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Coach Education
"He approaches the wicket and releases the ball. I'm about to find out what it's really like to face a top class bowler.
It hangs there in the air.If someone bowled a ball like this to me in a Baldwin match, I'd probably stop it with my glove, sling it back to the bowler and tell him, 'Never mind, have another go...' In fact, I might say it anyway, once it's been retrieved from the far stands.
Perhaps age has caught up with the Indian master. Or perhaps he was never quite as good as we all thought. Perhaps none of them are.
But then something inexplicable occurs. The ball, having seemed suspended in the air from some invisible string with the words 'Hit Me' on it, suddenly dips and loops at the last second. It pitches just short of a length, spits like a cobra and climbs at a scientifically unfeasible angle. Striking the outside edge of my bat it balloons gently into the air and is caught with pathetic ease by the wicketkeeper."
You won't find many better descriptions of a master spinner totally deceiving a batsman than that. The great Bishan Bedi at work.
Mastery of flight or loop can take many years. However you can speed up the process with some simple practice methods that can be done alone.
What is flight?To understand how to deceive the batsman in the flight we need to know what it is.
A ball with flight is about more than 'tossing it up', it needs to be spun with force above the eyeline of the batsman giving it that effect of hanging in the air.
The intention, like Michael Simkins found out, is to make the ball seem like doing one thing when in fact it does something different enough to deceive: The mythical combination of flight and guile.
Bob Woolmer and Tim Noakes identify several different ways of achieving this:
- Top spin. Where the ball hangs in the air before dropping sharply.
- Back spin. Where the ball skids through lower and fuller than expected, like Shane Warne's flipper.
- Side spin. Where the ball drifts in the air laterally more akin to swing bowling.
You may find one type of flight easier than another, depending on both your bowling style (finger or wrist) and your own technique.
Adjusting the way you spin the ball, how much you spin it, how fast you bowl it and how high above the eye line you make it go will all make a difference to how the batsman plays the ball. This decreases his or her chances of settling in and getting used to your style.
What must remain despite these tiny changes is your accuracy. Without putting the ball in the right place often enough the batsman can just wait for the bad ball.
Once you can confidently bowl your stock ball accurately you can work on your loop.
There are two simple methods to doing this. Neither requires a batsman so get yourself a bag of balls, find a net and get to work.
The simplest way to flight the ball is to hang some string across the net and to try to bowl the ball over it. Combine the string with a target on the ground like a bit of cardboard or some cones to land the ball.
You can still use a target such as cones, but in this case you get an additional set of stumps and place them in front of the target as a barrier. The idea is to drop the ball over the stumps and still land it in the target.
With both methods you will be learning how to make the ball dip. It makes sense to record your success rate. You will find the more you practice the higher percentage of balls you will land on the target.
The trick is to really spin the ball and let physics do the rest.
Give it a rip, get practicing and let me know the results.
Comments
Bit of F'n'G. Marvelous!
When I try to bowl flighted deliveries 90% of my bowls are full tosses. How can I improve on them.
How often do you try?
I am a medium fast bowler but I try to bowl spin bowling when I got too many runs while bowling fast and when it is not working for me.
I'm a leg spinner. but at the moment I am really struggling to get consistent and really struggling for rhythm even my grip feels wrong. A few months ago I was fine but I just seem to be going downhill at the moment, only good thing is the english season doesn't start till next month, is there anything you can suggest that could help me.
Just like Rajat, when I try to get more loft with my off-spin it ends up as a full toss. but when I release it at 1 o'clock(if the ear is the reference point and 11 is behind, 12 is straight on and 1 is the front) I get good spin and I can hit my spot,. But the earlier I release the less spin I get and if it not a full toss it end more to the leg side. What can I do to correct this or should I play with what works and not worry about getting it more above the batter eyes.
Hello Dave I am a 13-year-old leg spinner with good guile and I spin it hard. But occasionally my friends that are playing senior cricket keep coming down the pitch to zero the spin into a full toss. I don't like bowling short aswell because they can play on the backfoot with ease so what should I do to avoid that from occuring?
To Rahul:
If you're able to get good drift or dip on the ball, then that'll make coming down the pitch a risky proposition to any batsman. Should he get to the pitch of the ball, then you may go for runs, but should he miss it then he's liable to be bowled or stumped (viz Grahame Swan dismissing Michael Clarke after the latter had played spin beautifully at the Lord's Test last week). Most spin bowlers would welcome the batsman advancing at them as it increases their chances of dismissals by these means, and a batsman on the walk won't have as much control over his shots. If they're constantly at you and you want to make them think twice about advancing down the track, chuck in the occasional (and only very occasional) fast, flat delivery. Above all, remember the words of Terry Jenner when refering to the correct length to bowl: "[that which will] invite the batsman to drive". It may be dispiriting, especially for a young lad such as yourself, but that you're playing against good spin batsmen can only be good thing in the long run. Keep at it and you'll out fox them in the end. Good luck!
Hi my name is sunny i was a medium fast bowler first and i played my last whole session by bowling fast. but this session i started bowling of spin now because of my action issues of my fast bowling. ok now i do pitch the bowl in right areas(mostly in driving areas) but again i am not very good with my grip of the bowl, as i heard from other good spin bowler in my club they said i have to hold the bowl tight in my fingers by doing that i hardly get any turn and if i hold the bowl littel bit loose i do get turn but pitches a littel bit fuller and which means a nice big hit which could be a catch but more chances of big hit from a good batsman. could you please advice me now wat should i do with my grip now
Hi,
I am an off-spinner and I have been taking quite a few wickets for my team this year, but it only seems to work when the batsman are trying to attack and score runs off me, which is when they make the mistakes. What I am trying to do is be able to take wickets when the batters are batting defensively and just trying to keep me out. Do you have any ideas on how i should do this? Are there any variations that I could use? Would an arm ball be what is required in this situation?
An arm ball is handy but not vital. Most spinners find this. It's much harder to get a batsman out who is playing defensively or playing the ball on it's merits. Part of the skill of a spinner is being able to unpick technique in a batter with good concentration. A little fuller, a little wider, more flight, more turn, less turn. Experimentation and time is what you need. Start with the series on how to exploit batting weaknesses. Also look at some of the simple variations and sets you can use in this article.
Hi,
my name is Sarah kate lilly me and my brothers Jason and kie like it and an arm ball is handy we like spinner when we need to break a habbit we can use this Jason and kie are twins and they are for I am 13 and we all understand even 3 year old Jess
Hi,
my names bob and have neverbeen taught how to bowl so with much practice i taught myself to spin the ball by just trying things out,when i bowl my action is literally a googly everytime and turns offside,but reccently i have started to turn the ball legside aswell as the occasional dusra and have no idea how i get it to turn each way :L im a bit stuck and would like to be able to know how to be able to control which way it turns
Have a look at the spin bowling section in our Academy.
Message for Bob. For your leg break, try turning your wrist so that it almost feels like you've got the side of the hand pointing at the batsman like a Karate Chop as you release the ball. Try and get it to leave your 3rd finger with emphasis and this'll get the revs on the ball and make it spin through the air.
Hi,
I'm an offspin bowler, and when i bowl to right handers i push it down leg. when i try to correct this i push it far to wide. any tips or suggestion?
Jack make sure your weight is not on the back foot and watch the angle of your arm make sure over the top and not low. Don't listen anything for Moe Lester he knows nothing and most likely does not play.
Im an SLA idont get much turn or flight eiher. I used to get heaps of turn and toss it up but i just cant seem to is there any way to improve
It sounds like you have got into the 'maiden mentality' and have sacrificed attacking cricket because of fear of getting hit by aggressive batsmen. You need to go back to basics and start bowling from one step at a target with the focus on giving the ball a big rip.
Get in the nets with no batsman, aim to bowl 8-10 overs a week (over 2-3 sessions) until you get the confidence back.
Excuse me David, but why did you delete my comment?
I'm not sure that I did. What did you say AB?
I am 11 years old and have been a leg spinner for a couple of weeks now. My main problem is that some balls don't spin and sometimes I bowl 'accidental googlys'. Is there any way to stop it?
hi, i am a leg spinner for quite some time now, though i don't play cricket professionally, we have our teams and we play proper matches almost every week... the main problem that i face is that when i try to bowl a googly, it turns out to be flat through the air, faster, turns well, and has an awkward bounce..... now the bounce and turn goes well with me, but not the flight... due to the ball going flat through the air, the batsmen sometimes tend to guess the googly.... and whenever i try to add flight to the googly, the turn and bounce is lost...... can you please help me out...?
also, sometimes, to add a surprise element, i bowl a yorker or a bouncer almost as fast as a fast bowler.... but due to the keeper standing close to the stumps, he occasionally misses it resulting in either hitting him, or him missing a catch and the ball goes through for a boundry.... what can i do to control that?
Hi, I am an Off Spin Bowler bowling for a couple of months............My question is how to control my length.........While bowling sometimes I drop the ball shorter which result in giving away runs in the form of fours & sixes.............Can you help me in improving my bowling???????
Yes. Lay down a target and bowl at it until your fingers hurt and you can't take it any more. Then bowl some more.
And get your club to invest in PitchVision so you can track you accuracy and turn improve over time.
Mr David
I'm new at leg spinning and when ever I try to do leg break with flight it just doesn't work. Weirdly the only ball I can play properly is googly. Do you know why my leg break just doesn't work. I've heard you should just release the ball from a different angle is that it. I've looked everywhere and I can't find a answer.
Please Help
Ali
You've got 'Googly Syndrome'. Type in Googly Syndrome in google and you'll find information written by me about how to fix it.
Try to bowl a little slower(using less energy) than you normally do when u want to bowl a flighted delivery. This makes sure that your bowls will not be full tosses and land in the same place as your normal delivery. Give the ball a little more air than usual deliveries with little less energy. This should surely help. Pls let me know ur observations.
hi, i can get good turn and flight but when i play in an actual game I just get too nervous and bowl wides fulltosses short.everything i dont want.i need to get consistency and be able to perform on the big day.Is it just practice practice practice???
Respected sir,
it is a great pleasure to be part of this side.it is a nice tips for me.
thankyou.
I am a 17 yr old legspinner. My googly goes too high and usually ends up as a full toss. I need help
I've been playing state under17's cricket for tasmania and my stock delivery I can land every tIme now but I don't know which way is better for drift. Unsure whether I should try and drift it into the wind or with it.
Well done for getting to state level Brad. Are you a leggie, slow left armer or offie?
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