Leg spin bowling

[someblokedave]

It's not going to happen quick or be easy, it's a case of practice, practice and more practice. What you might want to try is bowling without a batsman there, it's a lot less demoralising. The thing you've basically got to do is turn your wrist anti-clockwise in order that your thumb is facing the batsman at the point of release. It may also help to look at how round arm you are in your delivery - try and get your arm up more vertically, that may be worth exploring as well?

 

[someblokedave]

This could be the wrist spinners thread (Leggies). All you have to do is keep updating it and it moves further and further up the google search pages and eventually it'll be massive!

So - anyone out there got any questions or advice on Wrist Spinning - also known as Leg Spin Bowling? Come on join in start posting questions and advice!

 

[Flem274*]

I was very unorthadox with my variations. Only orthadox deliveries were leg break and the top spinner.

Topspinner is bowled similar to a leg break, but the wrist turns less, and it faces your ear when the ball is release.

I had a variation of the leg break. Without using the wrist, I just spun the ball with the fingers. As a result it came in front of the hand. It spun very little and it was the pitch middle hit middle ball for me.

My slider was just a leggie that I bowled without putting any spin. Wrist was at the same position as for the toppie, but I just let it off the had without any spin. With high arm action I had, ball was always drifting in, and this ball continued to go with the arm, or in simple terms, without spinning crashed in to the stumps.

Next variation was the flipper, but very dfferent to orthadox flipper. It was bowled with the back of the hand, but without spinning, The extra acceleration of the arm just at releae made sure it was faster and flatter than the slider.

Next one was the genuine seamer. I rotated the hand to face the batsman and just accelerated the arm. When bowled seam up, this will swing in to the right hander and crash in to pads of the batsmen.

Thank you for unintentionally providing a highly plausible theory for my problem.

I have been wondering why some of my leg breaks turn and others go straighter, and I believe this may be it. If the action is similar then it would be harder for me to notice.

Anyway, came in here to ask how I could generate some pace on my leggies. I'd like to be able to bowl them quicker so good batsmen don't just line up midwicket or wherever for a hit. I'm trying to use the run up and get through my action as quickly as possible to generate some energy, is this the right way?

 

[vic_orthdox]

Sounds like you are relying on pretty much your arm/wrist to generate spin and pace on the ball. You need to get more out of your front arm and your back hip.

One way of managing to work on it is standing start work.

• Start with your feet placed in their final position, as you release the ball. Do not step into it, just push through the crease. Make a marker about a metre and a half away from the crease, and you should try and reach that point in your follow through.
• Once you feel like you are getting through the crease better, and the ball is coming out at a reasonable pace - not as quick as what you would bowl to a batsman in a game, but you feel as though there is a lot of work on the ball - then start with your back foot in position, and make that last one step with your front foot and get through the crease again.
• As it comes out better again, you bring yourself back a tad again. Keep on bringing yourself back again and again.

 

[Flem274*]

Sounds like you are relying on pretty much your arm/wrist to generate spin and pace on the ball. You need to get more out of your front arm and your back hip.

One way of managing to work on it is standing start work.

• Start with your feet placed in their final position, as you release the ball. Do not step into it, just push through the crease. Make a marker about a metre and a half away from the crease, and you should try and reach that point in your follow through.
• Once you feel like you are getting through the crease better, and the ball is coming out at a reasonable pace - not as quick as what you would bowl to a batsman in a game, but you feel as though there is a lot of work on the ball - then start with your back foot in position, and make that last one step with your front foot and get through the crease again.
• As it comes out better again, you bring yourself back a tad again. Keep on bringing yourself back again and again.

Cheers. Will have a go at that.

 

[Flem274*]

Hmm I watched Beau Casson bowling on youtbe this morning and I'm now not surprised I bowl so many top spinners/wrong uns/straight balls/everything thats not a leg break. My action has some errors in it. Before I was only doing the wrist ****ing thing when my arm was going round to bowl (and I mean much further through the action than Casson does it). Yeah I kinda fail at explaining actions I know.

Sure enough, after copying some of what Casson does my wrist spinners are actualy leg breaks now. I was surprised how effective it was, the change was instant. I thought I'd have to wrok my nuts off to get more than minimal turn but it turns well enough.

Tried Vics exercises with it and started firing it straight/the other way again. Think I might be relapsing a bit into my old action. For now I'll just get used to the "proper" leg break action for a wristspinner.

Certainly answers a lot for me. Before I felt like an offspinner despite being a wristy.

I've only been trying out wrist spin for a couple of weeks ftr. Before I bowled either medium pace/medium wides/fingerspin depending on what I felt like (or in the case of medium pace bowling like).

 

[someblokedave]

Stick at the Wrist Spin mate try and get hold of Clarrie Grimmetts book 'Taking Wickets' and have a read of Peter Philpotts 'The art of wrist spin bowling'. A mate of mine has got some potentially useful videos he's shot in slo mo that might also help clarify why and how the ball spins in relation to how it comes out of the hand. I hope to do the same in the summer for my blogs.

YouTube - Wrist Spin Bowling - Overspun Leg Break 3 (slow motion)

With the question regarding pace - my take on that is to do what Vic has said using the front arm to really whip the ball through (Windmill effect). Another is to run in rather than walk in or at least put some more pace into the 'Walk in' that then has a knock on effect through the 'Explosion' through the crease. But with the increase in pace you'll produce flatter balls and then need to look at producing dip.

 

[Flem274*]

Stick at the Wrist Spin mate try and get hold of Clarrie Grimmetts book 'Taking Wickets' and have a read of Peter Philpotts 'The art of wrist spin bowling'. A mate of mine has got some potentially useful videos he's shot in slo mo that might also help clarify why and how the ball spins in relation to how it comes out of the hand. I hope to do the same in the summer for my blogs.

YouTube - Wrist Spin Bowling - Overspun Leg Break 3 (slow motion)

With the question regarding pace - my take on that is to do what Vic has said using the front arm to really whip the ball through (Windmill effect). Another is to run in rather than walk in or at least put some more pace into the 'Walk in' that then has a knock on effect through the 'Explosion' through the crease. But with the increase in pace you'll produce flatter balls and then need to look at producing dip.

Cheers.

 

[someblokedave]

I take it you're a wrist spinner?

 

[Flem274*]

I take it you're a wrist spinner?

Yep.

 

[vic_orthdox]

One other thing to ensure that you are doing is pull your front arm down straight, and in line with where you want to bowl. Don't pull it across your body. This is something very important, and will ensure that you get the best shape possible. It should be a strong focus of your stationary work, if you think that it is an issue.

 

[Number 11]

Since this has become the Leg Spinnning thread, i'll ask my questions here. I've been wrist spinning for about a week and have a few questions.
How to you acheive lots of bounce? ie. over waist height.
How do you stop people batting out of thier crease and charging down the pitch too you?
Any tips for getting extra spin?

Thanks.

 

[NZ Guy]

Since this has become the Leg Spinnning thread, i'll ask my questions here. I've been wrist spinning for about a week and have a few questions.
How to you acheive lots of bounce? ie. over waist height.
How do you stop people batting out of thier crease and charging down the pitch too you?
Any tips for getting extra spin?

Thanks.

Bounce increases as overspin increases, however this will cause side spin to decrease.
Probably more pace in the air, if they're going to charge you just fire it wide.
vice versa too bounce.

with the bounce thing im not sure there must be a way of increasing bounce without sacrificing side spin.

My question is what is a good length? I know your supposed to make them drive but on a normal pitch in terms of metres what should I be aiming for?

 

[Dan]

Bounce increases as overspin increases, however this will cause side spin to decrease.
Probably more pace in the air, if they're going to charge you just fire it wide.
vice versa too bounce.

with the bounce thing im not sure there must be a way of increasing bounce without sacrificing side spin.

My question is what is a good length? I know your supposed to make them drive but on a normal pitch in terms of metres what should I be aiming for?

It depends on how much bounce you get. I aim around 2-3 metres from the crease. You just need to keep it full enough that it a) has time to turn and b) doesn't allow the batsman to rock back and pull or cut you for 4.

On a completely unrelated and strange note, my 2 wickets on the weekend were both from absolute rubbish long hops.

 

[Westgate LegEnd]

New to the forum guys, so dont be brutal with me!

I am however a qualified coach (level 2).

Didnt learn much bout leg spin, cos its hard, so they only really showed us off spin.

i have bowled some leg spin in games though (all maidens, no wickets). i found the ball spun best with me, when i had my third finger on the seam, the odea beeing to rip the seam off that finger. didnt take me many attempts to get that down and the ball going square.

I believe that its a mix of the arm action and wrist action that helps the ball spin. i have tried googlys, but found i cant get my wrist round enough and just hurt myself.

just thought id put my pennys worth in there

 

[someblokedave]

New to the forum guys, so dont be brutal with me!

I am however a qualified coach (level 2).

Didnt learn much bout leg spin, cos its hard, so they only really showed us off spin.

i have bowled some leg spin in games though (all maidens, no wickets). i found the ball spun best with me, when i had my third finger on the seam, the odea beeing to rip the seam off that finger. didnt take me many attempts to get that down and the ball going square.

I believe that its a mix of the arm action and wrist action that helps the ball spin. i have tried googlys, but found i cant get my wrist round enough and just hurt myself.

just thought id put my pennys worth in there

The third finger on the seam is pretty much essential, when you get it right you'll feel it primarily coming off that finger to the point where many people get blisters. I wouldn't worry about the wrong-un just yet if you're just starting out concentrate in getting the ball on a line and length of your choice. It normally will take you hours and hours of practice over months and possibly years to get it right, but in the short term you'll still take wickets if you're getting the ball to spin.

The action is a mixture of a multitude of things, hips, shoulders, arm, wrists, fingers. Keep at it, once you start getting it right consistently you'll probably find you'll be one of the biggest wicket takers in your team.

 

[stephen]

many people get blisters.

Actually I found that there was so much pressure on the tip of my middle finger that my nail cut into my flesh, even when trimmed. There's a nice hard kallis on it now.

I think there are a few important things that every legspinner needs to have in order to be successful.

1) Practice. Lots of practice. A medium pace bowler can have one nets session per week and still be effective at club level. A leg spinner should be practicing every other day.

2) A consistant, replicatable action. This is key so that you can develop the accuracy you need so that you don't go for 8 runs an over. Your length is the most important thing to get right. If you're too full you'll be swept all day and if you're too short you'll be cut all day. A consistant action helps you keep your length right.

3) A loving captain. You are a legspinner. You will go for runs at times. It takes a captain that wants you to succeed for you to succeed.

4) The right pace. Long loopy slow spinners work well for getting out tail enders, but the better batsmen have the footwork and eye to play you consistantly unless you are bowling fast enough. For me, this ties back into point 2. You need a runup that assists you in getting the pace you need. The right pace is one at which you can bowl the ball just above eye level and it still land on the right length. The more turn you get the faster you have to be (the ball's revolutions will tend to drag it down, particularly if you are bowling a topspinner).

I found for me the key breakthrough in my bowling was to use my front leg as a pivot to really get the extra rip and speed on the ball. However I've been training for less than a month so my accuracy is still somewhere around the 50% mark, which is too low at this stage.

 

[stephen]

Does anyone have any advice on how to bowl to batsmen in gabbagrass nets? I always find that without the threat of losing their wicket to a stumping or a mistimed shot, batsmen are much more willing to use their feet.

Also, I have recently learned that I am fractionally overpitching while bowling. How do you adjust your length by small amounts as a leggy?

 

[someblokedave]

Does anyone have any advice on how to bowl to batsmen in gabbagrass nets? I always find that without the threat of losing their wicket to a stumping or a mistimed shot, batsmen are much more willing to use their feet.

Also, I have recently learned that I am fractionally overpitching while bowling. How do you adjust your length by small amounts as a leggy?

With the over-pitching that's just a case of putting targets down and bowling to a target. Clarrie Grimmett used to set himself a task at the end of his practice sessions, where he'd put a hankerchief on the wicket and wouldn't allow himself to finish the session unless he'd hit it 5 times in succession! If you're a leggy you've just got to accept that what you do requires 3 x or more practice than anyone else.

With regards net sessions - yeah you're right it's far from realistic and you don't want to take a lot of notice what happens in the nets. I'd use it to work on things like your overpitching - bowl against some of the weaker batsmen that you know are not going to come down the net at you. What's you usual line when bowling your Leg Breaks?

 

[stephen]

With the over-pitching that's just a case of putting targets down and bowling to a target. Clarrie Grimmett used to set himself a task at the end of his practice sessions, where he'd put a hankerchief on the wicket and wouldn't allow himself to finish the session unless he'd hit it 5 times in succession! If you're a leggy you've just got to accept that what you do requires 3 x or more practice than anyone else.

With regards net sessions - yeah you're right it's far from realistic and you don't want to take a lot of notice what happens in the nets. I'd use it to work on things like your overpitching - bowl against some of the weaker batsmen that you know are not going to come down the net at you. What's you usual line when bowling your Leg Breaks?

I'd love to have more daylight hours to practice in, but alas, I can generally only get in 45 minutes of training per day.

I have effectively not played cricket for a number of years, and am training at the moment for the winter season (I'm not in a summer team this season) and the next grade cricket season. Most of the training I'm doing is without a batsman as I tend to be rushing down to the nets after I get home from work to use the last hour of the day to train.

One exception was last Friday night where I had the opportunity to bowl to some second/third grade players from UQ (probably the strongest grade team in QLD), which is where I identified that I was overpitching slightly (the guys also suggested I needed to vary my pace a little bit more as I was a bit one dimensional in that respect).

I tend to find that batsmen come in two forms. 1) clueless or 2) good enough to hit/mistime the ball. Playing against the grade players was a valuable experience because it built a fair amount of confidence in me and taught me a number of lessons. I can't wait for the grade season now!

My natural line when bowling leg breaks is probably 10cm outside leg stump. I have been working on getting more of a leg stump line, but I'm happy enough at the moment seeing the ball turn well past the stumps (even in gabbagrass nets).