The Gipper G&CCC

How good is that! If I type in either Grays & Chadwell CC or G&CCC as an abbreviation one of the top 10 sites and in some cases 50% of the links listed in google do so via my Blog!

So anyway...... THE GIPPER wrist spin variation news.

I've not had a lot of luck or incentive to look at this much of late or concentrate on it as a bowling option. I still try it and have sessions where I bowl 50/50 wrong uns and this variation. If you've not been following the blog here's the run down on what the "Gipper" is.

The Gipper

This is a potential spin variation that I'm developing and it derives it's name from the concept of bowling the Flipper out of the back of the hand in the same way that a Wrong un would be released from the back of the hand. It may look like a wrong un at the point of release but with the ball gripped like a Flipper so Googlie/Flipper = Gipper. It's a slower delivery that turns acutely from leg to off.

Recent practice sessions seem to have followed a similar pattern, initially when I start to use it, it works well and it produces the massive turn characteristic of it, but then as the practice session goes on I've found that I become more accurate with it and faster but the turn seems to decrease so that it eventually has the same characteristics of a normal flipper. Not being able to fathom what is going wrong and the same pattern happening every time I practice I've not been that focussed on developing it.

A couple of nights ago just throwing the ball around outside my house up against the wall mucking around with the gipper grip and wrist position I threw a sequence of balls that turned massively time and time again and relatively accurate. I stopped and thought about what it was that I was doing that was making the difference and it seemed to be the wrist position. In this instance as I held the ball by my side with the Flipper grip. My wrist and arm were twisted inwards 180 degrees round from normal with my wrist cocked at 90 degrees to my arm. It is the ugliest looking grip and bowling variation on the planet I reckon and it is obviously the most easily recognised variation too if you ever face me. But I found that maintaining the wrist position and twisted arm throughout the rotation of the arm means that it imparts the ridiculous amount of spin characteristic of this variation.

Thinking that this was a fluke, I decided to go out into the road and bowl it over 22 yards and see if the extra exertion undid the spin. So as Philpott advises - I applied total concentration on maintaining the wrist and arm through the execution of the rotation and tried it over the 22 yards and it worked with a massive turn and relatively accurate. Tried it again - and again it worked and again and again and again! 18 balls later everyone one of them had turned massively and for the most part all of them on an acceptable line.

So tonight thinking that it might be due to the fact that I'm using a non seamed Hockey ball on tarmac and for all I know Hockey balls and tarmac work together to produce massive spin I took a few balls over to "Valence Way cricket pitch" and tried the gipper on grass and it worked! Not quite as brilliant as last night but turning to off from leg in a way that I have never witnessed anyone do in my life. The line and the length were inconsistent but I also noted that the run up needs to be slightly exaggerated in that I lean in as I bowl the ball and this keeps the line in control. On the field tonight it was wet after some rain and it was dusk when I got over there, so I wasn't able to bowl that many balls. But it was extremely promising once again and I feel like I've discovered the key to getting the spin and now all I need to do is practice in order that I get the line and length sussed. I've got the next 2 weeks off and I will mostly be bowling Gippers!