Spin bowling, sometimes known as
slow bowling, is a technique used for
bowlingIn the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler....
in the
sportSport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as...
of
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that is first documented as being played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, cricket had developed to the point where it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being...
. Practitioners are known as
spinners or
spin bowlerA bowler in the sport of cricket is usually a player whose speciality is bowling, analogous to a pitcher in baseball. A bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder....
s.
The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the
cricket ballA cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket.-Manufacture:Cricket balls are made from a core of cork, which is layered with tightly wound string, and covered by a leather case with a slightly raised sewn seam...
with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the
pitchA cricket pitch is the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets. The pitch is 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the pitch.In amateur matches,...
it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the batsman to hit the ball cleanly. The speed the ball travels is not critical, and is significantly slower than for
fast bowlingFast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
.
Discussion
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Spin bowling, sometimes known as
slow bowling, is a technique used for
bowlingIn the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler....
in the
sportSport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as...
of
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that is first documented as being played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, cricket had developed to the point where it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being...
. Practitioners are known as
spinners or
spin bowlerA bowler in the sport of cricket is usually a player whose speciality is bowling, analogous to a pitcher in baseball. A bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder....
s.
Purpose
The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the
cricket ballA cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket.-Manufacture:Cricket balls are made from a core of cork, which is layered with tightly wound string, and covered by a leather case with a slightly raised sewn seam...
with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the
pitchA cricket pitch is the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets. The pitch is 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the pitch.In amateur matches,...
it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the batsman to hit the ball cleanly. The speed the ball travels is not critical, and is significantly slower than for
fast bowlingFast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
. A typical spin delivery has a speed in the range 70-90 km/h (45-55 mph).
Techniques
Spin bowling is divided into four different categories, depending on the particular physical technique used. There is virtually no overlap between the two basic biomechanical techniques of
wrist spinWrist spin is a style of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the mechanical technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball...
and
finger spinFinger spin is a style of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the mechanical technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball. The other spinning technique, generally used to spin the ball in the opposite direction, is...
.
- Off spin
Off spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket which is bowled by an off spinner, a right-handed spin bowler who uses his or her fingers and/or wrist to spin the ball from a right-handed batsman's off side to the leg side...
- Right-handed with finger spin technique. (eg. Jim LakerJames "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, most famous for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia....
)
- Leg spin
Leg spin is a style of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action, causing the ball to spin anti-clockwise at the point of delivery...
- Right-handed with wrist spin technique. (eg. Shane WarneShane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as the greatest leg spin bowler in the history of the game...
)
- Left-arm orthodox spin
Left-arm orthodox spin is a style of bowling in the sport of cricket.- Motion :Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left-arm bowler using the fingers to spin the ball anticlockwise...
- Left-handed with finger spin technique. (eg. Daniel VettoriDaniel Luca Vettori is a cricketer who is the current captain of the New Zealand cricket team. Though he was born in Auckland, he was brought up in Hamilton, attending Marian School and later St. Paul's Collegiate School...
)
- Left-arm unorthodox spin
In cricket, left-arm unorthodox spin – often known as slow left-arm chinaman and abbreviated to SLC – is a style of bowling.-Technique:...
- Left-handed with wrist spin technique. (eg. Brad HoggGeorge Bradley Hogg , known as Brad Hogg, is a retired Australian cricketer. He is primarily a left arm wrist spinner bowler, and he is a capable lower-order left-handed batsman and an excellent fielder.His international career was revitalised after Shane Warne's absence from cricket in 2003 due...
)
Depending on technique, a spin bowler uses either predominant wrist or finger motion to impart spin to the ball around a horizontal axis that is at an oblique angle to the length of the pitch. This sort of spin means it is also possible for the
Magnus effectThe Magnus effect is the phenomenon whereby a spinning object flying in a fluid creates a whirlpool of fluid around itself, and experiences a force perpendicular to the line of motion...
to cause the ball to deviate sideways through the air, before it bounces. Such deviation is called
drift. The combination of drift and spin can make the ball's trajectory complex, with a change of direction at the bounce.
This variety of trajectories achievable by a spin bowler can bewilder inexperienced or poor batsmen.
Spin bowlers are generally given the task of bowling with an old, worn cricket ball. A new cricket ball better suits the techniques of fast bowling than spin bowling, while a worn one grips the pitch better and achieves greater spin. Spin bowlers are also more effective later in a game, as the pitch dries up and begins to crack and crumble. This again provides more purchase for the spinning ball and produces greater deviation.
Conditions
In modern times, spin bowling has traditionally been a forte of the bowlers from the sub-continent. The primary reason for that is that the pitches in the sub-continent provide more help to the spin bowlers. The faster the pitch degenerates, the earlier the spinners come into the picture. Australian and South African wickets are usually very hard and bouncy, helping the fast bowlers more. They do not break very much during the entire duration of the test match. But pitches in the sub-continent are not that hard. They are not usually held together by the grass as much. They break up quicker and help spin bowlers and leg spin is considered to be one of the toughest type to have control but very effective in terms of picking of wickets.
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(Also bowled pace)
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(Also bowled medium paceMedium pace bowling is a style of bowling in the sport of cricket. It can be considered a sub-category of fast bowling, if bowling styles are seen as two categories, the other category being spin bowling...
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(Also bowled medium paceMedium pace bowling is a style of bowling in the sport of cricket. It can be considered a sub-category of fast bowling, if bowling styles are seen as two categories, the other category being spin bowling...
)
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