Menno Gazendam is author of Spin Bowling Project. Get your free 8 week spin bowling course here.

We love to blame a bowler's action. As soon something goes wrong the everyone have something to say:

"His delivery arm is too low"

"She is getting too close to the wickets"

"His non bowling arm is weak"

The action always gets the first blame.

I do not think Paul Harris was the best spinner South Africa ever had. But every time Harris went through a dip his low action came in question.

When he does well, no one mentions his action.

Even though it stayed the same.

Harris' action has nothing to do with whether he is bowling well or not. It is an action that comes naturally to him.

The best club level orthodox left arm spinner I have ever seen had an action that was much lower that of Harris. How he manage to take so many wickets with that action I do not know. But, it worked for him. If I try to do that or coach that I would look silly.

Blame your action last

Having coached many spin bowlers, I can safely say that the action is usually the last reason for poor bowling performance. Yet, it is the first place coaches and players themselves want to start messing when something goes wrong.

With the usual result of screwing up the bowler even further.

Some reasons much more common to poor performance are:

• Lack of self-believe
• Not spinning the ball hard enough
• Bowling with no plan
• Poor fitness, especially in hot countries

So, the next time you struggle to hit your line and length - or the batsmen play you with ease - look at all the possible issues that could be the source of the problem. Not just your action.

My own troubles

I struggled with not spinning hard enough.

I went through a patch a few seasons ago where I would hit line and length every ball without a problem, but simply not trouble the batsmen at all.

It took me awhile to sort out that my action was just fine, but I was simply not turning the ball hard enough. I became confident that line and length is all I need. But, the ball arrived there without any dip or venom and I stopped taking wickets.

But I fixed it.

By pivoting harder and using more wrist in releasing the ball I got my rip back without adjusting my action.

I never doubted my action, or tried to mess with it and I came through these issues.