How to bowl the Googly

Have you ever wondered how to bowl a googly? The googly has always been a mystery ball that surprises most batsmen. Follow these steps and learn how to bowl a googly!

What is a googly?
A googly is typically bowled by a right-arm legspinner. In this case while the batsman is expecting a legbreak the googly behaves like an offbreak eventhough the grip and action of the bowler are similar to a leg-break delivery. Therefore the surprise when the ball comes into the batsman.

Steps

1

The Grip

Hold the ball similar to a leg-break. Hold the ball with your fingers spread across the seam with ball resting between a bent third (ring) finger and the thumb.

2

Before the Release

Try to keep the wrist similar to that of a leg-break until the point of release when the arm is stretched out ready to deliver the ball. From this point on start rotating the wrist so that the back of the hand faces the batsman and the arm comes down with the palm facing the sky.

3

Point of Release

Your wrist should be 180 degrees to the ground, while the seam of the ball should point towards fine leg.

Again, it should be your third finger which does most of the work, turning the ball anti-clockwise on release.

The ball should be released from the back of the palm while the palm faces skywards.

4

Perfecting the Googly

Quite often when a legspinner is perfecting a googly they will bowl topspinners (ball that pitches and bounces higher and hurries onto the batsman). The bowling action for a topspinner is very similar to the googly. Most likely the seam is facing the batsman rather than fine leg and this causes the topspinner. Also the wrist is probably not rotating completely.

The googly is best bowled on the offstump and the surprise offbreak will most likely bowl the batsman or result in an LBW decision.

Tips

Keep in mind that at the point of release the seam should be pointing towards fine-leg.
Some legspinners like to bring the arm down to the right side of your right thigh instead of a typical follow-through.

Caution

Most beginners deliver a top-spinner when attempting a googly. This is most likely because the seam is pointing towards the batsman and the anti-clockwise rotations of the ball cause top-spin. In such a case you wrist is not turning enough. Remember it should point skywards at the point of release of the ball.