Which pacers have the most and least efficient actions?

[Ali TT]

Nortje seems to have one of the least injury prone actions for an out and out quick. He did have back and hip issues before though.

Did see a clip of how he remodeled his action, which collapsed too much through the front leg - helped him add 15-20kph.

 

[social]

Jeff Thomson

Arguably quickest bowler ever while jogging in from 14 steps

Only significant injury he sustained was from a collision in the field

Pretty strange how very few have copied his action

 

[thierry henry]

McGrath’s action was obviously tremendously efficient and therefore fits the thread perfectly, however I always struggle with people saying it’s one of their personal favourites. McGrath was just so gangly and uncoordinated, there was really nothing aesthetic about him athletically and the action seemed calibrated to counteract that innate awkwardness.

Also he just sort of ran through the crease so his action never really looked ‘strong’ or explosive, he was just using his Long Levers to generate acceptable pace. I guess the actions I find ***y (bracing hard, exploding athletically from a coiled position) are literally the ones that are worst for injuries.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

Lasith Malinga action would not recommend for a long test career just too much effort involved , plus his action makes it a bit difficult to go around the wicket .

 

[ankitj]

Ishant Sharma seemed like he could go on and on

 

[subshakerz]

McGrath’s action was obviously tremendously efficient and therefore fits the thread perfectly, however I always struggle with people saying it’s one of their personal favourites. McGrath was just so gangly and uncoordinated, there was really nothing aesthetic about him athletically and the action seemed calibrated to counteract that innate awkwardness.

Also he just sort of ran through the crease so his action never really looked ‘strong’ or explosive, he was just using his Long Levers to generate acceptable pace. I guess the actions I find ***y (bracing hard, exploding athletically from a coiled position) are literally the ones that are worst for injuries.

The only thing aesthetic about it is that it looked easy, he didn't seem to be exerting much effort and that simplicity was appealing to purists. I would prefer to copy that action then others.

 

[subshakerz]

Jeff Thomson

Arguably quickest bowler ever while jogging in from 14 steps

Only significant injury he sustained was from a collision in the field

Pretty strange how very few have copied his action

He was a javelin thrower before cricket, hence he would do that unique action. I think with that extra bit of stretching, controlling the ball must seem impossible.

 

[Starfighter]

I don't think it's a good question. Efficiency of what? Converting momentum from the runup to speed? Most effective use of muscular power? Use of elastic energy stored in tendons and ligaments? (All of which contribute to pace).

Even simple sounding things aren't. For example, take the common advice to keep the front leg straight ('braced'). While there has often been found a relationship between front knee angle and pace, it's a loose one. Some very fast bowlers have a bent front leg (e.g. Shoaib), others (Johnson for one) actually made the reverse of the recommended change and started bending theirs without losing pace.
The idea rests on simple logic, if the knee is not bending then more momentum can be transferred (more abruptly too) to the flexion of the hips and torso. But it's not clear that's only what's happening. Some long-time researchers in fast bowling biomechanics (Rene Ferdinands being one) are increasingly suspecting that front knee technique is significantly to mainly the result of actions earlier in the kinetic chain.

 

[social]

He was a javelin thrower before cricket, hence he would do that unique action. I think with that extra bit of stretching, controlling the ball must seem impossible.

Nope

He copied his Dad

While I don’t doubt that he could throw a javelin miles, it’s an urban myth to claim that he used the same technique when bowling

Guy grew up in western Sydney at a time when having a stick let alone a javelin meant that you were privileged

He was completely natural

 

[thierry henry]

The only thing aesthetic about it is that it looked easy, he didn't seem to be exerting much effort and that simplicity was appealing to purists. I would prefer to copy that action then others.

Indeed. What I’ve realised is that my personal preference is for actions that look ‘strong’ i.e. the bowling action itself is transferring a lot of energy into the ball, not the lever length of the bowler or the fast run up. To me the perfect action is the action that would bowl the fastest if everyone had to bowl from a standing start with exactly the same physical dimensions. This is probably the exact opposite of the question that started this thread lol.

 

[Raz0r6ack]

Jeff Thomson

Arguably quickest bowler ever while jogging in from 14 steps

Only significant injury he sustained was from a collision in the field

Pretty strange how very few have copied his action

I tried to copy his action once.

I released the ball too early and the ball went flying over the nets and into the parking lot and narrowly missed the windshield of someone's car.

 

[thierry henry]

As an extremely unathletic squat nuggety guy who has always relied on energy in the bowling action itself to generate pace, it’s always surprised me how so many tall gangly guys fail to just use their levers to generate a bit of pace

 

[social]

As an extremely unathletic squat nuggety guy who has always relied on energy in the bowling action itself to generate pace, it’s always surprised me how so many tall gangly guys fail to just use their levers to generate a bit of pace

You can’t teach pace

Fidel Edwards & Larwood are/were very small men

I played with a test fast bowler who never received a minute of coaching before playing high level cricket

Like Thommo, Bumrah, etc he literally walked in off the street

 

[Starfighter]

As an extremely unathletic squat nuggety guy who has always relied on energy in the bowling action itself to generate pace, it’s always surprised me how so many tall gangly guys fail to just use their levers to generate a bit of pace

Taller guys are often a bit less coordinated, and in any case limbs are third-class levers so the extra distance increases the effort. Hence you don't see the compact whippy actions from tall bowlers.

 

[Migara]

Taller guys are often a bit less coordinated, and in any case limbs are third-class levers so the extra distance increases the effort. Hence you don't see the compact whippy actions from tall bowlers.

Holding and Garner say Hi.

It is more than the height how much taller they are than peers is the metric. Taller Asian bowlers looks much more ragged and all over the place than West Indian or Caucasian bowlers of same height, because they are way more away from the average than latter.

 

[Migara]

You can’t teach pace

Fidel Edwards & Larwood are/were very small men

I played with a test fast bowler who never received a minute of coaching before playing high level cricket

Like Thommo, Bumrah, etc he literally walked in off the street

Add Malinga too. 173cm, and quick as anything in his prime. Picked out from a soft ball tournament.

 

[Starfighter]

Holding and Garner say Hi.

If that's your counterexample then you're wrong (as usual). Garner had a very languid action. Holding was 4" shorter and still not as 'explosive' as, say, Steyn.

 

[thierry henry]

Yeah that must be the first time anyone has ever described Garner as having a "compact, whippy action"

 

[subshakerz]

Yeah that must be the first time anyone has ever described Garner as having a "compact, whippy action"

I get a chuckle even thinking about that.

 

[Migara]

If that's your counterexample then you're wrong (as usual). Garner had a very languid action. Holding was 4" shorter and still not as 'explosive' as, say, Steyn.

I was never mentioning about whippy actions. That is your straw man. I was referring to smooth actions. Garner and Holding had very smooth actions compared to taller bowlers from Asia. Only "tall" bowler from Asia I could think of having smooth actions is Asif. Any one taller than him did not have smooth actions and broke down very quickly.