The art of spin bowling in cricket is one where bowlers master the skill of making the ball deviate either left or right after the ball pitches. Such movement of the ball is possible of the manner in which the ball is released and the area on the pitch where the ball lands.
Bowlers impart a spin on the ball with the help of their fingers or by releasing it with their wrist. From a right-handed batter’s perspective, a bowler who spins the ball from the off stump to the leg stump (left to right) is an off spinner. A bowler who spins the ball from the leg stump to the off stump (right to left) is a leg spinner.
Leg spinners have a range of variations in which they make the ball move away from the batters. Common variations of the leg spin include the slider, flipper, googly, and the top spin. This explainer details the art of bowling the flipper.
A flipper is a bowling variant where the leg spinner imparts a backward spin on the ball and keeps the seam upright facing the batter. Once this ball pitches, it hurriedly approaches the batter while keeping low. Such a variation is used by pitching the ball at a slightly fuller length. Batters with a higher strike rate can be pushed to back foot through such deliveries which increases the risk of them being leg before wicket. This also because of the fact that the bowl travels higher, dips slower, and travel further compared to a conventional leg spin delivery.
Rashid Khan of Afghanistan is a notable user of the flipper in the modern game and has found tremendous success through it especially in T20 cricket. However, historically, Shane Warne has been attributed to be the best exponent of this variant.
