How Do You Play Spin?

[swingdog]

Like you, our side is mostly old blokes and kids in development. The kid spinners I find I can put off with a trigger movement forward like I’m going to charge them, they get nervous, pull it short and I rock back to pull, cut or defend. If they don’t fall for that I’m ****ed.

 

[PhatBoy]

My kid was getting a lesson from one of our Premier coaches a while back and he was saying the Indians, who are the best players of spin, play mostly from in the crease nowadays (although Pujara was coming out a lot in the test series) ...whilst Aussie kids are generally taught to get to the pitch of the ball...if you can. One thing I used to notice a lot watching juniors is they would get stumped a lot when it was a fuller delivery but bowled wider. Not so much with straight ones.

Absolutely. I don't think I've ever been stumped - I think one thing I do very well is concede defeat when I'm beaten in the air and just drop some bat on it so I won't get stumped.

 

[PhatBoy]

The one player I have played well albeit only in the nets, is this guy I played a tonne of cricket with who made the local zone team (western) bowling seam up. Just steady, real mcgrath-esque medium pace.
He got jack of it so decided he'd become a leg-spinner. It was just a waste of time and we were all desperate for him to go back to bowling medium pace. So I made it my personal mission to belt the living f*** out of everything he bowled to me in the nets and force him to go back. I managed to do it quite well. Amazing how now fielders and a synthetic pitch can make you feel like a world beater lol

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

Absolutely. I don't think I've ever been stumped - I think one thing I do very well is concede defeat when I'm beaten in the air and just drop some bat on it so I won't get stumped.

Absolutely the best thing to do. We used to tell the kids there is nothing wrong with coming out and blocking it if you are not quite there....most would go through with some wild shot...lose their shape and it was all over.

 

[Gethelred]

My kid was getting a lesson from one of our Premier coaches a while back and he was saying the Indians, who are the best players of spin, play mostly from in the crease nowadays (although Pujara was coming out a lot in the test series) ...whilst Aussie kids are generally taught to get to the pitch of the ball...if you can. One thing I used to notice a lot watching juniors is they would get stumped a lot when it was a fuller delivery but bowled wider. Not so much with straight ones.

The problem with dancing is that the players who are confident enough to dance to the ball tend towards being the most confident players, ie they don't take into account the way things can go wrong. The thing Pujara did and did well last series - less so this series, due to the depreciation of Lyon's form - was that he charged but if he didn't read it quite right or get to the ball the way he wanted, he was perfectly happy to look stupid as **** but to stay in.

If you're going to charge a leggie - and most of the offies you're going to see in park cricket are going to try to get you caught at long on or midwicket, so not charging so much as playing with the spin where you already want to hit the ball - you need to be doing it to a straight ball spinning away, and you really, really need to get to the pitch of the thing. If you don't, you need to be getting so far inside it that you're taking the spin into account, otherwise they're just going to go past the outside edge of the bat. If you're perfectly happy bailing out of your charge to leave a ball, then you're going to look very silly, but you're not going to be out; if you're perfectly happy to read the ball in the air and realise it's got you and you've got to get your body to it ahead of the bat, you're going to look pretty funny, but you'll be in. Most people who charge do it to try and hit a 4, when getting to the pitch of the ball merely necessitates you trying to negate the turn and bounce.

 

[Gethelred]

The one player I have played well albeit only in the nets, is this guy I played a tonne of cricket with who made the local zone team (western) bowling seam up. Just steady, real mcgrath-esque medium pace.
He got jack of it so decided he'd become a leg-spinner. It was just a waste of time and we were all desperate for him to go back to bowling medium pace. So I made it my personal mission to belt the living f*** out of everything he bowled to me in the nets and force him to go back. I managed to do it quite well. Amazing how now fielders and a synthetic pitch can make you feel like a world beater lol

I had a young kid coming up through juniors who bowled slow. He was very accurate, and was going to be tall but was never going to be super athletic, but he just didn't get a bowl from his coaches to that point because they had better options within the team, including a wicked good young leggie.

When I got him, over the course of one preseason I taught him how to bowl leggies. It took him until the other side of christmas - and unlike his previous coaches, I bowled him and let him see what he should be doing - before he got it, and when he did he went on to take 3 4 fors and won the bowling average for the season. He's 15, now a matchwinning bowler, with a slider as a potent weapon for variation that we've developed to bowl with a rounder arm, to negate the bounce he gets as he's put on a foot of height.

It's funny the kinds of sliding doors you see in the game. Imagine if you'd encouraged him, and he built the muscles to get a bit of turn to go with that accuracy. But then, if I had never stopped playing footy I'd have kept my fitness and continued to be the swing bowler I used to be instead of the portly upper order bat I am these days.

 

[Gethelred]

Absolutely. I don't think I've ever been stumped - I think one thing I do very well is concede defeat when I'm beaten in the air and just drop some bat on it so I won't get stumped.

Played a game once, against a bloke I'd never seen before or since. He was about 6'7", and was broad; he was bald, yet sported a big red beard. He captained the opposition, and opened their batting, making 60 something with these big powerful shots, batting with just his bat and pads, no gloves. He then proceeded to come out to keep the next week with just gloves, keeping up to the stumps for all of his bowlers. He wore some incredible hits - he wasn't that great a keeper - but he was the ****ing devil down leg. If that back foot came up on the flick, those bails were off like lighting.

He ended the day with 7 stumpings, and as far as I know he walked back into the forest where he belonged, hunting mythical beasts and protecting damsels, staying one step ahead of the law.

 

[PhatBoy]

I had a young kid coming up through juniors who bowled slow. He was very accurate, and was going to be tall but was never going to be super athletic, but he just didn't get a bowl from his coaches to that point because they had better options within the team, including a wicked good young leggie.

When I got him, over the course of one preseason I taught him how to bowl leggies. It took him until the other side of christmas - and unlike his previous coaches, I bowled him and let him see what he should be doing - before he got it, and when he did he went on to take 3 4 fors and won the bowling average for the season. He's 15, now a matchwinning bowler, with a slider as a potent weapon for variation that we've developed to bowl with a rounder arm, to negate the bounce he gets as he's put on a foot of height.

It's funny the kinds of sliding doors you see in the game. Imagine if you'd encouraged him, and he built the muscles to get a bit of turn to go with that accuracy. But then, if I had never stopped playing footy I'd have kept my fitness and continued to be the swing bowler I used to be instead of the portly upper order bat I am these days.

This guy was never going to turn into that. He was nearly 30 when he decided to take up leggies and despite having played the game for 15 years or longer he seemed incapable of any variation even though common sense should dictate at that age that variation should be your first investment

 

[Gethelred]

This guy was never going to turn into that. He was nearly 30 when he decided to take up leggies and despite having played the game for 15 years or longer he seemed incapable of any variation even though common sense should dictate at that age that variation should be your first investment

On one hand, I'm a jack of all trades, with all that entails; I can bowl absolutely anything, and given a little practice I can land almost anything on the pitch. I have about six off spin variations, and have been practicing an orthodox backspinner for a little bit to be able to show people a variant of a flipper if they want to learn it. On the other hand - or maybe as a consequence - I do not understand someone lacking the the ability to vary what they do at all except accidentally.

I get/got bored.

 

[The hands of stone]

I would be encouraging any youngsters to learn and be comfortable using your feet asap.
Doesnt mean smashing 4's and 6's but work on hitting gaps and splitting the field.

Learn to rotate the strike then develop a few attacking reliable shots.
Sweeping is good if you can do it well and drive straight.

I reckon spin bowling improves rapidly up the grades as the field placings are a lot better too.
In premier cricket 1st you are going to get a 4 ball once every 3-4 overs from a decent spinner and thats if you put it away.

Develop some strengths then play to them

 

[PhatBoy]

I would be encouraging any youngsters to learn and be comfortable using your feet asap.
Doesnt mean smashing 4's and 6's but work on hitting gaps and splitting the field.

Learn to rotate the strike then develop a few attacking reliable shots.
Sweeping is good if you can do it well and drive straight.
Read what

I reckon spin bowling improves rapidly up the grades as the field placings are a lot better too.
In premier cricket 1st you are going to get a 4 ball once every 3-4 overs from a decent spinner and thats if you put it away.

Develop some strengths then play to them

I think the thing I’ve noticed and I’d say this applies at all levels, is that being able to absolutely dominate a mediocre spinner is long long way from being able to handle a good one

 

[Gethelred]

I think the thing I’ve noticed and I’d say this applies at all levels, is that being able to absolutely dominate a mediocre spinner is long long way from being able to handle a good one

Shit yeah. Every now and then, almost regardless of grade, you're going to run into someone who knows what they're doing, and they're going to make you look very silly if you're not careful.

Had one last week. Left arm orthodox, took 3/5 off 8 overs, bowling mostly over the wicket. You'd have thought he was bowling defensively until you saw the field and the wickets he got.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Playing low level club cricket - defend or leave anything full - and wait for the 2/3 balls an over dropped short and whack them to the fence.

 

[The hands of stone]

I think the thing I’ve noticed and I’d say this applies at all levels, is that being able to absolutely dominate a mediocre spinner is long long way from being able to handle a good one

Yes its absolute chalk and cheese

 

[PhatBoy]

Yes its absolute chalk and cheese

And I think it is really important to make the distinction as early as possible

 

[The hands of stone]

And I think it is really important to make the distinction as early as possible

The field setting is normally a good giveaway as to whats coming , unless the bowler seriously overates their ability

 

[Pippen94]

Yep, what you've outlined here is the way I try to approach it as well. I look for any indication I can get as the ball leaves the bowler's hand as to how full it's going to be, then get to the pitch of it if I think I can. One thing I've always struggled with is going back and using the depth of the crease against spinners. If the ball is short enough then its not really an issue, but it's that in-between length that does me. Big hole in my game that I've been needing to work on for years tbh.

You just described how Lyon gets wickets

 

[Fryman]

Practice in the nets against the spinners without wearing a front pad.

Most players first instinct against spin is to plonk the front foot down and play around the pad.

Without a pad, you quickly learn how to move your feet properly otherwise it hurts like hell.

 

[atlas1]

Either straight over their head or over cow corner

 

[kickazz]

From the non-strikers end as much as possible.

If coming forward I always have a mindset of trying to hit it on the full, so if beaten in flight I either get a nice half volley or at worse 'york' myself and play an inelegant but safe squeeze defence. You really need to commit and it looks aggressive even if you don't mean to be super aggressive as such. Just trying to take turn out of it.

Also always move by back foot around behind and forward of my front foot first - advancing with front foot first makes be lose balance.

 

[Some Idiot]

If it's full use your feet, if it's good length or shorter, get right back and play it late. Problems mainly come from misreading the length for example against bowlers who are deceptive with flight and changes of pace.

 

[ManOfClay]

I play it a lot like I play a good pace bowler: badly.

just with less movement of my feet to the leg side and out of harm’s way

 

[corbies]

Joe Root: How To Play Spin in Test Cricket - CricViz

CricViz Analysts Ben Jones & Freddie Wilde examine what makes Joe Root one of the modern game’s best players of spin.

www.cricviz.com

This article is mainly about why Joe Root plays well v spin but it also has some very interesting stats around interception points when playing spin. Namely this graphic:

It puts into numbers basically what we already knew. You either need to get right forward to smother the spin or get right back to allow you time to adjust to the spin.

 

[PhatBoy]

Joe Root: How To Play Spin in Test Cricket - CricViz

CricViz Analysts Ben Jones & Freddie Wilde examine what makes Joe Root one of the modern game’s best players of spin.

www.cricviz.com

This article is mainly about why Joe Root plays well v spin but it also has some very interesting stats around interception points when playing spin. Namely this graphic:



It puts into words basically what we already knew. You either need to get right forward to smother the spin or get right back to allow you time to adjust to the spin.

+

Makes pretty interesting reading.

The more I think about it the more if I were to fashion an approach for a situation in which I'd have to face it for more than a few overs at a time, I'd be trying to use my feet almost every ball

 

[Bareth Garry]

I always felt confident against the quicks and the spinners because I was more of a backfoot player. My weakness was those seam bowlers who weren't fast by any means but pretty unnervingly accurate in line and length because it put the onus of generating power and having to step forward all on me.