Need advice

[Cain0]

Hi, my name is Cain and im from London, im 14 years old and I play at club and county standard and im a fast bowler. I bowl with a VERY wierd technique, I bowl a lot of no-balls and wides but it generates lots of pace. For as long as I can remember, people have told me to change it and bowl with a normal action but I would not be able to bowl at half the pace with a normal action. Lots of people say that I will end up putting my back out and all sorts of other injuries later in life (I havnt had any problems yet though, but I dont want to take the risk of a serious injury). People also say that I will be able to bowl just as quick with a normal action, but everytime I try, it comes out at medium. Now that the season is almost over, I will have nearly 8 months to work on a new action if I choose to change it, but I havnt decided yet. Do you have any advice on what I should do?

[Neil Pickup]

Hi mate,

It's pretty difficult to give advice without knowing the specifics of the level you are playing at (U14 County for Middlesex is a mile away from U13 County for Hertfordshire for instance - are you playing school cricket, adult cricket, etc), what consitutes "fast" bowling to you, the expertise of the people who have told you to change things...

I am immediately doubtful of the long-term effectiveness of any action that leads to large numbers of wides and no-balls, as consistency is going to be far more effective when you are coming up against better and better batsmen as you get older: I can only really think of Shaun Tait as a counter-example who has succeeded career-wise, but even then there are several riders to his career already.

[Faisal1985]

You should certainly change the action for wides and no balls but more importantly for injuries. At this young age you might be doing fine because your body is much much more flexible but as the time passes it may be harder to get rid of injuries.

I would strongly advise that don't worry about pace just yet. Work on a proper action. Once you are comfortable the pace will return...if you have a strong shoulder and a good arm speed i don't see why your pace wouldn't come back....

[Seanyjb10]

If people are telling you possibly will be injured, then stop! Just start by bowling medium pace get the action sorted out first, gradually build the pace up the more accurate you become.

What is your action like anyway? Like Mitchell Johnson or different?

[vic_orthdox]

Personally, I think it sounds a bit like you're bowling off the wrong foot, possibly with a bit of a head duck?

[Manee]

Originally Posted by Neil Pickup

I am immediately doubtful of the long-term effectiveness of any action that leads to large numbers of wides and no-balls, as consistency is going to be far more effective when you are coming up against better and better batsmen as you get older: I can only really think of Shaun Tait as a counter-example who has succeeded career-wise, but even then there are several riders to his career already.

And even Tait is only considered inaccurate by international standards, it is not as if he bowls 3 or 4 wides per over.

Also, video of the action would be useful to see what the specific issues are. It is a lot easier said than done to bowl with a conventional action.