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Leg spin bowling in club Twenty20

Captain_Cook

U19 12th Man
Hello all,

I am a newbie right arm leg break bowler who bowls pretty slow but spins the ball a lot. I can bowl leg breaks, top-spinners and a flipper with good accuracy and length.

I am considering joining my university third XI. However, they spend the winter doing indoor nets and the summer competing in Twenty20 matches. I am not entirely familiar with the place of leg spin in Twenty20 hence I have a few questions about it at club level:

  • Are leg break bowler unfavourable in T20?
  • Do leg break bowlers need to bowl a different line and length in T20 to the standard delivery pitching good length at middle and off or pitch leg stump from round the wicket to a RHB?
  • What dismissal are leg break bowlers aiming to get? Caught? Caught behind? Stumped?
  • Is bowling like Kumble/Bernaud preferable to bowling like Warne/MacGill?
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
I'd say make good use of your variations - especially the topspinner - the extra bounce should get you catches on the boundary, the flipper will be handy for anyone trying to cut or come down the pitch at you, I'd say catches in the deep and stumpings are your best bet
 

Captain_Cook

U19 12th Man
I finally got to bowl over 22 yards today for the first time and found that when my line was right (<50% of the time...) I was bowling constant half trackers rather than full tosses. I bowled about 5 good balls out of 30 legal deliveries with about 20 wides. My flight was okay but I didn't get any drift.

I bowled with a walk to the crease and a flowing action. I sped up my action and started bowling fuller/wider.

What should I do to improve? I don't have a huge amount of time but do nets with a large group once a week.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
practice, that is all I can really say, the more you practice the better you get, most leggies start out bowling absolute filth for a while until they practice regularly
 

Captain_Cook

U19 12th Man
Hey, my captain is trying to get me to bowl disciplined line and length. I feel like he wants to make me a slow bowler with focus on containment than to become a big spinning wicket taker. I beat the bat and got the batsmen to miscue at least ten times today.

I'm conflicted. I want to be like Shane Warne but my captain wants me to be like Pravin Tambe. I'm getting such good turn it would be a shame to waste it.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
tell your captain to get ****ed - legspinners are wicket-takers but they will almost always go for a few, your captain needs to understand that your role is to take wickets, despite the runs you might go for, never try and become a containment bowler, particularly if you are getting turn and troubling the batsmen as you say you are
 

Captain_Cook

U19 12th Man
tell your captain to get ****ed - legspinners are wicket-takers but they will almost always go for a few, your captain needs to understand that your role is to take wickets, despite the runs you might go for, never try and become a containment bowler, particularly if you are getting turn and troubling the batsmen as you say you are
I brought up my concerns with him and he flatly rebuffed me. He said I was ungrateful of his advice to bowl good areas and that he knew a lot more about spin bowling than I did despite being a medium-fast bowler.

His conclusions were that if I didn't bowl good areas as a priority over getting revolutions:
  • I wouldn't "develop" as a bowler.
  • I would never make the team.

I wanted to tell him that his experience doesn't make him a good bowler only an old bowler but I thought better of it.

Is this a problem with his negative outlook or should I look to tell him more about the role of leg spin?
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
I like to think that I am generous of spirit so I like to give the benefit of the doubt but this has to be a wind up surely? According to an earlier post, 2/3 of the balls you bowl are wides and you are getting pissy with a captain for telling you you need to be more accurate. You then complain that the captain thinks he knows more about leg-spin bowling than you when you asked in OP if you should be looking to get caught behinds? :blink:
 

Captain_Cook

U19 12th Man
I like to think that I am generous of spirit so I like to give the benefit of the doubt but this has to be a wind up surely? According to an earlier post, 2/3 of the balls you bowl are wides and you are getting pissy with a captain for telling you you need to be more accurate.
I have improved significantly since then. I bowled about 60% legal balls the other day. I am aware I need to bowl more accurately but my captain wants me to spin the ball less.

You then complain that the captain thinks he knows more about leg-spin bowling than you when you asked in OP if you should be looking to get caught behinds? :blink:
I have learned a lot more about leg spin from youtube and a book I bought. All the coaching tells me to spin the ball as hard as possible and then work on being pinpoint accurate. My captain wants me to bowl flatter with less spin so I can be accurate.
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
If you are bowling three boundary balls an over there is not a captain on earth who will give you a bowl.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
No, maybe you will have to put up with not getting much of a bowl for a while if you can't be accurate enough, but your captain is so wrong. You must always try to spin the ball as hard as you can - the accuracy will come later as you practice more - you won't 'develop' as a spinner if you start bowling flat with no revs, that would be taking a step backwards. I don't have much advice as to what to say to your captain, but keep spinning the ball hard mate.
 

Captain_Cook

U19 12th Man
No, maybe you will have to put up with not getting much of a bowl for a while if you can't be accurate enough, but your captain is so wrong. You must always try to spin the ball as hard as you can - the accuracy will come later as you practice more - you won't 'develop' as a spinner if you start bowling flat with no revs, that would be taking a step backwards. I don't have much advice as to what to say to your captain, but keep spinning the ball hard mate.
I've had a heart to heart with my captain and realised I'd seriously misunderstood him. All he'd seen is me bowl is on different lines and spray the ball about when I had little control. All he wanted was for me to focus on accuracy saying that I had no problem turning the ball but he wanted me to pick a spot and bowl six deliveries in that area.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
That's easier said than done, in order you you to become accurate enough to please your captain you will have to practice quite a lot. Even at international level, legspinners tend to be a little erratic, so don't be dis-heartened if you bowl a few bad balls. Your captain still needs to understand that you won't be the kind of bowler who can hit the same spot 6 balls an over though
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Let us be honest, everyone who replied in this thread has been correct. Maximas is right that spinners - leg or otherwise - should learn to rip the ball and then develop accuracy. The problem is that you said you are at university and you want to play. At the moment you are a non- bowler and if you can't bat or bowl anything else then pretty much a non cricketer.

You are a long way from being given the ball regularly in a game. As for what your captain said, I have been in this situation many times. Adult cricketers who are not very good ask advise. The problem is that it will take a lot of time, effort and coaching to get them close to scratch. The easiest thing is rather than tell them they are crap is to offer one or two easy and simple pieces of advice. If they don't listen then that is up to them. Ive never had someone then turn around and lecture me on the advise I have given but if they did then I would try and be polite and I wouldn't say too much but in reality they can go **** themselves. If they already knew what to do then they wouldn't ask or be terrible.

Leg spin is hard. That isn't an excuse for being bad at it though. There are multiple players on any team who can rip the ball square bowling inaccurate leg spin but they tend to be batsmen or other bowlers who would never dream of bowling it in a match as even 4 decent balls out of 6 isn't a good enough return to be trusted with the ball.

I hope I don't seem too critical though you do seem, fairly or not, to be a little ungrateful and slightly delusional. I admire your desire to bowl leg spin and rip it hard. However, off spin (the two times table of bowling) and medium pace are easier and would offer you a quicker path to actually playing.
 
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Captain_Cook

U19 12th Man
At the moment you are a non- bowler and if you can't bat or bowl anything else then pretty much a non cricketer.
I am aware of that I may need 12 months + of practice before I get close to bowling in a match. I have started training with the bat and if I pick it up quicker then it may be quicker.

Leg spin is hard. That isn't an excuse for being bad at it though. There are multiple players on any team who can rip the ball square bowling inaccurate leg spin but they tend to be batsmen or other bowlers who would never dream of bowling it in a match as even 4 decent balls out of 6 isn't a good enough return to be trusted with the ball.
I have the necessary commitment, patience and attitude to get to an acceptable standard.

I hope I don't seem too critical though you do seem, fairly or not, to be a little ungrateful and slightly delusional.
I have apologised for being a naive cricketer to my captain. I know I was in the wrong.

I admire your desire to bowl leg spin and rip it hard. However, off spin (the two times table of bowling) and medium pace are easier and would offer you a quicker path to actually playing.
While I still enjoy bowling leg breaks that turn I'm willing to let my skills develop slowly.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
^ fair enough. As I said, I admire your commitment to the craft when there are easier paths to travel. I sincerely and honestly wish you the best.
 
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Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
Sounds like you have what it takes man, as Goughy said, all the best, feel free to ask more questions as you develop, I myself bowl offspin but I dabbled with legspin and learnt a lot and there are others around who know a thing or two about spin.
 

wellAlbidarned

International Coach
Hey, my captain is trying to get me to bowl disciplined line and length. I feel like he wants to make me a slow bowler with focus on containment than to become a big spinning wicket taker. I beat the bat and got the batsmen to miscue at least ten times today.

I'm conflicted. I want to be like Shane Warne but my captain wants me to be like Pravin Tambe. I'm getting such good turn it would be a shame to waste it.
Warne was so good BECAUSE he was so accurate. Aggressive bowlers still need control to be effective, they'll just use that control to put the ball in areas encouraging the batsman to play expansive strokes. Even as a leggie, you need to land five out of six balls where you want them to be worth the gamble for a captain. You'll usually be forgiven for the occasional shocker, but there's no excuse for making a habit of it.
 

wellAlbidarned

International Coach
It sounds like you've got the drive to keep at it so you'll get there in a few years. In the meantime make sure you work hard on your batting too, if you want to get some games. Even if you're not blessed with a natural eye teams at lower levels always are looking for steady blokes who can open and hold up an end with singles.
 

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