What
should a knowledgeable cricketer, and any captain,
understand about leg-spinning?
1. THE NATURE OF LEG-SPIN
:
The leg-spinner MUST try to spin
the ball hard. Reducing flick, rolling the ball
out, in order to attain accuracy is not the answer.
The aim should be to spin the ball hard, then
bowl enough to obtain accuracy with a real flick.
Thus the leg-spinner must bowl a great deal both
In the nets and in match situations. In the nets,
a two hour spell is a minimum; less than a hour
is simply a warm up. in the match, he is both
strike bowler and stock bowler to be effective
he needs a lot of work.
There are different types of
leg-spinners, who have Individual advantages and
disadvantages. The quicker leggie is usually a
bigger, taller man, whilst the slower leggie is
usually a shorter version. As I said, they have
differences but neither is necessarily right and
the other wrong.
Unless he is an O'Reilly, who
was unique, the alms are similar. They are to
confuse a batsman's judgment of length. The turn
of the ball is NOT the only or, even, major object.
Turn, in fact, is only finishing off the confusion
of length judgment which has resulted from subtle
variations in trajectory and pace, drop, drift
and bounce, which are created by variations of
over-spin, side-spin, and back-spin. The side-spin
which creates turn off the, pitch is the best
known and most easily recognised, but, in fact,
over-spin and back-spin are probably more significant
ingredients of the leg-spinner's tactics.
Thus bowling faster in order
to achieve quicker turn is seldom an advantage.
It may be for an O'Reilly type, but for the normal
spinner, a slower spinner, increased pace simply
- flattens the trajectory of the delivery and
decreases the deception of flight he depends upon.
As a general rule, the ball should
travel from the bowler's hand above eye level
until it begins to drop. "Never let batsman
see top of ball," was the advice of an old
Lancastrian spinner.
2. LINE :
Most leg-spinners attempt to
bowl along middle and off-stump line, for the
same reason that out-swing bowlers do. They both
have the same advantage, they are moving away
from the right hand batsman's eyes and feet, and
should utilise this by bowling around off-stump.
Recently, a policy of leg-stump
line has been broadcast. Few bowlers have ever
bowled that line in the past, few have ever been
accurate enough. For, along such a line, the full
ball is hit away on the leg-side and the short
ball, with the spin, to the off. All bowlers should
attempt to attack one side of the stumps only,
and a leg-spinner can do this, and usually has
done so, by bowling middle and off .
3. USE :
An experienced leg-spinner will
have available a repertoire including a wrong
'un or two, an over-the-top-spinner, a back spinner
which skids on straight, and varying angles of
leg-spin. He needs time to weave these into his
spinning web.
To bowl leg-spinners for an over
or two before lunch, tea or stumps is a gross
misuse. A leg spinner must have time to build
his attack, just as a batsman must have time to
build an innings.
A leg-spinner is an excellent
weapon to bring into an attack against any new
batsman, to begin a new session's play, or against
the tail. Where as medium pace is likely to play
batsman in, leg-spinning forces them to think
and make decisions. There is no more attacking
pair than a down-wind quick and an up-wind leg-spinner.
4. ACCURACY :
It is a myth that leg-spinners
are usually inaccurate and expensive. Bad leg
- spinners may be, but so are bad medium pacers
and quick's. Quality leg-spinners have always
been accurate and, as often as not, most economic.
No one speaks of rapid run-rates
when 0'Reilly and Grimmett bowled in tandem; Benaud
was pin-point accurate; Jim Higgs, in his era,
was usually Victoria's most economic bowler; whilst
Trevor Hohns is always very tight and inexpensive.
But no leg-spinner has a chance
of being accurate, or of being a dangerous wicket-
taker unless he bowls a great deal. You cannot
be a part-time leggie; it is most difficult of
all bowling forms; it needs time and work.
But the captain who makes his
leg-spinner feel wanted, gives him responsibility,
and uses him as both stock and shock bowler has
at his disposal a major attacking weapon. If he
has real talent, he is virtually half of an attack.
5. FIELD PLACEMENT
:
Remember that with the variety
he has available and if he spins the ball hard,
the leg-spinner can never be negative. By his
very nature of bowling, he is an aggressive, positive
bowler. Thus he does not need ultra-attacking
fields to justify his credentials.
A leg-spinner may like to start
with two on the boundary at square leg and mid-wicket.
If it makes him comfortable as he sets out to
spin the ball hard and throw the ball up, let
him have them. After all, quick's often bowl with
a fine leg and third man without being accused
of negativism. As the leggie, settles down, he
may choose to bring in one or both the boundary
riders, but, if he is more comfortable with them
out there; give them to him.
Very seldom does a leg-spinner
benefit from a bat-pad fieldsman. There may be
occasions when he may wish to crowd the bat, but
generally he does not like or use such close fieldsmen.
The modern argument is that bat-pads put pressure
on batsmen, but more often than not they put more
pressure on the bowler, who, in response, tends
to tighten up, reduce variation, speed up, and
flatten in order to bowl to that field.
On good wickets, good batsmen
thrive on bat-pad fieldsman. Two such fieldsmen
remove two from the in-field, gaps open up, runs
are more easily come by, and pressure reduces.
A far more worrying fieldsman to the batsman in
full cry on a good wicket is short cover, short
mid-on, or short mid-wicket about 20 yards from
the bat.
So don't forever force close
fieldsmen on leg-spinners. For some, never use
them; for others, use them as a variation; for
none make them a permanent tactic. Remember that
a leg-spinner is often more effective if you withdraw
the field, loosen the batsman up and encourage
him to play shots, rather than trying to tighten
him up with close-set fields .
A Captain should
always think of his nine fielders as pawns to
be used as each situation demands. It is limiting
to become too rigid in your planning of set, pre-conceived
field-placements. Of course, there are basic,
bread and butter fields, but always be prepared
to improvise. I recommend the old captaincy adage
- "If you think of something which is a positive,
aggressive change, don't wait, do it at once.
If you think of a change which is negative and
defensive, don't hurry into it, it can wait.
For a basis of discussion, I
set out below traditional, orthodox field-placements
for a right hand leg-spinner to a right had batsman
and a left hand batsman. Following these are a
few explanatory notes. |
