Your Cricket General Bowling Thread

[Deleted member 11215]

Actually thats a good point i dont really have a follow through as im always too scared that ill walk straight down the middle of the pitch.

 

[Leggie]

Actually thats a good point i dont really have a follow through as im always too scared that ill walk straight down the middle of the pitch.

you dont have a follow through?!

if glenn mcgrath didnt have a follow through, he wouldnt have been the worlds most accurate bowler....

 

[manee]

Hi,

This season i was bowling quite well until my last school game when suddenly i couldnt hit length well and lost my line.

I Bowl right arm medium around 65mph, which i believe is good for a 15 year old, I have a straight on bowling action with my front arm going up in the air before my back arm swings through. One of my friends noticed yesterday that my head was dropping when i bowled, i fixed that and things seemed better but still it wasnt right. Im around 5ft 6" and im wondering if anyone can give me some advice about how to be more accurate and hit the pitch on a good length and put some yorkers in.

All Help appreciated.

You gotta get a video of your action for more specific help. Do you know for sure that you bowl 65mph because that is right arm fast for 15 year olds. A top book to buy to help fast bowling is Ian Pont's Fast Bowlers Bible. There is not a single part of fast bowling not covered in that book.

 

[Deleted member 11215]

Ill Try to get a video but it would have to be in my garden and some dodgey camera work.

 

[Simbazz]

Right well first of all, that 65mph could easy be 70mph with a follow through, so thats something to get At your current pace you'll obviously try to out-fox a batsmen with may a bit of swing and seam, at 70mph, you dont need to, pure pace will help!

Secondly, if you start to unravel, slow it down, walk back to your mark and have a quick word with yourself. Get your head back on, and for the next three balls increase in pace. First ball needs to be slow, even if you get smacked, you can make up for it once you've refound your rythem. Second ball a little quicker, trying to keep everything spot on, third ball, 90% effort, still keeping everything working.

Then every ball after that should be ok. Obviously your not overly tall, so it isnt going to be the bouncers which work for you, BUT if you get yourself a followthrough then anything is possible with that extra pace, you'd be heading for Fast-Medium at your age.

I dont know, Manee has a point about getting a video of yourself, preferably from behind you, infront (Stumps) side on, at release...That way we can analyse what you're doing wrong.

Really, get down the nets and bowl as many overs as your legs will allow, get your technique, run up everything! spot on, the more you practise the easier it'll be to get out of a mix-up in technique in the middle of the match.

 

[Cricketman]

I have some sort of natural 'sling' action-I don't know that i'm even doing it. Its not as bad as Lasith Malinga or anything, but its a little straighter then a Shoaib action, not much though. I'm getting good pace and swing both ways with this.
My coach tried to correct my action with a more straighter one, something like Maharoof's for example, but it didn't work. It was uncomfortable.
The only drawback with my 'sling' action is that at times it gets a bit wayward and strays down the leg side for 4 wides

Should I try and straighten it?

 

[Simbazz]

Depends if you can get your action straight and most importantly, it feels natural. You could do with having a straight on action as there are many benifits, most of all, you'll get more swing.

Just try differnt things to see if it helps.

 

[Almost_Austwick]

Hi,

This season i was bowling quite well until my last school game when suddenly i couldnt hit length well and lost my line.

I Bowl right arm medium around 65mph, which i believe is good for a 15 year old, I have a straight on bowling action with my front arm going up in the air before my back arm swings through. One of my friends noticed yesterday that my head was dropping when i bowled, i fixed that and things seemed better but still it wasnt right. Im around 5ft 6" and im wondering if anyone can give me some advice about how to be more accurate and hit the pitch on a good length and put some yorkers in.

All Help appreciated.

Follow through - mark out your usual run-up and then just run through the crease and see where you end up. This will give you an idea of where your follow through should be. Do it a few times, then try it with a ball in your hand and see what happens. It's going to take a bit of practice but it will become second nature.

Losing your line was more than likely due to your head dropping causing you to fall over. Sounds silly but a good thing to do it to think 'tall and straight' as you bowl. Make sure you're getting everything nice and high and that your bowling arm is straight. Having someone to spot you is a big help in sorting out problems with your action so get a friend to watch.

A tip is to run in with your bowling arm 'pumping' up and down (like Caddick)- helps to keeps things straight. Also, imagine that you're throwing your shoulder at the batsman, again this will help your line.

Why did your head drop? Difficult to say but it may be down to tiredness, stiffness or just a bad day at the office (or one of a million other things). Keep working on your action and try to think 'tall'. Also, having a good follow through will also help to keep things straight.

I said this many times but the only real way to work on length is too mark out target areas and practice hitting them. When I say practice, I mean practice, practice, practice and then some more practice. As you get more control over where the ball is pitching reduce the target area. Do this for all lengths (and lines) and watch you're bowling improve no end.

I have some sort of natural 'sling' action-I don't know that i'm even doing it. Its not as bad as Lasith Malinga or anything, but its a little straighter then a Shoaib action, not much though. I'm getting good pace and swing both ways with this.
My coach tried to correct my action with a more straighter one, something like Maharoof's for example, but it didn't work. It was uncomfortable.
The only drawback with my 'sling' action is that at times it gets a bit wayward and strays down the leg side for 4 wides

Should I try and straighten it?

Tell your coach that your action is natural and that you're going to keep it that way. Providing it isn't causing injury then I see no need to modify it into something that it isn't.

Obviously there are always little tweaks here and there that can be made in order to correct bad habits but I'm against whole sale changes to actions just for the sake of it.

If you're coach wants to help then he should be researching the likes of Malinga and seeing how they help him to keep his waywardness down to a minimum and then seeing if that could be applied to you.

Remember, you should know your action better than anyone and if you don't then it's time that you did. Only when you do will you be able to troubleshoot problems as well as learning what advice to take on board and which advice to listen to but quietly ignore.

 

[BigCrickNan]

Anyone mastered legspin ?
I'm unsure of my grip and action mainly, I like to grip it with the seam facing sideways of course, my middle finger on the seam and the other fingers either side of the seam and I rip it out side-ways. I get a lot of turn but I often drag the ball extremely short. Anyone think I should persevere with this action or go with a more traditional grip + action?

 

[Almost_Austwick]

My first questions would be:

Have you tried the traditional grip? If so how did you get on with it?

 

[Simbazz]

Legspinners do have a tendincy to drag it short due to the angle of release on the ball, whereas a offspinner tends to release the ball so it flights down the pitch, which is natural as it comes out of the very top of the hand.

A Legspinner tries to release it out of the middle of the hand, trying to add spin with the fingers, its the fingers which drag the ball short, due to the motion of your arm mainly. My suggestion would be, just dont bowl with any spin and grandually try to rip it more and more, also, try to just aim for a square, i have said many times ,get some red tape or something which can be seen, stick it on the net floor, or even on a practise pitch and aim for it, making it smaller every session until you can hit that spot, the spot should be somewhere were you know you can hit every time in match, and should be a place where a batsmen wont be sure whether to attack or defend, so offstump line would be good!

 

[BigCrickNan]

My first questions would be:

Have you tried the traditional grip? If so how did you get on with it?

I do alright, I just lose a lot of turn and find it hard to bowl a top-spinner

Thanks btw.

 

[King Pietersen]

you watched the Terry Jenner video on the BBC Masterclass ? great video to learn leg-spin.

 

[Hooper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJuPd2shJMQ

Leggy

 

[Gilly Fan]

Legspinners do have a tendincy to drag it short due to the angle of release on the ball, whereas a offspinner tends to release the ball so it flights down the pitch, which is natural as it comes out of the very top of the hand.

A Legspinner tries to release it out of the middle of the hand, trying to add spin with the fingers, its the fingers which drag the ball short, due to the motion of your arm mainly. My suggestion would be, just dont bowl with any spin and grandually try to rip it more and more, also, try to just aim for a square, i have said many times ,get some red tape or something which can be seen, stick it on the net floor, or even on a practise pitch and aim for it, making it smaller every session until you can hit that spot, the spot should be somewhere were you know you can hit every time in match, and should be a place where a batsmen wont be sure whether to attack or defend, so offstump line would be good!

I have that problem. I always drage the ball short and wide and I'm easily cut away. But when I get it on a good length, it's hard to play me.

I do alright, I just lose a lot of turn and find it hard to bowl a top-spinner

Thanks btw.

Put the palm or back (?) of your hand facing the sky and release like so. You should get extra bounce. I have trouble getting the wrong un right. There was this stage last season where I was bowling it perfectly and getting it to spin alot, now I suck at it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJuPd2shJMQ

Leggy

I couldn't even tell whether that landed on the pitch. I couldn't even see the ball.