Finger Spin - Types of Finger Spinner

Types of Finger Spinner

Although finger spin may be bowled with the same technique (albeit laterally inverted, as though viewed in a mirror) by both right and left handed bowlers, such bowlers are often discussed separately, as the direction in which the ball deviates as it bounces on the cricket pitch is different:

• Right handed finger spin is known as an off spin.
• Left handed finger spin is known as a left-arm orthodox spin.

For simplicity's sake, the rest of this article assumes a right handed finger spinner bowling to a right-handed batsman.

However, increasingly, the distinction must be made between traditional fingerspinners and non-traditional fingerspinners, particularly with innovations (such as the doosra and carrom balls) which require a different grip on the ball (and consequently a different bowling technique).

Such styles of bowling may be categorised as follows

• Traditional finger spin, where the ball is gripped with the top knuckles of the index and middle fingers firmly gripping across the seam. The thumb is held clear of the ball, or rests lightly on the seam. Notable users of this technique include Graeme Swann and Nathan Hauritz. Variations normally used with this type of bowling include the arm ball and the top-spinner.

• Middle-finger spin, where the ball is gripped with the middle finger running directly over the top of the ball, with the knuckles of the index and ring finger gripping the ball from beneath, as exemplified by Saeed Ajmal, Saqlain Mushtaq and Suresh Raina. The stock ball is an off-break, with the middle and then index finger running over the seam to produce revolutions. Variations normally used include the doosra and the teesra.

• Carrom spin (Carrom ball), in which the ball is held between the middle finger and the thumb, with the middle finger parallel to the palm of the hand. Instead of a conventional release, the ball is squeezed out and flicked by the fingers like a carrom player flicking the disc on a carrom board. However, normally this delivery will be a leg break, although off breaks, top-spinners, and back-spinners may be bowled using this grip, as demonstrated by Jack Iverson. Current users of this delivery include Ajantha Mendis and Ravichandran Ashwin.

There exist other sorts of finger-spin, but this section should be viewed mainly as a guide to the main types used in international cricket today. There are those who would add the type of spin bowled by Muttiah Muralidharan to this list, and although his stock bowl is a right-handed off-break, such a bowling techique would be better described as non-traditional wristspin, owing to the extent to which the wrist, far more so than the fingers, are involved in generating revolutions on the ball.