Tips on How to Bowl Faster and Straighter

 

Pace Bowling Tricks

For pace bowlers, the slower ball can be a real weapon. Instead of gripping the ball with two fingers next to each other on the seam, split your index and middle finger as wide as you can either side of the ball to disperse the power you put on to the ball when bowling. This can lead to a slight lack of control, so when practicing the slower ball, you may need to focus on direction rather than pace too, though a well executed slower ball deceives the batsman. Keep the ball hidden from the batsman on run up to prevent them from reading the delivery.

Another delivery that can cause problems for batsman is the cutter. Hold the ball as usual, with your index and middle finger on the seam, but on delivery, drop your fingers off the right of the ball for an off cutter (and off the left of the ball for a leg cutter). This imparts rotation on the ball, and cause some movement off of the surface of the pitch. It also slows the delivery down, which gives the ball more chance to move off the pitch and therefore cause the batsman to play the wrong line.

Here is some useful information you can start using right away:

Hang onto the cricket ball as long as possible.

By doing this you create a large arm pull, which maximises the ‘catapult’ effect. The last thing you do when you bowl is let the ball go

Try not to get your arm overly high.

If you imagine a 12-hour clock, as viewed from the batsman’s end, the bowling arm can be any hour before 12 but not a minute past. For every minute you go past 12 o’clock you are affectively leaning across to bowl and this reduces both your speed and accuracy. If you have a very high action, you are likely to only bowl inswing. If you find this is the case, try to lower your arm to around 11 o’clock

A front on bowler tends to have more ground speed than a sideways bowler.

This is because a front on bowler doesn’t have to jump so high as they do not need to turn their back foot sideways. If you do need to jump at the crease, we are looking for long jump rather than high jump. Simply ensure that you do not lean back when your back foot lands either. This makes it harder to transfer your weight from back foot to front foot

Imagine you are bowling in a railway track.

This will help you run-up straight, keep your weight moving in a straight line in your action and follow-through straight. If it doesn’t go at the batsman, then change it!

Your non-bowling arm is far more important than your bowling arm.

Use it properly by driving it out and down so it passes your side. When you do this properly, it will accelerate your bowling shoulder and help increase speed

Keep your elbows and arms pumping in as you run up and load up into your action.

Nothing throws your momentum and straight lines off like unnecessary side-to-side movements. Keeping your action ‘tight’ helps you to control the release of the ball

Make sure you fully rotate your shoulders on completion of action.

If you have a name on your back imagine you are going to show it to the batsman when you finish. This will help you think about how much of a shoulder turn you’re aiming for

Try to drive your chest through the crease just before you let the ball go.

The sensation is that of being pulled forward by the batsman with a big rope attached to your chest. This gets you ‘as far in front of the ball’ as possible and increases arm pull and speed of the arm

At the point of delivery, your hips and nose will be facing the batsman.

If your bowling hip is ‘lazy’ it will lag behind thus dropping your speed. If your nose isn’t facing the batsman, your head is probably falling away. The hips are the powerhouse of your body. Get them in the right position

Try not to throw your non-bowling arm too high as it gets you off balance and affects your timing.

Remember, you’re trying to go forwards, not up and down

Your bowling arm starts to bowl from the downswing,

which is close to your bowling side hip. Getting your bowling hand into this position quickly from your load-up helps you improve your speed and timing

 

Spin Bowling Tricks

 

As a spin bowler, you are always looking to deceive the batsman. The topspin delivery can be very effective as it appears to be a rotating ball in flight, much like a normal spin delivery. The difference is, on release (whether a finger-spinner or wrist-spinner) roll your fingers over the front of the ball rather than to either side. This topspin causes the ball to dip from its flight more noticeably in front of the batsman, causing them to be on the front foot when the ball actually requires them to be on the back foot. The extra bounce generated by a topspinner then makes the batsman susceptible to top edging the ball for a catch.