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Problem with my arms and bowling

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george12

Cricket Spectator
Hello,

Im 15 and ive been playing cricket for my local club from 4 weeks. My coach told me to practice my bowling at home every day. When I was practicing infront of the mirror today I noticed that my arm never brushes my ear. My coach keeps telling me that it should brush it. Its usualy on the half way between my shoulder and ear. I've tried many times brushing my ear while bowling or getting close to it but it doesn't feel comfortable. Could you tell me if there is any hope for me being a good bolwer if I continue keeping my hand half way between shoulder and ear?

I noticed that I have that problem with my arms. I can spin my right arm 360 degrees but when i try to spin my both arms 360 degrees I just can't. I think the problem comes from there. Will more streches help me?:wacko::wacko:

PS: sory for the bad english
 
micoach

micoach

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
It's not a huge problem technically. Ideally you would like your arm as high as possible but in the real world that does not happen too often. Malinga is an extreme example, but even the best bowler's with the highest actions don't brush their ear (check out Brett Lee on youtube).

The problem comes when you are getting your head in the wrong place and end up "falling away" to the off side and the ball goes way down the leg side. You need to focus on driving your head and body towards the target to bowl straight.

As for yout flexibility, do this test: Shoulder Flexibility Test - What Is the Shoulder Flexibility Test and let me know how it goes (do both ways).
 
G

george12

Cricket Spectator
Ok.. im getting worried. I just did the test and the test for my left shoulder was Excellent = Fingers overlap
but the test for my right shoulder was a different story.. they dont touch and when I do it, it realy hurts. I think the problem with my bowling comes from there ( im right handed)\

oh and also when i do some stretches for my right shoulder the bones always crack ( make that popping noise) but they dont when i do stretches for my left
 
Last edited:
micoach

micoach

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
There certainly should be no pain on the test. There are 2 things you need to get sorted right away.

the main one is the pain. Get to a physio as fast as you can to establish the problem and get the right treatment to have it fixed.

Once you are pain free you need to start working on improving the imbalance in the flexibility of your shoulders. If you don't the problem is likely to come back. A good fitness trainer will be able to give you some post-rehab stretches and exercises for that (but not until the pain is gone).
 
G

george12

Cricket Spectator
I just woke up and did the test again 2-3 times and it doesn't hurt, i guess ive had a bad arm that day (got hit by a cricket ball in the elbow). My coach knows loads of stretches so I will ask him for some for my shoulder.
 
Tom M

Tom M

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
In my opinion, the arm touching the ear thing is a rediculous idea. You'll see very few bowlers who do this. Much more important for the 'non-slingy' bowler is getting the hand to come over the top of the shoulder capsule.

If a coach tells you to brush your ear he probably doesn't know what he's talking about.
 
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