Help with Fast Bowling

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superfastbowler

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Help with Fast Bowling

Hi everyone. I am new here and very excited that I found this website. Some incredible advice and idea sharing. I will start with a quick introduction about myself and then why I am really here :D

I am 35 year old male. I moved to New York/New Jersey area a few years ago. I am very passionate about cricket and especially fast bowling. At 35 my desire to bowl fast just keeps getting more and more.

Anyway, this morning I played a practice game. We play early in the morning here around 8am. It was about 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I bowl with a run up of about 21 paces. My run-up felt great this morning. But I gave 9 runs in the first over and they were all extras, none of the bat. I was swinging the ball a great deal, away from the right hander, and just could not control the line. The length was spot on. The ball that did pitch in the right areas got the batsman beaten completely.

So why was I struggling to maintain the line? I think one of the reason is that I was not warmed up fully.

Secondly, I think I might be running in just a little too quick and perhaps not able to set myself up at the crease? But it felt great when I was bowling.

Unfortunately here in USA, we don't have great facilities for Cricket and I use the internet a great deal to improve my bowling and Cricket. I have read the fast bowling bible and that is great.

So, my question is what can I do to maintain a good line while trying to bowl quick? I love fast bowling and people keep telling me to bowl slowly and focus on line and length. But I want to bowl fast and maintain line and length.

I know this is a general question, but I am looking for your tips and suggestions that I can try next time out there. I workout regularly in the gym (4 days a week). Do Yoga regularly also.

What is a typical speed at which one can setup themselves at the crease correctly? Does this vary from individual to individual?

Also, I find it very difficult to bring the ball into the right hander. I am looking for help on how to make the ball come into the right hander. I think that will make me very effective.

Cheers

Ash
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

Hi Ash and welcome to the board.

Losing your line can be caused by many things, from your action through to the ball doing too much for you to control it.

I think that the general consensus is that the first to place to start is to make sure that you're running in straight, as doing this will help you to maintain a decent line. From there it is often a case of practice, practice and more practice.

One thing I would say is that if you are finding that the ball is doing a lot in the air, is to twist the ball in the hand, so the fingers are going over the seam, rather than along it - this will cut out the swing element so you can at least see what the cause may be.

There is some great reading in this thread -Ian Pont Interview and it's a really good place to start.

Without knowing your fitness regime it's hard to say if you're doing exercise which will aid bowling but the Yoga will certainly do no harm.

Lastly, if you are able to get a video, from front, back and side on then we may be able to offer extra advice with regards to your action, otherwise you'll have to describe it as best as possible.
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated.

I do run in straight line. I will try and get a video of my action, but I think I shift a bit to the left at the point of leap and landing. So imagine running in straight and as I leap, I tend to move to the left and land on the left. I have had this issue before and I think this is one of my issue. Actually I think this is why I find it a little difficult to bowl round the wicket.

Fitness wise, I work on upper body on Tuesdays, Cardio and legs (mix of plyometrics and sprinting) on Wednesdays and shoulders and bi/tri on Thu. Usuall Friday and Monday is Yoga. I play on saturday and Sunday.

In the gym, I use the length of the gym to practice my run up. It helps me a great deal and it feels great in the gym and I seem to be doing everything right in the gym. Perhaps in the open I get a little too anxious to bowl quick and just tend to run in a little quicker. Like you said a video will help and I will work on it.
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

Welcome mate.

Do you change your action at all when you try to bowl the inswinger? Or do you just change your grip and bowl it normally?

Also it is harder to get lots of swing when you bowl fast, but not impossible.
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

Thanks Jonesy. This is a great forum and in a way wish I had discovered it a while ago.

I bowl out swingers naturally. After giving it a thought, when it comes to bowling in swingers I tend to just change the grip. I do try to use the crease and bowl away from the stumps. But some days it works and mostly not.

I do think my wrist might not be firm and a tad sloppy. But I can't be sure until I analyse a video of myself and ofcourse use your help on this
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

Yeh, same thing here, I naturally bowl out swingers and get a lot of swing on them. In swinger you need to bowl close to your head, almost brushing your ear, whereas out swingers our arm is more sideways-ish. I wanted to bowl in swingers as a variation ball, but my coach said I shouldn't because that would mean changing my action, which would a) make it easy to pick and b) would in turn stuff up my natural out-swing action.

I guess for an inswinger to be effective, it doesn't need to swing a great deal, because even a ball just going straight will be a big enough difference from your outswinger, eg:

\ |
\ |
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I guess it's hard to see there but the straight line is the straight ball, and the two on the angle is where it'd end up for an outswinger, but yeh, hard to explain.

I just bowl with the grip for the in swinger, and just bowl normally in ever other way, and if you're bowling big outties it does work.

It is also hard to adjust to the inswinging grip when you bowl out swingers all the time, well for me anyway :p so it could be a reason that you're not keeping the seam upright and stuff like that. That's I think what also happens to me sometimes.
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

I tried the in swingers with bowling close to my head and it does not come naturally at all. Maybe needs more practice. But you bring a good point about bowling the out swingers and the odd one straight.

And you are right. The grip for the in swinger is not an easy one for me either. Like you said being used to bowling out swingers all the time does it.

Does bowling round the wicket come naturally to you? I find it a tad difficult and also lose some pace when bowling round the wicket.
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

Lol, I didn't mean that I bowl around the wicket, I mean the arm is more round for out swingers than in swingers, like the in swing action is close to your head, the out swing action is a bit further away from the head.

Just a question out of interest, do you get many caught behinds? I always get edges to 2nd slip or gully but hardly ever the keeper.
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

Hey superfastbowler, when you say it's hard for you to control your line, which side of the wicket is it going on?? ie legside wide or offside wide?

Regarding the inswinger, I am also a natural outswing bowler, or at least was, and the inswinger doesn't come naturally at all. I think the advice of Jonesy's coach was good advice for now - start with getting one delivery nailed on then maybe move onto another one.

I tend to hold the ball with the seam straight and I sometimes get a bit of outswing by changing thumb position or angling the seam. I've been noticing recently that any balls I put down the legside are swinging even further that way and sometimes I've been able to see that the seam is angled in that direction. This is making me think that a slightly weak wrist may be causing me to bring my fingers down the wrong side of the ball but it's alos encouraging in that it could mean I could bowl the inswinger. Maybe just changing your release slightly while holding the ball with a straight or very slightly angled seam would work??

With caught behinds, last year all my caught behinds bar one or two were at 2nd slip. This year in practice more and more have been going keeper/1st slip and this year I have been swinging it less in the air than last year. Maybe the swing your putting on the ball is changing the angle it comes off the bat for an edge.
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

I am sorry but my question regarding round the wicket was "off topic". I guess it's the old brain thinking in all directions!! :)

Yes I do get caught behinds, but with the new ball it is mainly in slips and at times in the short thirdman when I know I am facing a attacking opening batsman.

Jonesy said:
Lol, I didn't mean that I bowl around the wicket, I mean the arm is more round for out swingers than in swingers, like the in swing action is close to your head, the out swing action is a bit further away from the head.

Just a question out of interest, do you get many caught behinds? I always get edges to 2nd slip or gully but hardly ever the keeper.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

It is going wide on the off side. Now that I think back, I think I might be a little too anxious to ball quicker that day and hence lose control.

I agree with your opinion on nailing one down. I do want to get to a point where I am bowl a in swinger to some degree of sucess. But like you said, let's nail one down first. It might also be about more practice time. Although I don't have 10,000 hours.......:)

I too have been thinking about the wrist. But how do you know whether you have weak wrist or not? How to tell if the issue is due to the wrist or release?

Appreciate your help.

I do plan on changing the angle of the seam a tad in my next weekends game. Let's see how I do.

Jelly Beanz said:
Hey superfastbowler, when you say it's hard for you to control your line, which side of the wicket is it going on?? ie legside wide or offside wide?

Regarding the inswinger, I am also a natural outswing bowler, or at least was, and the inswinger doesn't come naturally at all. I think the advice of Jonesy's coach was good advice for now - start with getting one delivery nailed on then maybe move onto another one.

I tend to hold the ball with the seam straight and I sometimes get a bit of outswing by changing thumb position or angling the seam. I've been noticing recently that any balls I put down the legside are swinging even further that way and sometimes I've been able to see that the seam is angled in that direction. This is making me think that a slightly weak wrist may be causing me to bring my fingers down the wrong side of the ball but it's alos encouraging in that it could mean I could bowl the inswinger. Maybe just changing your release slightly while holding the ball with a straight or very slightly angled seam would work??

With caught behinds, last year all my caught behinds bar one or two were at 2nd slip. This year in practice more and more have been going keeper/1st slip and this year I have been swinging it less in the air than last year. Maybe the swing your putting on the ball is changing the angle it comes off the bat for an edge.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

If I were you I'd start by shortening the run up. 21 paces is a long way. Maybe it's right for you and it'll go straight back to that length but try having a shorter run and concentrating on building speed but remaining completely in control on the way to the crease rather than just dashing in as fast as you can. This might be causing you to lose balance at the crease - a video would be very useful.

I think it's just down to practice - 10,000 hours or not, the more you practice the better you will be.

To clarify, I meant weak wrist position. The wrist should be pulled back and behind the centre of the ball, giving it a 'strong' feeling and a good position to release the ball from consistently. Occaisionaly, I get the position wrong, giving me a weak wrist position and so meaning I'm less accurate. There's no real way to tell other than to have someone watch you, I think. You might get the feeling that your fingers are slipping down one side of the ball or that the ball is slipping off one side of your fingers. Sorry, if that sounds a bit vague ::)

No worries, good luck and let us know how you do.
 
Re: Help with Fast Bowling

Thanks. Your explanation makes a lot of sense with the wrist being behind the ball. I will practice on that a lot more this summer.

My 21 paces run up, is 21 normal pace walk from the popping crease. I am guessing when I run in with longer strides it must be about 15-18. I do like the feel of the run up. I think I might just want to build my momentum gradually and steady it a couple of steps before the leap.

I will try and get the video as soon as I can. Thanks again.

Jelly Beanz said:
If I were you I'd start by shortening the run up. 21 paces is a long way. Maybe it's right for you and it'll go straight back to that length but try having a shorter run and concentrating on building speed but remaining completely in control on the way to the crease rather than just dashing in as fast as you can. This might be causing you to lose balance at the crease - a video would be very useful.

I think it's just down to practice - 10,000 hours or not, the more you practice the better you will be.

To clarify, I meant weak wrist position. The wrist should be pulled back and behind the centre of the ball, giving it a 'strong' feeling and a good position to release the ball from consistently. Occaisionaly, I get the position wrong, giving me a weak wrist position and so meaning I'm less accurate. There's no real way to tell other than to have someone watch you, I think. You might get the feeling that your fingers are slipping down one side of the ball or that the ball is slipping off one side of your fingers. Sorry, if that sounds a bit vague ::)

No worries, good luck and let us know how you do.
Click to expand...
 
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