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Keeping your bowling action repeatable

karan316

State Vice-Captain
This is a common problem people face when there is a gap between playing days or when you get to play only on weekends. How can I ensure that my bowling action remains the same.
 

45DegreeOBS

Cricket Spectator
This is a common problem people face when there is a gap between playing days or when you get to play only on weekends. How can I ensure that my bowling action remains the same.
Ever heard of the 10 000 hour rule?

Your bowling action will consist of the same movements in all your deliveries when you've practiced it enough for it to become part of your muscle memory. Don't try to think about it when your bowling, it should be a natural action (even though there is absolutely nothing natural about bowling) Do standing start drills, groove your action, then once you feel comfortable with it; just let it flow.
 

karan316

State Vice-Captain
Ever heard of the 10 000 hour rule?

Your bowling action will consist of the same movements in all your deliveries when you've practiced it enough for it to become part of your muscle memory. Don't try to think about it when your bowling, it should be a natural action (even though there is absolutely nothing natural about bowling) Do standing start drills, groove your action, then once you feel comfortable with it; just let it flow.
Yap, I guess playing regularly is the only solution to keep the action going well.
 

45DegreeOBS

Cricket Spectator
Yap, I guess playing regularly is the only solution to keep the action going well.
Not necessarily. The bowling action isn't the most important aspect of bowling well. Bowlers do get lucky (repeatedly) sometimes when out of form (the times when literally everything goes wrong) :laugh:
It's still nice to have a good, repeatable action, though.
 

MCC111

Cricket Spectator
My maths might be slightly off here, but for the average club bowler I reckon it would take 65 years to reach 10 000 hours of bowling.

I would say you do need to think about things when you bowl. If you don't consciously thing about what you're doing throughout the delivery, you let things slip and inconsistency gets in.
 

45DegreeOBS

Cricket Spectator
My maths might be slightly off here, but for the average club bowler I reckon it would take 65 years to reach 10 000 hours of bowling.

I would say you do need to think about things when you bowl. If you don't consciously think about what you're doing throughout the delivery, you let things slip and inconsistency gets in.
Which is why the average club cricket bowler doesn't master his craft and become an international cricket player.

Thinking of anything but your target whilst in your bowling action is a recipe for disaster. You should finalise your thoughts about which delivery to bowl, where to bowl it etc. before you start your approach. You should work on the technical aspects of your action (like having a high leading arm, braced front leg and so on) during practice and during practice only. Once your action is partially in your muscle memory these things will happen automatically. Once it's fully a part of you muscle memory you'll have pin-point accuracy and you'll be capable of adjusting your length at the last millisecond when you see a batsman backing away / stepping forward. It's also a matter of the more you practice the luckier you get.
 

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