Menno Gazendam is author of Spin Bowling Project. Get your free 8 week spin bowling course here

When should you bowl your backspinner?

Nothing stops you bowling it at any time, but then you are just bowling without a plan. And good spinners always bowl with a plan.

The best time to bowl it is on harder wickets.

On softer tracks it sits up, waiting to be hit. But on harder wicket it will keep lower than your stock delivery.

The problem with the soft wicket is that the ball will stick a bit and hold up. With a backspinner you will compound that effect and the ball will hold up a lot.

Too slow in fact, as the length you want to adopt with the backspinner is for the batsman to play back (you are looking for an LBW or bowled). And with that length you do not want the ball to sit up to be hit.

If you bowl the backspinner on a harder wicket it will have the effect of reducing the bounce and keeping lower (very similar to the flipper). And this is what you want. You want the batsman to play back for slow turn but be in trouble when the bounce and turn is not there.

So, if you are faced with a wet and sticking wicket, bowl the ball slower and keep the quick and flat backspinners in your locker for harder tracks.