PART ONE: DANNY BRIGGS
So, I said i would be doing an analysis on a leg spinner. Instead, I’ve done three, well two leggies and a left arm off spinner. This is a video analysis of 3 of Hampshire’s spinners. 2 of which have now left the club. Thus this video is a little old. This was the quarter final of the 2O/2O trophy against Durham in 2O11. Here is said video:
Danny Briggs 1st over
2nd Ball: (1:18-21)
If you pause at 1:2O you can see Briggs’ jump outwards just before he gets in the delivery stride. This jump outwards was supposedly brought in to help give Briggs some natural variation, as, if he didn’t get enough tweak on the ball he could use that angle to his advantage with the ball running on. But i have four problems with this:
1) It’s not a natural repeatable action
2) It’s working against any natural spin he is getting
3) It’s opens up the leg side for a batsmen
4) It’s working against all his momentum gathered previously.
Now, he continues to do all these throughout his two overs. All in all though, you can’t be too harsh on him, he picked up a good haul of wickets. In the end, that is all you really desire , but for me, he needs a little bit on contingency, because as a bowler you want to maximize the number of wickets you take. Briggs’ would have more of a chance of fulfilling this goal, if he played for a longer amount of time. There are parts to his action that may get in his way
1) It’s not a natural repeatable action: All this jerking around is not good for the body! Another reason is that it’s a variable. And in cricket, if there’s any margin for error, it usually get’s exploited! This could be viewed as another natural variation. In my opinion this has been brought on by the frequency on limited overs cricket that is being played. These players have been brought up on doing different things each delivery. Surely before any of this experimentation should occur, you need to have the basics down, being a spinner speaks for itself! You need to able to put revolutions on the ball to impart turn!
Which brings me onto my next point…………………….
2) It’s working against any natural spin he is getting! You see, as the action of the left arm spinner is turning away from the right-hander, going wide of the crease would increase the angle going into the batsmen, whereas Danny Briggs is trying to turn it away from him. This means that any amount of spin wouldn’t be as significant as the angle and trajectory of the ball would be working against it. This means that a ball that would straighten for him going wide would actually turn a little , thus casing the batsmen more trouble when playing straight.
3) It’s opens up the leg side for a batsmen! The angle of the ball will be going down the leg side and so will the ball, so the batsmen can open up and play through there, in 2O/2O that’s a bread and butter slog really. This means that Danny Briggs is being more defensive than he ought to be, and that is why in my opinion he doesn’t find as much success as his potential fills in the longer format.
4) Lastly….It’s working against all his momentum gathered previously! There are five Key Points that any spinner should be getting his/her momentum from:
1) Run/meander up: You need this to start everything off, to get some kinetic energy behind you
2) Explosive jump forward: to get you into your bowling position, to get you moving
3) Hips pivot: this is used to gather spin from your movement, and to get you in a follow through position
4) front thigh: This is thrust forward to get your head and momentum going forward over your front foot.
5) Shoulders/fingers/wrist: Where you impart your spin as well as gain that last push.
This is not letting him get his momentum going forward because his run up momentum is going sideways with the jump. His Jump isn’t explosive in the right way, as it doesn’t go forward enough, this makes it harder for him to pivot which because he has more to do in less time. This is another reason for Briggs’ lack of spin and purchase. The jump means he is side on, i.e. the front thigh is out of the equation!
What this means is that his shoulders and fingers are taking the most damage! If continued he will carry on to lack contingency with his action!
Overall Danny is a good young bowler, and although has a lot of potential, needs to work hard to fulfill it!
By Henry Howeld