Your Cricket How Do You Bowl Fast Without Putting Too much Strain on Your Back

[Will Browne]

I can bowl quickly, however after a few games, my back starts to get aggravated. Any tips?? Cheers, Will

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I'm not the quickest bowler by any means, but when I'm bowling at my fastest I notice it helps if I have:
a) Rhythm, a consistent runup
b) Fluidity in delivering the ball, converting all the momentum into the delivery of the ball
c) A loose grip on the ball - just the finger tips, not holding it too deep in the hand

But the problem is that in doing part b), you are bound to put some part of your body under stress.
After my fastest spells my sides were gone. Had no stress on my lower back, but somehow put a lot of pressure on my lower right hand side. I could barely walk.

Fact of life guess.

 

[pcfan123]

by using your arms

 

[Seoken]

It's usually the last delivery stride. Most bowlers believe that a big jump is a good thing for generating pace, and it is, at a price; your back.

Dennis lille said in an interview i watched, that his problem was he was jumping to high and landing on his back foot to hard which in turn sent a shock up his spine, which almost ended his career.

So i recommend try gliding onto the crease as fluid as possible, so there is no straining on your back leg when delivering the ball.

Hope this helps.

 

[-D-S-B-]

You tell me how to bowl fast and I'll tell you how to protect you back, deal?

One bit of advice I can give you from personal experience is once you've done your back, don't rush back into bowling. Take months off if need be. I've always had back problems and I think it's from rushing back while I've still got some sort of niggle or trying to bowl through the pain. I've got other injury problems now though, so my advice may not be the best

 

[sami ullah khan]

Genuine quick bowling is more about instinct than method IMO. One can try and bowl fast but unless a person is natural quick bowler, he won't be able to sustain his pace for much longer. Zoraxdoom's points about physical aspect of quick bowling are absolutely valid but there is psychological side to it.
A last minute flick of the wrist also helps add pace. I tried that when I used to play and it helped increase pace.

 

[angryangy]

In terms impact, it's exactly as Seoken said; that's the point of having a smooth action. You can also get ankle and knee injuries to that same effect.

However in terms of effort and strain, core strength is absolutely key. The glutes and abs are powerful muscle groups when utilised properly and when they are not strong enough, will recruit and thus place excess strain on the lower back and hamstrings. If you try to treat these areas in isolation, you might start a domino effect.

Watson was known for injuries, in spite of remodelling his action a number of times. When he backed off the weights sessions in favour of pilates, he developed quite good fitness.

Shane Harwood was another who long struggled with injuries. I guess he still does a bit, but he did improve a lot after doing more work in the off-season. He specified in no uncertain terms the area of the body that was key in becoming not only a fitter bowler, but a faster one.
Bushrangers paceman working his butt on - Cricket - Sport - theage.com.au

 

[sami ullah khan]

^Thats a bit strange. By that Standard Arjuna Ranatunga should have been the fastest bowler in the world

 

[angryangy]

 

[KBC]

Not to mention you have to keep your breathing intact. When you go back to the starting point, You'd start off with a big breath-in and breath-out and keep doing a breath-in and breath-out in sync with your running speed and while you're about to release, grab in some breath and let it out just as you bowl. That should add up a little power to your delivery, and the surprising thing is that you'll have a semi-automatic control on your line.

Work on the lungs, they're gonna play a good part on your body.

I also agree the action needs to be fluid-like; smooth. If you check out some of the Athletes, you'll find a intense development of this movement. Be it gymnastics or Athletics. Rushing in is not pumping into the crease.

Secondly, Your spine will depend on the bend of your action i.e. It will depend on how you bend out after you bowl and go into the follow through. You're gonna have the peak of the stress falling on your back when you just release the ball and are about to go into the follow through. Imitate that part by standing still, check where the effort is going into at the back, assuming you have a coach, and you can get some adjustments in the way you bowl.

Thirdly, Fitness is absolute. You should do as much as you can to make your muscles fit. Specially your lower back and the back of your thighs through your hips. The regular excercises before the game or before you bowl should help you.

 

[Will Browne]

Thanks alot for your tips guys. I found it interesting about breathing- previously i pretty much held my breath for the latter part of my run up. I've heard many people say the same about the need for a decent backside, unfortunately mine is not of the flintoff of lee proportions...

 

[KBC]

Thanks alot for your tips guys. I found it interesting about breathing- previously i pretty much held my breath for the latter part of my run up. I've heard many people say the same about the need for a decent backside, unfortunately mine is not of the flintoff of lee proportions...

A little like scott styris? :P


no, I mean, you can hold onto being medium pace bowler, and gather up slowly to pace. That's what many fast bowlers used to do back then. What's your age?

 

[Will Browne]

Im 16

 

[AbhishekS]

We guys play cricket in our society every Sunday. Due to a ligament tear in my left leg, I wasn't bowling for almost one month now. Tried bowling today. Instead of my leg or the back, the right side of my chest (I bowl with the right arm) is paining. I had a li'l sensation while bowling too, but I just went on with it. I try to copy the action of Malinga and thus it really does bring a lot of stress to the upper part of the chest. And of course, little back pain will always be there after bowling more than 50 deliveries after almost a month.

Yudi added 1 Minutes and 2 Seconds later...

Actually while trying to copy Malinga, my action and the run-up becomes a mixture of Malinga and Tait.

 

[TumTum]

Yep back muscle strains are annoying. Best thing is to do a proper warm-up before bowling.