by Paul
Graeme Swann : Spin It Up And Hard
Hi Coach,
I have two young spinners who bowl very well but are slow through the air.
How can I get them to quicken their pace without sacrificing loop or the amount of spin they put on the ball.
Regards
Paul
Hi Paul,
good question and one that is even more important now that we have a generation of spinners who are bowling too chest on and inclined to throw the ball, rather than bowl it.
There are a couple of important points we need to clarify before we move on to the central part of your question.
Firstly, that the ball must be spun up above the batter’s eye line so that the batters brain has to process the flight of the ball.
This is where a good spinner begins their deception of making the batter misjudge the flight of the ball, leading to his dismissal.
When the batter has to look up it challenges them to make sense of it drifting and dipping in the air as it comes toward them.
This is a combination of over spin and side spin ( like top spin and slice in tennis), it sounds complicated but it isn’t really, if a young cricketer bowls with a two piece ball they can see the ball spinning and moving in the air and they can play with this and their hand postions to create different effects.
Or if they take a table tennis ball and spin it over the top or down the side of the ball they can see how top spin and side spin take effect.
Play is the key word, and it is how Saqlain Mushtaq created and mastered the Doosra.
Okay, now on to your the core of your question !
The quickest way is to increase the pace of the run up, this immediately adds kilometres an hour to the delivery and allows the bowler to really pivot and drive through the crease.
A good example of this is Graeme Swann, I’m a bit of Swann fan, he is old fashioned and orthodox, runs up, attacks the crease, has a good solid, side ways on action and spin the ball hard.
Research done in England showed that he imparted more spin to the ball than any other spinner in county cricket.
The amount of spin he imparts begins with his run up, is built on by having a strong, side on action and a full and vigorous follow through that sweeps him down the wicket.
When the run up is too slow the bowler has to try and generate all the pace in their action, often forcing them to ‘muscle’ the delivery, the front arm opens up too early and they end up losing their control of length, line and spin.
A simple drill to work on this is one that I learnt from Saqlain … and that is to warm up off a medium pacers run up and bowl fast spin.
Observe how easy it is for the spinner to get through their action and complete their follow through.
Observe how much spin they impart to the ball.
Then, slow it down a little bit, see where there is some middle ground between this longer run up and extra speed.
Slow Front Arm – Quick Bowling Arm
Let them explore how they can utilise this exercise to increase their momentum into the crease.
They need to ‘set’ their bowling action by keeping their front arm high (if they are finger spinners) and then drive hard, accelerating their bowling arm. This gives over and side spin, which creates drift and dip.
To summarise … play with using a longer run up, like a medium pacer bowling fast spinners, see how this effects the pace and spin on the ball.
Spin the ball hard and up !
Tie a piece of string or rope across the net at the batters eye height, half way down the wicket and get the bowlers to practice bowling it over the rope but still landing it on a good line and length.
I hope that this helps, best wishes Coach
Join in and write your own page! It’s easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Ask Coach?
About Richard Pybus
I'm Richard Pybus, I've coached Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middlesex, Titans and the Cape Cobras in South Africa and the goal of this site is to help you to play winning cricket.