bowling techniques

last saturday was an amazing day..
i came back on the cricket field after almost 8 months..
but my bowling spell was as good as i would have wanted it to be;
it was kinda spooky; i f i would ask a fielder to move to a new spot, the very next ball, he would get a catch!!
and i almost got the whole oppn. team all out!! [ well 4 out of five]

well no big deal actually, its hard tennis ball cricket on a minefield of a pitch with mostly amatuer players. but stil it was a good rush of cheer and joy when things go exactly as planned ;
also i decided to write and hopefully discuss with others about my bowling strats and learn more and make sure i keep the good times consistent :) ;

also of note is that i used to think i was a good batsman and an above avg bowler.
but sat., i was duck in both innings; i diagnosed the problem to dead slow bat speed ;
but not surprisingly, both the times my dismissal reminded otehrs of ganguly! . while hate to be compared to him, i think it speaks volumes about his form. or what most of us think about it.



any way here is a start to my discussion on bowling.

i bowl medium pace and offspin mostly.


for the offspin i have two basic variations, two finger and three finger grips.. almost every thing else is same, i get more spin with the two finger grip, but on dry days, it hurts.

for the medium pace, i alternate between the V grip and the || grip ;

lets discuss medium pace for a while.

the variables are
grip : V and ||

depth of grip , holding it so it almost touches the palm as opposed to tip of the fingers

wrist : stiff, flexible, rotating etc..

shoulder : well actually this is only for the extra push..

waist : same as shoulder, but together they help create the angle

jump at crease .. : i dont jum.. i try to make sure the left foot is pointing straight to the direction i want to land and turn in the end;

run in..: about 13-15 strides.. but i put in short warmup strides, like patrick patterson at the start, but end up like wasim/nehra at the end; i come in at about a 30 degree angle and plant the right foot on the line parallel to the stumps at an angle of about 30 degrees.

delivery : im already bent backwards a little at this point, i bend the left knee up and land the left foot parallel to the pitch on the bowling crease and un coil with the waist and shoulders.. and try to release the ball at about the maximum height. but im not sure if thats when it goes out.
im sure the batsman can see what grip im using to hold the ball. even with not so perfect eye sight, sometimes i can see it!! but some times i rip the ball like a top spin and some times like a regular in cutter to the right hander;

pitch: i try to pitcc it such that it is with in about one stump on either side to the off stump when the ball is in the same plane as the batsman's stumps; based on the pitch, and the turn + bounce im getting, i try to put it such that it ends up within about 3 inches above/below the bails. i think this is the most confusing for good batsmen; for whackers .. i try to increase the bounce/speed ;

bounce : my idea is to extract an edje. and ocassionally the stump; the idea is to make the batsman try to play and then change his mind etc... ; if the ball ends up low enough.. it is easy to cover it with the natuaral arc of a falling bat; however, if it is a little higher, the batsman actually has to guess where it will go and meet it there, eitehr to hit or block . so except for some one who cant move the bat fast enough, i always try to use the shoulder and bounce it high enough.


follow through : well actually i get only one step of follow through unless i run in a few extra paces and really try to put in a very fast [ by my standars ] ball ; so my aim has always been to not hurt the ankles during follow thru ;

while the description in the delivery section above is of my typical and favourite ball, i have learnt a lot of variation with in the offside corridor, and also practiced to make it move away from the right hander after pitching; but i need to think through the field placements for that more thoroughly;

field placements: unless it is a death situaion, i always want a field such that batsman should try to hit over the cover fielder, or try for a strong pull from out side off; or just be content to block it ; if they try to hit it to point or backward point, they have to see the ball well till the end and also make sure they dont end up getting an edje on the side of the bat ; so most tend to aim to hit the ball straight or pull it; i try to put a filder in a short cover position to encourage them to try and push it thru the slips, or hit it over the short cover fielder, or pull it;
some times if the bounce is good on the pitch, i put in a forward shortleg also; and try to bang it in on off and turn it into the rib cage. most batsmen tend to fend it off resulting in a possible catch;

line and length: well i covered them earlier in this post, but generally i try to not worry about where the ball hits the pitch , i tend to worry about the whole thing, based on where it ends up in relation to the off stump and the batsman.

well.. im tired of typing now. will post more on maverick batsmen and slog overs in a later post and also i need to post a lot on the other deliveries i learnt and use, and field placements. please do comment and lets discuss more on the art of pace bowling.

oh and an important note; im not really a very fit person, and am not particularly strong ; so i always try to look for the most bang for the buck :p
cheers
ram

















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