Spin bowling coaching
The part of the game Raj is best known for — and one of five disciplines he coaches.
Raj bowled slow left-arm orthodox for Middlesex and Hampshire for 18 years, then spent eleven years as spin bowling coach across the Hampshire pathway, from under-10s to the first team.
When a county had a young spinner who needed specialist help, he was the person they sent them to. That is the same coaching a club player or a ten-year-old gets — the same eye, working at their stage.
What a spin session covers
Grip and release first, because everything else follows from them. Then revolutions — how hard the ball is actually spinning, which matters more than how far it turns. Then flight: the height and pace through the air that makes a batter come forward when they should have stayed back.
Drift, and why it matters
Drift is the sideways movement a heavily spun ball makes in the air, before it has landed. A ball that drifts away from a batter and then turns back into them has beaten them twice with one delivery. It is the difference between a bowler who turns it and a bowler who takes wickets, and it is mostly a product of revolutions and a strong, repeatable action.
For batters too
Most junior batters get out to spin, not pace. Understanding what a spinner is trying to do — where the drift comes from, what a change of pace looks like out of the hand — is one of the fastest improvements a young batter can make.
Spinners Raj has worked with
Mason Crane · Danny Briggs · Liam Dawson · Bradley Taylor
Get in touch
Tell Raj who is bowling, what they bowl and what is not working.