Wrist spin

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Bowling Techniques
  • Wrist spin
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Animation of a leg spin (right-arm wrist spin) delivery.
Animation of a leg spin (right-arm wrist spin) delivery.

Wrist 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, usually used to spin the ball in the opposite direction, is finger spin.

Wrist spin is bowled by releasing the ball from the back of the hand, so that it passes over the little finger. Done by a right-handed bowler, this imparts an anticlockwise rotation to the ball, as seen from the bowler's perspective; a left-handed wrist spinner rotates the ball clockwise.

Although the biomechanical details of wrist spin are the same for right- and left-handed bowlers, such bowlers are often discussed separately, as the direction in which the ball deviates as it bounces on the cricket pitch is different:

Notable wrist spinners are Abdul Qadir, Shane Warne, Danish Kaneria, Anil Kumble and Richie Benaud (all leg spinners).

[edit] Types of Delivery

Piyush Chawla of India, bowling a leg break.
Piyush Chawla of India, bowling a leg break.
  • Leg break - Spins from leg to off, left to right as the batsman sees it. The leg break is the leg-spinner's stock delivery
  • Googly - Bowled with a leg break action, but the wrist faces down on delivery, meaning the ball moves from off to leg.
  • Topspinner - the topspinner bounces more than usual, and does not spin, it hits the seam and bounces off the seam.
  • Slider - Goes straight on.
  • Flipper - A backspinner, which doesn't bounce as much and often traps batsmen LBW.
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