How to Bowl a Googly in Cricket

The googly is a cricket delivery that turns like an offaction and pulls down driving the action forward. As
spin stock delivery but is bowled with a leg spinthe front arm pulls down the right shoulder will come
action. In other words it looks like a leg spin deliveryforward generating the power in the delivery. The
but spins from the off side to the leg side. This isright shoulder should rotate towards the target and
achieved by releasing the cricket ball from the backfinish with that shoulder facing the stumps. The
of the hand as opposed to the front like a normal leggoogly should be bowled outside off-stump,
spin delivery. The googly was invented by Bernardencouraging the batsman to drive or go on the back
Bosanquet, an English cricket player who playedfoot to cut. The surprise of the ball spinning in the
during the turn of the previous century. Theopposite direction that expected will be enough to
effectiveness of this delivery is obvious as the ball iscause the batsman to miss the ball or make a
turning in the opposite delivery as what the batsmanmistake.
is expecting.If the pitch is turning big, it will be OK to drop this
The grip is exactly the same as the leg spin stockdelivery short once in a while to try to get the
delivery. The leg spin bowling grip is the little fingerbatsman to cut the delivery. If the batsman is not
and ring finger down and the middle and index fingerpicking your googly this will surprise him and there is a
up. Two fingers up and two fingers down and thevery good chance he will play the ball onto his
seam running between the up fingers. The ball has towickets when trying to cut the shorter googly. Not
sit comfortably but firm in the hand. The ring finger istoo short, but slightly shorter than drivable length is
the spinning finger. The thumb can be on or off theOK on a spinning pitch. Do not bowl this delivery at
cricket ball, whatever feels the most comfortable.the stumps as it will just continue harmlessly behind
The wrist in the reverse position from what it is inthe batsman leg. The line should always be outside
the standard leg spin stock delivery. For the googly,off stump.
at the point of release, the back of the wrist shouldA great cricket tip is to develop two googlies. One
face the batsman and the palm should face back tothat is very easy to spot by the batsman and one
the bowler. The seam should be facing toward thethat is very well hidden. Bowl the googly that is easy
leg-side in the direction of leg slip. The ball is releasedto spot until you are confident that the batsman
over the wrist out of the back of the hand.thinks he can spot your googly. Then surprise him
The action is the same as the standard leg spin stockwith the googly that you hide very well. He will not
delivery. The shoulders, hip and feet should be alignedsuspect it at all as he thinks he can pick your googly!
with the target. The front arm leads and steers the