Leg-Spin
Also known as: leg spin, legspin, wrist spin
Leg-spin is a type of spin bowling where a right-arm bowler spins the ball from leg to off (from right to left as seen by the batter). This uses wrist rotation to impart heavy clockwise topspin.
Leg-spin is delivered with the wrist rotating sharply at the point of release — the third and fourth fingers flick the ball out of the hand. Because the ball spins from leg to off for a right-handed batter, it moves away from the bat and towards the slips on pitching. This makes edges highly probable. Leg-spin is considered the most dangerous form of spin bowling. This is because of how much the ball can deviate. But it is also the hardest to bowl accurately. This means the same wrist action that generates big spin also makes line and length harder to control. Variations from the leg-spin wrist position include the googly (spins the other way), the top-spinner, and the flipper.
Focus on rotating your wrist. As a result, the little-finger side of your hand faces the batter at release. This means that wrist flick is what drives the revolutions that make the ball turn.
Bowl the top-spinner frequently as a stock ball before unleashing the big leg-break. This means the different trajectory and bounce creates doubt and sets up the turning delivery.
Example
The leg-spinner lands the ball on leg stump and it spins sharply to take the off bail. This means the right-handed batter left playing for the straight ball.
Why it matters
Leg-spin is a match-winning skill in all formats. SwingVantage's cricket analysis (in development) will study wrist angle at release and seam position to help bowlers develop this high-value, hard-to-master skill.
How it shows up on video
A well-bowled leg-spinner shows the wrist rotating sharply from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock on release, the ball leaving the hand with visible revolutions across the seam and drifting in the air before deviating off the pitch away from a right-handed batter. Poor leg-spin technique shows the wrist remaining behind the ball with little rotation. This produces a flat ball with no drift or turn that a batter can play off the front foot safely.
Common mistakes
- Not rotating the wrist fully through the release, producing a flat, drifting ball with minimal turn
- Bowling too short so the batter has time to spot the turn and play off the back foot on the bounce
- Neglecting the googly so the batter only has to play one direction of spin
- Overlooking the importance of the top-spinner as a weapon to deceive the batter about length
In SwingVantage Motion Lab
SwingVantage cricket analysis (currently in development) will track wrist angle at release and ball-seam orientation to quantify revolutions and identify leg-break vs googly vs top-spinner from the bowling action.
Related terms
- GooglyA googly is a deceptive wrist-spin delivery from a leg-spinner that turns the opposite way to the stock ball. This means toward a right-handed batter instead of away. This means disguised by an identical action.
- Off-SpinOff-spin is a style of finger-spin bowling that turns the ball from off to leg. This means toward a right-handed batter. This means through finger action rather than wrist action, with the off-break as its stock delivery.
- Good LengthA good-length delivery is one that pitches at the spot that forces the batter to be uncertain whether to play off the front foot or the back foot. This means the most dangerous line for any bowler.
Put this into your swing
SwingVantage can spot this in your own swing — free to start.