Your Cricket Powderwombat's Bowling Coaching Thread

[Jaztheman]

Also Usy, if you want a maiden you need to bowl to the batsman's weakness' but also you need to vary it. Try and bowl on the offstump to start with at the beginning of an over and then come in a bit more central. Chop and change your delivery, line, length and pace and just keep the batsman guessing. That's the key.

 

[Powderwombat]

Yep that would be good zorax

And to holdenator, everyone has a natural action that just feels right, so what I would recommend is go down to the nets or even just an open field and just bowl without thinking, and you should feel like you're bowling with the same action every time. Changing your action when not necessary to avoid injury or just minor tweaking here and there is not wise, because you will be paying too much attention to every movement you are going through instead of where you want to pitch the ball.

So to sum that up, find an open space, or go to the nets and just bowl without thinking about it. Thats to find your natural action.

It takes roughly 10,000 repetitions for it to become ingrained into your muscle memory so that means you will still have to think about what you're doing with regards to the action, but the need for that will lessen over time until eventually its just automatic.

As for facing spin, well, as for any bowling, if you go back, and the ball hits your pads anywhere near the stumps, the umpire is more likely to give you out than if you went forward and it hit the pads, so when you go back, basically you have to hit the ball if its in line with the stumps.

What I tend to do for spinners is if its full length, I step to the line of the ball and play it from there, because if you get forward enough, its very hard to be given out LBW because theres so much doubt, especially with spin bowling.

Another option which is more aggressive is to skip down the wicket, not too far but just enough so you can hit it on the half volley and play shots from there. The only thing with this is you MUST HIT THE BALL or at least smother it with your body or pads, because if the ball gets past you, you are out unless the wicketkeeper makes an error.

 

[usy]

k, guys, one final thing, How do I find out his weakness?

 

[Ollie_H]

usy try mind reading it works some of the time!

 

[Jaztheman]

Well trial and error is the best way I guess, unless you watch or have watched him bat before. See whether he prefers it on his legs or on the offstump and then bowl to the one he doesn't like, giving the odd one to the place he does like. You should invite him this way and it might force him to give his wicket away. Remember to give him the odd straight ball aswell, they work a treat alot of the time.

 

[shefellover93]

Hi Powderwombat, thanks for joining and giving us advice! (For free and all)

Just to say a few things that I think you could help me with

1. Batting, I don't think I am a very good batsman at the moment but i could become a good batsman with practice, but the thing is it's very difficult for me to practice. Living in Ireland means there's nobody to play with, no facilities and a very negitive attitude all-together about the sport, that it's an 'English' sport and I'd be better off playing GAA.

I tried throwing a ball off a wall and trying to hit it back, the only problem with that is that by the time I've thrown the ball and put my left hand back on the bat (I bat right handed) the ball has almost reached me which isn't going to happen in a match. Any advice for batting practice?

I also have a tendency to play the ball down the leg side from a straight delivery, I don't know if this is because the fact that I play golf or just a sub-conscious thing? Any ideas?

2. Bowling: I'm a tall guy (about 6'0 for an early teen) but I seem to lack power, I get frustrated at the lack of power I get in my bowling because with my height it should mean that I should be powerful in my limbs, I do get the required height, but medium bowlers are so common (My only advantage is that I'm a leftie), also when I really try and throw the ball with speed I damage my bicep, any tips?

Thanks and I'm looking forward to the reply

 

[adyhorn]

Kev,I can help you with the batting one. Get a pair of tights or a long football sock,find somewhere to hang it up,then practise the shots you need. You can also practise shots as the ball comes back to you.

 

[pal]

From your experience, are leg spinners more susceptible to shoulder injuries than most types of bowlers (probably excepting fast bowlers), since they turn their shoulders over for every ball and particularly for the googly?

 

[Powderwombat]

Hi Powderwombat, thanks for joining and giving us advice! (For free and all)

Just to say a few things that I think you could help me with

1. Batting, I don't think I am a very good batsman at the moment but i could become a good batsman with practice, but the thing is it's very difficult for me to practice. Living in Ireland means there's nobody to play with, no facilities and a very negitive attitude all-together about the sport, that it's an 'English' sport and I'd be better off playing GAA.

I tried throwing a ball off a wall and trying to hit it back, the only problem with that is that by the time I've thrown the ball and put my left hand back on the bat (I bat right handed) the ball has almost reached me which isn't going to happen in a match. Any advice for batting practice?

I also have a tendency to play the ball down the leg side from a straight delivery, I don't know if this is because the fact that I play golf or just a sub-conscious thing? Any ideas?

2. Bowling: I'm a tall guy (about 6'0 for an early teen) but I seem to lack power, I get frustrated at the lack of power I get in my bowling because with my height it should mean that I should be powerful in my limbs, I do get the required height, but medium bowlers are so common (My only advantage is that I'm a leftie), also when I really try and throw the ball with speed I damage my bicep, any tips?

Thanks and I'm looking forward to the reply

Well obviously ideal batting practise is getting bowlers to bowl to you or getting someone to throw balls, but if that is not possible, you can try this.

Get an old cricket ball, one in bad condition that you won't use at the nets, get an old sock that you dont wear anymore(not ankle socks) and put the ball in the sock, and get some string.

You need a good tree branch or horizontal pole or something that you can tie the string to, so the ball in the sock is hanging down about mid-bat height so it hits the sweet spot everytime you play a forward defense.

so basically, you put the ball in a sock, tie the string around the top of the sock to keep the ball from popping out, tie the other end of the string to a branch or something.

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kind of like that, so the ball, when still will hit the middle of your bat when you play a forward defensive shot.

Now all you do is just hit the ball, not too hard, and it will come back and you just keep hitting it, this will improve your timing and hand eye co-ordination, and technique.

As for the bowling, short bowlers have the advantage of skidding the ball, which in turn makes the ball reach the batsman faster than if the same speed was being delivered from a greater height, and tall bowlers have the advantage of bounce, which can trouble batsmen.

Short, Skiddy bowlers - Dale Steyn, Brett Lee

Tall, Bouncy bowlers - McGrath, Curtley Ambrose

What you want to do to increase pace is make sure you are hitting the crease hard and following through well.

A faster run up can increase pace by a lot, but theres not much else I can say without looking at your action.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

From your experience, are leg spinners more susceptible to shoulder injuries than most types of bowlers (probably excepting fast bowlers), since they turn their shoulders over for every ball and particularly for the googly?

I can tell you, bowling a googly is a killer. Just hold your arm in that before release position and don't move.

 

[Allrounder18]

Hi Mr. Wombat

I have problem of inaccuracy I am a right handed fast bowler (pretty fast (clocked 128k but in consistent in pace) and have a decent in swinger and ferocious bouncer but the problem is that I am pretty much wild bowler and it is very hard for me to bowl 3 consecutive legit deliveries without bowling a wide one (mostly off side wide as it swings with out my will) and kids starts shouting and pressurize me when I starts my over which result in 12 ball over some times.
My action is a classic front on action(very much coaching manual front on action) with stop-high jump and go ,One problem i have is weight transfer problem as I dont get in to same momentum for every ball (perhaps some thing wrong with my run up which is about 15 spaces)
My physique :
Close to 5.11'' and 61Kg (not skinny but well built)

Plz help me bowling more accurately and destroying stumps at will

 

[Powderwombat]

Hi Mr. Wombat

I have problem of inaccuracy I am a right handed fast bowler (pretty fast (clocked 128k but in consistent in pace) and have a decent in swinger and ferocious bouncer but the problem is that I am pretty much wild bowler and it is very hard for me to bowl 3 consecutive legit deliveries without bowling a wide one (mostly off side wide as it swings with out my will) and kids starts shouting and pressurize me when I starts my over which result in 12 ball over some times.
My action is a classic front on action(very much coaching manual front on action) with stop-high jump and go ,One problem i have is weight transfer problem as I dont get in to same momentum for every ball (perhaps some thing wrong with my run up which is about 15 spaces)
My physique :
Close to 5.11'' and 61Kg (not skinny but well built)

Plz help me bowling more accurately and destroying stumps at will

Well what I recommend for bowlers bowling inswing is start the run up in line with the keeper's pads and run straight through that line, whereas an outswing bowler should angle in towards the stumps slightly, inswing bowlers should run in straight.

Thats the basic run up, as for inconsistent swing, that probably is because you're not releasing the ball the same way every time, you might run your fingers down the edge of the ball without realising it occasionally, and if you don't get the seam in the right position, it won't swing.

What I would suggest is get one of those red and white balls, one side is red and one is white, so you can see the position of the ball easily after release. When you release it, the seam should be angling towards the fine leg area.

Those balls are usually very cheap, and what you do is try and bring your fingers down the seam like a paintbrush motion, sort of guide the ball with your fingers on the seam at all times. Its hard to explain by text but basically, you just need to keep your fingers on the seam and release the ball with your fingers still on the seam. instead of dragging your fingers down the side of the ball, which is what some bowlers do occasionally.

Thats sort of the way you should hold it. But I prefer to hold it with my index and middle fingers on the edge of the seam, unlike in that picture where the index finger is off the seam, I find it swings more consistently the way I do it. You just have to keep the ball in that position until you release it, like I said before, you sort of have to guide the seam with your fingers to keep it in the right spot.

As for momentum, a lot of front on bowlers don't have a rock back like side on or midway bowlers, they run through the crease which generates momentum.

A good example of this is Malcolm Marshall. So a front on bowler ideally wants a fast run up, because that generates a lot of the pace.

Whereas a side on bowler like Lillee or Thomson would run in a bit slower, but they had a huge rockback which gave them their speed, so it depends on the action.

Generally, front on bowlers have little to no rock back(Marshall), midway bowlers have some rockback(McGrath, Lee), and side on bowlers have the most rockback(Thomson, Imran Khan).

 

[shefellover93]

Thanks for the tips Wombat, the weather isn't v good over here atm but when it brightens up I'll be out practicing forward defenses

 

[Powderwombat]

bump

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Hi Mr. Wombat. I'm a right arm leg spinner. When I bowl I pitch it in line with their pads (well try to) and full and I put a lot of height on it. Is that the right way to go about it?