PitchVision Solo/Solo +

Hi James nice to have you on board and yes you've definitely come to the right place! This forum may be new but many of us have migrated from longer established forums bound by the spinners fraternal bond. None of us (barring one member) can claim to be experts but what we can provide at the very least is the benefit of our collective experience which I think counts for something. The best way to begin your journey is by watching, reading, discussing and above all else, practicing. Hours and hours upon hours. Also the hand flipping exercise should become your daily ritual, it is the foundation upon which all the deliveries in the leg spinners armoury are based.

Hi,

I have only bowled probably 3 overs in a match all season and that was when the game was out of our hands and the bowl was getting tossed about to whoever fancied ago. Not really done much bowling as only really been into cricket since the summer but have been practising at least once a week in the park. Unfortunatly we dont net during the season, so there is no real way to prove to the other team members that i can bowl, and to be fair at the moment i wouldnt be in the first 4 bowlers (probably 5 or 6). I play football for a semi-proffesional club in Sheffield as a GK, so i have decent hand-eye coordination so whilst i only have limited scoring shots i rarely get out and do quite well at holding up an end if there is a decent batsmen at the other. I have bought a couple of leg spin guides off of PitchVision by Menno and a KP batting course to work on that side of my game, but my main hope is to be a Leg-Spin bowler. We dont have a proper spinner in our team, just a decent batter who bowls when needed who can put it on a length and not go for many runs but is never going to take wickets unless the batsmen do something stupid. I have not had any teaching but am very enthuastic about cricket in general as well as Leg-Spin so I am considering starting like a development log on here to see how my game develops through the advice i get from yourselves and from others. I am also looking into getting some proffesional coaching from the "Cricket Asylum" on getting myself a sound basic technique and trying to work from there. Will try and get a video posted up next week if possible. Thanks for your advice and enthusiasm, really helps to keep going.

Ah that's interesting - The Menno aspect, you're the 1st bloke I've heard of that's ever bought Menno's book, what do you reckon to it? Menno recently shut down his Spin Bowling Project website or at best just said that he wouldn't be on there anymore, he was always a bit of a unknown quantity as far as I was concerned. Those blokes that have a commercial/business interest in the subject always seem to hold their cards close to their chest, as such.

Yeah go for the log, I'm sure there'll be people that are willing to give you feedback - in essence that's why we're all on here. All the blokes that have come across from Bigcricket are those that made the spin section on bigcricket what it was.

Was the info in the guide unique or was it stuff that is generally out there and available? We've always wondered on Bigcricket, if there was anything that we were missing when we're discussing the subject. There's a video that's not on youtube featuring Terry Jenner (ECB video) which covers some of the stuff we all do and talk about, but he strips things down to some real basics and emphasises key elements of bowling, but it kind of comes through with a clarity not seen anywhere else and just makes a lot of sense. Additionally because it's Jenner, you know that it's good information. I suppose that's part of the deal with Menno?

to be honest there really aren't any leg spinners around worth watching these days mate, Tahir is the only one on the Test scene. Scott Borthwick is pretty ordinary and Will Beer (Michael was the left arm orthodox the aussies called up for one test in the Ashes) isn't really any better. Steve Smith is dreadful and the aussies have gone right off leggies since Bryce McGain it seems. The only leggie I've enjoyed watching in recent years who's still going is Amit Mishra and he's gone backwards rather than forwards. But he does at least rip a leg break and bowl some nice variations. You're far better off looking to the past for inspiration; Warne, MacGill, Tiger, Grum, Chandra, Gupte, Ring, Armstrong, Qadir, Benaud. The list of great leg spin bowlers goes on and on. Sadly we have little to no videos of the these guys the further you go back so you'll have to bury your head in books and take what you can from those.