Cricket Articles

How to be a Leg Spin Bowler

Leg spin is one of the hardest bowling arts to master. However, when you get a good grip of the art, it can be very effective. There are many variations that can be made to your deliveries, which can confuse the batsmen, resulting in them getting out. These variable deliveries include the leg break, googly, top spinner, flipper and slider. Within these deliveries, you can vary the delivery itself. Whether that is by the speed of the delivery or the amount of revolutions imparted on the ball.

Leg break: The leg break delivery is where the ball spins away from the leg side. This is the stock delivery of the leg spinner, hence the name. To bowl a leg break, the ball should be placed in the palm of the hands or in the fingers. The seam should run across the fingers. When bowling the ball, the wrist should roll over so the ball is released from the front of the ball. When rolling the wrists, the fingers should roll across the ball as well, providing extra spin for the ball to turn once it pitches.

This delivery can be varied by the line or length of the delivery, the speed of the bowling arm, the amount of spin imparted on the ball or by the amount of flight on the ball (a looping delivery which stays in the air, with a higher trajectory, or a flatter, low trajectory delivery). Generally when bowling leg spin, it is important to flight the ball, in order to tempt the batsmen into a shot and get them out. You and your team mates also have to be prepared that the batsmen may smash you around the park when bowling leg-spin.

Googly: The googly (wrong'un) is the exact opposite to the leg break, where the ball spins from the off-side to the on-side. This is an important deviation ball from the leg break as it can completely bamboozle the batsmen if they are not watching the ball carefully, with intense concentration. To bowl a googly, instead of releasing the ball from the front of the hand, the ball is released from the back of the hand. The spin applied to the ball is clockwise, instead of the standard leg break delivery which has anti-clockwise spin.

Flipper: The flipper delivery is where the ball has a lower flight path, and stays low. The ball has backspin imparted on it, while being released underneath the hand. The ball should be place in between the fingers of the thumb, the index and middle. When releasing the ball, these fingers should click together, which causes the ball to squeeze out underneath the hand. This will cause a lower flight path, with the ball having a flatter flight path, resulting in a fuller pitched delivery and a low bouncing delivery.

Top spin: The top spin delivery is where the ball dips sharply, and then kicks up at the batsmen. To bowl a top spinner, the ball should be held like a leg break, with the seam across the fingers, with the thumb, index and middle finger gripping the ball. The wrists should face out towards the offside. This wrist position means that the fingers and wrist impart over-spin or top spin on the ball, instead of leg spin. The ball then loops up, then dips down shorter than what a normal delivery would, with a higher bounce. The ball goes straight on towards the batsmen, instead of turning.

Slider: The slider delivery is where the ball floats in the air, and then stays low. This delivery is opposite to the top spinner, which bounces at a shorter length, and then bounces up high. The slider delivery is bowled with the thumb facing the bowler (opposite to the top spin which has the thumb facing the batsmen). Upon release of the ball, the ring finger and the wrist work in tandem to impart back spin on the ball, with the ball releasing from in front of the hand.

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