Fast bowling - leverage

[bond21]

I am improving my bowling action and I read an article on leverage to gain pace. I dont completely understand it, as i dont know if theyre talking about your actual left arm or your front shoulder.

http://cricketnz.co.nz/page36.htm

My comprehension of it is he says to keep your front arm up until you plant your front foot, then drive it down. I am not sure if thats right, the diagram is a bit unusual.

Thats the article, could someone who knows about pace bowling read the leverage section and tell me what your take is on it. They say keep your left shoulder high until you plant your front foot...are they talking about your shoulder or your left arm?

thanks

 

[iamdavid]

I read this article a few months ago and posted about it on here....have been trying to implement it into my action to experiment but its harder than you would think to change something so basic.


Basically what they're on about is how far into its rotation the bowling arm is at the point when you plant your front foot (which gives you stability and is when you really start to rip your arm over with maximum force).
If your bowling arm is early in its rotation when you plant your front foot it still has a long way to go after that power surge...still has 90 degrees to rotate before you release the ball and therefore you'll get more leverage and should technically bowl faster.
Whereas if its almost completed its rotation by the time you plant your foot it dosent have far to go after you get that extra power and you'll have less leverage and force.

And the simplest way to ensure the bowling arm is not very far into its rotation is to keep your leading (non-bowling) shoulder upright until you've planted your foot. Dont pull your front arm through with force till the foot is planted, its a timing thing and its very very hard to get right if you arent naturally used to it.
But I believe they do have a point here....studied some video's of Brett Lee bowling from side on and his leverage was atleast 90 degrees just like they claim...whereas watching a couple of 105kph trundlers at my club they had very poor leverage.

 

[bond21]

ok so basically, you leave your front arm up until you plant your front foot, THEN you drive it down?

I watched brett lee bowl on some videos and it looks as if he drives his arm down a bit before he plants his front foot.

 

[iamdavid]

ok so basically, you leave your front arm up until you plant your front foot, THEN you drive it down?.

Exactly....

And on Lee....the pace isnt generated by when you drive the arm down....its generated by the angle of his bowling arm when he plants the foot...and if you look his bowling arm is pretty much at a 90 degree angle to where he'll release the ball...like in the first diagram.
When you drive the arm down is a way of helping novice bowlers like you or me implement better leverage into their actions.

 

[bond21]

did you get extra pace when u started doing it?

i find it awkward to keep my left arm up until i plant my front foot. not worth it if its too unnatural with no pace increase

 

[Goughy]

The lest arm must not come down until the left foot has landed.

There is a rhythm, boom, boom.

Left leg plants and then the left arm follows immediately after, being pulled into the hip.

The only way to generate real pace unless you are a freak like Proctor

 

[iamdavid]

did you get extra pace when u started doing it?

i find it awkward to keep my left arm up until i plant my front foot. not worth it if its too unnatural with no pace increase

I cant really tell yet coz it still feels awkward to me and I'm just in the process of trying to integrate it into my action...funny how hard it is to change something so basic.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Shoaib Akhtar always said that he visualised grabbing the batsman round the scruff of the neck and dragging them towards him, and that's how he got loads of his speed.

 

[Josh]

Shoaib Akhtar always said that he visualised grabbing the batsman round the scruff of the neck and dragging them towards him, and that's how he got loads of his speed.

*avoids drug joke*

 

[MrDucksWorth]

I read a page that said a similar thing and then read this thread (the page was http://www.outwoodcricketclub.co.uk/cricket_tips.htm )

I then realised that I start dipping down and pulling my arm down pretty early. So hopefully I can change my action. Except with getting more leverage I think it's a lot more strain on you, so the more I build my core+shoulder strength and flexibly, I figure the more easily I will be able to slowly en-corporate more leverage.

 

[bond21]

yea i wanted to let it die because its too complex for me.

If its true he means keep your front leg up before pulling your arm down, its impossible to do naturally at least for me.

your arm pulls down before your front foot plants all the time.

 

[MrDucksWorth]

went to the nets yesterday (and my back felt better that it has in the past, been working on my core ) and I think I slightly incorporated this. It was hard to tell on some of them but generally when I wasn't falling back into old habits, I think I was bowling faster.

 

[MrDucksWorth]

well I went to the nets with my brother yesterday and he rekons i'm bowling faster, so this forum has been a good help!