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What is this grip and style of leg-spinning called? [small video]

Legspinn

Cricket Spectator
Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/osa0t0xuf9bsox6/VIDEO0075.mp4 I am sorry for the video quality and well, its content.

So here's what I do, I hold the ball between thumb, index finger and middle finger and turn the ball in a way like I am opening a water tap. There is no wrist motion. What do I call this style of leg-spinning when 'leg-spin' and 'wrist spin' are often used interchangeably?

FAQs

Wait a minute, in the video you are not bowling with the right action

I just found this forum (late hour here) and didn't have enough room to capture my full action. Please assume that I can turn the ball same way when I bowl on 22 yards. I will show you a video tomorrow if requested but my question is primarily about the grip.

How accurate can you bowl?

Very accurate. The only problem is that since I get a lot of turn, when I bowl fairly short by mistake it's very easy for the batsman to slam it. Always. Other than that I get tons of outer edges and stumps.

What else?

I can turn the ball same way while bowling medium pace.

P.S. I googled 'leg spin using fingers', couldn't find anything of value but thankfully I did find this forum.
 
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45DegreeOBS

Cricket Spectator
Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/osa0t0xuf9bsox6/VIDEO0075.mp4 I am sorry for the video quality and well, its content.

So here's what I do, I hold the ball between thumb, index finger and middle finger and turn the ball in a way like I am opening a water tap. There is no wrist motion. What do I call this style of leg-spinning when 'leg-spin' and 'wrist spin' are often used interchangeably?

FAQs

Wait a minute, in the video you are not bowling with the right action

I just found this forum (late hour here) and didn't have enough room to capture my full action. Please assume that I can turn the ball same way when I bowl on 22 yards. I will show you a video tomorrow if requested but my question is primarily about the grip.

How accurate can you bowl?

Very accurate. The only problem is that since I get a lot of turn, when I bowl fairly short by mistake it's very easy for the batsman to slam it. Always. Other than that I get tons of outer edges and stumps.

What else?

I can turn the ball same way while bowling medium pace.

P.S. I googled 'leg spin using fingers', couldn't find anything of value but thankfully I did find this forum.
It is slightly akin to the Jack Iverson and Johnny Gleeson technique. Almost looks like a type of carrom ball, and it would be if you'd have your index finger off of the ball. That surely spun a lot! I'd strongly recommend trying to lift your index finger off the ball and attempting to bowl like Iverson / Gleeson / Mendis.

Ajantha Mendis: Mystery Uncovered - YouTube - As you can see here your leg break is very similar to the doosra/carrom ball that Ajantha Mendis bowls. You must have extremely strong fingers because very few people can bowl like this, let alone spin the ball a long way with this finger action! You can mix up your doosras / leg breaks and maybe try and bowl the googly like Mendis, as well as the backspinner with your wrist in a "karate chop" position.

You won't find many articles on the internet about wrist spin as very few people have a clue when it comes to leg spin, get yourself a copy of Peter Philpott's "the art of wrist spin bowling" if you haven't already :)
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
So here's what I do, I hold the ball between thumb, index finger and middle finger and turn the ball in a way like I am opening a water tap. There is no wrist motion. What do I call this style of leg-spinning when 'leg-spin' and 'wrist spin' are often used interchangeably?
You bowl finger-spun leg breaks. Sri Lankan international Kaushal Lokuarachchi bowled quite similarly for a while.

I think comparisons to the caroom ball above are a little off; that involves flicking the ball forwards with the middle finger. What you're describing is more like a reverse off break than anything else, in which you rotate your whole middle finger in an anti-clockwise direction, rather than having it bent and then flicking it as you would in a caroom ball.

EDIT: Having now actually watched the video I now agree with 45DegreeOBS. :p
 
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45DegreeOBS

Cricket Spectator
Ajantha Mendis' Variations - YouTube
Ajantha Mendis's 6 for 8 against Zimbabwe - YouTube
The Googly | Ajantha Mendis Vs VVS Laxman 2008 - YouTube
It isn't exactly the same as a carrom ball, and is very different to R. Ashwin's carrom ball. But as you can see from those videos it does look very similar to Mendis' carrom delivery. You might not want to be the mystery spinner type; we all would rather be Shane Warne, but if you are really able to turn the ball quite a bit only using your middle and index finger; why not try the Mendis Method and see if it works for you?
 

Legspinn

Cricket Spectator
@45DegreeOBS,

Whoa, thank you so much. So Jack Iverson's bent-grip it is by the images I have found on the net. I couldn't find any videos of his bowling though, understandably.

Ajantha Mendis's doosra is also similar, but it doesn't look like he flicks the ball with as much power. He doesn't turn a lot, may be deliberately because then he would have to pitch the ball on the leg side, making the ball predictable. His USP is 'mystery'.

I have never tried bowling with taking the index finger off the ball. I will give it a try and report here. Also I can bowl top spinner and back-spinner fine but not googly yet, whenever I try it I somehow still end up bowling the top spinner. May be I should just bowl off-break in place of googly as i'd have to only make a small adjustment at the release with the kind of grip I bowl with.

I will check that book out. Thank you :)

@Prince EWS, 'Finger-spun leg break' -- So we finally have a name. Hah thanks :)
 

45DegreeOBS

Cricket Spectator
@45DegreeOBS,

Whoa, thank you so much. So Jack Iverson's bent-grip it is by the images I have found on the net. I couldn't find any videos of his bowling though, understandably.

Ajantha Mendis's doosra is also similar, but it doesn't look like he flicks the ball with as much power. He doesn't turn a lot, may be deliberately because then he would have to pitch the ball on the leg side, making the ball predictable. His USP is 'mystery'.

I have never tried bowling with taking the index finger off the ball. I will give it a try and report here. Also I can bowl top spinner and back-spinner fine but not googly yet, whenever I try it I somehow still end up bowling the top spinner. May be I should just bowl off-break in place of googly as i'd have to only make a small adjustment at the release with the kind of grip I bowl with.

I will check that book out. Thank you :)

@Prince EWS, 'Finger-spun leg break' -- So we finally have a name. Hah thanks :)
Using the off break would be a good idea. So you have three potential variations that could get you loads of wickets if you can bowl them accurately and put some spin on them. Off break, backspinner, "finger spun leg break". I don't know what level you play at, but I know most batsmen at club level won't be able to spot the difference between those deliveries easily!
 

Sean Flynn

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
It is always worth experimenting to see if you can bowl something different even at club level. The better standard you play the more you need a variation to get the better players out. How does Sunil Narine do it? I'm trying to figure it out. He doesn't utilise a full pivot like most finger spinners so at a guess he must be cutting down the ball in a way....but with one finger or two? I don't know how he bowls the 'other one' which leaves the right-hander.
 

45DegreeOBS

Cricket Spectator
It is always worth experimenting to see if you can bowl something different even at club level. The better standard you play the more you need a variation to get the better players out. How does Sunil Narine do it? I'm trying to figure it out. He doesn't utilise a full pivot like most finger spinners so at a guess he must be cutting down the ball in a way....but with one finger or two? I don't know how he bowls the 'other one' which leaves the right-hander.
He has a good angle of spin on his off break, I see so many bowlers bowling with clean side spin which doesn't really work on ODI decks. (Top spin tends to give you more grip on those flat tracks) An Ashwin off break with clean side spin won't turn as much as a Sunil Narine off break even if it has more revs, thanks to Narine's element of top spin.

It's probably just a carrom ball; similar to those bowled by Mendis, Ashwin, Robin Peterson, Rangana Herath...
Looks more like a knuckle ball, though. We'll know for sure once they get some nice slow motion videos showing his release.
Sunil Narine 4-26 Vs Pakistan 2nd ODI 2013 HD - YouTube - at 1:15 you'll see him holding the ball in a knuckle ball grip.
 

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