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[Woodyspin]

So a month later and its all going wrong. Bah!

I have been occupied for a couple of weeks and haven't trained and it seems I have lost everything. Very frustrating. At the beginning of the month I was chatting to the off spinner from another team. He suggested with my action I might try off spin. So I did. And it spun nicely. So, I thought to myself - 'Great. No need to learn the googly. I something that I can work on even if its possible to pick. It should still keep the batsman honest.'

But it seems I have lost all my form and I can't get any turn out of my legspin. I believe I am still spinning as hard as before but everything just goes straight on. I was initially hoping it was down to the conditions (the grass is longer and wetter than before) but my off spin is moving pretty well so I am forced to concede its the technique.

I'm going to keep working on both but it may not be ready for next season after all. :-(

Keep at it mate. I talked myself out of it when my skipper asked me to bowl seam up 2 weeks ago and I bowled that pretty well (normally im a seamer). This week he asked me to revert back... Luckily I was working on it and changed my run up after always firing it down leg and not spinning it even on the driest tracks. And bowled pretty well

[Jaffa]

Yep, stick at it. Put the hours in, put as much revs on as you can and you'll be rewarded. Using a red/white ball will help.

Nothing beats drawing people in, then drifting one past leg only for it to nip past their guard and remove their off stump.

[Danny90]

So a month later and its all going wrong. Bah!

I have been occupied for a couple of weeks and haven't trained and it seems I have lost everything. Very frustrating. At the beginning of the month I was chatting to the off spinner from another team. He suggested with my action I might try off spin. So I did. And it spun nicely. So, I thought to myself - 'Great. No need to learn the googly. I something that I can work on even if its possible to pick. It should still keep the batsman honest.'

But it seems I have lost all my form and I can't get any turn out of my legspin. I believe I am still spinning as hard as before but everything just goes straight on. I was initially hoping it was down to the conditions (the grass is longer and wetter than before) but my off spin is moving pretty well so I am forced to concede its the technique.

I'm going to keep working on both but it may not be ready for next season after all. :-(

I'm a fairly decent leg break bowler with 10+ years of experience- the best training aid you can possibly use when you are learning is a ball with red on one side and white on the other. Being able to see the angle of the seam easily helps so much, as you can diagnose so many problems just from seeing how the ball is spinning.

Also you previously mentioned something about the ball coming out the back of your hand- thats one of the biggest misconceptions about leg break bowling and really damages the release. Imagine the ball coming out the side of your hand, not the back- if the ball comes out the back of the hand it is impossible to keep a straight upright seam with the correct grip, whereas with the correct grip, releasing the ball out the side of the hand will present the seam beautifully. If you pm me I'd be happy to watch a couple of vids and give you some pointers.

[Nothing2SeeHere]

<Deep breath>
My name is Simon and I'm <pause for breath> an off spinner. Its been 11 days now since my last big leg break and I have been making do with off breaks to keep my spin fix primed. I really wanted to stay free from the off spin but the easy natural turn has caught my eye.
<and breath out>

So I have been working hard (still) on the leg spin. I need to get me a pot of paint to sort my practice balls out. I desperately want the big turn of the leg spinner but the easy access to off spin is turning my head (so much so I had a go at a doosra - yeah that's pretty much impossible without years of practice). I'll keep practicing through the winter but it does feel like I'm not much closer after a year of practice now. I know I am in reality (I can really rip the ball out of the hand now) but I haven't had that light bulb click of getting the arm and wrist position right often when practicing.

I'd love to get some videos up but at present I feel almost like every delivery is totally different whilst I search for anything that turns. Its a proper retrograde step back at the moment whilst I try and start from scratch again. I think the paint on the practice balls need to be my next step ( I tried permanent marker but it washed off too quickly) as if I can get a consistent release I'll have something to start tweaking.

I still really want to get bowling leg spin so I'm still going to keep working at it - even if I keep up a little off spin practice on the side.

[Nothing2SeeHere]

So I'm back in the game. My problem had a combination of causes but the ultimate symptom was poor wrist position. Essentially - too often my wrist was cocked downwards (towards my forearm) so that when delivered the seam was straight on to my imaginary stumps position.

So what were my causes?
The easiest one to identify was not standing straight during the delivery.
I also initially worked at making my delivery stride more side on so that my arm came around more. This definitely helps but its not something I feel comfortable with at present as the twisting forces through my torso and shoulder feel unbalanced.
Finally - and counter-intuitively - I stopped attempting to 'try and spin the ball'. This requires some explanation and its worth pointing out I'm fully expecting to revisit this as I get the rest of my kinetic chain in alignment. When I bowl off-spin, I get decent turn without actively trying to spin things. Simply by getting the grip correct and the right follow through, the ball seems to just 'flick' off my index finger. If I try harder, I get the sensation of giving it a good rip and it turns more. In other words, I just did what 'felt' like it worked (yes I'm a kinesthetic learner). But when attempting to leg spin, I actively try and perform the wrist action to make the ball spin. My change here was to allow the ball to spin naturally out of the hand. With the right motion, the ball just seems to grip and flick off the ring finger and spin anyway. By stopping trying to spin the ball, I could isolate the wrist into a better position for when the ball was released so the seam was at a better angle.

Now this isn't the end but its a good start as I can see some success here. It is apparent that I'm not getting my maximum spin and I know I'll need this extra spin to get a bit of drift or I'll get smashed around by good batters charging down but thats something I'm going to work up to. For now working on consistent spin with reasonable accuracy (avoiding wides or long hops) is my aim - and it finally feels achievable once again.