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Main \\ Outdoor Activities \\ Earth \\ Cricket \\ Bowling: Right arm Fast \\
  Bowling: Off Spin

Off-spin, a traditional skill, turning the ball from off to leg (left to right) - has produced the greatest bowling figures in the history of the game, Jim Laker's 19-90 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. It was a damp, sticky pitch, before the advent of covered, drier wickets and the increasing use of the pad in defence, both of which have rather negated the impact of off-spin. However, the recent emergence of the big-spinning Muralitharan and the deceptive Saqlain has breathed new life into the art. More of that later.


The field


A typical field for the off-spinner used to be leg-side biased (since that is the way the ball is turning). However, the trend now is for more fielders on the off-side - three in the ring, and two close. The short leg is there for the inside-edge, or ball ricocheting off the glove. The silly point for the possible bat-pad catch from a defensive prod to the off-break, and slip for the 'arm ball' that is liable to take the edge if the batsman hasn't read it properly.


Off-break


Spin is imparted mainly with the first and second fingers. The thumb assists. The seam is then spinning from left to right but the condition of the pitch will determine how much turn is achieved.


armball

armball1


Arm ball


This delivery starts with the same grip, but no spin is imparted and the ball is allowed to glide out of the hand, guided by the first finger only. It will bounce straight-on after pitching.






offbreak

offbreak1


The off-break
The release of the off-break and the arm ball look quite similar from the batsman's end, but up close they are subtly different. The off-break is spun with first and second fingers and wrist rotating to the right, the seam spinning at right-angles to the batsman (see off-break images above). Ideally, it should land on the seam for extra purchase. The more spin imparted, the more the ball will 'dip' in flight, landing earlier than the batsman expects. A spinner who gets a lot of dip is described as having 'a good loop'. Sri Lanka's off-spinner Muralitharan imparts so much spin the ball dips alarmingly late in flight.


Arm ball


An off-break won't necessarily spin. If the pitch has a good grass covering or a glassy sheen, it will only deviate marginally. Only in very crumbly, or damp conditions, is it likely to 'turn square' as the spin grips the surface. By contrast, the arm ball never turns. Well, it's not supposed to. The ball is floated off the first finger, seam upright with no spin imparted (see arm ball images above).


All being well, the batsman still thinks it's an off-break and will play for the turn. Instead, the ball goes straight, or if it's still got plenty of shine, might actually swing away a bit. For this reason, it's often called a 'drifter'.


The 'Mystery Ball'


So, the art of off-spin is being revived by two brilliant practitioners who have developed new techniques and subtle guiles. What makes Saqlain (and Muralitharan) so brilliant, is that he has developed a ball that, with an off-break action and release, actually spins the other way. He found that if he inverted the wrist in delivery, and bowled the ball out of the top of his hand rather than out of the front, it did occasionally break the opposite way.


This unique delivery, labelled his 'mystery ball' or 'wrong'un', has caused such trepidation among batsmen that they are rendered strokeless against Saqlain. It is such a delicate and subtle skill, batsmen have had real trouble identifying it. From behind, the mystery ball looks only marginally different to the ordinary off-break. But the front-on view (i.e. the batsman's view) shows how the mystery ball is significantly different from the normal off-break.


Basically, the mystery ball is bowled out of the back of the hand. Although his wrist is still moving in a left-to-right motion (i.e. for an off-break), this subtle variation imparts top-spin, and even a little leg-spin, on the ball. The final result is a ball spinning in the opposite direction to the way the batsman expects. If you look at the pictures below, the differences between the two deliveries are quite obvious. However, the bowler's hand is in this position for only a fraction of a second, and the difference isn't discernible to the batsman 22 yards' away. The mystery ball is wonderful to watch, unless you're the batsman.


Entrapment


No other current off-spinner turns the ball both ways with the same action, and against Saqlain most batsmen are constantly guessing which way the ball will spin. Mostly they assume it's the normal off-break, turning from left to right. If it goes the other way, they're in danger of missing it by a mile.


Using the crease


Usually, off-spinners bowl over the wicket to right-handers, and round the wicket to left-handers. The latter is particularly effective as the Test match wears on because there may be some rough to aim into. To confuse the left-hander further, the off-spinner can vary his angle with different positions on the crease. Robert Croft can take this to extremes, bowling from a bewildering range of places.


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