TYPES OF SPIN BOWING
LEG-SPIN BOWLING
Leg spin is considered one of the best parts of all bowling techniques. If you have a team member who is the best leg spinner, it is worth more than gold. In this type of bowling, the bowler uses the wrist to give a spin to the ball. The bowler flicks the ball with their wrist by turning the ball.
GOOGLY BOWLING
The most popular form of spin bowling is googly, which is essentially a leg spinner bowling an off-spin with the same grip and a seemingly similar wrist movement. A googly is bowled with the leg-break grip but it is twisted just before releasing the ball, which enables the ball to do an off-spin after bouncing. Hence, while a right-handed batsman would expect a leg spin to move away from him or her, a googly is designed to stun the player and move inwards.
TOP SPIN BOWLING
A top spinner aims to make the ball bounce higher after it bounces on the pitch with a grip that is almost similar to a leg break. The only difference remains that the wrist is kept quite straight and instead of twisting the wrist, the fingers are rolled over the top of the ball creating more spin than required.
FLIPPER BOWLING
The flipper is one of the more complicated variations that leg break bowlers bowl! It is a ball that is delivered with a very unorthodox release, making it arguably the hardest variation to master for leg break bowlers. The way the ball is released causes it to shoot out of the hand quickly and on a much flatter trajectory.
SLIDER BOWLING
The slider is another variation for leg break bowlers! It is a delivery that looks very similar to a leg break during the release and the flight of the ball, but instead of getting the ball spinning diagonally forwards like we do during a leg break, a slider gets the ball spinning in a slightly different direction.
ARM BOWLING
The arm ball is probably the most common variation bowled by off break bowlers. It is a non-spinning ball that is bowled more like a delivery from a medium pacer than a spinner! It will usually be bowled a bit faster than an off break, and will maintain its line once it hits the pitch. It also presents an opportunity for the off break bowler to get swing in the air if they choose to bowl the delivery with the seam upright!
The Doosra
The Doosra is the most famous variation that off break bowlers possess, and it also brings some controversy with it! The Doosra turns in the opposite direction to the standard off break. So, for right arm off break bowlers, the Doosra will turn from right to left – away from the body of a right handed batsman. For a left arm orthodox bowler, a Doosra would turn from left to right – in towards the body of a right handed batsman!
The Carrom Ball
The Carrom ball has re-appeared in cricket in the last decade thanks to off break bowlers like Ajantha Mendis and Ravi Ashwin. It spins in the same direction as the Doosra! This means that right arm off break bowlers will be spinning the Carrom ball away from the body of right handed batsmen, whilst left arm orthodox bowlers will be spinning the Carrom ball in towards the body of a right hander.
