The Flipper in Cricket — Leg Spin's Hidden Delivery

The flipper is a leg-spin delivery that does not turn from the pitch like a conventional leg-break. Instead, it is released with a 'clicking' or 'flipping' action using the thumb and first two fingers, imparting backspin. The result is a delivery that skids off the surface at a low angle — often staying straight, going the opposite way to a conventional leg-break, and arriving at the batter quicker than expected. Its most common outcome is an lbw dismissal or a bowled.

Grip and action

The flipper is gripped with the ball squeezed between the thumb and the first two fingers — similar to a pinch grip. At the point of release, the bowler clicks the fingers forward as if snapping them, which imparts backspin on the ball. This is in contrast to the leg-break's overspin and sidespin. The backspin causes the ball to skid rather than grip and turn, making it particularly effective on good-length pitches.

Why it deceives batters

Batters facing leg-spin look for the characteristic turn from off to leg for a right-hander. After several leg-breaks, the batter is primed to expect turn. The flipper instead goes straight — or very slightly toward off stump — and stays very low. Batters who play for the turn often miss the ball entirely, are hit on the pad in front of a straight-going ball (classic lbw), or are bowled around the gate as they play across the line. The low trajectory makes picking it up very late.

Shane Warne and the flipper

Shane Warne is the most famous exponent of the flipper. He reportedly spent 18 months perfecting it before using it in a Test match, and when he finally deployed it, it produced a series of lbw dismissals from batters caught flat-footed. Warne credited the flipper — along with the googly and the top-spinner — as the variation that most troubled top-order Test batters. Clarie Grimmett, the great Australian leg-spinner of the 1920s–30s, is sometimes credited with developing the flipper.