Would any one want help with spin?

Ofcourse. If you are bowling too fast and hitting a length, the flight is obviously decreased. If you want to get good flight and land the ball on a length, you have to bowl slowly!

I have a few questions:
1. Do concrete pitches with matting help spin more than conventional turf wickets
2. Does anyone wrist spin using the first two fingers only ie without use of third finger
3. Where do you pitch the normal leg break. mine always tend to wander to leg stump or minimally wider
4. The seam for my leg break tends to be scrambled whatever i do and seem to get more over spin than side spin whatever i do

I seem to need loads of help but have found the thread very enlightening

Thanks mate.
Do many of you use your thumb for wrist spin. I find I lose control if i don't use it. Also was reading that Kumble has one of his googlies where he just uses his thumb and first finger according to david gower.
Anyone with advice on whether to use more over or side spin on concrete matted wickets as these are the only ones I have access to?

Edited by maltaspinner - 11 December 2007 at 5:57pm

Yes from malta on the other side of your world.

You seem to be very well versed in the art. Have tried the flipper recently and when in line with the stumps it keeps lower and skids (which it should) but sometimes also tends to return to leg like an offbreak on bouncing.
Also tried the conventional backspinner/slider but find it very difficult to land it on line and especially length. for the latter do you use a all three fingers and thumb.
I find that i do not get a lot of turn on matted wickets but do get drift towards the leg side before pitching.
Last thing... Ihave read a book about jack iverson who bowled leg break googlies with thumb and second finger on the ball with index finger off the ball. tried it reasonable accuracy with little turn, mainly got overspin. Apparently his strike rate puts warne et al to shame even benaud could not read him

Edited by maltaspinner - 11 December 2007 at 10:57pm

Originally posted by Pietersen Fan Originally posted by The Tyke Originally posted by maltaspinner Does anyone wrist spin using the first two fingers only ie without use of third finger  Where do you pitch the normal leg break. mine always tend to wander to leg stump or minimally wider The seam for my leg break tends to be scrambled whatever i do and seem to get more over spin than side spin whatever i do   I've experimented with using the first 2 fingers only to spin it for my Chinaman as it allowed me to switch mid runup to orthodox and vice versa.   With leg spinners there seems to be 2 distinct thought patterns on where to pitch the ball. 1 group are the MacGill and Mushy type who pitch the ball middle and off. The other group are the smaller group (numbers wise), players like Warne who pitch the ball on middle and leg, making it much harder for batsmen because it's rare that they can leave one.   If you're getting more overspin than side spin it means that your thumb is pointing slightly more towards the batsman. This isn't a bad thing because you'll get bounce. For a variation you could point your thumb slightly more towards yourself, giving backspin. This will make the ball hold up slightly more, giving the ball more chance to grip, as well as keep lower than your stock delivery. This could cause many problems for a batsman.   try this, this will not give back spin, no mater how much you try and point it towards yourself it will only sidespin

Edited by The Tyke - 11 December 2007 at 11:43pm

Originally posted by maltaspinner Do many of you use your thumb for wrist spin.

This is getting addictive!

The conventional backspinner/slider keeps low and skids but my brain finds it difficult to accept that i have to spin backwards/towards me while delivering it forward. Philpott states that this can be delivered with full backspin to one with bacspin and side spin when you go round what he calls the loop. The delivery for me is easy when i bowl for a short distance but end up mainly throwing if i try the whole 22 yards.Warne used this to very good effect if i am not mistaken to bell.


Also the flipper tends to move to leg on landing like an offspinner(but obviously with under spin). Does this happen to you or does yours go dead straight on pitching?


ehm when you bowl how frquently do you hit the stumps if you really are trying to? Ifind whatever i do it drifts to or outside leg stump and sometimes miss offstump. I find it difficult to pith it at off stump or straight to middle stump i wonder why

Edited by maltaspinner - 12 December 2007 at 9:18pm

hi guys,
i am new here.. i must say this is a great place for cricketers.
I am a right arm off spinner.i have started playing cricket after a long time(say 6 yrs). And am in for lots of advice.
current situation : we have been practicing on a concrete pitch without mats and i am not able to generate any spin(except a few deliveries).

i grip the ball with my index and middle fingers, with the tips of both fingers spread on the seam.And while releasing my palm faces almost towards gully(for a Right Hand Bat[RHB]) -- this is my normal action.

The best i have been able to do is bowl from around the wicket to a RHB towards first slip,land the ball in good length area(in front of middle stumpp) and getting the ball to straighten towards the wicket. This i have been able to acheive by spinning the ball hard and almost no flight.

my major problems:
how do i get more spin from the pitch.
how do i adjust my flight(kind of inconsistent with flight).
also need some variations(as we play only short version of the game(say about 20-25 over).and generally batsmen tend to go after every ball.

Has anyone got experience bowling on concrete with wimbledon unreal turf on. Do you get more or less turn than on a normal turf wicket.

Also besides bounce what is the advantage of a high arm compared to rounder arm. Funnily enough I seem to get more side spin with high arm.Additionally i find it near to impossible to bowl with my third finger. It is all right and spins a lot from hand to hand (underarm ) or over short distances but over 22 yards it is an uncontrolled missile

Yesterday saw the wickets kumble got in 3 rd test. seam upright was that fast medium or some form of leg spin . Looked faster than harmison.

Edited by maltaspinner - 16 December 2007 at 7:49pm

kumble was bowling medium pace for a fair amount of the test vs pakistan, as for spin wizs "makes the ball curve" comment, are you insane spin wiz??

Well PF, if you took the curve thing literally, it would seem like I'm insane. In other words, the ball will drift a bit in the air then spin away. That's what I mean when I say make the ball curve!

the conventional leg spin grip is the index finger and middle finger going across the seam and then the 3rd finger resting along the seam.

Originally posted by spin wizard 7/45, if your way works, why change it? I'm sure you said you get spin from the way you bowl.

You won't get much wicket bowling from around the wicket but you'll be hard to hit and that may get you wickets. It's a good and bad tactics really but to batsmen like Kallis, they'll just stick their pad out to anything pitching outside leg.

There's a reason Panesar bowls left arm around to right hand bat - lbw's are in play and with the ball drifting in and spinning away, they're harder to play. It's a tactic other left armers have failed to realise and credit to Monty for bowling like that.