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Bowling faster!

Jakester1288

International Regular
Ok, I am a good bowler who can bowl fast, actually I'm probably the fastest bowler in year 7 at my school. Although I feel I can bowl faster, and I need help. I have access to the nets every day at school, and now it is the off season so I can't train properly with my real team mates.

I have made my school team last year and the year before, batting number 4 and opening the bowling and I made rep last year as second change bowler. I have played club cricket for 3 years. I see my self as a young talent and I want to keep my accuracy but bowl faster. Help.



Oh and I bowl faster when I use a Brett Lee action but I can get no accuracy whatsoever, so I will not use it.
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Ok, I am a good bowler who can bowl fast, actually I'm probably the fastest bowler in year 7 at my school. Although I feel I can bowl faster, and I need help. I have access to the nets every day at school, and now it is the off season so I can't train properly with my real team mates.

I have made my school team last year and the year before, batting number 4 and opening the bowling and I made rep last year as second change bowler. I have played club cricket for 3 years. I see my self as a young talent and I want to keep my accuracy but bowl faster. Help.



Oh and I bowl faster when I use a Brett Lee action but I can get no accuracy whatsoever, so I will not use it.
If you're 13 mate I'd concentrate more on bowling well. If you have a decent action you'll get faster as you get older and stronger. Unless you're solid and tall for your age all trying to bowl faster will do to you is probably end up causing an injury. There aren't many people your age who are tearaway quicks unless they're already about 6 foot and 80 kgs.
 

Jakester1288

International Regular
If you're 13 mate I'd concentrate more on bowling well. If you have a decent action you'll get faster as you get older and stronger. Unless you're solid and tall for your age all trying to bowl faster will do to you is probably end up causing an injury. There aren't many people your age who are tearaway quicks unless they're already about 6 foot and 80 kgs.
I am about 162 odd cms and 56 odd kgs. I am a bit overweight, if I lose some weight will it help my bowling?
 

bond21

Banned
yea, well when I was in year 7 I opened the bowling for my 2 rep teams, and I wasnt overly quick.

All you need is accuracy, and if you can swing the ball it will help. I didnt really even try to bowl fast, I just put it on the spot and I got the most wickets for my team at the state carnival.

What they look for in bowlers at that age is accuracy, pace is a bonus. You will get faster as you get older, but I would definately recommend working on your fitness, if you are playing a serious tournament, you want to be at your best.
 

Jakester1288

International Regular
yea, well when I was in year 7 I opened the bowling for my 2 rep teams, and I wasnt overly quick.

All you need is accuracy, and if you can swing the ball it will help. I didnt really even try to bowl fast, I just put it on the spot and I got the most wickets for my team at the state carnival.

What they look for in bowlers at that age is accuracy, pace is a bonus. You will get faster as you get older, but I would definately recommend working on your fitness, if you are playing a serious tournament, you want to be at your best.
Thanks for the advice. I can bowl outswing because of my action but I can't bowl inswing. I've tried everything, including talking with my coach, and nothing seems to help.
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Thanks for the advice. I can bowl outswing because of my action but I can't bowl inswing. I've tried everything, including talking with my coach, and nothing seems to help.
Yeah just go for accuracy and bowl what you bowl best. You'll pick up other tricks as you go along. When you get stronger and older then you'll be faster and still accurate. If you are a little overweight then maybe that affects rhythm, but you're only 13. Only you'll know if you're fit or not. Don't go crazy with weights or anything though would be my tip. Just bowl well for a few years first at your age you don't need to do anything drastic. If you hurt yourself now (especially your back) then you'll never be quick.
 

bond21

Banned
it doesnt affect rhythm, you're just not as supple as you would be if you were thinner. So if you lose weight, you would gain pace and be able to bowl for longer spells.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
If you are quick at 13 then you should continue to concentrate on bowling quick and continue to take all the rough edges off and hone your action over then next few years.

However, you have to be honest with yourself. To concentrate on bowling fast and building around pace ahead of accuracy then you really need to be fast.

If you can bowl very fast then keep that and build on that (as your age accuracy can be easily built on with repetition and experience, whereas pace can easily be lost through making changes)

However, if you are not top bracket pace then building on the fundamentals of action and accuracy is more important and a little pace (not too much) can be added with strength and muscle memory and development.

There is maybe only one thing worse than a medium pacer trying to charge in and bowling inaccurate and that is a talented young fast bowler turned into a medium pacer.

The key is to be honest with yourself, surround yourself with good coaches that you will listen to and to experiemt and try different things when messing around on your own or with friends.
 
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Jakester1288

International Regular
If you are quick at 13 then you should continue to concentrate on bowling quick and continue to take all the rough edges off and hone your action over then next few years.

However, you have to be honest with yourself. To concentrate on bowling fast and building around pace ahead of accuracy then you really need to be fast.

If you can bowl very fast then keep that and build on that (as your age accuracy can be easily built on with repetition and experience, whereas pace can easily be lost through making changes)

However, if you are not top bracket pace then building on the fundamentals of action and accuracy is more important and a little pace (not too much) can be added with strength and muscle memory and development.

There is maybe only one thing worse than a medium pacer trying to charge in and bowling inaccurate and that is a talented young fast bowler turned into a medium pacer.

The key is to be honest with yourself, surround yourself with good coaches that you will listen to and to experiemt and try different things when messing around on your own or with friends.
I'm no Brett Lee, but my friends can be scared of facing me at times, especially when I bowl body line.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
I'm no Brett Lee, but my friends can be scared of facing me at times, especially when I bowl body line.
Talk to coaches. They will let you know if they think you are quick and have the potential to be quick in the future.

If you dont have a coach then just try and bowl fast and do what feels natural to you. Dont make technical changes (especially slowing down) without making sure you get good advice from a coach first.
 

Jakester1288

International Regular
Talk to coaches. They will let you know if they think you are quick and have the potential to be quick in the future.

If you dont have a coach then just try and bowl fast and do what feels natural to you. Dont make technical changes (especially slowing down) without making sure you get good advice from a coach first.
I don't have access to my coach over winter. Although I do have is number, I could text him.
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
it doesnt affect rhythm, you're just not as supple as you would be if you were thinner. So if you lose weight, you would gain pace and be able to bowl for longer spells.
I'd go as far as to say if I was 120kgs my rhythm would be pretty poor. You can be 70kgs and stiff as a board.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
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

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
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

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

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