Bowling faster!

[Goughy]

The weight thing is interesting.

Ive always found that at the lower range of my weight I bowl slower and get injured more often.

At the mid-mid/high range I get through the crease with greater momentum and feel far stronger and balanced and bowl quicker.

I always thought that this was strange until I read Flintoff say exactly the same thing. He said he has to balance not being a fat guy with loosing too much weight and feeling weak.

We are not talking being skinny here, but natually big guys like myself and Flintoff need to carry a little extra weight than some others would believe in order to get through the crease and bowl fast.

[Son Of Coco]

The weight thing is interesting.

Ive always found that at the lower range of my weight I bowl slower and get injured more often.

At the mid-mid/high range I get through the crease with greater momentum and feel far stronger and balanced and bowl quicker.

I always thought that this was strange until I read Flintoff say exactly the same thing. He said he has to balance not being a fat guy with loosing too much weight and feeling weak.

We are not talking being skinny here, but natually big guys like myself and Flintoff need to carry a little extra weight than some others would believe in order to get through the crease and bowl fast.

Yeah, my normal weight's about 73-75 kgs so I've never been big. I'd expect being outside your normal weight range in either direction by a fair amount would cause problems, but I don't really know. A guy that played in our team bowled outswing with decent pace and picked up about 40 wickets one season and then got stuck into the gym for a couple of years and was all over the shop. Horribly inconsistent and moved like he was on stilts. He didn't get stuck into the stretching along with gym work.

[Jakester1288]

I have my own weight bench and weights with barbell, what exercises should I do to improve my bowling and batting?

[Son Of Coco]

I have my own weight bench and weights with barbell, what exercises should I do to improve my bowling and batting?

Bowl and bat a lot

[Goughy]

Bowl and bat a lot

Nothing wrong with that advice.

As a young player, repetition of your action and trying different things is more important than hitting the gym.

[bond21]

Another point about the weight.

Flintoff is a bit heavier set than someone like Lee, but hes not really "overweight" its just his build.

If someone is overweight, it will definately be detrimental to their bowling.

If you're unfit, you get fatigued faster. When you're fatigued you lose pace and you lose technique.

When you lose technique, you lose accuracy. So when you're tired, you're slower and less accurate.

So to get technique back, you have to concentrate on keeping your action compact and consistent, then you are not as focuses on where to pitch the ball.

Hell when I am fatigued, I know my action is not 100% because I can feel it. Either the load up isnt where it always is, or my front arm doesnt get high enough. So when that happens, I have to focus on keeping my action compact, and not as focused on where to pitch the ball.

Flintoff is not overweight at all, he just has a more solid build. But depending on how much you weigh, if you lose 10-15 kilos you will definately improve on the cricket field, and you will feel better about yourself. Hell, I put on a bit of weight a few years ago, and I tell you, it is a ***** to bowl fast in the hot Australian sun when you're not at peak fitness. Im currently trying to work it off, and already my fitness has improved and have gained pace.

[Manee]

I'm no Brett Lee, but my friends can be scared of facing me at times, especially when I bowl body line.

The sort of pace at which you should concentrate on bowling fast is the sort of pace in which you find that full fledged batsman of your age are scared of your bowling or are very late on the ball.

[Jakester1288]

Sorry I forgot to add that I take a semi-hard ball to school and we bat with out pads and stuff. I feel like I have good aggression and can bowl into the ribs or helmet area. I have hit two batsmen in the head so far, and when I use a six-stitch at school (which we aren't supposed to do) many batsmen turn around. Once a hit a kid who I just bowled at the top of middle stump, he turned around to protect himself, and I hit him in the thigh. I also hit a kid in the knee and he cried.

I have hit two seniors but they act like it doesn't hurt, or it doesn't hurt to them. Sometimes I swing it back from leg to off (outswing) and hit people in the legs.

Thanks for your help,

Jake.

[bond21]

if this is school level, any rep player should be doing that. School -> Rep is an unbelievable jump.

This might give you an idea -

I batted 3 for my school team, 11 for my city, and 11 for my region.

I also think Im one of the only people in history to ever go from number 11 to opening the batting in about 5 minutes...but I wont get into that.

And also, the batsman in your rep team will not be scared of you, theyre never scared of any bowling. My opening partner could smoke them down, fastest bowler in the tournament, and the opposition batsmen never flinched.

Ill tell you now, that if you are fast but have no accuracy, you will not get in any rep teams unless the bowling in your area is dire, because the coaches of those teams prefer accuracy over pace, pace is a bonus.

[Jakester1288]

if this is school level, any rep player should be doing that. School -> Rep is an unbelievable jump.

This might give you an idea -

I batted 3 for my school team, 11 for my city, and 11 for my region.

I also think Im one of the only people in history to ever go from number 11 to opening the batting in about 5 minutes...but I wont get into that.

And also, the batsman in your rep team will not be scared of you, theyre never scared of any bowling. My opening partner could smoke them down, fastest bowler in the tournament, and the opposition batsmen never flinched.

Ill tell you now, that if you are fast but have no accuracy, you will not get in any rep teams unless the bowling in your area is dire, because the coaches of those teams prefer accuracy over pace, pace is a bonus.

I went from batting 4 for my school to 9 in rep. I opened the bowling for my school team and bowler fourth for my rep team. Rep is unbelievably harder.

[Son Of Coco]

if this is school level, any rep player should be doing that. School -> Rep is an unbelievable jump.

This might give you an idea -

I batted 3 for my school team, 11 for my city, and 11 for my region.

I also think Im one of the only people in history to ever go from number 11 to opening the batting in about 5 minutes...but I wont get into that.

And also, the batsman in your rep team will not be scared of you, theyre never scared of any bowling. My opening partner could smoke them down, fastest bowler in the tournament, and the opposition batsmen never flinched.

Ill tell you now, that if you are fast but have no accuracy, you will not get in any rep teams unless the bowling in your area is dire, because the coaches of those teams prefer accuracy over pace, pace is a bonus.

We had a guy who frightened a few players I think I mentioned him before though, he was pretty exceptional pace for his age (under 14's at the time), ran in off 20 steps, and was bigger than your average 14 year old. Fending them to point and getting caught or seeing stumps everywhere was a regular mode of dismissal.

[Jakester1288]

I run in of 22 steps.

[Son Of Coco]

I run in of 22 steps.

Are you actually using 22 steps to gain momentum to the crease? This guy made the Aus Under 19's at one stage I think. He was pretty sharp. I've seen a few young guys coming up through my comp that run in way too far for the pace they're generating. They get half way in and then try to hold the pace they're running all the way to the wicket when in my opinion they could cut their run up in half and still hit the crease at the same pace.

[Jakester1288]

Are you actually using 22 steps to gain momentum to the crease? This guy made the Aus Under 19's at one stage I think. He was pretty sharp. I've seen a few young guys coming up through my comp that run in way too far for the pace they're generating. They get half way in and then try to hold the pace they're running all the way to the wicket when in my opinion they could cut their run up in half and still hit the crease at the same pace.

Yes.

[jonny1408]

Don't slow down, but make sure when you bowl quick its accurate, because to decent batsmen innacurate pace is the best thing in the world as it comes off the bat a lot faster.