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Why would you want to be a bowler?

Craig

World Traveller
Why would you?

Unless you are in NZ, there is really no point. Majority of pitches dont help or assist the bowlers, except boost the batsmen averages.

A lot of batsmen seem to get nothing but flat wickets, quicker outfields and shorten boundries, plus the declining state of bowling standards.

I hope it doesnt get to the point where you might as well have a bowling machine as a bowler.
 

masterblaster

International Captain
Im a seam bowler,

Why would I do it?

Simple.........

Because I love it and I think its heaps of fun and I enjoy it....

The reason why we play cricket......

To Enjoy!!
 

hourn

U19 Cricketer
i know what you mean mate.

I toil in every saturday more or less on pitches that are as flat as the Hume Highway, on outfields that are cut like glass, against batsmen who are covered in more protective gear than a soldier at war.

And it is one of the more injury prone sporting practices going. Not so much in terms of short term injuries (tears, broken bones - although there is a few of them around from fast bowling) but more in terms of long term injuries (stress fractures, constant soreness etc,.)

cricket administrators have to seriously look at the way cricket is going, because young guys coming into the game are just not gonna wanna be quick bowlers.

The game is being played in such a way that bowlers (especially quick bowlers) are just becoming cannon fodder to the batsmen.

especially in one dayers, where you can't bowl bouncers, the white ball loses swing very quickly (although i've only played with a white ball on a couple of occasions), and a ball more than 18 inches outside the off stump is a wide, and you can't bowl down leg. Basically you have to constantly keep the ball in an area where the batsmen knows where its going and get just lean onto the front foot and swing with a 95% assurance they are gonna get a clean hit at the ball.

And every single rule change that comes into cricket is to help the batsmen - helmets (although i agree this was a good one), ropes around boundaries (don't disagree so much with the ones that are 3-4 metres in from the boundary, but sometimes they come 20 or more metres in), front foot no ball rule, no mankadding, bouncer laws etc,. etc,. And in the one day comp in Australia its a free hit after you bowl a no ball.

If it keeps going the way it is, soon there'll be no real world class bowlers and it will just become a bore with batsmen belting away at medium pace trundlers - even in test cricket.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
I understand where you are coming from, and agree, we are seeing more runs being scored lately than ever.

However I still think there is nothing sweeter in the game of cricket then clean bowling a batsman. No better feeling. :)
 

FRAZ

International Captain
I remember my grade 5 sports teacher . He was'nt giving me a chance to bat . there was a tennis ball cricket game . He asked me to just bowl. I was like crying to get a chance to bat . He asked me to come and see him , then he said , " A batsman has only one ball, and a Bowler has 6 .Bowler has 6 times more chances to be successful.I didnt understand what he was saying.He threw me out of the team . I think it was better to be a bowler rather than sitting out side and watching my friends enjoy and I being jelous.
 

quytst0rm

School Boy/Girl Captain
That was kind of harsh. Though thats true a bowler has more chances to be successful and contribute to the team more than a batsman. Like someone on this forum said a batsman no matter what form they are in can only last 1 ball while a bowler can bowl the whole day and in a test match sometime batsman only have one innings to bat but bowler have two innings. But then again they need talent to go along with it.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Jono said:
I understand where you are coming from, and agree, we are seeing more runs being scored lately than ever.

However I still think there is nothing sweeter in the game of cricket then clean bowling a batsman. No better feeling. :)
Personally I always prefer taking a spectacular caught-and-bowled.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
quytst0rm said:
That was kind of harsh. Though thats true a bowler has more chances to be successful and contribute to the team more than a batsman. Like someone on this forum said a batsman no matter what form they are in can only last 1 ball while a bowler can bowl the whole day and in a test match sometime batsman only have one innings to bat but bowler have two innings. But then again they need talent to go along with it.
I have long derided the plethora of flat wickets around ATM. IMO it is certainly counter-productive, there should be variation in wickets Worldwide.
However, it is certainly true that bowlers have 6 deliveries in an over and an outstanding bowler will beat a batsman in any conditions - because he has the ball in his hand and he chooses what happens.
 

gibbsnsmith

State Vice-Captain
Although i am not a bowler, i wouldbve loved to gone down the route of being a pace bowler and have regretted it, more or less, the days of watching Curtly Ambrose and Wasim Akram run in and bowl pacily, accurately and magnificently are an inspiration to me.
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Why would I want to be a bowler??

As a batsman, one mistake, and thats my game over... Thats enough motivation for me to keep bowling!
 

krkode

State Captain
Why would I want to be a bowler?

Irrespective of what you meant in the question, I'd want to be a bowler because there's nothing sweater than the sight of a stumps in disarray.

Simple as that. Hitting a six is great. I feel superb. But leaving the stumps in a mess is another thing altogether. It's priceless. :P

EDIT: reading back on this topic I see that Jono enjoys the same thing! You and me, man :)

Caught and bowled's are groovy too. Because I don't bend my back so much I usually have a good opportunity to get those :P
 
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FRAZ

International Captain
Thats why once in a thread named "worst Higher level cricket relating decisions" . I said that ICC is too harsh on Fast bowlers and I also said that this limitation of bouncers law is rediculous . Doesnt some one remember Lili, Thomo,Imran, Bunch of West Indians , sparked the cricket field , they put some fire into this gentle men game . They were the real beauty . I think when English board and some other countries saw that they are not men enough to produce quality Express bowlers then they put sanctions on bouncers . Now when Gough and Lee were there then again they increased the limit . In my opinion a fast bowler only seems to be a man in the field and others just seem to be playing chess . I myself being a First class cricketer ,Know how the blood boils when ever an express bowler comes and raises the tempo of the game . And Once again if you look at the minnows , I guess that they need more attention on Bowling , The only few matches that minnows won , were due to the good bowling performance. I personally myself love to see each and every ball of Shoaib , Lee , Sami, Bond. And also this thread is may be pointing towards some countries who regardless of their population could not produce one single quality express bowler , I think this thread is directed towards the fill up bowlers. Who dont seem to be attacking and who depend upon the conditions . And they come and go , One good day , 6 bad days , and who depend more upon the fielders who are fielding out side the circle to hang on to their catches .
 

Sudeep

International Captain
I myself started as a bowler, and then switched to batting. The choice of bowling came naturally to me, as my school team had heaps and heaps of batsmen, and I would have been in college by the time my turn would have come. So in order to be in my school team (and I am talking about when I was in 6th grade), I chose bowling. Only lately I have turned to batting... But bowling always seemed fun to me.

Now, a lot of you may disagree with me, but I believe that the pleasure of un-doing a batsman for some reason, atleast to me, is more than what a batsman can get by smacking a bowler. In cricket, both batsman and the bowler have to out-think each other. But for some reason I believe that as a bowler I just had so much pleasure of knocking off a batsman... Which I don't find in hitting a bowler for a very good shot. Maybe its just me though...
 

iamdavid

International Debutant
As soon as I became interested in cricket I turned to bowling , I noticed all the fast bowlers on TV were very tall & I was always very big for my age so I took it up.
 

FRAZ

International Captain
Started playing when I was in grade 3 . Then Became school Captain . Then College Captain . When I was picked by a B Class local first Class team in a certain country . Played National level U19 cup. Our team lost 5 matches straight . Then I joined a club from which good cricketers came . From there I joined a local company's first class cricket side . I was a quick bowler . Played 2 seasons , then Dad asked me to concentrate upon Business education , Had to join a business school . Then came to Toronto . Here a few years back I was playing from a good club and played some friendly matches in States and in here too . And thats it . I am a fast Bowling fan . Its some thing which gives my blood a boil . I was good at pace , But line and length sucked some times cuz I was emotional . Bouncers , Yorkers and slower deliveries were good. But I didnt have much of a chance cuz where I was playing there are millions of quality express bowlers. My youngest Bro was trained by me and he is just 14 now , but he is a very very good express bowler and I think he is gonna go ahead . He can easily touch 130's for sure.
 

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