bowling quicker

[2 fast 2 furios]

hi im new here, im a 16 and a huge fan of cricket. i recently read a thread on bowling quick and how to generate speed on this site. i found a link which has helped me alot.
http://www.outwoodcricketclub.co.uk/cricket_tips.htm

 

[maxpower]

Its a good read and explains the science part of fast bowling. It can help you tweak your style a bit maybe, but one must stick to what they do best. My tip run in fast and bowl with a lot of heart.

 

[Langeveldt]

Welcome to the forums

You don't want to be bowling too many prolonged spells at 100%, for obvious reasons, so don't get carried away with pace..

Im not going to harp on about how you should concentrate on accuracy, because if you have the natural gift for speed, it would be foolish not to concentrate on it..

Anyway, Im a 17 year old legspinner, but due to some pretty nasty finger injuries, I have got quite a bit of experience bowling quickly..

1) Don't bother with a run up that starts near the boundary. It is harder to keep rhythm, let alone energy when you are running miles before you bowl. I used a 12 stride run up when bowling FM, I guess someone looking for speed at our age would use about 14.

2) The run up and approach to the crease should be easy and fluid.. Just watch some tapes of Allan Donald and Michael Holding if you want to see the best approaches in the game

3) When you near the crease, attack it like nothing else. If your run up was relaxed you should have lots of energy to do this. Really get close to the stumps, and follow through fully.

4) When not on the cricket field, develop your fast twitch muscle fibres by doing short sprints, shuttle runs etc. Hitting the gym to improve your upper body strength will also do you no harm. But at 16 you don't want to be doing anything too difficult because your body is still developing

5) Most of all have fun, make all the contacts you can on the cricket field.. Network like mad with experienced pro's and coaches. They will never be short of advice to an aspiring quick.

Good luck!

 

[2 fast 2 furios]

my run up is about 20 steps but it is fairly relaxed i can bowl about 8 overs before i need brake.i have quite a quick arm action and thats where i tend to generate my pace. there is one prblem i do have. ive recently started to really attack the crease but i tend to loose my ryhthm it also tires me out alot.

 

[maxpower]

some good tips by lang, if you have a quick arm action, there is no better role model than Wasim Akram, even if you are not left handed try to get most out of his footage if you can. Fast bowling to me is not how fast you bowl the first bowl, but how fast you bowl the last one.

 

[Richard]

The whole key is rhythm - basically, you need to feel as comfortable as you can at delivery.
Don't rush your action - don't overstride, don't try to bowl, just let the ball come out, let the action do the job.
And with regard the action - use the wrist and upper-body as much as possible. You can't create a fast arm, but you can maximise it if you've got it. Speed of run-up comes last of all - add the speed when you've got the rhythm.
And whatever you do, watch where you're trying to bowl. Incorperate that into your action as you're building it - the last thing you need is to reach 19 and find you've got to modify the thing.

 

[Langeveldt]

my run up is about 20 steps but it is fairly relaxed i can bowl about 8 overs before i need brake.i have quite a quick arm action and thats where i tend to generate my pace. there is one prblem i do have. ive recently started to really attack the crease but i tend to loose my ryhthm it also tires me out alot.

8 Overs is more than enough, dont try and bowl quick for any more than that in a spell.. Nothing wrong with bowling medium pace after a spell of quick bowling if you just love bowling, and have to bowl (like me!)

Your stamina will improve when you get older, but what I usually do it incorperate a regime into my week, so I will do a bit of middle distance running every weekday in the week, and practise at the weekend.. As long as you are putting 110% in when you practice you will never become a fitness liability in a match situation

 

[Richard]

8 overs in a spell is more than enough for any seam-bowler! Even in this country.
No-one is expected to bowl that regularly.

 

[Langeveldt]

Well I run road races and am fed up of getting told by a bunch of PC laackeys that I can only bowl 6 overs of quick in a spell.. Anyway my rantings are regular if you look back a bit.. But you might get chastised for "thread digging", ouch...

 

[Richard]

Nah, you've got a clean bill, it's only me and steds that are on Neil's wanted-list.
Anyway, you could just find them and put a link on this thread.
Non-cricketers don't really understand the physical stuff of the game, especially those who do loads of running etc. They're totally incomparable.

 

[Swervy]

Well I run road races and am fed up of getting told by a bunch of PC laackeys that I can only bowl 6 overs of quick in a spell.. Anyway my rantings are regular if you look back a bit.. But you might get chastised for "thread digging", ouch...

the stresses on a young persons body are much more when bowling than running road races...a teenagers body is still growing,do damage then,and you will be knackered for the rest of your life. I think its a bit more than a few people being PC.

I used to bowl pretty fast for my age when I was about 15 or 16, bowling spells of about 10 overs at a time..sometimes maybe up to 16 overs.Stamina wasnt a problem (I was quite healthy then..no fags,no booze etc)..but by the time I was 20,my back really was bad..and I reckon that is from the bowling.There have been times when I have been unable to move from the floor with my back..its a lot better now,but one thing is for sure, I cant bowl like I used to.

There is no need for a young kid to bowl long spells in this game

 

[age_master]

im so slow i can bowl almost as fast of 2 steps as i can of 10

 

[Richard]

And you can cut-out no-balls that way too.
What a shame so many short-run bowlers don't.

 

[Neil Pickup]

I've seen of enough young quick bowlers get utterly ruined by overbowling and the related stress injuries. If you have a fast, whippish action that stresses the back, then try not to bowl more than 6 overs per spell or 12 overs per day (including practices).

The simplest and best tip from me for young pace bowlers for both health and pace reasons is just to keep your body going in one direction - hips and shoulders in line, and keep it smooth. Dave can vouch for that one!

 

[SJS]

Some good tips above from everyone. Here is my two pence worth of additons to these.

1. RUN UP :
The run up is not to generate speed. I
t is to put you into the delivery stride in the physical and mental state that you need to be.
Too long or too fast is a total waste of energy plus greatly increasing the risk of injury. Many fast bowlers who run in off long run ups could actually bowl equally fast with shorter run ups. Ask any retired fast bowler , howsoever great, and he will tell you it is true. But many realise it only much later in their careers by when they are slowed down by age.

2. SPEED :
The pace at which you bowl matters but the better the class of the batsman you face the lesser , pure speed matters. Never forget this. Bowl fast if you can and faster but move the ball. Its the deviation at high speed that causes great fast bowlers to be what they are. The clip of the swinging full toss by Waqar posted on this forum some time back was a classic example.

3. RESERVE?VARIATIONS :
Never make the fastest you can bowl the ball you bowl most often. You must always bowl a bit under the fastest you can serve up. The sudden faster delivery is as potent a weapon as the disguised slower one. Shoaib has abig problem learning this.

4. RUNNING IN : :
Nothing but straight. Anything else makes for corrections required in angle of delivery which are best avoided.

5. USE OF BOWLING CREASE: Bowling closer to the stumps is fine for your stock ball but you must learn to use the entire crease width. Its a great weapon.

6. BOWLING FROM ROUND THE WICKET :
It is sad but fewer and fewer right handed bowlers are learning and getting used to bowling round the wickets to left handers and left handed bowlers the reverse. So you find Harbhajan struggling with left handers while an off spinners like him should eat them for breakfast. Learn to bowl from both sides.

Bowling from round the stumps makes your straight delivery land just outside the left handers off stump and the over the wicket delivery lands outside off stump for right handers. Any coach worth his salt will tell you this is the basic line of attack (remember I said basic not only).

7. NO BALLS
Any bowler who bowls no balls should be shot dead along with whosoever supervises his net practice ! This is nothing but a bad habit picked up in practice. There is no excuse. NEVER do it. Never bowl in nets without marking a proper run up, without being mindful of the bowling and return creases. Every once a while ask a colleague to monitor your front foot landing at nets.

8. GRIP
Do not hold the ball in a vice like grip and closer to the palm. Srinath did that for most of his early career pushing the ball into his right hand with the left as he ran in and I am sure this is one of the reasons he tended to bowl much shorter earlier in his career. Holding it in the fingers will meke the release better and not delay it. A delayed release causes the ball to go groundwards (short) , reduces chances of swing and reduces speed !! It can aid bounce though.

9. ACTION
Try to get the basics right as early as possible. Speed will keep improving for some years as your muscles strengthen but a bad action will refuse to go away ! Side on (as far as possible), rear foot parallel to the bowling crease (as far as possible), looking over the left shoulder (as far as possible), high arm action (as far as possible), a smooth natural follow through are all well known basics but it is lesser and lesser focus on these that is resulting the skills (and movement in the air) appearing to be lower in todays bowlers (even if faster) and injury (through unnatural strains on the body) being much more common inspite of a much more rigorous fitness regime.

10. EYES and HEAD
Everyone talks of the steady head of a batsman at the time of stroke production. It is no less important for a bowler (specially fast). The head should not be bobbing from side to side and you MUST look at the spot where you are going to pitch the ball. Believe me, looking at the spot is so vital it is not funny. Try it at nets. Try looking at a spot short of where you want to pitch and the ball will turn out short. Concentrate on the batsman's legs and you will over pitch.

BEST OF LUCK.

 

[Dasa]

9. ACTION
Try to get the basics right as early as possible. Speed will keep improving for some years as your muscles strengthen but a bad action will refuse to go away ! Side on (as far as possible), rear foot parallel to the bowling crease (as far as possible), looking over the left shoulder (as far as possible), high arm action (as far as possible), a smooth natural follow through are all well known basics but it is lesser and lesser focus on these that is resulting the skills (and movement in the air) appearing to be lower in todays bowlers (even if faster) and injury (through unnatural strains on the body) being much more common inspite of a much more rigorous fitness regime.

I disagree that the action should always be side-on. I myself when bowling pace bowl very front-on. I'd say the main point should be, if you're bowling side on, make sure everything is side on (i.e. avoiding a mixed action), and likewise with front on.
I agree with everything else you've said though.

 

[2 fast 2 furios]

thanks for ur help veryone

 

[Neil Pickup]

I disagree that the action should always be side-on. I myself when bowling pace bowl very front-on. I'd say the main point should be, if you're bowling side on, make sure everything is side on (i.e. avoiding a mixed action), and likewise with front on.
I agree with everything else you've said though.

Aye - front-on's not hurting Harmo too much as of late - the key point is whether side-on, front-on or midway (à la McGrath), keep your hips and shoulders in line throughout the action.

 

[SJS]

I disagree that the action should always be side-on. I myself when bowling pace bowl very front-on. I'd say the main point should be, if you're bowling side on, make sure everything is side on (i.e. avoiding a mixed action), and likewise with front on.
I agree with everything else you've said though.

I said, as far as possible. But many bowlers, particularly those bowling inswing tend to have more open chested actions. You can bowl from those actions just like Chanderpaul manages to score heavily from his absolutely square on stance.

There is a basic, orthodox technique and then there are individual deviations from the same. The deviations , however, do not become the rule.

Its good to know the basics and then make adjustments depending on your own individual style/habit etc.

 

[Waughney]

Some nice tips there SJS.