Finger spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the 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 wrist spin. Although there are exceptions, finger spinners generally turn the ball less than wrist spinners. However, because the technique is simpler and easier to master, finger spinners tend to be more accurate.
The name finger spin is actually something of a misnomer, as the finger action is not a vital part of the mechanism for producing the characteristic spin on the ball. A finger spin delivery is released with the arm held in a fully supinated position, with the fingers on the outside of the ball (to the right for a right-handed bowler). If this supinated position is maintained through the release, the fingers will naturally cut down the side of the ball and produce a clockwise spin. The great English finger spinner Derek Underwood is famous for bowling finger spin in this manner.
Additional spin may be put on the ball through two other means: the active supination of the arm from an initially pronated position just before the ball is released, and the flexion or extension of the wrist at the moment of release. Both techniques increase the effect of the cutting mechanism. The slower a spin bowler delivers the ball, the more actively he must attempt to impart spin onto it to maintain the same rate of revolution.
Types of finger spinner
Although finger spin may be bowled with the same technique (albeit laterally inverted, as though viewed in a mirror) by both 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:
Right-handed finger spin is known as an off spin. Left-handed finger spin is known as a left-arm orthodox spin.
For simplicity's sake, the rest of this article assumes a right-handed finger spinner bowling to a right-handed batsman.
However, increasingly, the distinction must be made between traditional finger spinners and non-traditional finger spinners, particularly with innovations (such as the doosra and carrom balls) which require a different grip on the ball (and consequently a different bowling technique).
Such styles of bowling may be categorised as follows
Traditional finger spin, where the ball is gripped with the top knuckles of the index and middle fingers firmly gripping across the seam. The thumb is held clear of the ball, or rests lightly on the seam. Notable users of this technique include Graeme Swann and Nathan Lyon. Variations normally used with this type of bowling include the arm ball and the top-spinner. Middle-finger spin, where the ball is gripped with the middle finger running directly over the top of the ball, with the knuckles of the index and ring finger gripping the ball from beneath, as exemplified by Saeed Ajmal, Saqlain Mushtaq and Suresh Raina. The stock ball is an off-break, with the middle and then index finger running over the seam to produce revolutions. Variations normally used include the doosra and the teesra. Carrom spin (Carrom ball), in which the ball is held between the middle finger and the thumb, with the middle finger parallel to the palm of the hand. Instead of a conventional release, the ball is squeezed out and flicked by the fingers like a carrom player flicking the disc on a carrom board. However, normally this delivery will be a leg break, although off breaks, top-spinners, and back-spinners may be bowled using this grip, as demonstrated by Jack Iverson.Iverson Gleeson method www.youtube.com. Retrieved 3 March 2011. Current users of this delivery include Ajantha Mendis and Ravichandran Ashwin.
There exist other sorts of finger-spin, but this section should be viewed mainly as a guide to the main types used in international cricket today. There are those who would add the type of spin bowled by Muttiah Muralidharan to this list, and although his stock bowl is a right-handed off-break, such a bowling technique would be better described as non-traditional wristspin, owing to the extent to which the wrist, far more so than the fingers, are involved in generating revolutions on the ball.
Grip A finger spinner grips the ball with the top knuckles of the index and middle fingers firmly gripping across the seam. The thumb is held clear of the ball.
Process The stock ball for a right-handed finger spinner has a clockwise component of spin as well as a component of top spin. The stock ball for a left-handed finger spinner rotates the anticlockwise as seen by the bowler. For some finger spinners the index and middle fingers do a lot of work, snapping, to impart spin on the ball. At the other end of the spectrum there are finger spinners who rely much more on the wrist action. Either way, the wrist position at the point of release determines how the ball spins.
+ Wrist position for finger spinner Wrist position Delivery Intended outcome Palm of hand facing batsman Traditional off spinner. Side spinner. Drifts away from batsman. Turns from off to leg side of the pitch. Side of hand pointed to leg slip Stock or attacking ball – part top spin, part side spin Some turn, some dip or bounce and some drift. Side of hand pointed to batsman Top spinner Dip – bounces high or lower in length. Back of hand facing batsman Doosra Spinning from leg to off the pitch Back of hand facing the ground Under cutter A drift
Variations There is a large range of variations used by fingerspinners, with a brief description of the most common given below.
Arm ball – a delivery with an upright seam faced towards the batsmen, which swings in and follows the direction of the arm. Generally bowled with a lot of backspin. Topspinner – a delivery with an upright seam rotating towards the batsmen, which generally tends to dip and bounce more than other deliveries Undercutter – a delivery with the seam horizontal, that skids on towards the batsmen. Seldom used in recent times. Doosra – a ball that turns from leg to off (a legbreak), but that is delivered in a similar manner to the traditional offbreak, such that it can be extremely difficult to differentiate between the two. Teesra – otherwise known as a backspinner, this delivery rotates backwards from the view of the batsmen, with the seam scrambled (thus differentiating it from the arm ball). Carrom ball – a surprise variation, flicked off the middle finger (in a similar fashion to a disk in the Asian game of Carrom) that turns from leg to off (a legbreak).
Off-spin
Traditionally, finger spinners bowled with an emphasis on side spin. With the advent of covered and better batting pitches the focus changed to bowling with a component of top spin. The top spin provides loop which makes it harder for the batsman to make an early judgement of the length of the delivery. The ball tends to be released with a slightly upward trajectory which raises the ball above the batsman's eye line. The topspin on the ball then causes the ball to dip earlier and bounce higher.
The side spin component of the delivery causes it to drift, courtesy of Bernoulli's principle. For a stock, side spin or under cutter this causes the ball to drift away from the batsman. The combination of drift, loop and spin combine to provide the finger spinner's attacking ability.
Doosra
A doosra (, Hindi दूसरा) is a particular type of delivery by an off-spin bowler in the sport of cricket, popularised by Pakistani cricketer Saqlain Mushtaq.Saqlain signs for Ireland: Cricinfo.com. Retrieved 26 April 2007. The term means ‘(the) second (one)’, or ’(the) other (one)’ in Urdu (and Hindi).Doosra may be the difference – Cricket – Sport – theage.com.au Saqlain Mushtaq has also invented a variant of the doosra, a ball which he calls the ‘teesra’, meaning ’(the) third (one)’.
Other bowlers have made considerable use of the doosra in international cricket, including Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan, South African Johan Botha, India's Harbhajan Singh and the Pakistanis Shoaib Malik and Saeed Ajmal.
The doosra is a relatively new type of delivery. Saqlain Mushtaq is credited with its invention, which was integral to both his success and the future of off-spin bowling, as it is unlikely that any off-spinner prior to him ever bowled a delivery which turned from leg.Saqlain Mushtaq – Player Profile: Cricinfo.com Retrieved 26 April 2007.
The naming of the delivery is attributed to Moin Khan, the former Pakistani wicketkeeper, who would call on Mushtaq to bowl the "doosra" (the other one) from behind the stumps. Tony Greig, a commentator in one of these matches, eventually linked the word to the delivery and confirmed it with Saqlain in a post-match interview.Moin Khan coined the term Thus the term became a part of cricketing culture. The doosra is now an important part of the off-spin armoury.
Some people, however, feel that the real pioneer of the doosra was Sonny Ramadhin, who played for the West Indies in the 1950s, as he moved the ball both ways, despite gripping the ball like an off-break bowler.Sonny Ramadhin introduced doosra
The bowler delivers the ball with the same finger action as a normal off break but cocks the wrist so that the back of the hand faces the batsman. This gives the ball spin in the opposite direction to that for an off break, causing it to spin from the leg side to the off side to a right-handed batsman.
The doosra is the off-spinner's equivalent of the leg-spinner's googly, which spins in the opposite direction to the leg spinner's stock ball.
Carrom ball In a carrom ball, the ball is released by flicking it between the thumb and a bent middle finger to impart spin. Though the delivery is known to date from at least the 1940s, it was re-introduced into mainstream international cricket in the late 2000s by Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka, Ravichandran Ashwin of India further popularised the carrom ball.
Topspinner A top-spinner is a type of delivery bowled by a cricketer bowling either wrist spin or finger spin. In either case, the bowler imparts the ball with top spin by twisting it with his or her fingers prior to delivery. In both cases, the topspinner is the halfway house between the stock delivery and the wrong'un – in the wrist spinner's case his googly, and in the finger spinner's case his doosra.
A topspinning cricket ball behaves similarly to top spin shots in tennis or table tennis. The forward spinning motion impedes air travelling over the ball, but assists air travelling underneath. The difference in air pressure above and underneath the ball (described as the Magnus effect) acts as a downward force, meaning that the ball falls earlier and faster than normal.
In cricketing terms, this means that the ball drops shorter, falls faster and bounces higher than might otherwise be anticipated by the batsman. These properties are summed up in cricketing terms as a "looping" or "loopy" delivery. Also, the ball travels straight on, as compared to a wrist spin or finger spin stock delivery that breaks to the left or right on impact. A batsman may easily be deceived by the ball, particularly given that the action is quite similar to the stock delivery.
In delivery, the topspinner is gripped like a normal side spinner. For a legspinner the back of the hand faces the cover region and the palm of the hand faces the mid wicket region at release. For an offspinner, these directions are reversed. The ball is then released either with the seam going straight on to the batsman, or with a scrambled seam. A spinner will frequently bowl deliveries with both top spin and side spin. A ball presenting with roughly equal amounts of both is usually called an "overspinning" leg break or off break.