How easy is it to change cricket skills?
Don't tell anyone, but I have a little dream.
I dream of taking up leg spin. I admire the art and, frankly, you can go on a lot longer bowling spin than you can wicketkeeping.
In junior cricket it happens quite a bit, with players trying out their hand at all skills before settling on something they prefer. That's the way it should be as there are many top players who didn't start with the skill they became known for: Phil Tufnell and John Embury both bowled seam up before turning to spin. Jack Russell didn't keep wicket as a youngster.
It's an obvious thing with young players, but in the senior game you see it very rarely.
So is my dream just pie-in-the-sky or can it be done?
In my view it can, it just takes something that most people don't have.
And that's the passion to change.
If you have a burning desire to do any cricket skill you work at it. And as we know, the main difference between someone who masters a skill and someone who doesn't is about practice: The more you practice the more likely you are to become a master.
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damn right david!
injury has alot to do with it thoguh, i'd say.
In what way louis?
Dont forget the demoralisation when your overs go for a lot of runs
Absolutely David!
Of course, you are right, you do need the desire and determination but with these two qualities, you are half way there.
I am not going to lie to you, and I know you are in no way under any delusion that learning a new skill is going to be easy. To get it right, it is going to take a lot of hands on time, blood, sweat and tears... probably more of the latter
.
However, if you can fit all this into your life, you should be ready to roll your first ball in contest by the start of the next season.
As a coach, I would have to say that your plans, aims and goals are spot on. As a biomechanist, I may wish to change the way you go about it. Building your action from base is perfect but before I would even consider the arms, I would make sure that what happens from the waist down is solid. Too many spinners land on the wrong part of the back foot; the action is then doomed to fail, no matter what happens next, and more importantly, they stack up chronic conditions. Many also fail to get their weight transfer right; not allowing for a clean pivot of the front foot and stacking up more chronic conditions and possible acute injuries. However, with your strong core, you should find this easier than most.
Go for it David... nothing is impossible and if you have a mind to do something, it will happen... just keep us informed of your progress
wen i sed injury,i meant some people are forced to change, like, fast bowlers damaging themselves and swapping to spin to not get injured.
it happens, i know because its happened to me
the dodgey thing was i was only 16 and only bowled quick for 2 seasons.
a very good reason to change i think.
its too late to turn back now, im not bad at finger spin nowadays.