batting against spin

[Hurricane]

I am hoping some of the forum's spin bowlers will contribute to this thread to discuss what sort of tactics they find difficult to bowl against. But basically I just wanted a discussion on how people bat against spin personally.

I grew up in NZ where there were very few school boy spinners of any note. I grew up just waiting for them to bowl a bad ball and played a regular shot against it.

When I went to Canada I played against a vast number of sub continental spinners who were damn good. There just were no bad balls. So I developed my current style which is to go on the back foot early even against good length deliveries. And then use my feet to come down the pitch and drive the ball a bit later. As soon as they start bowling the ball shorter I start going back again. These days in my grade the spin bowlers are so slow through the air that I can wait until after they have released it to see the flight and then use my feet.

This is how I do it. But I find that you need to be willing to hit the ball over the top a few times to push the fielders back to the ropes to open up the singles and this is my weakness as I am not a big hitter.

How do you bat against spin and as mentioned what do the spin bowlers themselves have to say?

 

[slowfinger]

I am hoping some of the forum's spin bowlers will contribute to this thread to discuss what sort of tactics they find difficult to bowl against. But basically I just wanted a discussion on how people bat against spin personally.

I grew up in NZ where there were very few school boy spinners of any note. I grew up just waiting for them to bowl a bad ball and played a regular shot against it.

When I went to Canada I played against a vast number of sub continental spinners who were damn good. There just were no bad balls. So I developed my current style which is to go on the back foot early even against good length deliveries. And then use my feet to come down the pitch and drive the ball a bit later. As soon as they start bowling the ball shorter I start going back again. These days in my grade the spin bowlers are so slow through the air that I can wait until after they have released it to see the flight and then use my feet.

This is how I do it. But I find that you need to be willing to hit the ball over the top a few times to push the fielders back to the ropes to open up the singles and this is my weakness as I am not a big hitter.

How do you bat against spin and as mentioned what do the spin bowlers themselves have to say?

Being a spin bowler myself, it annoys me when people go on their back foot and pat back a good delivery. That's when I start bowling more quicker and flatter to get them on their front foot, and then try again. Bowl successively full, give them a drive or two, get their tails up, and then bring on back and turn it.

But again it's all about practise and how many times out of 10 you can land a ball. If you are looking to face spin, there are two options:

1.Use your feet and don't let the ball spin (not recommended on early in an innings.

2.Wait really late, and then nudge the ball around. This is usefull if you are a leg side player looking to beat it to square leg and the ball is spinning in

What you must not do is to play half hearted shots as 9 times out of ten the ball will just pop up to a fielder. Also, when hitting a big shot you must keep your head down and put your weight into the shot, and give it your all, 9 times out of 10 it will clear the boundary.

Facing spin is predominately a mind game, and occasionally if you get a peach, that's okay. You have to beat your opponent mentally, and by that I mean maybe charge down the ground to throw your bowler off, make him bowl different lines and then rock onto your back foot and carve the balls around for 1s and 2s.

Hope it helps!

 

[Cabinet96]

You have to maximise you footwork. Whether it's stopping the ball from spinning by getting forward and making it a half volley or full toss or going right back and playing it of the back foot.

When attacking try to get right to the pitch of the ball so that you can get over the ball and keep it along the ground.

How do you feel about sweeps? Because I find use it as one of my main weapons against finger spinners. It allows full balls to go square of the wicket and it is particularly good to play off slow spin bowlers.

Also how tall are you? Because that can be quite crucial in deciding whether you see yourself as a front foot predominant player or a back foot predominant player. As I am around 6ft 3 I usually play forward.

 

[pitchvision]

AGainst a good spinner the trick is to not let him tie you down. Learn to sweep or use your feet - or both.

There are so many sweep variations now, I think sweeping is perfect - it gets you rotating the strike and picking up boundaries. You can even go big later in an innings.

 

[Woodster]

AGainst a good spinner the trick is to not let him tie you down. Learn to sweep or use your feet - or both.

There are so many sweep variations now, I think sweeping is perfect - it gets you rotating the strike and picking up boundaries. You can even go big later in an innings.

I agree that you cannot allow a spinner to tie you down, whenever you get a slightly loose delivery if you can jump all over it there's no doubt the spinner will feel the pressure you put back on him and know that his margins for error are indeed very small. So with that in mind it is important to maintain a positive mindset and always look to score runs.

I guess opinions vary in how you go about actually playing the spinners. I also agree that the best players of spin are those quick on their feet and also with the ability to sweep the ball in order to frustrate the spinners and not allow them to settle on their length. However, I'm very tall and probably not built to dance down the pitch quickly, though it is something I'm continuing to work on. Also the sweep is not really a speciality of mine either, it doesn't seem to be a shot for someone my size, but KP manages to play it pretty well.

I personally try and focus hard on picking the length early and using the depth of my crease or getting in a big, yet balanced, stride forward. I do try and skip down the pitch yet have less confidence with the ball spinning away from the bat. Hitting straight is where I'd consider my strength against spin, but against big turning spinners this does become that bit more difficult and you have to ensure you are right to the pitch.

 

[Dan]

My mentality has always been to go right forward and get to the pitch wherever possible, but if you don't feel confident of getting there, rocking as far back as possible and playing late.

Pick a couple of scoring areas - mine are generally the flick of the hip behind square (as a left hander) or going down the ground in the air. I'm not a particularly big hitter either, but if mid off and on are up, if you get to the pitch its less risky than a lot of the other alternatives.

If you're set, definitely use the sweep whenever they toss it up.

Also, this Stephen Fleming video is really good at analysing the tactics behind playing spin. Long, but definitely worth a watch: Robelinda - Stephen Fleming 274* NZ GOLD