Contrary
to popular belief, the arm ball is not a faster ball. It is bowled at the same
speed as the standard off-spinner delivery
The
arm ball is so named because the delivery goes on straight ‘with the
arm’. In other words the ball does not deviate from the pitch; it just
follows the trajectory of the arm.
The idea is
that the batsman will play for the turning ball and will get deceived by the
ball going straight on (i.e. not turning).
There are two
main way to bowl the arm ball
Method 1: DO
NOT SPIN THE BALL
This
method involves you bowling the ball exactly as you would with your stock ball
off-spinner delivery.
Only you
deliberately do not turn the ball and just continue straight on with the arm.
Ø Grip
In this method the ball is
bowled with the off-spinner delivery grip.
Ø Release
With release, the ball is
intentionally not spun as hard with the fingers. It helps to hold the ball
slightly loose between the fingers.
Everything about the
delivery should be the same as the off-spinner delivery, except do not try and
rip the ball.
The point here is to fool
the batsmen in thinking he is about to play a standard off-spin ball and have
the ball go straight on.
As a result he will play
down the wrong line, and you can end up getting an LBW or a small nick.
Ø Palm it
A tip is to almost try and
push the ball with the palm of your hand (top part of your palm, just
underneath the fingers) as it is actually difficult to try and not spin the
ball.
Your muscles are so trained
to try and spin the ball, that not trying to do that become problematic.
What works for plenty
of flying is that you try and palm the ball. Push it out the front of the hand.
Your muscles will still try and turn it a little. But, that is good as the
batsman thinks you are still trying to spin it.
With this version you still
want some (but very low) revolutions to try and fool the batsman that it will
spin.
Method 2: SWING
IT
This
method involves the ball held like close to a seam bowler’s grip and imparting
some nice swing into the delivery.
Ø Grip
The ball is held using a
grip similar to that of a seam bowler (but without the thumb), and is bowled
like a conventional out-swing delivery, (in-swing for SLA).
In other words, the ball is
held like an off-spinner delivery but with the ball rotated to have the seam
run straight down the pitch and the shiny side pointing to leg-side.
This will enable the ball to
swing away from the right handed batsman and into the left handed batsman.
The arm ball position from
the front with the thumb on the seam.
This is not as effective in
hiding that you are about the bowl an arm ball. But, give it a try as it does
provide more control when bowling.
Ø Hide Delivery
Hide this delivery by
changing the ball in your hand at the last possible moment.
It is a very easy delivery
to pick. But, so what? If you bowl your stock ball the batsman will know
exactly what you are up to, yet the stock ball will still take your most
wickets.
It’s a deadly delivery
against tail-enders. And swinging into lefties on turning pitches.
But, we will cover more on
this in the tactics for off-spin section.
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