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Spin - If you Bowled it would it be Flat or tossed up

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Spinners should be able to do both.

Like saying - seam, short or pitched up?

What separates good spinners from the mediocre is to be able to do precisely what the batsman does not expect (within reason, of course).
 

Kimbo

International Debutant
i am a spinner, i try to keep tossing it up. flighted bowling is attacking bowling, if you are forced to bowl flat then it means the batsman has got on top of you. it depends on the situation, in a defensive situation i would probably be bowling a bit flatter, but its really boring.

the whole point of spin bowling is deception. to decieve the batsman you make them lift their head (disturbing their balance) by flighting the ball (making it go above their eyes for a period of time before it dips sharply). By flighting the ball you aid your chance of getting a wicket, because simply turning a ball doesnt pose a huge problem for a decent batsman.

i think that spinners who bowl flat are wusses, afraid of being hit. you just have to back yourself.
what is better at the end of the day: 0-25 or 4-45?
 

Rich2001

International Captain
i am a spinner, i try to keep tossing it up. flighted bowling is attacking bowling, if you are forced to bowl flat then it means the batsman has got on top of you. it depends on the situation, in a defensive situation i would probably be bowling a bit flatter, but its really boring.

the whole point of spin bowling is deception. to decieve the batsman you make them lift their head (disturbing their balance) by flighting the ball (making it go above their eyes for a period of time before it dips sharply). By flighting the ball you aid your chance of getting a wicket, because simply turning a ball doesnt pose a huge problem for a decent batsman.

i think that spinners who bowl flat are wusses, afraid of being hit. you just have to back yourself.
what is better at the end of the day: 0-25 or 4-45?
Well I don't think any of us will put it any better than Sunil Havascar
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
But you would still push a few through flatter and quicker every now and again - to do otherwise would be stupid and predictable.

Even Warne pushes some through - even Bedi did (and he was the slowest slow bowler I have ever seen).

4-45, fine. You give every ball air all the time and you will soon be talking 1-45 (because your captain will take you off after 6 overs) and the next game you play will be in the 2nd XI.

I know what you mean, really, but just don't be predictable. Look at the way Harbhajan and Kumble bowled at Headingley - superb the way they drew the batsman forward and then whizz - in with the toppie.
 

Rich2001

International Captain
it depends on the situation, in a defensive situation i would probably be bowling a bit flatter, but its really boring.
The key point is depends on the situation, you bowl to the situation.

If you have a healthy lead you throw it up more if you are on the back foot you put it slightly flatter
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
4-45, fine. You give every ball air all the time and you will soon be talking 1-45 (because your captain will take you off after 6 overs) and the next game you play will be in the 2nd XI.
Which is why attacking spin doesn't happen in England.

I try to toss it up when I can but the fact that we have low nets doesn't help me at all. Keep trying.... one day.... :D
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
very very very very true.

When I was playing, on the few occasions I got the pads on at Derbyshire's nets (as opposed to just bowling when my school or club were there), there was a twirly who went by the name of Edwin Smith.

He used to make me look an absolute idiot because he would hold a few back (totally bamboozling me with the amount of rip he was putting on a ball). Eventually, I would learn to read the ball, get down the wicket and swat a couple back at him (I think he let me).

Once I'd been in a few minutes and was beginning to think that I could read him, he would almost read my mind and I would start coming down the wicket - only to watch a topspinner rip past my not-quite-there bat and either rap me on the pads or hit middle right at the top.

Any spin bowler - nay, any professional cricketer - automatically got my respect from that point (and it's one of the reasons why I am particularly scathing on the morons on this and any other cricket site who continually bleat on that such and such a player is rubbish).

It (playing top level cricket) is a skill that most of us can only dream of.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Going to start a horoscope thread if anyone is willing to have the rip taken out of them - all in fun of course.

Just wait until I reach Scorpio - I hope he doesn't take it personally.

I got the idea from another website I fell into earlier today - but their horoscopes were just rude and nasty. I thought that I could do better.

I spent a couple of hours making notes of a few ideas tonight - I think I could do 100 or so.
 

Kiwi

State Vice-Captain
I think spinners should be able to do both. I am a spinner and I toss it up most of the time but alot of my wickets come with balls that I push through(with my straight ball). A spinner should be able to out think the batsman.
 

full_length

U19 Vice-Captain
Yes, versatility is a valuable asset. A spinner must be able to think and react.

The original question:
toss up! just because its more fun :)
ofcourse, its also fun being really competitive, and then you do whatever you can to beat the batsman. According to me a spinner should be able to fire in a yorker if he needs to, accurately.

But the point really is that, his stock delivery should ideally be the tossed up one if he relies on turn. Tossing it up doesn't mean the bowler is going to be spanked.. I dont know why some captains are overtly negative about this. I blame azhar for the lack of any aggressive spinners bar kumble in the 90s for India. he was negative..
 

R_Powell_fan

U19 Captain
I know that i shouldn't tred on these grounds since I'm a medium-fast... :D, but it is a very interesting and debatable topic,
I bowl 'tossed up' leg spinners mostly because the variations like top spinners, wrong 'uns and flippers seem to be more effective when paired with the flighted leg breaks, when a leg break bowler really does well when mixing these variations well with the normal leg break, the point is... most good spinners can do both since some pitches suit one better than the other...and that concludes my take on this subject... :confused:
 

Paid The Umpire

All Time Legend
I'm an off-spiner, and I try and bowl it tossed up.

I have to disagree with the idea that if you can't bowl many change ups you aren't a good pinner. I personally only have two other balls. And they work fine. It is better to have two good changeups than many cruddy ones.

The ability to bowl a consistent line and length is an asset, not a bad thing. If you can bowl six balls within 10cm of were you are aiming, you wont be smashed.

I think that what ever you bowl, if you can make the ball do exactly what you want it to do. Then you are good bowler, a great bowler has the theory behind it.

PS. Spinners are never given much of a chance. A couple of seasons ago I took 3-37(6) in the first game, the other team was 1-300 when I came on. And I only got another 3 overs for the season. Talk about crud, the keeper got more overs than me...
 

Top_Cat

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Bill O'Reilly was quite quick through the air yet you'd be hard-pressed to say he wasn't a very good spin bowler. in fact, Bradman rated him as the greatest bowler he ever faced.

I'm with luckyeddie; it depends on the situation and the batsman. If you're getting belted because someone is using their feet, you'd hardly keep giving them the time to do so, as an example.
 

Kiwi

State Vice-Captain
I also thinks it depends on what sort of ball u bowl. I bowl Off Spin at the moment but I am changing to a leggie when I become more consistant in practise. I think an off spinner can bowl the flat balls in a defensive situation so the batter has less time to react. I see a leggie as a attacking bowler and flight is tricky to play if they turn the ball on a good length.
As a batter, I have no problems with the balls that a pushed through although it is harder to punish the bowler then.
 

Kimbo

International Debutant
Excuse me...
I said that it depended on the situation before luckyeddie, but I also commented that it wasnt the preferred option.
I also agree that variations are important, although I am fairly successful without using them. As I said, spin bowling is all about deception so you have to do everything you can to decieve the batsmen. Bowling the same delivery over and over can be effective, the more you put the ball on the spot the more effective your variation will be.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Yessssssssssssss.

(and you did mention variation before me and I don't care - I don't want the credit).

I hated facing spinners anyway.
 

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