Left-arm orthodox spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left arm bowler using the fingers to spin the ball from right to left of the cricket pitch (from the bowler's perspective).
Left arm orthodox spin bowlers generally attempt to drift the ball in the air into a right-handed batsman, and then turn it away from the batsman (towards off-stump) upon landing on the pitch. The drift and turn in the air are attacking techniques.
The major variations of a left arm spinner are the topspinner (which turns less and bounces higher in the cricket pitch), the arm ball (which does not turn at all, drifts into a right-handed batsman in the direction of the bowler's arm movement; also called a 'floater') and the left-arm spinner's version of a doosra (which turns the other way). The left-arm unorthodox spin like a leg break or leg spin is also a bowling action.
Famous quotes containing the words orthodox and/or spin:
“If the jests that you crack have an orthodox smack,
You may get a bland smile from these sages;
But should it, by chance, be imported from France,
Half-a-crown is stopped out of your wages!”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“Words can have no single fixed meaning. Like wayward electrons, they can spin away from their initial orbit and enter a wider magnetic field. No one owns them or has a proprietary right to dictate how they will be used.”
—David Lehman (b. 1948)