mendis bowling carromball

how to bowl carrom ball

Ajantha Mendis the new spin sensation from Sri Lankan Cricket is tying batsman in knots with his spin variations and his dreaded “carrom ball”. Here is how you can learn to bowl the carrom bowl like Ajantha Mendis. Once you learn the basic concept you can create many spin variations.


Things You'll Need

1. A love for cricket and spinning
2. Expertise at playing carroms
3. A Strong Middle Finger!!
4. Motivation to practice a lot!

Steps
1

The carrom ball is similar to the “Doosra” that Muthiah Muralitharan delivers. It is a delivery normally delivered by an off-break bowler but only it behaves like a leg-break ball. While Murali delivers it by turning the palm of his hand towards himself and by flicking his wrist, Ajantha Mendis delivers it differently.
2

The Grip To bowl the Carrom ball that behaves like a Doosra - Hold the ball as show in the picture with the seam facing gully. Place the index finger on the seam and the thumb below the ball. Essentially you’re gripping the ball between your thumb and index finger. Now place your middle finger folder underneath the seam of the ball (similar to how you get ready to srike a carrom with your middle finger), supporting the ball.
3

At the time of delivery Push your middle finger out (similar to the strike in caroms) by flicking it quickly. This causes the ball to not only spin like a regular leg-break but also provides it the additional lateral force to skid or shoot through causing further difficulty to the batsman.
4

Bowling other variations By using this concept of flicking your finger (or squeezing the ball out) with other grips you can get a similar spin/shoot combination on an off-break, leg-break, etc.
Tips

* Watch videos of Ajantha Mendis in the coming weeks as he is sure to cause a sensation.
* Continue to work on strengthening your fingers so that you can continue to deliver the flicking action.
* You can also get a very good effect by starting of with a cricket-tennis ball for practice.

Caution

Don’t make the carrom ball your stock ball. Instead use it as a surprise variation to confuse batsmen.
Links
How to bowl the Carrom ball Slider
How To Bowl The Googly
How To Bowl A Doosra Like Muttiah Muralitharan

carromball bowling method

The ball is held between the thumb, forefinger and the middle finger and, 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.

It is different to wrist-bowled deliveries. Traditional leg-spin is bowled with anti-clockwise wrist movement for a right-armed bowler, while Muttiah Muralitharan's special type of off-spin is bowled with clockwise wrist movement. A finger-bowled delivery such as traditional off-spin is bowled with a clockwise finger movement.

Carrom spin can be considered a third category of spin bowling after leg spin and off spin, as the middle finger and thumb flick or squeeze the ball out of the hand, like a carrom player flicking a striker in the indoor game of carrom.

When the centre finger is gripped towards the leg side, the ball spins from leg to off; when the centre finger is gripped towards the off side, the ball spins from off to leg.

Depending on the degree the ball is gripped towards the leg side, the carrom ball could also travel straight.

The carrom ball can therefore spin to either the off or leg sides or travel straight (as opposed to the popular misconception that it only spins towards the off side).

carrom ball origin

The first bowler known to have used this style of delivery was the Australian Jack Iverson from Victoria, who used it throughout his Test career in the period after the Second World War, although he did not use the name "carrom ball". Fellow countryman John Gleeson used a similar grip a decade later, but by the 1970s the method was almost forgotten; however, it has since re-entered cricketing consciousness because of its use by Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka during 2007-2008, with the new name of carrom ball.

Carrom ball

The carrom ball is a style of spin bowling delivery used in cricket. The ball is released by flicking it between the thumb and a bent middle finger in order to impart spin. Though the delivery is known to date from at least the 1940s, it was re-introduced into mainstream international cricket in the late 2000s by Ajantha Mendis