THE ART OF PACE BOWLING... THE BASICS

Cricket is a beautiful game. Thinking of the game can give pleasure to many ardent lovers of the game, like me, and playing the game can even give orgasms if you are madly in love with it... 

Cricket has got multiple disciplines and pace bowling is a discipline which i practice. I was quiet ignorant of the basics of pace bowling when i started off as i did not have any proper coaching. In nets, i also saw few of my  friends not so strong with the basics. I thought i should write about the basics which can help me and my friends.

Basics-

I would like to start with gripping the ball followed by run-up, leap, delivery, and follow through. Importantly i like to cover the right ways to do it to be free from injuries.

Ball Grip - 

The first and important point to be learned by a fast bowler. Variation in grip and seam position have a major influence on the outcome of a delivery. 

With the seam vertical, the ball is held in the fingers, resting on the third finger and thumb(left side or over the seam, whichever is comfortable) , with the middle and index fingers either side of the seam.

Have the above grip, make sure that there is atleast two finger space between the ball an palm and bowl with normal action to your friend standing 15 feet apart and make sure the seam comes out straight during delivery. straighter the seam position more the chances of swing.

Inswing - The inswinger moves in the air from the off side of a right handed batsman to the leg side. 

Angle the seam towards leg slip or, but keeping it vertical with the shiny side of the ball should be to the left of the bowler.

The ball will swing early if the seam is angled too much towards the legs slip, will swing late if the seam is vertical. The later the ball swings into the batsman, the more effective it will be.

Outswing -  The ball swings from the off stump of a right handed batsman towards the slip fielders.

The ball will swing early if the seam is angled too much towards the slips, will swing late if the seam is vertical.The later the ball swings away from the batsman, the more effective it will be.

Reverse Swing –  Once the ball becomes older and more worn, it will begin to move in the opposite direction to where it would usually swing with no great change in the bowling grip, All this tends to happen very late on in the delivery, making it difficult for the batsman to pick up the changes in the air.

It is all that we have in the basics of grip position – apart from this we have variations like cross seamers, off cutters and leg cutters.

Run- up to the crease  - One of the important aspect of the fast bowling.

How long  -  mark a place, run few paces as you normally do and bowl when you feel comfortable(when you gather enough momentum),  Measure the distance and make it your run up distance. Don’t be predetermined with some feets. It varies for every individual, try to stay Smooth, Balanced, Economical, Rhythmical, Consistent, and relaxed.

Few key points

• As you set off from the top of your run-up, start by using small steps before changing to larger strides
• Keep your arms close to your body and your head steady - keep your eyes fixed on the target - the batsman
• Run in a straight line as if you run in a railway track.
• Keep the alignment straight to the offside of the batsmen and when you bowl to left handers change just the alignment by changing the run up direction and not your action.
• Don’t run in too fast or too slow, optimum speed to gather enough momentum.
• Side on bowlers have slower approach than the front on bowlers. Don’t get confused.

The Bound or the leap

The bound is a jump that allows the bowler to transition from the run-up to the back foot contact position. For a chest on bowler not much transition is needed. So, many chest on bowlers have a low, short bound. In contrast, side on bowlers need to rotate their bodies through ninety degrees and so tend to have a longer, higher bound. A high bound can lead to the knee on the back foot collapsing and so lose momentum. It is very important to keep your non bowling arm high during this action.

The alignment – Very important to keep one away from injuries.

Side on: the back foot is parallel to the bowling crease causing the hips to be side on. The non bowling arm is positioned in front of head so causing the shoulders to align with the hips. A classic example of a side on bowler is Dennis Lillee.

Chest on: the back foot points straight down the track towards the target, aligning the hips parallel to the bowling crease. The non bowling arm is positioned to the side of the head. This aligns the shoulders and chest parallel with the bowling crease and hips. Malcolm Marshall is an example of a chest on bowler.

Mid-way: the back foot is in between the side on and chest on position. A fine example of a mid-way bowler is Allan Donald.

An action that fails to align hips and shoulders at back foot contact is termed a mixed action and can result in lower back pain and long term ill effects.

Delivery

After the front foot contact, the use of non bowling hand comes to picture and it is used to generate pace. Pull the non bowling hand down hard in front which in turn pulls your upper body down and hence the bowling arms comes down faster increasing the pace of the ball. It is crucial for the bowling arm to be stiff, not bent and the wrist rather looser, to ensure smooth release of the ball. keep the bowling arm rotating close to your ear and avoid it from falling away.

Follow through

As you follow through, fold your bowling arm into your body and swing your hips around to finish,  Your momentum will take you towards the batsman but make sure you don't run down the middle of the pitch. Make sure you complete the delivery with a full follow through.

Above all, the basics of bowling is to bowl in good lines and at right lengths. Line on the 3^rd,4^th and 5th stumps and length between full and good length, of course you can bowl short if you have the pace of steyn.

Apart from this, there are numerous sites with good material and seniors with golden experience to teach you more…

To know the basics is one thing and the application of them is another. It is not so easy as it looks, It requires hours and hours of practice.  Take a ball, go the field, and bowl heart out. Incase if you benefit, leave a comment, it will give me one more orgasm…