Leg Spin Bowling by Richie Benaud

 For over-the-wrist spin, grip the ball so that the seam runs across the first joint of the index finger and the first joint of the third finger. For the leg-break, and the over spinner or top spinner, the ball is spun off the third finger. The wrist is cocked, but definitely not stiffly cocked, which would prevent flexibility.

In delivering the ball, you look at the spot on the pitch on which you wish the ball to land, your bowling hand starts level with your face and then describes what could loosely be termed an anti-clockwise circle to the point of delivery. The position of the bowling hand dictates in which direction the ball will spin. At the moment of delivery the positioning of the hand is as follows: Leg-break: in delivery, the back of the hand is facing the face. The ball will spin out with the seam rotating in an anti-clockwise direction towards slip.

Over spinner or top spinner: in delivery, the back of the hand is facing the sky and then the batsman. The ball will spin out with the seam rotating in an anti-clockwise direction and towards the batsman. Wrong’un: in delivery, the back of the hand is first facing the sky and then the ground. The ball will spin out with the seam rotating in an anti-clockwise direction towards fine leg.

You should practice the hard-spun leg-break ninety percent of the time, the variations only ten percent. You should be side-on to the batsman and looking over your front shoulder as you deliver the ball, and then your bowling hand will finish up going past your front thigh.

This means, if you have done it correctly, your body will also have rotated anti-clockwise. This ‘pivot’ is of great importance. If you bowl a ball that is too short, you can be almost certain it happened because your body was ‘chest-on’ to the batsman, rather than side-on, and you dragged the ball down into the pitch.

When you are bowling in a net, make a white shoe-cleaner mark the size of a 20-cent (50p) piece, on what seems to you to be a good length — that is, with the ball pitching where you would not like it to pitch if you were batting. Never have your bowling arm at or past the perpendicular when you deliver the ball; it should be at least a few inches lower than the perpendicular. Don’t even think about learning the ‘flipper’ before you have mastered the leg-break, top spinner, and wrong’un.

Keep it simple is the answer. Attend to the basics first; if you can’t do that, then the more complicated things will be impossible anyway. It is possible to extend some of those points, but the one thing of which you can be guaranteed is that common sense will always outweigh rhetoric and complication. And, no matter what I might say is the best way to bowl leg spin, there are many examples which show that natural ability can be more important than anything else.