Playing With Spin
'The ball will twist if you flick your wrist!'
One of the great fascinations of cricket is that of being able to spin or 'tweak' the ball. The success of Shane Warne has certainly helped revive this fascination as spin bowlers in recent years have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity.
The art of spin bowling is about learning to spin the ball hard. This achieves loop through the air and zip as the ball grips the pitch and quickly changes direction. The first steps in making the most of the spinner's art are the grip and the use of the wrist and/or fingers to impart spin. The incredible thing about spin is that it can be applied in any direction.
| DIRECTION | TYPE OF SPIN | TYPE OF DELIVERY |
| Sidewards | Sidespin | Clockwise - offspin
Anticlockwise - legspin |
| Backwards | Underspin | Backspin |
| Forwards | Overspin | Topspin |
Apart from using a ball to demonstrate these types of spin, a table tennis bat and ball are also useful to show the direction and type of spin and the effects of the spin imparted on the ball as it moves through the air. Encourage young players to have fun spinning a ball.
What do you need?
- 1 ball [MILO Kiwi Cricket ball, incrediball, cricket ball], 1 stump
How do you play?
ACTIVITY 1: THE GRIP
Get each player to spread the fingers of his/her bowling hand across the seam of the ball
Grip the ball firmly between the top joints of the fingers and thumb
Ensure the fingers and thumb are spaced fairly evenly around the seam
To spin the ball clockwise or bowl an offspinner, the ball is held firmly between the first two fingers and rests on the thumb, it is the first or index finger that imparts the spin
To spin the ball anticlockwise or bowl a legspinner, the seam of the ball is held in the index, second and third fingers and rests on the thumb, the ball is spun off the index and third fingers
ACTIVITY 2: BEGIN BY SPINNING THE BALL UNDERARM
- Players in pairs to position themselves about 3-5 metres apart
- Players to face each other in a kneeling position
- Each player to grip the ball correctly and to take turns to throw the ball underarm to his/her partner to try and spin it sidewards, backwards and forwards
Once they are able to get the ball to spin place a stump long ways between them to act as a line. Then take turns to spin the ball - first clockwise, then anticlockwise - to try and get it to bounce on one side of the stump and then spin across it. This activity can also be done by one player using a wall to rebound the ball against.