New year, a new action - problems with straying down leg

[wellAlbidarned]

So after a horror half-season last year down to a number of factors but mostly due to a lack of a consistent and repeatable action, I've been at the nets alone trying to figure things out. I'm not generating much heat but it's only 2nds club stuff so swing and consistency are far more important. I've worked out a smoothish approach but I'm having trouble maintaining a consistent line outside off. It's either dead straight, sprayed miles wide, or starting leg and swinging further down. Any ideas for solutions to this/other comments are much appreciated.

Me bowling at the nets alone

[Neil Pickup]

Really hard to pick much out of that kind of footage.

Trying to answer the question, I would wager that the most likely cause is this:


Your head falls away significantly to the leg side, and where the head goes, the body usually follows.

[wellAlbidarned]

Yeah, sorry. Was filming from an Ipod so had to find somewhere for it to stand. Youtube also completely destroyed the resolution upon uploading.

Would you advocate keeping the head up even if it means lowering the arm somewhat? The dropping head seems to happen in an effort to maintain a high arm.

[Hurricane]

Good heat on those deliveries.

Your foot positioning intrigued me.

I am not a bowler so I would go with neil's advice before mine.

All that said I would like to see you get your front foot more in front of your back foot. Get it another 6 inches to the left.

That will get you bowling more side on.

Will probably also help with your head position somewhat.

[wellAlbidarned]

I'm definitely a front on bowler so I'm not sure about messing with foot position in that way. I've tried it but getting side on but it totally throws off my rhythm and exaggerates the head issue further so I'm trying to work myself towards more of a Southee-type approach.

[wellAlbidarned]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

Good heat on those deliveries

Heh. I calculated the average speeds and the quickest ones came in at about 100kph. Taking into account that speed radars track only the release speed, I'd hope to clock 110 at best. Really brings you back to earth about standards of cricket

[Hurricane]

Is that Galloway Park

[wellAlbidarned]

Nah, Hillcrest High.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by wellAlbidarned

I'm definitely a front on bowler so I'm not sure about messing with foot position in that way. I've tried it but getting side on but it totally throws off my rhythm and exaggerates the head issue further so I'm trying to work myself towards more of a Southee-type approach.

I have been thinking about this issue.

Your feet bother me a lot.

Your backfoot is landing parallel to the crease which screams side on action.

But your front foot is landing to the right of your back foot's heel which gives you an open action.

This sounds like one of those mixed actions we talk about.

Perhaps you can experiment with your back foot landing at a 45 degree angle.

Then at least both your feet would be consistent with an open action.

Anyway I feel a bit nervous of giving you advice because if I steer you wrong your back could end up misaligned and you will be injured.

You may be seriously better off talking to your club captain and getting them to bring in a bowling coach to look at you for 20 minutes.

Most clubs have good connections.

Hope that helps.

[ohnoitsyou]

Definitely second experimenting with the backfoot 45 degrees, as long as you think you can revert to your previous action with little to no impact.

A couple of weeks ago after struggling with my line similar to you, i experimented with it and my bowling improved immensely instantly. As long as my feet landed correctly, i found that my body was just set up so well and began hitting the off-stump channel time after time instead of just occasionally.

What worked for me by no means will work for you, but imo it is worth a try.

[wellAlbidarned]

I'm not sure we're seeing the same video. Apart from the occaisional horror ball which I'm certainly prone to my back foot seems to be pretty consistently landing at a 45 degree angle and the hips and upper body fairly alinged. The main problem is the head dropping away in the delivery stride as Neil said.

tbf it's a terrible quality video, I'll try upload something better soon.

btw Ohnoitsyou, what sort of cricket do you play? I notice you're in the Waikato too.

[Hurricane]

Fair Dues then - the iPod was a fair distance away from your delivery stride. Try the head then.

On a completely different note as you are the only person I know who is interested in bowling techniques. I have been experimenting with holding the ball near the end of my fingers rather gripping the ball snugly. It makes me snap my wrist much more and get more seam movement.

I also have been experimenting with bowling open chested vs side on and surprisingly I get a bit of out swing when I go open chested I think because I need to be more round arm to get through my action.

[Daemon]

yeah, 45.

[Neil Pickup]

Originally Posted by wellAlbidarned

Yeah, sorry. Was filming from an Ipod so had to find somewhere for it to stand. Youtube also completely destroyed the resolution upon uploading.

Would you advocate keeping the head up even if it means lowering the arm somewhat? The dropping head seems to happen in an effort to maintain a high arm.

The head must drop away to necessitate a high bowling arm because your lead arm is heading off-target, taking your upper body with it.

If you plotted a 3D graph of where your right hand went it would be heading in an arc down towards fine leg - even long leg somewhere. Your shoulder then opens out, and if you want that high bowling arm your head has to drop.

Contrast that to the alignment of Brett Lee's non-bowling arm in this video: DETAILED Brett Lee Bowling Action Slow mo. - YouTube

[ohnoitsyou]

Originally Posted by wellAlbidarned

btw Ohnoitsyou, what sort of cricket do you play? I notice you're in the Waikato too.

Sadly i don't have a side atm, about a year ago due to numerous reasons i stopped playing, but then shortly afterwards i really got into cricket again, and a few months ago started training really hard to pick my bowling back up. I am looking to get into my school 2nd XI or maybe a social club when in a few weeks hopefully.