Spin Mentor: How to Spin the Ball More
You know that I always am looking to get better myself so I can help players. Recently I have spent time with Muhammad Haroon who now acts as one of my consultants at Millfield School.
Haroon has helped our spinners to spin the ball hard, deceive the batters regularly and has given them unrivalled confidence.
Here are some of his secrets:
What is the action for?
Approach, the action, the hips and shoulders rotating, propel the ball to the other end of the pitch.
It's not the fingers and wrist!
Many spinners use their digits and wrist to help with the propulsion process rather than allowing them to be the final piece in the chain which puts revolutions on the ball. The fingers are solely used to add as many revs on the ball as possible.
The "spiniest" part of the finger
Check your spinners grip.
Do they make contact with the seam on their primary spinning finger with the pad of their top joint or the side of the top joint?
(Finger spinners spin the ball off the index finger top joint, wrist spinners spin the ball off the ring finger top joint)
If it is the pad, then get them to hook their finger slightly and use the side (more bony part) of the finger to be in contact with the ball.
The top joint then is utilised rather than being dormant.
If you are coaching young players then ensure that the balls that they are using to practice this skill are small enough that they can feel this grip position on the ball. Even if that means that they practice some of the time with balls which they won't use in matches, you will be promoting good finger mechanics that they will be able to access once their fingers grow as they mature.
Spread your fingers
Haroon encourages finger spinners to have a good gap between the spinning and supporting finger. This will take some time to get used to, yet will force the spinning finger to become more dominant and therefore have more impact upon the revolution production process.
Patience is required here as initial results may lack accuracy. Stick with it. Spin is a long term project!
Spinners mature later than seamers
Look at the best spinners of all time; their journey from novice to elite is long and therefore, the patience of those around them (captains, coaches, parents) needs to reflect and respect this fact.
a coach needs to accept that there will be bad days when it doesn't come out well. But eventually the bowler will develop the confidence to spin the ball hard, deceive the batter through the air with curve and dip and then off of the pitch through break.
They will bowl full tosses and drag downs. Keep encouraging the bowlers to spin it hard. Patience is a virtue, especially when working with young spinners.
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Comments
good tips especially the gap between the fingers.
Hello
I have a question about practice for a leg spin bowler. Lets say you start bowling around 10 am and finish at 5 pm, what drills or exercises woul be the best? I have a list of a few that I think can be very useful in practicing wrist spin for example... (1) The Stand Start Drill (2) The Walk In Drill (3) Bowling With A Hurdle On the Crease To Encourage Energy (4) The String Method For Practicing Flight (5) The Stumps Method For Practicing Flight (6) Spinning The Ball From Hand To Hand
But are there any other drills that might have a better effect or that can help to develop other important parts of spin bowling?
There are many drills and practices. It depends on your aims, your technique, your fitness levels and your age. Practice hard, try different drills, be smart with your practices, get adequate rest and recovery.
Thanks David
Do you know what amount of revolutions is needed to get a lot of turn on the average international cricket pitch? I know Warne got about 2510 per minute and he spun the ball a lot. But it looks to me as though pitches are really changing! Muralitharan gets no turn on IPL pitches (and he gets 2300 revs per minute) And I haven't seen any spinners bowl on international pitches recently that get more than a nanometer of turn. I spin the ball square on any surface right now (and I get the ball to drift a lot in the air) and my deliveries dip nearly straight down. But will I be able to get as much turn on the pitches in international cricket? (if I ever get there) Many other spinners I know are also curious and want to know what it feels like to spin on those pitches. I am already practicing on special nets that are made so that a ball can't turn on them and I have no problem bowling and getting no turn (I still have drift and dip on my side) but I get the best results on surfaces where I get a lot of turn (don't we all?) so I would like to know...
If I spin the ball square now already and get it to drift and dip massively at 14 years of age, is there a chance that I will spin it as much on international cricket pitches?
Dear
i am left hand spinner, i doing good leg spin and off spin. kindly you give me more tips. i play in style of Muttiah Muralitharan
its legal action. ?
Umm yeah it's an illegal action to bowl like Muralitharan until you don't have a defective elbow.Mainly because Muralithatan was born with a defective elbow which made him one of the best spinners in the world,but the thing is most of them who didn't know that Muralitharan had a defective elbow had complained to ICC about Muralitharan alot of times But the thing is that he also became a spinning legend like Warnie and etc.without that defective elbow it's hard to do alien spin (After hitting the pitch the ball spins alot) for an off breaker.
Plus left hand leg spin is actually called Chinaman.there are alot of good Chinamens like Brad Hogg,Shamsi,Paul Adams and etc.you need to focus more on Chinaman because they are rare and you can take wickets if you practice alot.
Still it depends on you if you like bowling Chinaman or not but you have to change your bowling style because it's totally illegal to bowl like Muralitharan if you're a healthy person.