How to Bowl Spin on Batting Tracks
Menno Gazendam is author of Spin Bowling Project. Get your free 8 week spin bowling course here
This is not an issue that should bother amateur bowlers too much. Pitches generally turn, as they should.
Professionals though all play on interstate highways that are meant to cater for the batter. We will not get into that debate now. It’s just a fact.
What has happened though is that modern spinners have started developing skills to cope with non-turning pitches (and big bats and hitters). They had to do it otherwise no one would pick spinners. That is not the case as spinners have constantly been under the top bowlers in the IPL (which is a scary place for bowlers).
So, what skills can you learn from professional spin bowlers that bowl on batting paradises that do not spin? What do they do when the ball turns less?
- They bowl wicket to wicket, and vary their angles in the crease. So, they deliver the ball from different angles
- They focus on pulling the batsman forward and making the ball moves just a little bit. You see, the only way to catch a batsman against spin on the back foot is because he is trying to give himself more time to see the ball. If your ball is not spinning you really need to draw the batsman forward
- Focus more on top spinning balls. The ball will not spin more, but all the revolutions will work towards very sharp dip (as all your drift is focused on making the ball dip - unlike normal stock deliveries where you make the ball drift sideways and make it dip). So, what you lack for in help from the pitch you make up for it in the air with sharp dip
Just watch the IPL spin bowlers closely. The era of darting into the batsman's legs are over. The best spinners - Narine, Herath, Ashwin and the rest - work the batsmen over in the air.
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