Types of Spin Bowling in Cricket

Spin bowling is considered an art, and it is one of the two disciplines of bowling, along with fast bowling.

A spinner is a bowler who has a short run-up to the crease and tries to impart spin on the ball to make it deviate off the pitch. It is a specialised role where the bowler relies on accuracy and guile and should have the ability to control the ball’s trajectory.

With this, they give rise to two types of deviation — one is lateral, where the ball deviates sideways, and the other is vertical, which makes the delivery dip or bounce. Either way, it takes a great deal of talent to master this art of bowling and be highly effective enough to deceive the best of batters.

There are two main types of pace bowling — one is out-and-out fast, and the other is medium pace. Likewise, spin bowling can be categorised into two — finger spin and wrist spin.

Finger Spin

Right-Arm Off-Spin / Off Break

These types of bowlers are called off-spinners, and they use their fingers to spin the ball. A right-arm spinner spins the ball into the right-handed batter and spins it away from the left-handed batter.

Some variations in their armoury include an arm-ball that goes in straight to the batter, and another is a “Doosra”, which spins in the opposite direction of an off-break.

These bowlers become deadly dangerous on surfaces that offer spin and when the playing area is rough. This happens in Test matches generally, where they need to bowl long spells.

Left-Arm Orthodox

Left-arm spinners are also finger spinners who impart revolutions on the ball to make it spin. Here the delivery spins away from a right-handed batter and into the leg of a batsman who is a leftie.

Though we have seen left-arm spinners bowl arm ball, it is rare to see one bowling a Doosra. Like an off-spinner, these kinds of bowlers focus on accuracy and consistency to build pressure on a batter and get their wicket.

Also Read | Ten Best Doosra Bowlers in Cricket

Wrist Spin

Right-Arm Wrist Spin / Leg-Spin

The traditional leg spinner is where the ball spins from the leg to the off stump of a right-handed batter and into the body of a left-hander.

These types of bowlers are genuine wicket-takers and are used as attacking options by teams. On the flip side, they also tend to go for a lot of runs, as getting consistent control over deliveries is difficult to master.

A leg-spinner will have a lot of variations in his/her repertoire to unsettle the batter and get the wicket. Based on the types of release, a wrist spinner can bowl a “Googly” where the ball turns in the opposite direction to that of a normal leg spinner, a “Topspinner”, which dips into the batter, imparting considerable bounce, and a “Flipper”, which skids through after pitching.

Chinaman bowler

This is a left-hand version of a leg-spinner, and they are a rarity in world cricket. That is why these types of bowlers are a great addition to any side.

They offer a different kind of variation to the bowling line-up as they bowl from an unusual angle, and batters are prone to being unsettled more often.

The bowler here usually spins the ball from a right-hander’s off-side towards the leg side, opposite to that of a right-arm leg break bowler. Apart from that, they do have similar variations to that of their right-hand counterparts.

Read Next | Ten Best Googly Bowlers in Cricket