How to bowl quickly

[Howzatone]

Hi there,

I bowl a fairly medium pace at the moment, and am an average build. I am about 6ft and half an inch, am 16 and about 11 stone.

What tips would you give to bowl quickly, and are there any exercises I can do at home regularly to boost my speed?

Thanks.

[thierry henry]

Originally Posted by Howzatone

Hi there,

I bowl a fairly medium pace at the moment, and am an average build. I am about 6ft and half an inch, am 16 and about 11 stone.

What tips would you give to bowl quickly, and are there any exercises I can do at home regularly to boost my speed?

Thanks.

Not average build imo. Weedy.

[bryce]

go to the gym as often as you can

[Goughy]

Anyone can bowl quicker and it isnt about going to the gym or bulking up. It is all in the action. Hard to do through a forum so I would ask a local coach. There is a good chance they will not know the first thing about fast bowlers actions but that should be the first port of call.

[Himannv]

Difficult to assess where you can improve without actually seeing you bowl.. In general i'd say, just work on the basics.

Techniquewise, make sure your followthrough is not hindered and your non bowling arm goes all the way down. Bend your back when you're following through just after delivery as much as possible. Make sure you're gripping the ball just right, i.e. not too deeply nested into your hand and not too close to the very tips of the fingers.

If your delivery depends more on your run up instead of your shoulder action, then consider using your toes more than your heels to generate pace is a possibility. If thats the case, some calf and thigh work could help. If its more of a shoulder action, then build up your shoulders a bit in the gym but make sure you work on the right muscles here and continue to test your strength with your bowling.

If you're looking for simple exercises alone, the best I can suggest is to make sure your shoulders get a bit of mild rotation and stretching every now and then, nothing too strenuous. A proper coach is always the best way forward for any of these things though.

Remember, pace isn't everything. 6 inches at 16 means you still have time to grow taller. Height can give you a natural advantage that no short speedster will ever have.

[chyickenkeev]

high, im 16, im about 6ft and i am about average build, perhaps a bit skinnier.
height has nothing to do with pace, ther is no corrolation,
lets see the facts. darren gough, 5 ft 11", bowls around high 80s.....same with de wet of south africa

stuart broad 6 ft 6", bowls around high 80s.

make sure ur acion is fluid.
make sure you dont waste the energy of your runup by falling away in your action.pace isnt everyting, try and acheive some swing as well, that can be just as deadly as shear pace.

[micoach]

Lots of good advice so far. It is a combination of lots of factors including technique (which is the main one).

But strength does matter, that's why men can bowl faster than women. So the gym is important to make you fast, athletic and powerful.

I wrote a 3 part series on it here: The 10 immutable Laws of fast bowling (part 1) | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

[slowfinger]

Originally Posted by bigfishfry32

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Messing with a ban there mate.

[thierry henry]

Is it possible to just wake up one morning and be an awesomely fast bowler?

It seems to have happened to me. I've always regarded myself as a fairly competent medium pacer (I suppose the definition of pace depends on the level of competition, and I've never had my speed measured or anything) but I gave cricket up when I was 17 as I realised that I was never going to progress through the grades, and tbh I probably have sort of a quitter's mentality when I realise I'm never going to be completely awesome at something.

So, in the intervening years (over 7 years now) I've just played indoor cricket. Generally I bowl first or second for my team as, at that level, I am probably on the brisk side of medium, and one of the better bowlers around. Depending on my rhythm and the quality of opposing batsmen, sometimes I genuinely beat guys for pace, but that's usually only against mugs.

Anyway, over the last month or so I am all of a sudden scaring people. I'm bowling bouncers and they are sconing blokes, I'm bowling length balls that are going straight through good batsmen, and I'm getting genuine looks of awe from my teammates and even sometimes from the opposition (the last game I played, when it came to shake hands time the opposition literally congratulated me on being so ****ing fast).

How the hell can this happen? I'm 24, 5'10 1/2", have always had a fairly tidy bowling action but am basically un-athletic. I've done no exercise and played no cricket or other sport apart from indoor for years. I don't practise.

I've been 85kg (187lbs) for a number of years, but over the last few months have bulked up to around 90-91kg (shade under 200lbs). I put it down mostly to increasing my already high beer consumption, but it could also be that I started lifting weights...although when I say "started lifting weights", I literally mean I only do bicep curls. Having said that, the last time I undertook a "weights regime" (a few bicep curls each day) I literally stacked on 5kg in about a week, so maybe my body just stacks on muscle (or at least the first bit of muscle) easily? Could that be it? Or is it just some sort of cricketing miracle?

[Manee]

5kg is a fair bit of weight to put on and it is possible you just crossed the line from fast medium to fast. Regarding the impact of weight gain, I've known of bowlers shedding pure fat and losing massive amounts of pace, it could probably work the other way too.

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by thierry henry

Is it possible to just wake up one morning and be an awesomely fast bowler?

It seems to have happened to me. I've always regarded myself as a fairly competent medium pacer (I suppose the definition of pace depends on the level of competition, and I've never had my speed measured or anything) but I gave cricket up when I was 17 as I realised that I was never going to progress through the grades, and tbh I probably have sort of a quitter's mentality when I realise I'm never going to be completely awesome at something.

So, in the intervening years (over 7 years now) I've just played indoor cricket. Generally I bowl first or second for my team as, at that level, I am probably on the brisk side of medium, and one of the better bowlers around. Depending on my rhythm and the quality of opposing batsmen, sometimes I genuinely beat guys for pace, but that's usually only against mugs.

Anyway, over the last month or so I am all of a sudden scaring people. I'm bowling bouncers and they are sconing blokes, I'm bowling length balls that are going straight through good batsmen, and I'm getting genuine looks of awe from my teammates and even sometimes from the opposition (the last game I played, when it came to shake hands time the opposition literally congratulated me on being so ****ing fast).

How the hell can this happen? I'm 24, 5'10 1/2", have always had a fairly tidy bowling action but am basically un-athletic. I've done no exercise and played no cricket or other sport apart from indoor for years. I don't practise.

I've been 85kg (187lbs) for a number of years, but over the last few months have bulked up to around 90-91kg (shade under 200lbs). I put it down mostly to increasing my already high beer consumption, but it could also be that I started lifting weights...although when I say "started lifting weights", I literally mean I only do bicep curls. Having said that, the last time I undertook a "weights regime" (a few bicep curls each day) I literally stacked on 5kg in about a week, so maybe my body just stacks on muscle (or at least the first bit of muscle) easily? Could that be it? Or is it just some sort of cricketing miracle?

Same thing happened to me mate, over almost the same time frame. I was always pretty athletic, but gave up cricket for 8 years. Was medium when I was 16 and then fairly sharp when I came back and played at 24. Only played indoor in-between, and no cricket at all really for 3-4 years.

I think you just get older and stronger. Always had a decent action too, so maybe that with a bit of extra strength and increasing rhythm from playing a bit makes the difference.

[Hurricane]

The best advice I can give is to watch TV and look at the actions of some of the best bowlers in the world. I was watching Shaun Tait bowl once. And I am not saying he is the best but he is quick and he has an action that is easy to model yourself on. So I tried incorporating some of his techinique into my action and for that day in the nets I was getting complemented on my pace and bounce. Somehow copying him stopped my left shoulder from falling away too quickly and I got all this extra bounce.

This my two cents - watch TV.

[Blocky]

Having a big ass certainly helps.

[thierry henry]

Started playing outdoor again and strangely felt a lot slower than I did in outdoor :-(