind his waist! Only after landing the front foot do they move their bowling arms. This creates a force chain (i.e. a "causality of force") from their legs, to their waists, to their shoulders and then their arms. Thommo had the longest bowling delivery stride perhaps of all time, and hence he bowled quicker than Lillee, Khan, Roberts, Holding, Marshall, and I'm willing to bet Lee and Akhtar. For you science buffs out there, assuming constant acceleration then v=u +at. This will give you that extra 3-4mph.

---------------------------------------------------------------

And so a complete exposition of the leg spinner's/ fast bowlers mechanics as it matters to this forum. If you want that 12 mph extra -- you've got it right here. Happy bowling. Oh and just remember that it takes time for your body to co-ordinate itself. Taking up these ideas will make you bowl faster, but that may take months or perhaps years to happen. It is normal, and indeed fine to take some of these ideas, then put them away if they aren't working for you and come back to them when you have a fresh mind. Rome as they say wasn't built in a day.

 

[macca]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Yeah doctortran, anyone who saw thommo at his peak will agree he was the quickest and most dangerous of all the fast bowlers. At his peak, before he had the collision wth turner, his right hand almost touched the ground and his right ankle as he rocked back.

One of the things about thommo were the anecdotal stories from his club days in Sydney, he was breaking stumps, bats and bones every week with that unique javelin throwers style of delivery. In the days before helmets it must have taken tremendous courage to face him.

I have never seen another bowler get the ball to rear up off a good length on a dead track like jeff thompson used to achieve. He was something else.

I can see the similarities with warne in that they were both "body bowlers"

 

[chippyben]

Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Three)

Thanks for the comments and tips. I went away from our first training session on Sunday feeling a bit disillusioned after bowling terribly.
I went through my video and noted what Jim had said especially about stepping too far across myself on the delivery stride. Some of other videos showed my arm going beyond the vertical. So I then read Philpotts book on the bowling action and the main point I took from it was that it is very hard to fix an unorthodox action when things go wrong. I then watched Warnie and others on youtube to get a better idea of things.Then I thought I would go back to the drawing board and try and really fix my action. Previously I was thinking yes Im front on but who cares its working. But then when it went wrong Id compensate in another way and so over time all these little unorthodox things were being tacked on to fix problems.
Anyway so getting side on was my first task. I took the camera up and videod an over, reviewed it and then went again. There was some atrocious bowling there for a while let me tell you!!! Balls were flying everywhere with the bars on the top of the nets copping a pasting!!! But gradually things improved, getting my back foot parallel with the crease, looking to the left of my leading arm and gradually building some rhythm.My camera battery went flat but by then I was starting to feel great. This was about 2hours later but my action was starting to feel really fluent and economical.
My next task is to start trying to get my shoulders rotating over themselves properly and tucking my leading arm in to my ribs.
Im still a little unsure of my centre of balance through the delivery stride. I see in my youtube video that my arm seems to be doing a lot of the work and isnt really working with my body. From my training session I found I was bowling far too slowly with batsman easily getting to the pitch of the ball.