A long-overdue update on my bowling

[Spiderlounge]

A long-overdue update on my bowling

Blimey, it's such a long time since I've been on here you've opened up a whole extra section...

I've had loads of things getting in the way of my bowling, not the least of which was a car crash a few weeks ago (not my fault and whiplash the only injury thankfully). The club's season starts at the beginning of May and my team-mates say I should just about scrape into the team on the basis of my batting, although unfortunately my debut will have to wait a couple of matches whatever happens as I'm heavily involved in the General Election campaign in my area. (Don't ask where or who I'm campaigning for, I've got enough of it during the day without hearing about the campaign here!) I've only had a total of five nets sessions since January, and a few sessions bowling in the garden, so I've done nothing like the amount of practice I should or would like to have done, but nevertheless considering I've probably only done about 25 hours of bowling in total I'm pretty happy with the progress I'm making.

My action's definitely developing into a pretty solid base, and it feels like it's just a case of fine tuning the mechanics (and a lot of practice). I've got a nice, repeatable rhythm with a seven-step run up (five really but I find it helpful to think of it including two follow-through steps) and I'm learning all the time what causes my more obviously wayward deliveries - mainly sloppy hip and shoulder orientation.

I'm not sure if I've found my natural pace yet. I'm much more accurate in terms of spin, line and length if I slow down a bit but it feels like I should ultimately be aiming to bowl a bit faster. Can anyone advise on how I should think about this? Should I bowl slow and gradually get quicker or bowl quick and work on my accuracy?

I'm not sure how much my garden's helping. As I've previously explained, the garden itself is on quite an incline, it's not quite big enough for a full 22 yards plus run up even diagonally across, and the surface is so uneven in texture that even well-spun leg breaks can inexplicably become off-breaks because of the ludicrously uneven bounce. Anyway, it'll have to do... I get into a much better rhythm bowling an over at a time in the garden than I do bowling a ball at a time at nets.

As for how well I'm bowling, I'm still nowhere near match-ready. 90 percent of my deliveries land within a metre of where I'm aiming, and 50 percent within half a metre. Certainly I'm nowhere near accurate enough to use line and length to toy with a batsman, but I am at least able to bowl a few deliveries that confuse a batsman, and my team-mates in the nets have remarked on my progress. As for flight I have literally no idea how I'm doing on that front! Maybe I need to get the camera out and have a slow-mo look.

The bottom line is that I'm beginning to really love wrist-spin bowling!

 

[Liz Ward]

Re: A long-overdue update on my bowling

...Don't ask where or who I'm campaigning for, I've got enough of it during the day without hearing about the campaign here!...

Quite right... let's keep politics out of sport .

Whiplash can come back to bite you on the... erm... rear end, up to months after the prang so do keep your mind open to anything 'unusual' during the season.

As for whether you should speed it up, or slow it down, try to post a current video, full length if possible, and we can see if there is anything in particular inhibiting speed.

 

[Spiderlounge]

Re: A long-overdue update on my bowling

As for whether you should speed it up, or slow it down, try to post a current video, full length if possible, and we can see if there is anything in particular inhibiting speed.

There's nothing stopping me bowling 10-20% quicker than my stock delivery except that I can't keep it anything like as accurate.

When I have an hour or two free I'll film a few overs and post it here.

 

[chrisbell]

Re: A long-overdue update on my bowling

Peter Philpott for one says that your natural pace is your natural pace, and, as long as you are "exploding" at the crease and using your whole body to rip the ball, you shouldn't meddle with it. Additionally, he suggests delivering slower and faster balls with the same action, but speeding-up or slowing-down the run-up slightly to acheive the change of pace.

 

[Jim2109]

Re: A long-overdue update on my bowling

Peter Philpott for one says that your natural pace is your natural pace, and, as long as you are "exploding" at the crease and using your whole body to rip the ball, you shouldn't meddle with it. Additionally, he suggests delivering slower and faster balls with the same action, but speeding-up or slowing-down the run-up slightly to acheive the change of pace.

i vary my run up pace to alter my delivery speed. it screws batsmen up regularly. most notably if i throw up a really fast ball and get it on a good length with dip, they are screwed. it doesnt even have to turn much. slower balls can be equally as effective so long as they do more off the pitch.

the easiest way to up your stock speed is to look at your flight. everyone has their own opinions, but i dont think there is any benefit (in fact i think its a negative) to throwing the ball way above the batsmans eyeline. all it does is give them more time to watch it, and it also pretty much takes drift out of the equation. you literally only need to flight the ball 12" above their helmet as they are stood in their stance. this instantly forces an increase in speed, both because you have to bowl faster in order to land it on a good length, but also because the ball goes straight forwards, rather than up and down.

you have to be careful not to take too much flight off though. and also you can struggle to generate turn because the ball hits the pitch flatter (the best turn is acheived when it drops more vertically). it increases the effects in flight substantially though. there are other leggies at my club who can turn the ball bigger than me on a consistent basis. but none of them bowl as fast and flat as i do. and none of them get the ball to dip, drift and bounce as much. ultimately turn is pointless if the batsman has time to react to it. drift, dip and speed cause the batsmen to misjudge the delivery, turn is just the icing on the cake that makes him look like an idiot. it also allows you to bowl leg side and still threaten the stumps, and its easier to cause a batsman problems when you bowl at his legs, because he is forced into using his feet in some way. if he misjudged the line/length because of drift/dip then hes screwed, any shot is going to have to be corrected at the last second. and then turn and bounce come into play big time, especially if he chose to come forwards to a ball that dipped short!!

 

[chrisbell]

Re: A long-overdue update on my bowling

I broadly agree with you, Jim, that the stock ball should be flighted a bit. As you say, too much flight (lobbing it up, as Philpott calls it) just gives you a chance as a batsman to get into position. Saying that, tossing it up a bit will take it above the batsman's eyeline.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: A long-overdue update on my bowling

Quite right... let's keep politics out of sport .

Whiplash can come back to bite you on the... erm... rear end, up to months after the prang so do keep your mind open to anything 'unusual' during the season.

As for whether you should speed it up, or slow it down, try to post a current video, full length if possible, and we can see if there is anything in particular inhibiting speed.

Yeah a tricky one politics - permeates every aspect of life, and I'm quite political too, but I think we'll have to leave our allegiances out of the forum, this isn't the place for it.

 

[macca]

Re: A long-overdue update on my bowling

As for how well I'm bowling, I'm still nowhere near match-ready. 90 percent of my deliveries land within a metre of where I'm aiming, and 50 percent within half a metre.

Well that sounds good at this stage. You say you are still trying to work out your own natural pace, you want to get that sorted. A few long bowling sessions where you just concentrate on getting the speed and ryhthm of your delivery more or less decided.