Squeezed out of the front of the hand with the thumb and first and second fingers, it keeps deceptively low after pitching and can accordingly be very difficult to play.
In doing so the flipper will float towards the batsman and land on a fuller length than he anticipated, often leaving him caught on the back foot when he wrongly assumes it to be a pullable or a cuttable ball.
A series of normal leg spinners or topspinners, with their dropping looping flight, will have the batsman used to the ball pitching on a shorter length.
Much of the effectiveness of the flipper is attributable to the "pop", that is, the extra pace and change in trajectory that is imparted to the ball when it is squeezed out of the bowler's hand.
The Australian leg spinner Bob Holland employed a back spinning ball that he simply pushed backwards with the heel of his palm.
The flipper was perfected by Cowandilla-raised "leg spinning magician"[2] and Wisden Cricketer of the year, Bruce Dooland, who taught it to Richie Benaud.