How to Bowl Leg-Spin Googly? (3 Step Method)

There are different ways of delivering or bowling the ball if you are a bowler in cricket. Of course, the variations differ from one technique to another, but they have all been proven to be very effective in throwing the batsman off. One such technique is the leg-spin googly or simply the googly, which is one of the best bowling techniques in cricket. So, how do you bowl a leg-spin googly?

To perform a leg-spin googly, you need to perform the usual leg break that leg spinners do. But the difference here is that you put a spin into the throw such that, when the ball pitches, it goes to the opposite direction of a conventional leg break and goes towards the leg stump instead of the off stump.

The googly is one of the favorites among different leg spinners because of how it can be very confusing for many different batsmen. As such, if you want to become a well-rounded bowler, it is essential that you master the leg-spin and the googly so that you can use different techniques in an attempt to throw off the batsman.

What is a leg spin?

One of the many different bowling techniques that are popular in cricket is the leg-spin. The leg-spin is essentially a technique that bowlers use wherein they spin their bowls right-arm while including a spinning action with the wrist. As such, this causes the leg spinner’s delivery to spin from right to left when the ball bounces on the ground. Also known as a leg break, the reason why it is called a leg-spin is that it spins away from the leg side, which essentially allows the ball to break away from the leg.

The most common way that leg spinners bowl is the leg break, which allows them to vary the line and length and the spin that they put into their deliveries. And because leg spinners use different variations of the leg break, other variations have been derived from the leg-spin. One such variation is the googly, which allows the ball to spin differently once it bounces on the pitch.

What is a googly?

The googly is essentially a variation of the common leg break that leg spinners often use. What happens here is that this delivery allows the ball to spin in the opposite direction of the usual leg break such that, when a right-arm leg spinner bowls it, the ball will spin towards the right-hander from left to right instead of from right to left.

Because the googly is essentially a variation of the leg-spin, it is also called the leg-spin googly. There are also other types of bowling techniques that are similar to the googly. The doosra is often regarded as the off bowler’s version of the googly.

And because the googly is so effective, it is often considered to be a staple that should be mastered by leg spinners or even by all bowlers, in general. This is why you have to learn how to perform a leg-spin googly the right way.

How do you bowl leg spin googly?

To bowl a leg-spin googly, here are some things you need to look at.

1. Your grip

Your grip is one of the most important aspects of the googly’s mechanics because a simple mistake in the grip can give the ball a different spin once it bounces on the pitch. The grip that is required in a googly is the same one that you use for a leg break. 

To use this grip, you need to place your index and middle fingers on top of the ball with the seam running across them. Those two fingers should be spaced comfortably apart from one another but not too close or too far because that may ruin the spin of the ball.

Meanwhile, place your ring and little fingers slightly beneath and to the side of the ball respectively so that they can support the grip. Your thumb is not there to help with the spinning action but is still very important when it comes to supporting the ball in your hand. 

One thing you need to look at when it comes to how the ball is gripped is that it should be a bit free in your hand and should not be pressed too hard against the palm. It might be a good idea to keep a small gap between the back of the ball and your palm so that the fingers will be allowed to rotate over the top of the ball. This will allow them to apply the spin that is needed when you release the ball from your hand.

Meanwhile, holding the ball too tightly or pressing it too hard on your palm may actually make it more difficult for you to release it while applying the spin. This is because the ball might end getting a bit stuck in your hand.

2. Your run up

Meanwhile, when it comes to your run-up, there shouldn’t be a lot of changes when it comes to the googly. Simply use the run-up that you use for your other deliveries. The key here is the release and the wrist action and not the run-up.

Still, you need to understand that run-ups vary from one person to another. There are some people who might struggle with the run-up. If that is the case for you, try to look at these pointers:

• Some leg spinners tend to have a run up to the crease that is somewhere between 5 to 10 paces.
• Meanwhile, some bowlers also have an approach to the crease that starts at a standard walking pace.
• More often than not, the approach to the crease will start at a walking pace.
• When you are approaching the crease, eliminate your sideways movement as much as possible especially if you are someone who tends to move side to side in run ups. That’s because your momentum will be wasted when you tend to move sideways during the run up. Your goal here is to maximize your momentum during the run up so that you can put a bit more spin into your googly.

3. Your release

The most important part of the googly is the release. While the grip is important, the release is more important because this is where the googly deviates a lot from the usual leg break that leg spinners often do.

What the release requires is a turn in your arm and an extra spin in your wrist such that you allow your arm to turn and your wrist to spin a bit further compared to your usual leg break release.

When you are releasing the ball during a googly, try to put a bit more movement and spin into your arm and wrist action such that you are almost showing the batsman the back of your hand as soon as you release the ball.

For right-arm leg spinners, rotate your arm and wrist far enough so that the seam of the ball is at 2 o’clock or somewhere northeast from your point of view. Doing so will allow the back of your hand to face towards 4 o’clock or southeast. 

As the ball travels out of your hand, apply the spin to the ball by rotating your ring finger and your little finger over the top of the ball towards the direction where the seam is facing. The key here is to get your fingers to rotate over the top of the ball in the right direction because this allows the ball to get the right spin such that it will spin in the opposite direction when it bounces off the pitch.

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