Bowling with the new ball

[sudhindra9]

I play club cricket in India. Being a fast bowler I usually bowl with the new ball. While bowling I try to take a wicket off every ball. I end up wicketless or with just one or two(rare). But I beat the bat very often like say two/three times an over. Am I just too unlucky (like Peter Siddle) or is there something wrong in my approach. And I don't spray the new ball either.

[slowfinger]

Originally Posted by sudhindra9

I play club cricket in India. Being a fast bowler I usually bowl with the new ball. While bowling I try to take a wicket off every ball. I end up wicketless or with just one or two(rare). But I beat the bat very often like say two/three times an over. Am I just too unlucky (like Peter Siddle) or is there something wrong in my approach. And I don't spray the new ball either.

NEVER talk about being 'unlucky' or not having anything to do with 'luck'. You have to take over and YOU have to take wickets!

[Regan]

It also comes down to who you're bowling to. What their tendencies are, what their weak spots are. You have to try and move the ball around a bit to find this out. I'm not a very good bowler and the limited cricket that I have actually played probably means I'm talking out of my ..... but there is certainly more to it than just luck.

[Outswinger@Pace]

Slowfinger is spot on. There's no such thing as an unlucky good bowler. As golfer Gary Player once remrked, sportsmen worth merit make their own luck.

Judging by your OP, I reckon you are a predominantly outswing bowler. I had a similar problem when I was younger that I could ony bowl outswing and used to beat the bat a lot rather than actually running through sides. Two suggestions I can offer:

1) Develop variations: A proper inswinger or even a slower off-cutter would be perfect. The SG balls that we use in India get roughed up quite easily and depending on your action, reverse swing (both ways) is something you can work on. You'd discover, much to you joy, that once batsmen are unsure of which way the ball is moving, you'd be getting a lot more wickets off tentative strokes. Very few club batsmen, in my experience, can play the late inswinging (conventional or reverse) full length delivery well enough.

2) Watch your length: If your bowling is like Peter Siddle (or Mike Hendrick, going further back in time), then chances are your length needs to be fuller. A shorter length ball seams more and misses the bat, while a fullish ball would swing more in the air and the batsman has less time to make an adjustment.

If you bowl a good length, move it both ways and have a good bowling acumen, I find it difficult to believe that you'd be consistently unlucky. Cheers to a season full of wickets!

[Manee]

Originally Posted by sudhindra9

I play club cricket in India. Being a fast bowler I usually bowl with the new ball. While bowling I try to take a wicket off every ball. I end up wicketless or with just one or two(rare). But I beat the bat very often like say two/three times an over. Am I just too unlucky (like Peter Siddle) or is there something wrong in my approach. And I don't spray the new ball either.

You beat the bat because club batsmen are weak outside the off stump. They do not know where it is and so they play defensively at balls which start outside off and swing further away. If you bowl straighter, the batsman will succeed in hitting the ball more, because they are playing closer to the body but you will get more wickets as the ones they miss will be bowled or LBW. It is tricky, because you give the batsmen greater control of situations but you allow yourself more likelihood of wickets if you bowl straighter.