Step Before Bowling?

shahidpak

Active Member
How long should the step just before starting your action be because when its too small i feel things are slowed down, And when its too long i feel im taking a too big step?

And when should a leg spinners arm come over? Should it come over when i place my front foot on the ground , before, or just after because i think that when im late my ball becomes a short ball and when i'm early its a full toss?

Oh and do you get your momentum by your run up or do you get your momentum by your jump just before bowling?
 
How long should the step just before starting your action be because when its too small i feel things are slowed down, And when its too long i feel im taking a too big step?

And when should a leg spinners arm come over? Should it come over when i place my front foot on the ground , before, or just after because i think that when im late my ball becomes a short ball and when i'm early its a full toss?

Oh and do you get your momentum by your run up or do you get your momentum by your jump just before bowling?

The first step depends on your comfortability. I use a long one to get my thythm going, or I feel stuck on one spot.

It can't come over before your front foot lands, because then you'd be bowling off the wrong foot, not that that's wrong, but look at the name - off the WRONG foot. It should come over just a fraction after your front foot lands
or later.

You have to get some momentum from your run-up or it's absolutely useless. Some of your energy (50% or more) should come from the run-up, the rest from the gather and bound or whatever it's called.
 
The first step depends on your comfortability. I use a long one to get my thythm going, or I feel stuck on one spot.

It can't come over before your front foot lands, because then you'd be bowling off the wrong foot, not that that's wrong, but look at the name - off the WRONG foot. It should come over just a fraction after your front foot lands
or later.

You have to get some momentum from your run-up or it's absolutely useless. Some of your energy (50% or more) should come from the run-up, the rest from the gather and bound or whatever it's called.

Shahidpak, what did you bowl before you started to bowl wrist-spin?

Thanks Jacques but the problem is that when i use long steps i feel like im going to bowl a no-ball (so ive never really bowled with long steps) and even if i try at the end i just start to walk with short steps of about 50 cm and end up with no momentum and i bowl shit so i never really have a proper run up. Thats why my bowling is so sh*t. Il soon upload a video of my bowling and sh*t run up.

And someblokecalleddave ive started bowling leg spin when i was about 8-9 but i bowled in 5 meters just for fun sometimes i bowled fast 4 fun or off spin but i always wanted to bowl leg spin from being a kid. Im getting irritated because the weather of where i live (North of France) is just like in england always cold and rainy so i cant really practice and when i do get a chance to practice i pratice on a football pitch we dont have any cricket pitch i ve never even seen a real pitch in life (except on TV) :p
 
Thanks Jacques but the problem is that when i use long steps i feel like im going to bowl a no-ball (so ive never really bowled with long steps) and even if i try at the end i just start to walk with short steps of about 50 cm and end up with no momentum and i bowl shit so i never really have a proper run up. Thats why my bowling is so sh*t. Il soon upload a video of my bowling and sh*t run up.

And someblokecalleddave ive started bowling leg spin when i was about 8-9 but i bowled in 5 meters just for fun sometimes i bowled fast 4 fun or off spin but i always wanted to bowl leg spin from being a kid. Im getting irritated because the weather of where i live (North of France) is just like in england always cold and rainy so i cant really practice and when i do get a chance to practice i pratice on a football pitch we dont have any cricket pitch i ve never even seen a real pitch in life (except on TV) :p

There was a stage in my bowling where I was also very worried about the first step like you are now. Back then I shuffled sideways, almost like a penguin at the start of my run-up. I shuffled like that and gradually built up some momentum so I started giving normal steps which got quicker until I reached almost full speed just before I bowled. I think I still did that shuffle in the videos I put here on bigcricket. Maybe it's worth having a look at them and trying the shuffle for yourself? Wouldn't do it if I were you though. These days I don't worry about my run-up and just focus on spinning the ball hard. The run-up and action is all a blur to me. Don't get too obsessed with the action, run-up etc. That's a recipe for disaster. I've never worried about my action except for the crucial parts like the pivot, arm height, leading arm, and follow through. My action is very natural, which helps me relax when I bowl and not stress and overthink anything.
 
There was a stage in my bowling where I was also very worried about the first step like you are now. Back then I shuffled sideways, almost like a penguin at the start of my run-up. I shuffled like that and gradually built up some momentum so I started giving normal steps which got quicker until I reached almost full speed just before I bowled. I think I still did that shuffle in the videos I put here on bigcricket. Maybe it's worth having a look at them and trying the shuffle for yourself? Wouldn't do it if I were you though. These days I don't worry about my run-up and just focus on spinning the ball hard. The run-up and action is all a blur to me. Don't get too obsessed with the action, run-up etc. That's a recipe for disaster. I've never worried about my action except for the crucial parts like the pivot, arm height, leading arm, and follow through. My action is very natural, which helps me relax when I bowl and not stress and overthink anything.

Thanks but everytime i bowl i feel like i create a new action everytime?? How can i avoid this?And does that mean that i should take bigger steps just before bowling?
 
I went for years feeling like, never ever settling on one bowling action, i think it's just something you're going to have to do and put up with. I think the key thing is not to develop a bowling action that's going to cause injury. You'll find a way in the longer run, but when you're learning if there's no direct input from a proper coach, I think this way is the way it's got to be. Try out the different things, that people suggest as I did, but in the end I found that - not to think about it in the end became the key and doing what comes naturally. Be relaxed was a massive part of the process.
 
I went for years feeling like, never ever settling on one bowling action, i think it's just something you're going to have to do and put up with. I think the key thing is not to develop a bowling action that's going to cause injury. You'll find a way in the longer run, but when you're learning if there's no direct input from a proper coach, I think this way is the way it's got to be. Try out the different things, that people suggest as I did, but in the end I found that - not to think about it in the end became the key and doing what comes naturally. Be relaxed was a massive part of the process.

That's exacy what I did. I shaped an action for myself and let it flow. Sometimes working over a very short distance on one particular aspect of it until I do it correct automatically, but never while I'm practicing something else.

Whenever I think about my action while I bowl it's a bad ball. When I focus on what I want the batsman to do, and trying to rip a black hole in the universe with a cricket ball I bowl well.
 
I have kind of obsessed over this, too. I have settled for a long stride as it helps me into my rhythm generally and it's what I do naturally.

Do you notice any difference in your deliveries when you take a short stride? (Besides being inaccurate, less revs or similar negatives) Changing your action subtly is a good variaton. Sometimes I deliberately pull my front leg back once I land it, almost like I'm slipping. This holds the ball back in the air, something small like changing your stride length might also have an effect, perhaps that's why you have a long stride length naturally? If you change it you might bowl with a little less pace which could be deceiving since you would be putting in just enough effort, only with less momentum transferred to ball speed?
 
Yeah I think I probably bowl worse with more tentative smaller steps but it might be something to experiment with. I think a good analogy here is kicking yourself off the side of a swimming pool when doing lengths to get that forward momentum going for the first few strokes. Same for my run up, a good confident and positive first stride leads to forward momentum throughout the delivery. I think it's important with shorter run ups, my action is six steps in total inclusive of the final delivery stride and pivot off the front left foot.
 
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