Bowling with confidence

Tom123

New Member
Bowling with confidence

I personally feel that the biggest part of my game is confidence. At the moment as a bowler ive got complete 100% that before any game im going to bowl economically, and take wickets at the same time. On a Sunday i captain one of our sides, and i always open the bowling and bowl 8 overs through most of the time. On Saturday's i usually find myself bowling between 8-12 overs in a spell with the new ball, then bowl another 5-6 at the end of the innings. In my last few games i think that the figures speak for themselves.

8-3-7-2
14.2-4-32-3
8-2-21-3
16-8-25-3

In total so far this season ive bowled just short of 210 overs, and ive gone for 359 runs and taken 19 wickets. I havent really bowled a bad spell at all this season, and every time i come to bowl, i just feel as if i can take wickets every time and trouble the batsmen.

I bowl fast medium but i dont really come off that long a run up. Ive found that i can bowl a lot better off a 12 pace run up as opposed to when i was younger coming in off 20 paces. In regards to the pace i bowl i wouldnt like to guess, but i can bowl at a pretty decent pace. I do as well have the added advantage of being 6''6 and being able to get a lot of bounce when there is something in the track. Only being 20 years old as well still gives me a lot of time to develop as a faster bowler. One of the skills ive learnt well in the last few years is to be able to swing the ball both ways. Most of my wickets this season have come from variation with the batsmen not being able to pick the ball.

Variation i feel is the key to having success. At times perhaps you can be liable to being a bit predicatable, but ive always felt this season that being able to vary things has helped me have a lot of success with the ball. One of the key issues that has worked for me is being able to bowl a good slower ball. Its probably taken me about two years to perfect and get it right in a game situation, but its something that works for me. One of the key things is to make sure you arm comes at the same speed. A few years back one of the main problems i had was when i was going to bowl a slower delivery, i came in slower in my run up and my arm came through much slower which allowed the batsmen to pick the slower ball easily. In the last few months ive worked on this, and now ive managed to be able to bowl a good slower ball whilst bringing my arm through at the same speed. Another issue as a bowler is i think you cant be afraid to try different things. Sometimes they will work, other times perhaps not.

There isnt really a better feeling knowing that when you have got the ball in your hand running in, that you just believe you are going to have the batsmen at the other end in trouble.
 
Re: Bowling with confidence

I agree that confidence is a big part of any bowler's game and, imo, makes more of a difference to performance than almost anything else. I'm pretty similar to you in terms of run-up as well, I used to have a fairly long one but this season I've cut it to 11 paces and it's helped me put more into each delivery, really making sure I'm accelerating to the crease.

Trying things as a bowler, I think, is key to developing - if you don't try you'll never know if it's gonna work!! Also couldn't agree more with the last statement, it's one of the best feelings in cricket besides actually taking a good batman's wicket or playing a really class shot.

Tom123;27530 said:
8-3-7-2
14.2-4-32-3
8-2-21-3
16-8-25-3

Nice figures, what kind of game were you playing where you were allowed to bowl 16 overs?? Normally I'm limited to 15 overs even in the 50 over matches.
 
Re: Bowling with confidence

The main thing that young players coming through need to realise is that you dont need a particularly long run up to be able to bowl quickly. I do a lot of coaching with our Under 15's team and the one thing i noticed early on with a few of the kids was they had a ridiculously long run up. Then when they were coming in they were losing a lot of momentum as they approached the crease. They all come off shorter run ups now and in the long run its helped them a lot.

Ive also found that really the pace i generate doesnt really come from my run up by more so from my upper body and my arms. I wouldnt say i really come steaming in. I do run in fairly quickly but nothing excessive, and ive found that gives me more control. Ive tried to use the crease more often as well this year and that has been a great help. If i say want to really swing the ball away from the batsmen i tend to get as close to the stumps as i can, then if i want to swing it back into them i tend to come quite wide. I noticed in a game last week the batsmen was starting to pick this and he looked quite comfortable for a time. So i decided to try and swing one into him from closer to the stumps. He didnt play a shot and his stumps went flying.

Interested to know as well what people's habits are when they first start to get into a bowling spell. I usually in my first over tend to concentrate on just hitting the spot just outside off stump on a nice full length. I just let to get some rythmn going and hit the spot for the first over, and then once ive gotten a few deliveries done, then i tend to think about my pace and how the ball is moving.

Jelly Beanz;27537 said:
Nice figures, what kind of game were you playing where you were allowed to bowl 16 overs?? Normally I'm limited to 15 overs even in the 50 over matches.

45 over game in the Staffs Club Championship. No limit on the amount of overs you can bowl, apart from if you are underage and then the ECB bowling restrictions apply. We have the one guy who plays who always bowls 25 overs straight from one end every Saturday. But in the games we play you can bowl as many as you like on the Saturday and then you're restricted to 8 overs per bowler on the Sunday. That gets annoying when you've just got into a nice rythmn and suddenly you cant bowl any more overs.
 
Re: Bowling with confidence

I think that reducing my run up has actually made me faster as well as more consistent because it really helps channel my momentum well.

In terms of using the crease, I usually bowl from quite wide of the crease just because that's where naturally seems to suit me. Sometimes I'll move my position as a variation and sometimes I'll do it to adjust my line fractionally without doing anything different in the actual action. I'm kinda confused with my swing at the moment because it seems to be all over the place - for example on Saturday I was swinging it away, into the wind, and on Sunday I was swinging it in for my first few overs and away later in my spell all with the same grip!?!

Tom123;27548 said:
Interested to know as well what people's habits are when they first start to get into a bowling spell. I usually in my first over tend to concentrate on just hitting the spot just outside off stump on a nice full length. I just let to get some rythmn going and hit the spot for the first over, and then once ive gotten a few deliveries done, then i tend to think about my pace and how the ball is moving.

That's pretty much the same for me, just looking to get the rhythm going and get it feeling right to start with. Then I start to look at adjusting the line and length so it's as close as I can get it to where I want to bowl my stock ball. After that I might try variations or bowl to vague sorts of plans to certain batsmen.

25 overs straight is a lot of overs!! We're limited to 15 per bowler and only 2 bowlers can bowl their full 15 per innings, I think the idea is to make sure teams have a depth of talent and don't just rely on one or two guys. We're restricted to 8 overs in 40 over comps as well but one of the two 40 over league teams I play for only gives people 5 overs, or 6 in exceptional cases. It can get pretty annoying when you're just getting into a real rhythm but tbh, after 8 or 9 overs in a spell I really begin to flag if I've been giving it everything.
 
Re: Bowling with confidence

Jelly Beanz;27569 said:
In terms of using the crease, I usually bowl from quite wide of the crease just because that's where naturally seems to suit me. Sometimes I'll move my position as a variation and sometimes I'll do it to adjust my line fractionally without doing anything different in the actual action. I'm kinda confused with my swing at the moment because it seems to be all over the place - for example on Saturday I was swinging it away, into the wind, and on Sunday I was swinging it in for my first few overs and away later in my spell all with the same grip!?!

Its great being able to swing the ball but you need to be able to control it as well. Ive noticed a few kids who play senior cricket can move the ball, but they cant control it at times and it gets irratic. Also i get the feeling with some of the kids they move the odd ball now and again, but i get the impression they dont know how they have done it. The wind is one thing that gets me. I hate nothing more than running into a strong breeze.

Jelly Beanz;27569 said:
25 overs straight is a lot of overs!!

The guy is 58, coming up to 59 at the end of the month.

Jelly Beanz;27569 said:
We're limited to 15 per bowler and only 2 bowlers can bowl their full 15 per innings, I think the idea is to make sure teams have a depth of talent and don't just rely on one or two guys

They tried to do that in our leagues and limit it to a maximum of 15 per bowler but a lot of the clubs rejected the idea. Id like to see it come into force next season because i dont really think it is fair. Ok sure, if you are good enough to bowl the 25 overs or so in one go then fair enough, but it isnt really fair when week in week out the same team rely on the same bowlers. There are a few teams our way where they just use the same two bowlers. Ive played the one side three times now and each time the same two bowlers have just bowled a long spell.

Jelly Beanz;27569 said:
It can get pretty annoying when you're just getting into a real rhythm but tbh, after 8 or 9 overs in a spell I really begin to flag if I've been giving it everything.

Fitness level is the key though. I do a lot of running and cycling and yet when ive done 11 or 12 im starting to flag. But thats because i do put a hell of a lot of effort in and it does take a lot out of you.
 
Re: Bowling with confidence

Tom123;27576 said:
Its great being able to swing the ball but you need to be able to control it as well. Ive noticed a few kids who play senior cricket can move the ball, but they cant control it at times and it gets irratic. Also i get the feeling with some of the kids they move the odd ball now and again, but i get the impression they dont know how they have done it. The wind is one thing that gets me. I hate nothing more than running into a strong breeze.

Yeah, I do deliberately swing it sometimes but most of the time I'm looking for seam movement and it swings as a side effect. I think holding it fairly straight as I do means I get late movement when I do get it, so I can control it more easily than if it went right from the hand.

Tom123;27576 said:
The guy is 58, coming up to 59 at the end of the month.

He must be pretty fit to be doing that at 58 even if he's a spinner.

Tom123;27576 said:
They tried to do that in our leagues and limit it to a maximum of 15 per bowler but a lot of the clubs rejected the idea. Id like to see it come into force next season because i dont really think it is fair. Ok sure, if you are good enough to bowl the 25 overs or so in one go then fair enough, but it isnt really fair when week in week out the same team rely on the same bowlers. There are a few teams our way where they just use the same two bowlers. Ive played the one side three times now and each time the same two bowlers have just bowled a long spell.

Yeah, I mean even with 15 over limits, you can get 40% of your overs from 2 bowlers but getting 70-80% is a bit much. I'm not surprised they vetoed the idea if a lot of them rely on it. In my view it makes it more competetive as a contest.

Tom123;27576 said:
Fitness level is the key though. I do a lot of running and cycling and yet when ive done 11 or 12 im starting to flag. But thats because i do put a hell of a lot of effort in and it does take a lot out of you.

Yeah I agree, I play a fair bit of rugby and I'd say my fitness is generally above average but when you're bowling flat out it can get pretty tiring. I guess age also has something to do with it cos I'm still growing so I've not reached my full size/power yet.
 
Re: Bowling with confidence

It used to be the case in our league that two bowlers would basically bowl the entire innings. It's changed now, so most of the time it's a max of 10 overs. In some ways it's good as more people develop their bowling. But the problem is that a lot of the bowling records set in that time are pretty much unassailable. If you think about it, bowling 25 overs each means that in a game you win, one of the two got at least a 5-for :eek:
 
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