Appreciating good techniques

[Richard]

Back on track, given the discussion about the best exponent of the slower ball, what are the different techniques people have used, and their pros and cons? There's "out of the back of the hand", as I understand it there is also one where the bowler holds the ball "deeper" in the hand. Craig McDermott had a slow full toss that he used to great effect a few times.

The most common technique is the standard Off-Break (ie, a conventional fingerspinner's stock-ball), that's been used to great effect by among others Waqar Younis, Darren Gough and Allan Donald. I can bowl a vaguely decent one of them. A few can bowl a Leg-Break and even a Googly, but that tends to make it a) very slow indeed (probably down by about 1\3rd - have seen bowlers whose best is 90mph put that out at 60mph or so) and b) so obvious that the best chance is not the batsman not spotting it but spotting it and being so "hey, wtf's going-on here?" that he messes-up his stroke.

The back-of-the-hand method you describe elicits excellent disguise, Ian Harvey was the best I ever saw bowl that one, but other Australians have done it decently.

The best disguise of all, however, is probably gained by the knuckle-ball (ie, just pushing the ball back by splitting the grip of index and middle finger), Dilhara Fernando's method which Glenn McGrath later copied to good effect. That's essentially impossible to pick out of the hand. But it's not easy at all to control, especially if, for maximum disguise, you only do it at the last minute (if you do it earlier the non-striker can possibly spot it).

The worst method, of course, is to just slow the arm down - any batsman can pick that. Yet I've seen international bowlers try that - Stephen Harmison being the most recent.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Back on track, given the discussion about the best exponent of the slower ball, what are the different techniques people have used, and their pros and cons? There's "out of the back of the hand", as I understand it there is also one where the bowler holds the ball "deeper" in the hand. Craig McDermott had a slow full toss that he used to great effect a few times.

McDermott's was the split finger ball, which McGrath ended up using later on, which didn't take as much pace off but used to get quite a few people caught at cover or mid-off.

One of the things that I've noticed, and talked to batsmen about, is that it is good to be able to have the ball come out with a straight seam. If you can bowl a top-spinner style off-break it can often take that extra split second to pick it (the scrambled seam can be a giveaway) which can make all the difference.

 

[Richard]

Yup, that's the biggest difference between the Off-Break slower-ball and the back-of-the-hand\knuckle-ball one.

Of course, the Off-Break slower-ball has an advantage that the seam-up one doesn't - if the pitch is gripping it will turn. Have seen batsmen bowled through the gate or caught at mid-on from an inside-edge by slower-balls that they quite clearly picked, and weren't too early on the shot on, but were beaten by the movement off the deck.

 

[Matt79]

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of bowlers seem to take too much pace off for their slower ball, and give the batsmen time to adjust. Brett Lee often seemed to do this - he'd go from 140+ to 110, and the batsman would be deceived, but then adjust.

 

[Matt79]

I remember Merv Hughes bowling a leg-break as a change up.

 

[Richard]

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of bowlers seem to take too much pace off for their slower ball, and give the batsmen time to adjust. Brett Lee often seemed to do this - he'd go from 140+ to 110, and the batsman would be deceived, but then adjust.

Darren Gough and Waqar Younis were the best for not losing all that much pace. Gough would tend to go from ~85mph to ~75. And his slower-ball did turn, as well. Same was true of Damien Fleming.

Waqar is possibly the only bowler I've ever seen bowl what was clearly a deliberate slower-ball and still be over 80mph.

 

[vic_orthdox]

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of bowlers seem to take too much pace off for their slower ball, and give the batsmen time to adjust. Brett Lee often seemed to do this - he'd go from 140+ to 110, and the batsman would be deceived, but then adjust.

In terms of wicket-taking, it lessens the likelihood of that occurring. But the complete disruption of rhythm makes it hard to get a boundary unless they are really expecting it.

More subtle variations (in terms of pace) don't require as big an adjustment by the batsman, so even though they may not pick it up straight away, they only need to slightly adjust their stroke to still get good bat on it.

I think you'll see that a number of bowlers will try to mix up the pace of their slower balls as well.

 

[Richard]

Struggling to think of someone who bowled ~90mph and had a ~75mph slower-ball as well as a ~65mph one (both bowled well, obv), but I'm sure there's someone out there.

 

[Matt79]

In terms of wicket-taking, it lessens the likelihood of that occurring. But the complete disruption of rhythm makes it hard to get a boundary unless they are really expecting it.

More subtle variations (in terms of pace) don't require as big an adjustment by the batsman, so even though they may not pick it up straight away, they only need to slightly adjust their stroke to still get good bat on it.

I think you'll see that a number of bowlers will try to mix up the pace of their slower balls as well.

Yeah, fair point, I suppose especially for LO cricket - so long as they ARE deceived.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Johnson's seems pretty effective. IIRC it got him a couple or three wickets last summer. Does his low-slung arm make his change harder to pick?

 

[Furball]

Johnson's seems pretty effective. IIRC it got him a couple or three wickets last summer. Does his low-slung arm make his change harder to pick?

I would think so. I'm no expert on bowling technique, but Malinga seems to have an equally hard to pick slower ball.

Think Johnson's is effective because it's not significantly slower than his stock ball - it's slow enough to induce a mistake, yet not so slow that the batsman can re-adjust.

 

[vic_orthdox]

I would think so. I'm no expert on bowling technique, but Malinga seems to have an equally hard to pick slower ball.

Think Johnson's is effective because it's not significantly slower than his stock ball - it's slow enough to induce a mistake, yet not so slow that the batsman can re-adjust.

Haha, starting to get crosswires over different threads now.

http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/2175840-post30.html