Re: Wrist Spin Bowling (Part Two)
my plan is...
1. get fit. im so out of shape and i need to improve my fitness regardless of cricket. so lots of running i think.
2. get my leg breaks as accurate and consistent as i can. my target is to be able to land the ball on a dinner plate by March with 5/6 ball consistency.
3. increase my speed. from my slow motion shots my average speed over 22 yards is 31mph, but that includes the ball bouncing so that takes loads of pace off at the end. peak speed out of the hand is probably high 30's. id like to have that in the high 40's. i can bowl MUCH faster than i generally do and still get the same turn (i reckon i can hit 45-50mph when i bowl at full effort), but with lots more drift and dip. i only ever do it for a few balls at a time though as the whole action has to move faster and thus my accuracy and rhythm isnt there yet. i didnt want to over-practice this whilst i was still possibly playing matches, now that the season is done there is no short term problems. the interesting thing is that the ball doesnt pitch fuller, and im not entirely convinced it needs to "dip" because it isnt just overspun deliveries that work like this, il come back to this in a moment.
4. continue to develop my variations. at present ive got all the leg breaks from small overspun to large backspun (i overpractice the overspun though and its hurting my action for the others, i need to practice all equally). ive got my round-the-loop slider that i need to develop more. ive got the overspun off-break flipper that i need to improve a lot as its about 10% consistent at present (accuracy is generally good, it just doesnt always land on the seam and turn back in, sometimes it goes straight). my top spinner is disappearing and becoming a leg break, i need to practice it more so i dont lose the action, and id like to have a wrong'un but dont hold out any hope of ever having one, if i do its a bonus. ive also discovered a "zooter" that does some very interesting things, so i want to have a play with that.
5. establish myself with a club in pre-season (ideally the club i play for now, but if not then il move elsewhere) so that im playing regular league cricket next season. this is possibly a tall ask given that ive only been playing 3 months lol, but im determined to play league cricket next season and see no reason why it shouldnt be entirely possible if i develop at the same rate over the winter as i have thus far.
6. improve my batting technique considerably in pre season nets. if i can bat decently then it improves my chances of achieving number 5. if i cant bat then my bowling will have to be amazing to justify a place in a league side as a spinner that doesnt bat. most club spinners seem to primarily be batsmen who bowl a bit as well. the "specialist" bowlers are almost always the quicks.
so thats my winter plan, im hoping that the nets at my club stay up all through winter so that i can practice whenever weather and time permits (i dont mind braving the cold, and i reckon practicing on cold, wet net surfaces could be an amazing learning tool. ive read that if you can turn it on smooth bare concrete youll generally be able to turn it on even the smoothest wickets, even at test level. if i can turn it on a cold and wet net surface then thats got to be a similar comparison).
back to my point about increasing speed and the effects on length though - Shane Warne bowled up around the 45-50mph mark generally. most leg spinners seem to be in a similar range, 45-55mph maybe. typically they dont flight the ball in a particularly loopy manner, but its certainly not flat like a medium pacer. i always assumed it was dip from the magnus effect that allowed this, the faster they bowl the more dip they can generate. but that would only work on overspun deliveries, and Warne can bowl his 90 deg leg breaks at the same speed and land them in the same place.
the aerodynamic drag (calculated in its simplified form i must add) on the ball is proportional to the square of velocity. e.g if you double the speed, you quadruple the drag. if i currently bowl at 35mph and then increase that to 50mph, it actually works out that the drag forces on the ball DOUBLE. the increased velocity will also cause the flow to seperate from the surface of the ball earlier which will in turn increase this even more. and the seam throws this into the mix even more.
to summarise, i think simply bowling faster will take care of the length itself. im certainly find this so far, just so long as you dont lob the ball upwards. i dont think really loopy flight is that helpful, it gets the batsman looking up but it either has to be super slow, or it will land very full and its easy to play. i think a flatter trajectory that goes JUST above the eyeline is generally more dangerous because it gets the batsman wanting to play you in the same way they would a medium pacer. and by the time the ball has moved around in flight its too late for them to properly adjust if there is enough pace on the ball. hence i want to bowl at around 45mph. i cause batsmen problems at maybe 35mph (in matches i reckon ive been bowling even slower, maybe 30mph), so at 45mph i reckon it will create havoc amongst club level batsmen. its the same sort of speed that county and international leggies bowl at, and i think its the difference between good club spinners and those that make the next grade. at 30mph the batsman has about 1.4 seconds from the ball leaving the hand to reaching the bat, and about 0.4s of that is after the ball pitches. at 45mph its about 1.0s from hand to bat, and only about 0.25s after the ball pitches. its a substantial difference, and im not sure any batsman at club level has the talent to make a convincing adjustment in that time, so theyre going to be playing you far more on merit. if the last ball turned across them from outside leg to outside off, and the next one only turns from outside leg to hitting middle, the bat is likely going to be in the wrong place, as are the feet! add drift into the equation, of which i can already generate upto 12-18" at my current pace so i reckon that will be upto 2 feet at 45mph, and it should bode fairly well.
those are the goals, lets see where im at in 6 months time. it will be interesting to have comparable video footage as well, thats one of the reasons why i really wanted to record myself now, so ive got a record of where i was at before the close-season development.
someblokecalleddave;366826 said:
my plan is...
1. get fit. im so out of shape and i need to improve my fitness regardless of cricket. so lots of running i think.
2. get my leg breaks as accurate and consistent as i can. my target is to be able to land the ball on a dinner plate by March with 5/6 ball consistency.
3. increase my speed. from my slow motion shots my average speed over 22 yards is 31mph, but that includes the ball bouncing so that takes loads of pace off at the end. peak speed out of the hand is probably high 30's. id like to have that in the high 40's. i can bowl MUCH faster than i generally do and still get the same turn (i reckon i can hit 45-50mph when i bowl at full effort), but with lots more drift and dip. i only ever do it for a few balls at a time though as the whole action has to move faster and thus my accuracy and rhythm isnt there yet. i didnt want to over-practice this whilst i was still possibly playing matches, now that the season is done there is no short term problems. the interesting thing is that the ball doesnt pitch fuller, and im not entirely convinced it needs to "dip" because it isnt just overspun deliveries that work like this, il come back to this in a moment.
4. continue to develop my variations. at present ive got all the leg breaks from small overspun to large backspun (i overpractice the overspun though and its hurting my action for the others, i need to practice all equally). ive got my round-the-loop slider that i need to develop more. ive got the overspun off-break flipper that i need to improve a lot as its about 10% consistent at present (accuracy is generally good, it just doesnt always land on the seam and turn back in, sometimes it goes straight). my top spinner is disappearing and becoming a leg break, i need to practice it more so i dont lose the action, and id like to have a wrong'un but dont hold out any hope of ever having one, if i do its a bonus. ive also discovered a "zooter" that does some very interesting things, so i want to have a play with that.
5. establish myself with a club in pre-season (ideally the club i play for now, but if not then il move elsewhere) so that im playing regular league cricket next season. this is possibly a tall ask given that ive only been playing 3 months lol, but im determined to play league cricket next season and see no reason why it shouldnt be entirely possible if i develop at the same rate over the winter as i have thus far.
6. improve my batting technique considerably in pre season nets. if i can bat decently then it improves my chances of achieving number 5. if i cant bat then my bowling will have to be amazing to justify a place in a league side as a spinner that doesnt bat. most club spinners seem to primarily be batsmen who bowl a bit as well. the "specialist" bowlers are almost always the quicks.
so thats my winter plan, im hoping that the nets at my club stay up all through winter so that i can practice whenever weather and time permits (i dont mind braving the cold, and i reckon practicing on cold, wet net surfaces could be an amazing learning tool. ive read that if you can turn it on smooth bare concrete youll generally be able to turn it on even the smoothest wickets, even at test level. if i can turn it on a cold and wet net surface then thats got to be a similar comparison).
back to my point about increasing speed and the effects on length though - Shane Warne bowled up around the 45-50mph mark generally. most leg spinners seem to be in a similar range, 45-55mph maybe. typically they dont flight the ball in a particularly loopy manner, but its certainly not flat like a medium pacer. i always assumed it was dip from the magnus effect that allowed this, the faster they bowl the more dip they can generate. but that would only work on overspun deliveries, and Warne can bowl his 90 deg leg breaks at the same speed and land them in the same place.
the aerodynamic drag (calculated in its simplified form i must add) on the ball is proportional to the square of velocity. e.g if you double the speed, you quadruple the drag. if i currently bowl at 35mph and then increase that to 50mph, it actually works out that the drag forces on the ball DOUBLE. the increased velocity will also cause the flow to seperate from the surface of the ball earlier which will in turn increase this even more. and the seam throws this into the mix even more.
to summarise, i think simply bowling faster will take care of the length itself. im certainly find this so far, just so long as you dont lob the ball upwards. i dont think really loopy flight is that helpful, it gets the batsman looking up but it either has to be super slow, or it will land very full and its easy to play. i think a flatter trajectory that goes JUST above the eyeline is generally more dangerous because it gets the batsman wanting to play you in the same way they would a medium pacer. and by the time the ball has moved around in flight its too late for them to properly adjust if there is enough pace on the ball. hence i want to bowl at around 45mph. i cause batsmen problems at maybe 35mph (in matches i reckon ive been bowling even slower, maybe 30mph), so at 45mph i reckon it will create havoc amongst club level batsmen. its the same sort of speed that county and international leggies bowl at, and i think its the difference between good club spinners and those that make the next grade. at 30mph the batsman has about 1.4 seconds from the ball leaving the hand to reaching the bat, and about 0.4s of that is after the ball pitches. at 45mph its about 1.0s from hand to bat, and only about 0.25s after the ball pitches. its a substantial difference, and im not sure any batsman at club level has the talent to make a convincing adjustment in that time, so theyre going to be playing you far more on merit. if the last ball turned across them from outside leg to outside off, and the next one only turns from outside leg to hitting middle, the bat is likely going to be in the wrong place, as are the feet! add drift into the equation, of which i can already generate upto 12-18" at my current pace so i reckon that will be upto 2 feet at 45mph, and it should bode fairly well.
those are the goals, lets see where im at in 6 months time. it will be interesting to have comparable video footage as well, thats one of the reasons why i really wanted to record myself now, so ive got a record of where i was at before the close-season development.
