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On the Forum http://www.bigcricket.com/community/forums/spin-bowling.36/ as we come to the end of the season here in the UK we're all asking ourselves what do we need to do over the winter in order to maintain our fitness and keep things ticking over?
Well, on the forum we've got a few experts that time to time look in and give us some really good ideas and guidance. Just of late two of the experts Liz Ward and Tony Mowles have both pointed me in the direction of Cricket Strength (Click on the image).
They've got loads of ideas for things you can do over the winter that will build up your strength and agility ready for a new season and far better level of fitness that will enable you to bowl better potentially and decrease the chances of your sustaining injuries during the season. Warming Up Watching this video here featuring Shane Warne, Ian Healey and Ricky Ponting, Ian Healey mentions the fact that before he goes live and bowls to Healey and Ponting, Warne has already bowled 6 overs off camera to ensure that when it comes to doing it for real live he gets it pretty much right.
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With
spin-bowling especially wrist spinning (Adil
Rashid link) there’s a good chance that when you’re learning you’re going
to get smashed to all quarters of the ground by tail-enders, middle order
players and openers at some point. To some extent this sorts the wheat from the
chaff, only those that are tough enough mentally are going to survive such
encounters and be able to pick themselves up and turn up for the next game and
give it another go. Adil Rashid being a perfect example of the mental toughness
required to be a Wrist Spinner.
But, what
you don’t need as a spin bowler is the same crap when you’re practicing.
Clarrie Grimmett famously practiced in isolation, having a net in his back yard
where he practiced all of the time. He never practiced in the nets against
batsmen in the Aussie team because he knew that he’d meet them again in
domestic games in the Sheffield shield matches
and he didn’t want them to have any idea about how they might approach his
bowling. He was also aware that there was very little to be gained bowling in
the nets because batsmen never batted in the way that they’d bowl in a game and
therefore saw it as a pointless exercise.
I too
completely agree with Grimmett and have very little time for bowling in nets as
I recognise the same issues and find it a pointless and soul destroying
exercise, especially if you do it without any specific intention or outcome.
The ECB
similarly warn of the same problems with young spin-bowlers…
Time and again spin bowlers
are seen as cannon fodder for batsmen in the net environment, but if spinners are to develop effectively coaches and the bowlers themselves have to find time for
quality specific practice.
A spin
bowler needs to have a bag of balls or at least a fence behind the stumps. I
used to have 24 balls and would bowl 24 from one end then collect them up and
bowl from that end for hours on end. Over the years I’ve developed different
ways of doing it, but believe it’s essential to have several balls so that you
can bowl in overs. Six balls would be a minimum if you’re bowling in nets as
the collection of the balls kind of replicates the break between the over at
the other end and yours.
2 Player method (Bowler and
batsman).
If a spinner is to bowl in
practice at a batsman, the coach should seek to make the practice as close to a match simulation as possible for both the batsman and the bowler. Fields should be identified, goals set, overs bowled, scores kept, coaches should umpire and rewards should be given for wicket taking. https://static.ecb.co.uk/files/ecb-coaches-association-technical-bulletin-issue-5-10313.pdf This
method for the spin bowler is a far more preferable approach. We have a
collection of balls e.g. 24 and we practice on an artificial wicket or a wicket
set aside specifically for practice. Using 10 cones or anything you have at
hand the bowler set his/her initial field. A target is set e.g. the batsman has
to score 50 runs off of 48 balls to win and the bowler has to take x amount of
runs or what-ever combination you feel is reasonable for each player. Between
the two players you make decisions as to how many runs the ball goes for or
whether it’s fielded or caught. Better still if there’s a coach or a neutral 3rd
person they keep a tally of the score/wickets. The field can be re-set and the
bowler should be encouraged to make observations as to where the ball is being
hit and make decisions with regards the field as to where a gap may be left and
the ball bowled in order to encourage the shot that’s required to gain runs
through that vacant area, but bowled in such a way that it’s tactically
advantageous to the bowler…
This field for instance may be set for a batsman that's been seen in the first over as struggling to play the ball being bowled coming round the wicket (Right - arm Leg Break). Warne advocates in the first over, extending potentially into the 2nd over that you bowl from different positions on the crease in order to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the batsman's approach.
4th Oct - not a lot in this section yet, but I've just found a couple of really good but obscure video from Zambia
As you get better at your
bowling and more serious about your cricket, you're going to become
increasingly aware that in order to perform better you will need to have plans
and strategies in place to work with in order that you get results. I would
imagine that the transition from Youth Cricket to 4th team cricket and then
making your way up through the ranks to first team cricket as a wrist spin
bowler is pretty difficult and one where your learning curve is pretty steep.
You as a bowler have to be pretty thick skinned to be able to accept that in
between being hit for 6 by far superior and stronger batsmen, you have to
somehow put that out of your mind and focus on the positives. It's at this
stage I would imagine a lot of kids lose the plot and give up wrist spinning
because of the negative side to what you're doing. If your team has got a
several teams... first team down to the 4th or 5th XI it may be the case that
you're moved back and forth, given the opportunity to play at different levels
- trying you out, which is completely normal - think Adil
Rashid here in the UK... He's been around the England
set-up for some years now and has played international one day cricket for England back in
2009. He didn't do that well and therefore, soon disappeared again. It seems to
be universally acknowledged that wrist spinners (and the other blokes as well) mature with age and as you
get older and wiser your approach to the game changes, you become more wily and
less affected by being hit for 6, you internalise it and see it as a positive
and you don't let it get under your skin. Rashid, now 27 has recently played in
a one day series against Australia
and New Zealand and has done
fairly well and there's speculation that the up and coming series against Pakistan on
spin friendly wickets, will see him possibly break into the Test Arena? At 27, that's seen as
still being pretty young and if he doesn't do well it may be the case that
he'll disappear again to play around the fringes of the England set up "England
Lions". and for his countyYorkshire. It'll probably
be the case that if he doesn't make the impact that he needs to this year in
the test side if he's given the chance we'll see him again later on in his
career when he's in his 30's. It is just the case that this thing that we all
do, is one of the most difficult if not the
most difficult of all the disciplines in cricket and it takes
years and years to learn and be good at it. Part of the being good at it includes the need to
have a good cricketing brain. Something you'll hear said about Shane
Warne very often. This means thinking about it, planning, scheming, and working
out batsmen. Working out the Batsman In Bob Woolmer's book 'The Art and Science of Cricket' there's a good chapter that is dedicated to this in a section headed 'Thinking cricket'. The section starts with this aspect, discussing the importance of it and he mentions Glen McGraths ability to dismiss both Sachin Tendulkar and Michael Atherton again and again based on observations about small flaws in their techniques. Woolmer says that despite being geniuses at their game, all batsmen have flaws, it may not be entirely technical, it may be a flaw in their psychology as Woolmer says... "Be alert to the signs of tension and be willing to dominate him emotionally as well as technically". Bob Woolmer's Art & Science of Cricket; 2008; New Holland Publishers; London; Page 399. Bill O'ReillyIs mentioned in Woolmer's book The
Art and Science of Cricket as being a advocate of keeping notes on the batsmen
that he faced, making meticulous notes of new information at the end of each
game. Teams for years have had staff members that draw up pitch maps that show the where
batsmen score the majority of their runs and nowadays this is being increasingly
recorded using digital technology and there are even apps on mobile phones and
tablets that allow you to store this data and make use of it, if you have a scorer, coach or someone off the pitch that can record it for you.
Clarrie Grimmett was so serious about his bowling that when he played for Australia, he never netted with the other Australian players because he new that when they went back to playing state cricket he would have to face them. If he bowled in the nets with them he knew they'd potentially be able to work out some aspect of his bowling. You can see Grimmett watching and learning about them, but never giving them the chance to get one over him!
The thing is what can we do in our situation? As mentioned if you have access to the equipment and someone to record the data you could start to do your own Bill O'Reilly. The sooner you can start to do this the better and potentially the better you'll be at cricket generally. If you are a youth player and you're good enough to play in leagues where they mix club players up to represent larger areas that you play/live in, these are the perfect opportunities to observe the players that you'll meet in club games. In the UK, the next step up for kids that play for their clubs are 'District' teams...
This allows such players
to play with all of the best players in their local area that they'll meet
again and again over their cricket lives (if they go on to play cricket as
adults). So this is one of those opportunities to bowl against those blokes
when they're young and start to work out what it is they do well and what they
do wrong. The environment is one of sharing, so it's one of those situations
where if you're clever you could even ask the bloke - what's the weakest aspect
of their batting? What don't you like about facing Leggies?
If you're not that player
and you're in a position where you only get to see the players twice a year as
I do, then the problem isn't that easy to work with. But you can make a start and
you do have to see it as a long term project and the younger you are the
better, because you will over the years get to know these blokes and you will
have to face them every year thus enabling you to start working the player out.
Remember, your apprenticeship as a Leggie is going to be 8-10 years if not
longer so get started with this straight away!
What do I look for? This is the hard part as far as I'm concerned - partly because I can't bat and I've never had any training or coaching in batting, so I haven't got a clue basically, and everything I've learned (and never been able to implement in any meaningful way) has been through observation and listening, without any confirmation that my assumptions and conclusions are sound. So, I'll turn to Bob Woolmer for guidance...
It is important to be able to spot the gap between the batsman's pad and bat, or to tally a flinch when you slip in a short ball, or a shuffle too far across to off-stump; but it is vital to be able to sense the batsman's state of mind as you run-in. Many batsmen betray their characters and emotional states through small visual clues. Perhaps his eyes are very wide, or he's gripping the bat handle tightly. Some batsmen beat the toe of the bat against the pitch much harder when they're about to hit over the top. A nervous batsman will be a tense batsman, and a tense batsman will be slow to get the bat down to a Yorker, or get his foot to the pitch of the ball swinging away on a good length. Be alert to the signs of tension and be willing to dominate him emotionally as well as technically.
Bob Woolmer's Art & Science of Cricket; 2008; New Holland Publishers; London; Page 399.
Execution of plans and strategies. It has to be mentioned that in order to put your plans into action you have to be bowling well in almost all instances, as in being accurate with your line and length. Even the most basic of plans requires this one aspect to be in place.
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6th October. I've made a start on this and I'm starting to write the articles. In the mean time here's a good start an article elsewhere discussing the term 'Hunting in packs' when discussing bowling attacks, something we're hearing more and more in cricket commentaries.
Wrist Spin Tactics - Pravin Tambe T20
Tactics/Plans
Over at one of my other blogs I'm slowly writing a post where I'm looking at tactics and plans, so at the moment that post is a bit disorganised and I'm still at the research stage. Last night I was researching Pravin Tambe and watching a Rajastan Royals match with Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he takes 4 wickets in his four overs.
Pravin Tambe has an interesting story in that he came from nowhere, progressing from being a club cricketer to playing for RR in the IPL bowling at the likes of Virat Kohli, AB Devlliers et al. Despite that massive progression he's done exceptionally well, partly due to the fact that it is T20 cricket and the batsmen have to go after the ball and score and the fact that he's been handled well by the captains seemingly.
Watching the Youtube video Tambe's spell is interesting because of the way that he goes about getting Virat Kohli's wicket. In the game Kohli is the only bloke that looks as though he's going to be able to put runs on the board because all around him the other players are falling for pitiful scores. On his side Tambe has the benefit of the fact that Kohli therefore is under immense pressure to score runs. Up to the point where Tambe gets the Kohli's wicket, Kohli has played Tambe fairly well, scoring singles and rotating the strike. Then Tambe does something very simple, not changing his action - so he runs in exactly the same as before, the bowling action effort is the same, but he does something quite obvious in one respect, especially if seen from the side, but from Kohli's position at the crease, possibly not that apparent...
He bowls from way back on the crease, so the ball pitches shorter and Kohli plays through the ball far too early and scoops it up for an easy catch at Mid Wicket. Very simple tactic and very effective.
I've just been listening to Chris Jordan talking about death bowling in the 2016 England v South Africa. Whist this might be obvious to most people captains especially, to learners and people that don't think about this stuff 24-7 it's good to hear people reiterate the point and explain it. Very basic, but if the ground is big - square on the leg-side, put a man out there (your best catcher) and just sneak a ball an over on middle and leg with more top-spin, so that the batsman goes through the ball too early and potentially hits it up in the air - your equivalent of Jordan's slower ball.
Pitches that don't turn (Bob Woolmer) - bowl at the off-stump varying the speed and length. Also move around the crease and mix up your leg break with more over-spin or a pure Top-Spinner. If you've got a Wrong Un, use that as well.
Just been watching the 2015 Pakistan v England in the UAE and it's the 2nd test where Yasir Shar and Wahab Riaz have demolished England pretty much securing a win at the end of Englands first innings leaving them well short of Pakistans total.
Not started on this yet but it'll come. In the meantime check out Shane Warne being smacked for 22 off of one over by a tail - ender. That's never happened to me to date (Not that bad), but the thing is take heart - this is the best Wrist Spinner in the history of the game and he's gone for 22 off of one over. Watch it and empathise!
Batgrip - tight. Lack of feet movement - Gap between bat and pads
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This section is dedicated to ideas and strategies relating to setting fields. Some of them are theoretical and used in practice scenarios, others have been suggested by other players and a lot of them are fields set by professionals in games I've watched and been able to figure where the players are set. There's far more analysis on one of my other blogs. The blogs listed below are active as of Jan 2019
The bowling plans blog has got far more info on setting fields.
Yasir Shah v Ian Bell - 4th day second test UAE 2015
This field was set with England in a losing situation, so Shah was in a good position with support from the other end. England needed to score 491 with little hope of doing so.
*****
When we practice currently we do so on a cricket ground with an all weather strip. It's usually my younger son and I we're primarily bowlers, so we're tail-enders. In order to make the practice more worthy we set out a field using cones, so if the balls in the air and it goes anywhere near the cones it's deemed as being caught. Bowling today I noticed with my initial field which was split 50-50 legside and offside I was carted primarily over the legside. Realising that my son is far better hitting the ball through the legside I then considered 'Angry Ranga's' field posted on Big Cricket here and then came up with my only slightly less radical approach below... Using this field below I managed to get my younger son out 12 times in 46 balls only going for 20 runs or so, most of the dismissals would have been catches.
So this field may be an option against a tail ender like myself or my son who struggle to hit the ball easily through the off-side and rely on scoring runs on the leg-side.
*****
Mushtaq AhmedJust been watching Mushtaq Ahmed bowling against Mark Taylor and David Boon. Taylor is a left-hander and I've been able to suss out his field for him and it's here. The associated video which is his whole spell is below the field setting diagram
From the
same game, here’s the field setting for David Boon (Right-hander).
Stuart MacGill v Pakistan (Right-Handers) Rawalpindi 1st Test 1998. Quite a tricky one to identify the positions of the players, but I reckon I've got it about right.
Here's one for right arm finger spinners below, so maybe use full to Googly bowlers or Chinamen to consider? This was at a stage where Pakistan were in total control, so an aggressive field... There's a big gap at mid wicket.
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alive by clicking on my adverts. Liking it on Facebook, Google +, sharing it on
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Twitter and other social media. Also check out my videos here and
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