Nutbrook Cricket Club net session

I was in Derbyshire over the bank holiday (Aug 2015) with the In-laws and while I was there I took the opportunity to drive around the Ilkeston/Erewash area and shoot some pavilions for my pavilion projects see here.

The club that is closest to their house (In-laws) is Nutbrook cricket club which is almost just across the road to their house and I knew that it has good nets, so I was hoping to score some time in the nets grooving my new bowling action. So when I went over there to shoot the image for the Typology and maybe throw a few balls in the nets if they allowed me to.

I took along a ball (Should have taken 6). While I was there I spoke to a bloke who looked like a trainer and I asked him if I could have a bowl in the nets while they were all out playing in a match (which they won). The bloke said yes, so having shot the images I then spent 3 hours bowling in their nets.

I was in there at the start of the innings and was still there at the end, some of the blokes commented on the fact that I was bowling for such a long period.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cricket-2015/content/story/917767.html

It was a useful session as I started to work with this new action that I'm going to be developing over the winter leading into the new season. I went over the next day and bowled a few more overs and the blokes suggested that I join their club, so I might consider it as it would mean I'd be able to use the facilities when I'm up in West Hallam.

Check out my other blog here - this is all about Leg-spin bowling and nothing else. Double click on the image.

 

 

Subtle Variation - Leg Break bowling

This is just an idea, which might work for some people.

Even though I've now been bowling this stuff for 7 years I'm still learning all the time and I'm still trying to figure out ways to improve. My action seems to change from one season to another, although this season I felt a lot more relaxed and I tried not to tweak what I was doing at the end of the season last year and it does seem to have worked.

There's a few things I know I can do to make small adjustments to my bowling that make a significant difference. One of these is to consciously get right up on my toes when I'm pivoting. Because I don't do it to the extent that perhaps I should, when I do so, it does increase the risk of my bowling being slightly more wayward, but it is recognisably effective in that it spins far more, turns off the wicket far better and often with more bounce.

The conclusion therefore is...

(1). A small adjustment in what you do with your foot e.g. get up onto your toes may make a significant difference to what the ball does at the business end. What you are doing, when you do this (potentially) is bracing your leg in your pivot, this also gives you marginally more height.

(2). Conversely, if you're someone who bowls leg breaks in a way that is very consistent and you feel that you want to vary it in some way, you could possibly try the opposite - reduce the rise up on to the toes to produce a ball that spins less? I know this goes against the grain in terms of what you're told about the pivot, but it may work for you and might be worth looking at as a subtle variation?

Wrist Spin Top Tips - The Flipper

Top Tips for the Flipper.

If you've pretty much mastered your leg break and you're now fishing around for a variation the flipper might be an option for you. In his book the The Bowlers Art, Brian Wilkins makes a good case for having the Flipper as one of your variations. Once you've developed the muscles and learned the basic technique, there is scope to change the position of the hand to create variations within the variation as such.

So, if you're in the UK and you're thinking ahead to the next season and developing a variation, you can get started with the Flipper without having actually bowl...

One of the issues that stops people in their tracks when they start to work with the flipper, is the fact that they don't have the muscles developed in the hand, fingers and thumb to impart the spin. 

My suggestion therefore is, over the winter you get yourself a smaller lighter ball - you could start with a tennis ball and start flicking the ball out of your flingers in the manner required. The technique is to grip the ball as indicated above. You can grip with either one finger, two or three over the top of the ball - whatever feels good for you. Most people find that the power to impart the spin comes off of the middle finger. If you're confused to how you actually perform the action - it is the exact same physical action as clicking your fingers to a music beat - except that there's a ball between the finger and thumb!

Do this all the time - start with a small ball - maybe even a table tennis ball? Do it with apples, oranges - anything as long as you're able to give it a good click! You might find that initially you have no control over where it goes, but in time, it eventually starts to come out of the hand in the direction that you want it to. At this stage start to visualise and practice the release and arm position, thinking about how you'll bowl it.

Do this over the winter consistently and that part of the action will be in place, all you'll need to do in winter nets is tie the release action to your bowling action. It should be relatively pain free.

* I wouldn't take any notice of any of the stories you read about people taking 5 years to develop their flippers, I went from trying it for the first time to pretty much having the basics nailed in about a week (That was a week off from work - a few hours a day).

The image here is the version I describe as being the bog standard Flipper, this goes down with a vertical seam with back-spin. On hitting the wicket it might do one of several things. If you can hold your nerve and bowl it slowly, it can stall massively with the back-spin That method used as a variation amongst Top-Spinners or over-spun Leg-Breaks can be very effective.