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Why fewer slips for an inswing bowler than an outswing bowler?

Meridio

International Regular
Keeper often gets caught moving towards leg side, with the ball straightening or moving just less than the other previous balls, which open up a bigger gap between first and keeper.
Yeah I remember this happening when Chris Martin used to open the bowling for NZ. Can remember him getting a few catches to keeper/first slip, but nothing to 3rd/4th.
 

Burgey

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Would also argue that yer right-arm in-swinger bowlers won't need wide slips because they either bring the ball back in which leads to an edge 0.00001286% of the time or their variation ball holding its line, the intention is to get a thin edge to 'keeper or 1st. A skipper who places a 3rd and 4th for a guy bringing it back in probably isn't playing high % cricket.
Hammer. Nail. Head.
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Ok...so spread the slips wider or just get rid of first slip
TV commentators and all purveyors of 'common sense' will absolutely slam the captain for this if any edges go through vacant first slip, even if you're right that this bowler elicits more edges through third. Edges through vacant third slip by contrast will be written off as unlucky by said commentators.

This shouldn't matter but it probably does.
 

watson

Banned
Depends on how much juice is in the wicket. If it's flat and keeping lowish then multiple slips to an inswinger would be a waste of time. But if the ball is flying then there is always a chance of the ball catching the shoulder of the bat, especially if the batsman is pushing at the ball. In that case a wide slip standing a bit closer in wouldn't go astray.
 

TheJediBrah

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TV commentators and all purveyors of 'common sense' will absolutely slam the captain for this if any edges go through vacant first slip, even if you're right that this bowler elicits more edges through third. Edges through vacant third slip by contrast will be written off as unlucky by said commentators.

This shouldn't matter but it probably does.
You have to keep in mind the fact that the finer the edge, the more likely the ball is going to carry, not go over the top of the cordon and just be more catchable in general. The thicker the edges the more variation you get in terms of how the ball deflects and carries in general. So even if more edges did go to the wider slips (not saying they do, I reckon it seems that way because any catch that goes wide of the slips gets grouped as (a 3rd/4th/5th slip would have caught that) when really you'd need 2-3 extra guys to cover that area that you magically think could be covered by 1 guy), a lower percentage will be genuinely catchable.

That's probably the man reason why 1st and 2nd slip will generally always be the most important and last to by taken out
 
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hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
that's definitely true and I was thinking about mentioning that.

It just frustrates me when I see a left arm bowler bowling in tandem with a right arm bowler, and one has fewer slips than the other because of the direction they swing the ball. It seems the wrong way round.
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
You have to keep in mind the fact that the finer the edge, the more likely the ball is going to carry, not go over the top of the cordon and just be more catchable in general. The thicker the edges the more variation you get in terms of how the ball deflects and carries in general. So even if more edges did go to the wider slips (not saying they do, I reckon it seems that way because any catch that goes wide of the slips gets grouped as (a 3rd/4th/5th slip would have caught that) when really you'd need 2-3 extra guys to cover that area that you magically think could be covered by 1 guy), a lower percentage will be genuinely catchable.

That's probably the man reason why 1st and 2nd slip will generally always be the most important and last to by taken out
This is all true, and first and second slips are undoubtedly the better percentage in the vast majority of cases. However for arguments sake if you had a bowler, left-arm-inswing, and you were sure slip 2 + 3 were a better percentage than slip 1 + 2 against the right-hander, you'd probably still have a bias towards the latter because tradition, opinion and rules-of-thumb come with their own weight.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
It is a bit of a red herring. Even if 1+2 are higher percentage than 3+4, it still doesn't follow that 3+4 should be removed to left arm over bowlers more than right arm outswing.
 

TheJediBrah

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It is a bit of a red herring. Even if 1+2 are higher percentage than 3+4, it still doesn't follow that 3+4 should be removed to left arm over bowlers more than right arm outswing.
I feel that you're overthinking it. The angle the ball comes from and the way it's swinging all affect the chances of getting the edge of the bat, but at the end of a day an edge is an edge and whether it comes from an outswinger or a ball holding its line, from whichever angle, it's always going to prioritise catching for finer slips.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
I feel that you're overthinking it. The angle the ball comes from and the way it's swinging all affect the chances of getting the edge of the bat, but at the end of a day an edge is an edge and whether it comes from an outswinger or a ball holding its line, from whichever angle, it's always going to prioritise catching for finer slips.
that's what the above post was addressing.

As you say, slips 1+2 are higher percentage. But we're not comparing slips 1+2 to slips 3+4. We're comparing the presence of slips 3+4 for right arm outswingers vs left arm inswingers. Slips 1+2 only come into by the fact that you can only have 11 guys on the pitch.
 

TheJediBrah

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Honestly I just don't think you're right in saying that inswing bowlers get more edges to 3rd and 4th slip than outswing bowlers. Whether or not the get a higher percentage of their edges to wider slips than outswing bowlers, I don't know. but it's irrelevant to which slips you take out or not.
 

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