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

Hardik enrolled on my course, and had a follow up question:

"I used to spin a ball big, but then I tried to learn the wrong one. So I kept practising but then I lost my leg spin. How do I get that my leg spin back and then learn to bowl wrong one?"

Oh boy. That does not sound good!

It’s a very common thing to happen when leggies lose their leg break when trying to learn how to bowl a wrong ‘un.

The thing that happens is that your body and muscle memory lock into the wrong pattern. Do something for a long time and the movement becomes instinctive.

Practise the wrong ‘un and your body remembers the muscle movements, losing the memory it had for the normal leggie movements.

How to get your leggie back?

You need to go back to basics.

Break your action down all the way to the simplest actions and build it up from there.

Start by just spinning the leggie from one hand to the other. Do this over and over and over. You are trying to teach your muscles to re-form a memory of the actions.

Next step is spinning it hard against a wall. Do not worry about your action. You need to build things slowly. Do not even worry about a straight arm. Just use your wrist action to spin the ball hard against a wall.

After that you move on to standing still in the crease and bowling leggies. No runup yet.

Once you mastered that you can go onto a run-up again.

Take it slowly and carefully. If at any point you find yourself bowling wrong ‘uns you need to go back a step.

Do not advance through the steps if you did not master the leggies at every level.

Trust me, your leggie will come back, although it may take some time.

Once the leg break is back you can carefully try a googly again, but make sure you keep bowling leg breaks and just spend a few minutes in a net session with googly bowling before returning to finish with leg breaks.

Can you help a young spin bowler to improve?

Recently we were contacted by Jack who said:

"This season I've returned to leg spin. Occasionally I get criticised by our captain as I'm not "finishing off my action". I know that when I do, I get drift and dip, and take wickets. Could you have a quick look at my action in the attached video and see if you have any thoughts?"

This question was interesting to me because Jack didn't point out any problems he is having. Only a vague awareness that something might be wrong.

So I thought this would be an excellent challenge for the PitchVision community to discuss.

What can Jack do to improve his action?

Leave a comment and lets us know what you think.

To help you, here is the video Jack sent in:

So, leave a comment, and get discussing this action. What do you think he can do?

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

It seems these days that there are a million and one variations with spin bowlers mixing it up in all sort of ways.

So, let us take a look at the glossary of deliveries for leg spinners:

Stock ball

A stock ball simply refers to the main delivery used by a bowler. It's not always what you think. For example, Anil Kumble's stock ball was, in fact, the top spinner.

For most leg spin bowlers your stock ball will be your leg break.

Leg break

Breaks from leg to the offside, after drifting from off to the leg side. Seam is angled towards slip. The ball ideally will be hitting the top of off stump.

The main dismissal forms are caught (slips or keeper) bowled and LBW.

Top spinner

Although it looks like a leg break, the ball continues straight on after pitching, with a lot of dip in the air beforehand. Seam is angled towards the batsman.

The greater bounce brings catches from close fielders. It can be used as a stock ball or as a surprise variation.

Googly

The opposite of a leg break because the googly spins from off to the leg side. Your action appears to the batsman a leg break. Seam is angled towards leg slip and the ball come out of the back of the hand.

The key is deception off the pitch and so the googly should be used as a variation to bowl batters though the gate who are playing for spin the other way. Some spinners get stuck bowling the googly as a stock ball and if this happens you will probably need to do some repair work.

A little-know bit of history about this ball is that Bernard Bosanquet did not invent the googly. Other players have dabbled with this delivery years before he did. Although the ball will go down in history as the "Bosie".

Slider / back spinner / zooter

This ball is almost the opposite of the top spinner. The seam is angled towards extra cover and spins along its own axis. This delivery is refer to as a slider or back spinner and you will hear this name used in equal amounts. The zooter is what Shane Warne called his slider.

Whatever you call it, the variation skids on trapping the batsman LBW. It's great for strong back foot players who will get caught on the crease.

Flipper

There is no one flipper. In fact, the flipper should really be the family of flippers. There are a variety of ways to bowl this delivery, but the main idea of a flipper is a variation that skids through quick and low after bouncing.

There are versions bowled by WG Grace, Grimmet, Benaud, Warne and a few more obscure historical cricketing characters.

It's tough to learn, but used as a skilful variation will get you wickets.

Quicker ball

This ball is as it sounds: simply pushed through quicker that the stock delivery. The more you can disguise it the better because a common error is to make it obvious with a big change of run up and action.

I can think of no better example than the one delivered by Shaid Afridi, which has brought him tons of wickets. The variation in pace is huge but it's hard to pick.

Remember...

I realise that's a lot of deliveries and variations to think about, try and use. You can speed up the process of untangling the mess and come up with your own way of bowling successful spin with my Spin Bowling Tips guide.

Leg Spin Coach, and Head of the Leg Spin Association, Harry Shapiro has written this guest article on the basics of leg spin. A great primer for new and experienced bowlers!

The ability to bowl leg spin is a gift which is in the wrist and fingers but in order to develop to his full potential, the bowler needs a sound basic technique just as much as batsman or fast bowler.

Many hours are spent on developing a batsman or fast bowler’s basic technique but as soon as coaches try to coach the correct technique to leg spinners they are accused of "cloning". The main reason that so few leg spinners come through is because they are not taught the correct technique from a young age.

So what is the correct technique for a leg spin bowler.

The most important aspects are balance, body alignment and momentum in the direction of the target.

1. The Approach. It is important that the approach is in a straight line from the start of the approach to a point where the bowler wants to pitch the ball.
2. The back foot Landing: Landing in a side on position is vital for correct body alignment. If we look at the three most successful leg spinners of the modern era (and possibly of all time) you will note that they are perfectly side on.
3. Non-delivery Arm. A powerful extension of the non delivery arm in the direction of the target ensures that the momentum is going forward in the direction of the target.
4. The delivery process is begun by pulling up with the back hip and pulling down strongly with the non bowling arm
5. The bowling shoulder rotates up and over (not around) a braced front leg.
6. The hips and shoulders complete a 180 degree rotation.

The photos below show the complete sequence of a perfect leg spin action. Work hard at perfecting these simple basics and you have every chance of becoming a successful leg spinner.

To begin your 3 month free trial of the Leg Spin Association, click here.

This is a guest article from Harry Shapiro, spin bowling coach. To get your free trial membership of the Leg Spin Association, click here.

Planning your over is hard. It take plenty of practice and control. No wonder young spinners get despondent when it doesn't quite work. That's no excuse to abandon good planning.

Part of the reason spinners don't plan their overs well is because the state of the game brings in a lot of different ways to approach things.To make it easier, here is a basic guideline from which you can start thinking about your bowling. You may adapt it to the state of the game on the day, but start here if you want to plan well.

There are two ways to look at planning an over:

1. Set up an over based on runs

Your first job as leg spinner is to bowl overs! This means you need to stay on once you’ve been thrown the ball. For this reason it is important that some of the balls in your over are dedicated at keeping you on to bowl the next over.

SO think of your over in three parts:

• Ball 1 & 2 is used to "open" your over.
• Ball 3 & 4 is your wicket taking balls
• Ball 5 & 6 is used to "close" your over.

Your aim for ball 1 & 2 is for these to be dot balls. Bowl your stock ball at a decent pace. This creates pressure in your over as the batsman will realise they are not scoring. Ball 5 & 6 your aim is to "win the over" with another two dots.

If you are going to entice a wicket by a variation ball or changing your pace, set it up using ball 3 and try to strike with ball 4.

If ball 1 & 2 go for 2 runs or more, you have not earned the right to take a chance with ball 3 & 4. Bowl stock deliveries the rest of the over to make sure the over doesn't undo the pressure the team has built up. Remember that a wicket can come off any ball in the over as the batsman can make a mistake on any ball, especially if you have built good pressure.

2. Setting up an over based on control of lines

Ball 1 is again used to open your over with a dot ball.

Ball 2 & 3 & 4 is stock leg spinners, but each time dragging the batsman’s front foot wider: Start ball 2 on middle stump line, ball 3 on off stump line and ball 4 just outside off stump line.

Follow up with a googly on the same outside off stump line. Ball 6 is used again to close your over with a dot.

A similar tactic of dragging the batsman's front foot across the crease can be used to set up a slider on middle stump.

This skill takes control Enjoy practicing the control of this in the nets when you are bowling to targets, and trying it in the nets when bowling to your team mates. Remember the game of cricket is about getting it right on some days, but also getting it wrong on other days.

How do you plan your overs? What do you do when it doesn't go to plan?

To get your free trial membership of the Leg Spin Association, click here.

This drill comes to you from Harry Shapiro's Leg Spin Association. For your free trial membership, click here.

Elvis is a member of the leg spin association and he turned to Harry Shapiro, the coach, for assistance with his action. Harry spotted a problem and came up with a drill to help him become better balanced and aligned.

Here is what Harry said,

Thanks for your email and video clips of your action. You have a very good wrist action and seem to have a natural leg break. However to improve and become consistent you need to develop a sound basic action. To keep things simple I have decided to break things down and ask you to work on one aspect at a time. You will notice that your bowling arm rotates backwards. This pulls you away from the target and also causes you to lose balance.

Contrast this with the first class leg spin bowler. You will see how everything is going forward in the direction of the target.

Here is the drill Harry recommended to help Elvis, as demonstrated by Boland leg spinner, Carl Raubenheimer:

Give it a try and let us know how you get on!

Are you experiencing technical issues and want to discuss it with other leggies from around the world? Try the Leg Spin Association for free!

Every bowler needs a plan.

For most, especially the inexperienced, it doesn't get more complicated than "hit the top of off stump". Of course, there is nothing wrong with that plan. It often works. But batsmen are canny. They don't always do what you want.

That's why the really good bowler is able to bowl to a plan that goes beyond the basics and into the wicket-taking stratosphere.

This series - Streetwise Bowling - is about helping you make bowling to a plan a reality by giving you the tactics of success. Of course, it's all nothing without pinpoint accuracy and high skill levels. But with dedicated practice you can achieve that ability.

Here are the tactics. Don't forget to subscribe or check on this page as we add new ones over time.

Leg Spin

• The Warne Rounder (you can also download a printable pdf version here)
• Around the Legs
• The False Sense of Security

Finger Spin

• The Moon Shot
• Show a Bit of Leg

Pace Bowling

• The Seamer's Subtlety
• Preseason Bounce Pounce
• The Perfect Death
• The False Sense of Security

More to follow, stay tuned...

This article is part of the "Streetwise Bowling" series from PitchVision Academy. To view the full list of tactics click here.

Bowling accurate leg spin is hard enough, but to bowl a whole over accurately and also to a plan is the skill of a master craftsman. Someone like Shane Warne.

By the end of his career, Warne had the ball on a string but had less variations. He didn't stop that from being as canny as ever though. He just changes the way he manipulated the batsman into an error. This tactic is just one that he used to great effect.

You can copy it, the main requirement is accuracy rather than a lot of variety but the more you can turn the ball the better too. You also need confidence to be able to bowl very wide on the crease from over and around the wicket. So let's take a look at the plan.

• Name: The Warne Rounder
• Bowling Type: Right Arm Leg Spin
• Difficulty Level: 9/10
• Success Level: High

The Over

Ball 1 & 2

Start simple and bowl two balls that are regular leg breaks: at the stumps but turning to hit the top of off. This will help you find your range and rhythm and see where the batsman is playing. At this point it doesn't matter much what the batsman does. Just hit your spot and make sure the batsman doesn't get off strike.

Ball 3

Next you start to set the batsman up. Bowl this ball from wider on the crease than normal, but to a good line and length again. Keep your man on strike.

Ball 4 & 5

If the over has gone well, you can go wider on the crease again and bowl the ball a little wider so it is hitting a 4th or 5th stump. There's a chance a batsman might go for this given the width. If he hits it for four, all the better because your plan is set, you have dragged him across the crease.

Ball 6

The batsman is now playing outside off and set up for the ball that angles in to him and spins away. You go around the wicket for the final ball and bowl as wide on the crease as you can. Suddenly the angle has changed dramatically and the ball is sliding across the bat. If the deception works, first slip and keeper have a field day.

The key is confusion to the batsman of the ball landing in roughly the same place but coming from a totally different place. It upsets timing.

The beuty of this tactic is that it also gives you an aura. You can bowl from any angle and you are plotting the batsman's downfall all the time, not just trying to hit a length mindlessly. Even this most confident batsman will have a moment of doubt when you go around the wicket. And doubt breeds wickets.

Download and print the pdf version to take to nets by clicking here.

Give it a try and let me know how you go!

This article is part of a series, to get the latest in the series, click here to subscribe to the free PitchVision Academy email newsletter.

I'll cut to the chase; there is a simple change to your bowling action that is a big hitter in fault correction.

Straighten your run up.

You see, when it comes to technique, so much that goes wrong can be traced back to an earlier point. That's why batting coaches focus on the grip and stance first, and it's why your bowling coach should look at your run up before he starts with the "business end" of the action.

Of course, a straighter run up will not fix everything, and there are exceptions to the rule. That said, there is plenty that can be done without ever worrying about 6 months of corrective drills and rebuilding your action.

So, spinner or seamer, Here are some of the things a straighter run up can correct:

Better accuracy

"Balance at the crease" is a coaches way of saying "helps you bowl straight".

When you run straight you tend to move through your action straight. If you approach at an angle, your weight is desperate to continue on that angle (say, towards leg slip).

To correct this, your body naturally adjusts and you end up "falling away"; the term used when your head leans to the side to allow your arm to come through straight.

When this happens it is much harder to bowl straight.

By running straighter, you make it easy to bowl straight. Your head can go over your front leg and you can get your wrist behind the ball. Your action becomes repeatable and so does your line.

More speed

I'll let you into a little coaching secret; a lot of pace - and turn for spinners - is generated by your hips. The more powerfully you can drive your hip through as you bowl, the more energy you can put into kph or rpm.

How does the run up help with this?

Many bowler's have an issue of being too "closed off". This is where the front leg crosses over past the back leg. This stops you from driving your hip through because your front leg has, literally, closed off the path for your hip. The result; you bowl with less pace.

And it's much more common in bowlers with off centre run ups because your weight is moving towards leg slip. Straightening up your run straightens your momentum. Your feet can get into the right place for more speed or rip.

Exceptions to the rule

Of course, so far we have only spoken in generalisations. There are many specific exceptions. There are bowlers with curved run ups who bowl with pace and accuracy who sit alongside straight run up bowlers with neither.

So the first question to ask is this: do I have an issue with pace or accuracy?

If you bowl at a good lick and can hit your lines well with a curved run up, you should probably keep it. It actually helps with swing and spin bowling sometimes.

If you feel you need to make a change, a straighter run up is very often the answer you are seeking.

image credits: brianac37. Gordon Anderson

Let me ask you something; how much better a bowler would you be if you could hit a perfect line and length?

It's a challenge that takes a lifetime to master, and a road that is littered with distractions. Yet the simplicity is appealing: Put the ball on the spot, hit the seam again and again and watch the wickets tumble.

You don't need to be quick. You don't need to rip it square. You don't need to swing it round corners or even have a clever mystery variation. Those things are nice, but accuracy... accuracy is within reaching distance.

It's so tantalisingly close that you can almost taste the success it will bring.

Yet, so few achieve what should be simple.

How do you break through the accuracy barrier and take your game up a level?

Here is some advice.

Become obsessed with process

Modern coaching uses terms like "processes" to break the shackles of outdated methods. We used to use technique as the beginning, middle and end of bowling. It was striving for perfect technique that created bowlers with perfect accuracy.

That is certainly true, but we also know now that techniques vary. Technique is an important part of the bowling process that also includes other factors. Take the example of Lasith Malinga. The Sri Lankan has a bowling technique that should be super inconsistent. Yet he can bowl that death yorker for 12 balls in a row if he likes. He has a process.

And that's what you need too.

That starts with your bowling technique. Does your technique give you the best chance of bowling with accuracy? Do you find that you action can vary between balls?

Video yourself bowling both in nets and in games, especially towards the end of a match or session where fatigue can influence your movement through the crease. Watch to see what stays the same, decide what changes as you get more tired or stressed.

When you can see an area of weakness, strive to improve it.

This is not about wrist or head position or any other particular technical point per se. It's more about seeing what works in your technique, and what goes wrong when you fire it down the leg side. For example:

• If you notice your head falling to the off side at the end of the game, you might need better fitness (both core strength and endurance)
• If there is variation in your arm position as you release the ball, work backwards through each step of your action and decide where it breaks down, then work on it with chaining drills.
• If you bowl poorly under pressure situations, start developing methods to become better and handling those pressure moments.

You get the idea: Spot the issue (technical, fitness, or psychological), design a drill or training plan to overcome that method and work on it with single-minded obsession.

Remember the basics

Of course, all this takes some effort and no small amount of skill and knowledge. Luckily, during this process you can do something a lot simpler and that is almost always effective: basic target bowling.

Target bowling is useful because it is the purest form of deliberate practice: You can set it up quickly, get instant feedback and track your improvements over time. PitchVision even does this for you, but you can use a pen and paper or track it in your notes app on the iPad.

So, set up some targets, mark your pitch and bowl like a crazy person until it starts to click and your percentages shoot up. The more you do it, regardless of any other factor, the more accurate you will get. You learn where to look, you learn how bowling a good ball feels, you learn how to stay focused in a long spell. If you do it enough you develop bowling stamina.

Like all practice methods there are limits - you don't learn how to bowl under pressure, and you can't correct technical issues - but overall it works so well I would be amazed by any bowler who didn't use it.

Combine your target bowling with your new obsession with process and you have a bowler, over time, who can reach insane levels of accuracy.

Cricket is simple when you put it like that isn't it?

image credit: mushu2011

Max Andrews is a freelance coach on PitchVision Academy, in this article he talks us through the mysteries of spin bowling tactics.

There is a lot of information on the the correct action to be able to bowl well. But it is very difficult to find information on how to bowl in match scenarios, and what fields to set.

So I thought I'd write this article to give you an insight into the tactical side of spin bowling.

There are a lot of key points when considering your tactics. They range from the match format and situation, through pitch and field size to batter's technique, and your strengths. They come together when you consider where you want the batsman to hit the ball.

For example, I play two day cricket. So can I find myself in a situation like this: We are bowling on the second day of the game and the pitch starting to turn. We are about 200 runs in front and need to take wickets.

The short boundary is on the off side of a left hand batter. The batter is left handed, strong though leg side. The batter has a closed grip, which will cause him too hit more ball to the leg side, and will struggle to hit through the off side.

I have a good leg break and control the ball very well. I want the batter hitting the ball through the off side (against the spin).

Position the fielders

It’s time to start setting the field.

The batter has a closed grip, so he will also have a closed face on the bat. He will hit a lot more deliveries through the leg side rather than the off side. We need more fielders on the leg side.

That said, I want to invite the batter to drive through the off side. If he tries I am likely to get him bowled through the gate. As he's left handed I need to bowl outside off stump. This allows us to have catchers on both sides of the wicket.

When we first come on, we want some boundary riders to help us settle in without going for too many runs and to keep the batter under pressure.

So, here is a sample field:

• Catchers: Slip, short extra cover, short leg
• Ring: Mid off, backward point, mid on, midwicket, short fine leg
• Boundary sweeper: Deep backward square leg

There are many variations to this field. But the obvious one is to bring in sweeper to another catcher around the bat. You can even move short extra cover into a bat-pad catcher on the off side and either leave a gap through cover, or move short fine leg into extra cover or short extra cover.

If you don't have a lot of control, you could move point back to an off side sweeper where you think he would be best placed. You could also move short leg to a sweeper and leave point alone.

If you want more comprehensive details about the tactical side to bowling, spin bowling and a whole lot more, click this link for instant access to Max Andrews online coaching.

Nets are used poorly by bowlers.

The net is the "Swiss Army knife" of cricket training: Players who stick to just using the knife are ignoring the screwdriver, corkscrew and bottle opener at their cost. With the right drills, nets develop technical, tactical and mental skills as a bowler.

But it doesn't happen by magic. If you turn up to nets, wait for your chance to bowl and fire a few balls down for the batsman to slog you won't get better at bowling. In fact, the best you can hope for is just to stop from getting worse.

So don't waste net sessions. Use the right tool for the job.

To truly make the most of net sessions and learn how to become a better cricketer, throw in these different ways to train. You'll be surprised how fast you improve.

Target practice drill

As you already know, there is nothing simpler, easier or more effective than good old target practice. Bowling well means bowling accurately and the way to improve your accuracy is by trying to hit the area on the pitch that you consider accurate.

This is not rocket surgery, but how often do you do it?

Without a batsman, place or draw a target on the point in the net you want to hit. Run up and bowl at the target.

Repeat.

An important point here is to track your progress over time. This means using more than your memory, as it's terribly unreliable at such tasks. Keep a separate record like with PitchVision.

You can do this practice for any type of delivery:

• Hitting the top of off stump
• 4/5/6 stump line
• Back of a length to ‘hit the deck’
• Fuller to allow for swing
• Yorkers
• Bouncers
• Slower balls/variations

Practice your stock ball 80% of the time with variations making up the rest. In these days of IPL drama you can consider the yorker as your stock death ball. It will certainly help if you plan to become a cricketer.

The more you bowl the better (although remember the fast bowling guidelines if you are a young pace bowler).

The size of the target can be varied but aim to make it as small as possible to improve your accuracy. Start with a big area to hit and gradually reduce the size as your accuracy improves.

What's a good score for accuracy? If you are around 60% at the start you are doing OK. If you get up to 80% you are in the world-class level.

Double target practice

A variation on traditional target practice is to place two targets on the pitch instead of one. This is designed to improve your ability to adjust your line and length. Good bowlers are able to do this to set a batsman up, for example a bouncer followed by a yorker.

Your job in this practice is to bowl to hit one target then change length and hit the other consistently. This is much harder than hitting the same target over and over.

This practice is less useful for spinners who rely more on flight and turn while hitting the same area, but can still have a place if you change to hitting the same spot but with more pace and less turn.

Bowler's play and leave drill

This game brings the batsman back into play. It's designed more to improve tactical awareness and mental strength in a specific way.

In this game your job is to make the batsman play (stats have shown that the more a batsman plays, the more likely he is to get out). The batsman is trying to leave as many balls as possible.

You bowl to a pair of batsmen in 6 ball overs per bowler. The batsmen get 4 runs for every leave and lose 4 runs if they get out. Pairs of batsmen compete against each other while the bowlers compete individually for the most economical overs.

You can do this in nets or as a middle practice with fielders.

It's an effective practice because it forces you to focus on making the batsman play the ball; a very simple way of getting wickets.

Perfect over drill

This is a more exciting version of target practice, designed less for technical and more for tactical development.

Perform the drill by planning out an over beforehand, then trying to bowl it. The idea is to think about how you are going to set a batsman up in a set of six balls, then see how well you can do it (you don’t need a batsman).

Gate bowling

This is an outcome-based drill for working on technique. The drill lets you practice spinning or swinging the ball.

Set it up by putting "gates" on the pitch and trying to get the ball to swing or spin through them. The exact location will vary depending on how much movement you get and which way the ball moves.

Middle practice

Finally, you can get out of the nets altogether and work on your tactical and mental game against a batsman in the middle.

The limitation of bowling in nets is lost when you practice in the middle, but it's not a place to work on technique, so forget target practice and start thinking about how you respond to and deal with pressure.

Some bowlers use friendly or low importance games for middle practice, but you can also set it up in your practice sessions if you have something specific to work on (like bowling at the death).

For most of these practices, PitchVision is a tool that all bowlers can use. It allows you to track your progress in pace, accuracy and deviation over time, and then adjust your practice to match the best results. That’s a lot more sensible than trying to guess at things. I strongly recommend it if you are looking for technical developments as a bowler.

"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."

Michael Simkins – Fatty Batter.

 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.

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.

1. The String Method: 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.
   
2. The Stumps Method: 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 learn 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.

Watching a good leg spinner operate against an average batsman is like watching a lion play with its prey before going in for the kill. The helpless beast has no idea what’s going on and no way to combat it.

The googly is the lethal blow for the poor creature.

Spin is all about outsmarting the batsman and the googly puzzles batsman by turning the wrong way with the same action, leaving him walking back to the pavilion with a confused look and spread-eagled stumps.

Here is how to bowl that destructive googly.

Grip and wrist position

Hold the ball in the identical way as you would hold for a usual leg spin delivery:

 

Ideally, the grip of a leg spinner should be placing index and middle finger on the seam while thumb place adjacently to them along the seam. The ring finger should be placed slightly wide of the seam and used for holding the ball.

From here you’ll see the difference between a googly and a stand leg break. When you are going to deliver the ball, the palm of your hand carrying the ball should be pointing skywards. The back of your hand should be facing towards batsman so he cannot point out the difference. If the googly is picked, it is very unlikely that it be going to be effective.

Twisting the wrist at around 180 degrees towards the ground will cause the ball to spin into the batsman. The ring finger plays an important part as it rotates the ball in an anti-clockwise position. This will cause the ball to turn like an off spinner after pitching.

Avoiding the ‘googly syndrome’

The control, precision and accuracy in bowling a googly come with time and practice. However, there is a risk associated with too much googly practice.

You can lose your leg break and end up only being able to bowl googlies.

This has been coined the googly syndrome and has been recognised by leg spinners and their coaches for many years.

The best way to avoid it is to be careful how much you practice. A typical club leggie should bowl 8-10 overs a week in the nets. Of that, 1-2 overs at most should be googlies (and always finish with 2-3 overs of pure leg breaks with no variations).

This limited practice time is why it is so hard to master the googly, especially for young spinners.

If you stick with your practice, keep firing the ball at a target without a batsman and be confident with it in the middle your team-mates will consider you some kind of leg spin genius when you bowl the hapless batsman with a perfect bosie.

For more advice on solving your leg spin problems get Leg Spin: How to Defeat Your Mid-Career Crisis on PitchVision Academy. 

Do you have to have the gift to be a good leg spinner? Or can little bits of spin both ways work?

Terry Jenner, Shane Warne’s bowling mentor, used to call the ability to bowl a big spinning leg break "The Gift". He was absolutely right. However, very few can do it well. That's why we can name all the really Gifted Test leg spinners in about 10 seconds:

Subhash Gupte, Richie Benaud, Bill O'Reilly, BS Chandrasekhar, Abdul Qadir, Stuart MacGill and Shane Warne.

I have deliberately missed out the great Indian spinner Anil Kumble and my mate "Mushy" Ahmed from this list because their "gift" was a different one to that Jenner explained to me in 1998. These two bowl with little bits of spin both ways, always with over spin that creates dip, drift and extra bounce even from the most benign of surfaces. To me they were different types of bowlers to the guys that I listed above.

As you will note, my beloved England, does not feature at all in the Gift List. And we invested significantly to try to identify, then develop one in the early 2000's. It was a fruitless pursuit.

Whilst we have all been looking for the next Shane Warne, I wonder how many Kumble's and Mushtaq's we have missed.

Have our minds and coaching eyes been side-tracked by the search for the elusive Gift?

On Sunday, I worked with a young lad called Uzair. Uzair bowls at a rapid pace (around 55 mph) with huge levels of over spin and has the ability to spin the ball a little bit in either direction.

He has unnerving accuracy and has taken his wickets at 20 apiece in the Home Counties Premier League. That's great for a 17 year old spinner. Many observers have told me that he doesn't spin it enough, but is that is because their barometers are taken from Warne and not Kumble.

I'm sure England wouldn't mind 500 test wickets from a leg spinner, whatever his angle of deviation.

Uzair is a hard worker and he is doing his hand to hand drills daily. He is working on engaging his hips more to facilitate momentum flying up the kinetic chain and into his wrist. He is also experimenting with different grip pressure to try and find his key to more spin. In time, his leggy will spin more.

Yet even then he is unlikely to bowl a Warne-like delivery too often.

So, can he still be great?

Simulating plans

One area that we worked on during our session on Sunday was simulating overs to a combination of left and right handed batters. What we noticed from the video that Uzair bowled the ball from the same position on the crease (from over the wicket) irrespective of bowling to and right or left hander.

We tracked the ball through the air frame by frame to see where the ball pitched from this release position to the left hander. Uzair noticed that in order to consistently hit the stumps, the ball often pitched outside the line of leg stump in order to hit the stumps on the angle. This would significantly reduce Uzair’s chance of getting a left hander out LBW. So we had to make a change.

Uzair adjusted his stock bowling angle to a left hander so that he released from nearer to the stumps. Then he could pitch both his googly and his legspinner in line with the stumps to then turn and hit the stumps.

Naturally, this bought LBW into the frame and meant that the left hander had to play each ball knowing that if he missed, Uzair would hit either the pad or the stumps. What a difference this made.

Uzair also worked out quickly that his previous angle could then be used specifically to bowl the ball across the line of the left hander to bring his keeper and 1st slip into play from the outside edge. It’s an angle that he can now use with a specific intention in mind.

If you have are blessed with a “Gift” bowler then work hard to develop them as the next Shane Warne.

But if you have someone like Uzair then please develop him as a Kumble and Mushtaq rather than beat his head against the “Warne Wall”.

This is a guest article from Harry Shapiro

Because of the nature of the delivery there are several variations that the wrist spinner can use by changing the position of his wrist.

Your main weapon and wicket taking ball is your leg break. Anything else is merely a variation to keep the batsman guessing and possibly set him up. The following variations should only be used once you have established complete mastery of the leg break and have full control of your wrist.

The following variations require changes to the wrist position.

Top spinner:

The top spinner is released with the palm of the hand facing the leg side (for a right hander) so that the ball spins in the air with the seam upright and rotating toward the batsman. If bowled properly the ball should dip and bounce off the pitch higher than the leg break, causing the ball to hit the splice of the bat. The ball can be pitched in line with the stumps or just outside the off stump.

Googly

The Googly - also called the wrong 'un - is released with the back of the hand facing toward the batsman so the ball is spun with the seam rotating in a clockwise direction. On pitching the ball will turn from off to leg (to a right hand batsman). The ball should always be pitched outside the off stump enticing the batsman to either cut or leave the ball. The googly requires a lot of practice but should be used sparingly. If overused it can cause a bowler to lose his leg break.

Slider

The ball is delivered with the palm facing inward toward the bowler. The ball is spun so that the seam rotates back in the air causing the ball to keep low and skid onto the bat after pitching. This delivery is difficult to master but causes far less strain on the shoulder than any of the other deliveries.

Use of the crease

Bowling from different variations on the crease is a very simple but effective variation as it requires no alteration to the bowlers action. It is sadly often neglected by bowlers and coaches.

Change of flight and pace

This important variation is difficult to master and requires a lot of practice. The bowler needs to release the ball at different positions. What bowlers need to remember is that the stock ball should always be above the batsman's eyes.

For more coaching tips from Harry Shapiro, click here.

Let's talk about a dirty little secret of spin: Pace matters. As a spinner you don't have any need to get the ball up the other end as fast as you can. You leave that to the real quick bowlers. But you also know there is a speed that is right for spin.

Too slow and the batsman gains more time to pick the ball and play it.

Too fast and you lose drift, dip, accuracy and spin. You may as well joint the dark side; and become a medium pacer. Yuk.

You want to find that perfect balance. You feel like you want to tap the pace up without losing the rip that leads to the late dipping, big turning ball you love to bowl. So how do you do that?

What is a good pace for spin?

First, let's talk about numbers and find out the optimal pace. It's hard to judge what is "right".

You look on TV and see some professional guys bowling stock balls at almost 90kph (55mph). Other pros are much slower, perhaps 75kph (mid 40's mph). The average club or school spinner ranges between 50-65kph. Then there are quicker and slower balls depending on pitch conditions and batsmen style.

It's here that many spinners fall into a trap laid by the seam up crowd. They look at the number on the speed gun as the only indicator of pace. But with spin you are not simply working with a straight line from hand to stumps. You are working in multiple directions at once.

So, a ball that is traveling more slowly because it's been spun up and has dip on it, is totally different from a flatter ball fired in at greater pace. They both may turn the same amount but the dipping ball is harder to read and will bounce more. It's a similar story for the ball that drifts sideways in the air.

On some pitches against some batsmen you will bowl a little quicker and at other times you will bowl a little slower.

So, your first job is to work out what pace causes batsmen trouble. You can do this in your nets against your own team's batsmen. Ask them to give you feedback about what is easier and what is harder to play when you bowl and you start to learn the art of matching your pace to the conditions.

Start the loop

However, despite this nod to the art of spin, let's use some science to push the numbers up.

Your first step is to start a feedback loop. This is because it's much easier to improve when you measure progress. So, track your current pace with PitchVision or a speed gun. Over time you can see which changes improve your pace and which changes make no difference.

With a feedback loop in place, you are in a powerful position to drag your speed up kicking and screaming.

Again, don't obsess if the system tells you your average speed is 45mph and you heard that Swann used to bowl at 55mph. 45 might be plenty at the level you play, work on getting out the batsmen you bowl at, not batsmen on the TV (that will come later, when you are on TV).

Run up faster

Once you are tracking the raw numbers, and have an idea of the pace you want, you can work on technique.

The first easy trick here is to run up faster.

It's all about momentum: The faster you enter your delivery stride, the more energy you can transfer into the ball. And the more energy, the more speed. That's physics!

It's important to remember to maintain your action. It's easy to try and barrel the ball down with an almighty heave and clench of the teeth. In reality, you don't need to do anything except bowl the same and let the extra momentum do all the work for you.

Try a few different speeds of run up to see what difference it makes to your pace, and if you feel you are losing accuracy as a result, take a look at if your action is changing as a result. You might want to slow down a bit if the latter is the case.

Use your front arm

The second technical port of call is your front arm. Slower spinners, according to Mark Garaway, tend to forget about using the front arm and so it waves about not contributing much.

But, if you time the movement of your front arm better, you will improve both pace and revs on the ball because you are using it to lead your whole body in a full rotation. So what does this look like?

• Your front elbow is up when your back foot lands.
• As your front foot lands, bend your front arm at the elbow towards the batsman as if you are grabbing her collar (if the arm drops before your front foot lands, you lose pace).
• Use this full extension to pull your front arm down, rotate your shoulders and release the ball at the top.
• Follow through. This will happen automatically if you have done everything else right.

A bonus tip here is to also use a more braced front leg. It's a technique used by quicker bowlers to improve speed. It's not a universal fix, but you might warm to it, so look at the details here. It's fine to experiment with things to see how they feel. You can always go back to the old way if it doesn't work out.

Get stronger

We have discussed many times the importance of a base of strength and power. Serious spinners have to work out these days beyond just bowling, especially those who want more pace. You can read more here.

But beyond the gym work, you can transfer your strength into your bowling in two ways:

• Throwing medicine balls (1-2kg in weight)
• Bowling heavy balls

Both these techniques allow you to cross the bridge between being strong in the gym and actually bowling faster (and with more stamina). That's because they are both more like bowling than working out, but they still provide a training effect.

Heavy ball bowling is especially new and experimental in cricket. The method has been used for years in power throwing sports like the shot put. Now, lead by Steffan Jones, coaches are helping cricketers bowl faster with the method.

The trick is to use both a slightly heavier and slightly lighter ball alongside a normal weight ball. The heavier ball can be up to 260g, the lighter one will be 110g. To compare, a normal adult ball is 155-163g. The amount you bowl will depend on the time of year. In season is a low volume, pre-season is higher volume.

I have been hearing great results for this method from progressive coaches like Steffan, but you will need to experiment to find out what works for you. This is a far from set in stone proven method. However, all logic (and evidence so far) points to a good outcome if you try.

Some science, some art

To summarise, bowling quicker as a spinner sounds simple; an expression of science to produce a measurable result. And this article has given you some principles to try to get that speed measurement up.

• Track your outcomes.
• Increase run up speed.
• Use your front arm to start a powerful rotation.
• Brace your front leg.
• Get stronger.

But spin is also an art. The number on the screen does not tell the whole story of drift and dip. It doesn't take conditions into account. Science cannot know the state of mind of the bowler or the batsman. So see these methods as just one tool in your toolkit. If pace helps, use it. If you can take 100 wickets a year bowling at 30mph then why would you change?

This is a guest article from Max Andrews

“Hip to shoulder separation” is one of the most important movements in generating spin and velocity.

The movement creates an angle between the hip and shoulder which, when done properly, generates greater torque, and as a result increased spin and speed.

Interested in getting some of that?

As a bowler, we generate energy from the ground up. Therefore, producing power from our legs is essential. To be able to transfer this energy through the kinetic chain we need to use our hips. To create a powerful hip rotation, we need to create a shoulder to hip separation.

To help you visualise this action, think of a power baseball or cricket hitter when they swing. They generate their energy from the legs, their hips rotate first and then their shoulders will “catch up” and be aligned with the hips and the target.

Bowlers do they same. They open their hips at front foot landing whilst keeping their shoulders closed for just a split second. This fraction of a second - where the hip and shoulder separate - enables the body to transfer these rotational forces up through the kinetic chain and into the bowling arm.

This will equal increase speed and revolutions.

So, how do we do it?

The first drill is a medicine ball throw. There are two types of throws to work on here, shovel throws and shoulder throws.

The key to this exercise it to ensure that you keep in mind that you are trying to create hip and shoulder separation, so let your hips rotate first and then explode and really drive through with your back shoulder.

The next drill is performed with a dowel rod, a broomstick or something that will allow you to keep your shoulders aligned. First, place the rod behind your head on your shoulders and get into your back foot landing position. This drill is similar to the one-step bowling drill, here we focus on rotating our hips whilst keeping our shoulders closed, but still aligned.

The final drill is a variation to the previous drill. Some people will find this works better for them. On this occasion, rather than holding onto a rod we can either rest our hands on a wall or hold onto the netting. Again, we are focusing on creating separation in the lower body from the upper body. You should really be able to feel your hips separating and creating a big angle from your shoulders.

By now you should have developed a deeper understanding of the feeling of hip to shoulder separation.

The movement is tied in with the front leg brace and both are very important in developing a correct bowling technique. Work on this and you should see an increase in spin and velocity.

Click here for more from Max Andrews.

I'll cut to the chase; there is a simple change to your bowling action that is a big hitter in fault correction.

Straighten your run up.

You see, when it comes to technique, so much that goes wrong can be traced back to an earlier point. That's why batting coaches focus on the grip and stance first, and it's why your bowling coach should look at your run up before he starts with the "business end" of the action.

Of course, a straighter run up will not fix everything, and there are exceptions to the rule. That said, there is plenty that can be done without ever worrying about 6 months of corrective drills and rebuilding your action.

So, spinner or seamer, Here are some of the things a straighter run up can correct:

Better accuracy

"Balance at the crease" is a coaches way of saying "helps you bowl straight".

When you run straight you tend to move through your action straight. If you approach at an angle, your weight is desperate to continue on that angle (say, towards leg slip).

To correct this, your body naturally adjusts and you end up "falling away"; the term used when your head leans to the side to allow your arm to come through straight.

When this happens it is much harder to bowl straight.

By running straighter, you make it easy to bowl straight. Your head can go over your front leg and you can get your wrist behind the ball. Your action becomes repeatable and so does your line.

More speed

I'll let you into a little coaching secret; a lot of pace - and turn for spinners - is generated by your hips. The more powerfully you can drive your hip through as you bowl, the more energy you can put into kph or rpm.

How does the run up help with this?

Many bowler's have an issue of being too "closed off". This is where the front leg crosses over past the back leg. This stops you from driving your hip through because your front leg has, literally, closed off the path for your hip. The result; you bowl with less pace.

And it's much more common in bowlers with off centre run ups because your weight is moving towards leg slip. Straightening up your run straightens your momentum. Your feet can get into the right place for more speed or rip.

Exceptions to the rule

Of course, so far we have only spoken in generalisations. There are many specific exceptions. There are bowlers with curved run ups who bowl with pace and accuracy who sit alongside straight run up bowlers with neither.

So the first question to ask is this: do I have an issue with pace or accuracy?

If you bowl at a good lick and can hit your lines well with a curved run up, you should probably keep it. It actually helps with swing and spin bowling sometimes.

If you feel you need to make a change, a straighter run up is very often the answer you are seeking.

image credits: brianac37. Gordon Anderson

Max Andrews is a freelance coach on PitchVision Academy, in this article he talks us through the mysteries of spin bowling tactics.

There is a lot of information on the the correct action to be able to bowl well. But it is very difficult to find information on how to bowl in match scenarios, and what fields to set.

So I thought I'd write this article to give you an insight into the tactical side of spin bowling.

There are a lot of key points when considering your tactics. They range from the match format and situation, through pitch and field size to batter's technique, and your strengths. They come together when you consider where you want the batsman to hit the ball.

For example, I play two day cricket. So can I find myself in a situation like this: We are bowling on the second day of the game and the pitch starting to turn. We are about 200 runs in front and need to take wickets.

The short boundary is on the off side of a left hand batter. The batter is left handed, strong though leg side. The batter has a closed grip, which will cause him too hit more ball to the leg side, and will struggle to hit through the off side.

I have a good leg break and control the ball very well. I want the batter hitting the ball through the off side (against the spin).

Position the fielders

It’s time to start setting the field.

The batter has a closed grip, so he will also have a closed face on the bat. He will hit a lot more deliveries through the leg side rather than the off side. We need more fielders on the leg side.

That said, I want to invite the batter to drive through the off side. If he tries I am likely to get him bowled through the gate. As he's left handed I need to bowl outside off stump. This allows us to have catchers on both sides of the wicket.

When we first come on, we want some boundary riders to help us settle in without going for too many runs and to keep the batter under pressure.

So, here is a sample field:

• Catchers: Slip, short extra cover, short leg
• Ring: Mid off, backward point, mid on, midwicket, short fine leg
• Boundary sweeper: Deep backward square leg

There are many variations to this field. But the obvious one is to bring in sweeper to another catcher around the bat. You can even move short extra cover into a bat-pad catcher on the off side and either leave a gap through cover, or move short fine leg into extra cover or short extra cover.

If you don't have a lot of control, you could move point back to an off side sweeper where you think he would be best placed. You could also move short leg to a sweeper and leave point alone.

If you want more comprehensive details about the tactical side to bowling, spin bowling and a whole lot more, click this link for instant access to Max Andrews online coaching.