Another net session tonight; Once past the general training and warming up bit we got down to the nitty gritty. I worked in one net for most of the night and got a chance to bowl at Reece (Another Leftie) and a handful of right handed batsmen – Ross, Neil, Super and others. I didn’t seem to be getting the ball to turn as much and was having trouble with my length. Much of it was on target but possibly too long with nearly everyone driving me back down the wicket. Then when I tried to bowl shorter in order to give the ball more opportunity to turn and miss the edge of the bat, I just bowled far too short and was dispatched to the far regions. Though reflecting on the outcomes of bowling at such a length, the ball was coming off the bat in a pretty haphazard manner with ‘Super’ commenting that I’d missed several bowled and caught opportunities and many of the others coming off the bat and possibly going into short extra cover and mid wicket at catchable heights. A couple did hit the edge of the bat with a few people and may have been caught behind, but nothing took the stumps out.
The leg breaks didn’t turn much so were pretty much smothered by the drives, the balls that seemed to be most effective were the faster deliveries – Back-spinning Flipper, Top-spinning Flipper and the small turning leg break with the higher in the hand grip. Another thing that came up with results was just varying the speed of the delivery – that seemed to be catching people out too. The wrong un was okay but needs more work. Overall it felt like one of those sessions where you’re knackered and not quite on the ball simply because you’re physically drained. But I suppose it went okay.
More of the same next week but maybe looking at using the bigger leg break at a faster speed and obviously trying to get the length slightly better and continue with the variation in speed.
On www.bigcricket.com someone came up with this link with some good stuff from Terry Jenner. It's especially useful to read if you're bowling Leg Breaks and struggling with it.
Terry Jenner on spin - Part One Cricket Features Global Cricinfo.com
Terry Jenner on spin - Part Two Cricket Features Global Cricinfo.com