Your Cricket Swinging the ball

[angryangy]

That would make even less sense.

 

[drainpipe32]

Woops, not a half volley lol, meant to say a half tracker. As in, pitching the ball short, lie Peter Siddle did too much of this summer.

 

[TumTum]

Woops, not a half volley lol, meant to say a half tracker. As in, pitching the ball short, lie Peter Siddle did too much of this summer.

But the ball doesn't swing "wickedly" when banged in short :what

 

[King Pietersen]

To bowl out swingers you need more of a side on action

=/ No you don't. You can swing the ball from a front-on, mixed or side-on action. The key to swing bowling is wrist position and seam presentation; as well as the ball, wind direction and atmospheric conditions. If you get your wrist behind the ball and in a good position, and then get the seam coming out straight you'll swing the ball. The direction your feet point, poses no direct correlation to the amount of swing, certain actions can assist swing bowling, but you don't have to bowl side on to swing the ball.

Quick couple of tips to help achieve both the wrist position, and the seam presentation. I'll start with a great tip for seam presentation, which I learnt from Ian Pont. You see spin bowlers standing with a cricket ball and they'll be constantly spinning the ball in their hand, as it gets them used to applying spin to the ball, and gets their wrist used to the movements. Seam bowlers can do the exact same thing. You just need to hold the ball with the seam straight and then just flick the ball in the air, with the aim of keeping that seam deadly straight. If you practise enough you'll get it right almost every time. It then trains your muscle memory to release the ball at that correct time, to then get the seam straight. It does work, as it was something I used.

As for wrist position. I'm not really sure of any little drills to practise which can help with that, but getting a video camera out, and watching yourself bowl in slow-mo can help you realise what you're doing with the ball, and how you need to correct your wrist position. Here are a couple of pictures to demonstrate what position your wrist should be in:

Outswinger.........................................Inswinger

If you bowl with the new ball, you shouldn't need to exaggerate the direction of the seam quite that much, just getting the ball going down with an upright seam will extract movement. Also, a quick in-game tip to know if you're bowling with an upright seam is to see what the ball looks like when you get it back in your hands. If it has grass in the seam, then you had it coming out upright, if the side of the ball is scuffed, then you'll know you're bowling with a scrambled seam, and are therefore less likely to extract swing, or seam movement. Getting the seam straight, and then hitting the seam is one of the real keys to seam/swing bowling, if you can get that right, you'll be on your way to taking some wickets. Hope it helps.

 

[TumTum]

That's not entirely true KP, diffirent bowling actions do make a difference.

After countless hours of testing, I have found out this:

I experimented with 3 bowling actions: Front-on, Shane Bond style (arm above your head) and side-on/slingy.

- With the new ball, if you want the "perfect" inswinger, bowl it the Shane Bond style.

- With the new ball, if you want the "perfect" outswinger, bowl it front-on.

- With the reversing ball, if you want the "perfect" inswinger, bowl it front-on or side-on/slingy.

- With the reversing ball, if you want the "perfect" outswinger, bowl it Shane Bond style or side-on/slingy.​

There is quite a simple reason why this happens:

- It is much easier to point the seam inwards bowling it with Shane Bond's style. Because your arm above your head makes a bigger angle towards the batsmen, hence exaggerating the inswing.

- However it is the opposite if you are pointing the seam outwards with Shane Bond's style. Apart from the reduced angle change when attempting the outswinger, you will also cut the ball, rending your outswing useless.

- On a more general note, using a side-on or slingy action really makes little impact with the new ball, however it seems to be better with the reversing ball. I still don't understand why this is.

- When attempting the outswinger with the reversing ball, front-on style is horrible, because you have to point the seam slightly inwards whilst trying to make the ball go outwards. Although with Shane Bond's style, you keep the seam perfectly straight in your hand and the natural angle will do all the work.

- However you cannot use Bond's style when attempting the inswinger with the reversing ball, as you will have to get the seam on an angle in your hand to combat your natural angle. Again very awkard.​

 

[drainpipe32]

But the ball doesn't swing "wickedly" when banged in short :what

But by pitching short your going to have the batsman play and miss more than they edge.

 

[King Pietersen]

That's not entirely true KP, diffirent bowling actions do make a difference.

Different bowling actions do make a difference. I actually mentioned that in the post, what I was contesting is Gazza's claim that you 'have' to bowl side-on to swing the ball, which is simply not true.

 

[Will Browne]

Also, ask your captain to let you bowl into the wind. Swings way more.

He will stare at you in disbelief but he will accept because no one else will want to do it...

 

[Sal-technic]

Funny, swinging the ball needs a lot of pace , i doubt if a slow medium pacer can do it, never a spinner.

 

[drainpipe32]

Funny, swinging the ball needs a lot of pace , i doubt if a slow medium pacer can do it, never a spinner.

Reverse swing maybe, but conventional swing will swing at any pace, and sometimes even more if it's slow.

 

[treva]

I have been swinging it both ways this season. My natural ball where I hold the ball on the seam swings away. I have to put only one finger on the seam and the other inside towards the batsman if I want to swing it in. Obviously the ball is a major factor in getting it to swing, so make sure you get one side as shiny as possible. Also, for away swingers (to a right hander) make sure the shiny side is inside, so towards the stumps.

Wind helps but not as much as you might think. With wind in play it is much more difficult to control. My best advice is to practice outdoors with a new ball and concentrate on putting it on a good length.

 

[-D-S-B-]

Funny, swinging the ball needs a lot of pace , i doubt if a slow medium pacer can do it, never a spinner.

No, mate. A medium pacer can swing the ball just as much as a quick. I'm a medium pacer(115-120k) and I rely on swing to pick up my wickets. It all comes down to weather conditions, a good action that makes swing possible, weam postion after release and of-course the ball condition. And spinners do 'swing' the ball, it's called drift, not exactly swing but sideways movement in the air. BTW I know my stuff

to swing the ball away angle the seam like \ (not so much angle) and to swing the ball in angle the seam like / (not so much angle). But in the end it comes down to the action, so with a good action a seam like | will still swing

 

[riz7khan12]

No, mate. A medium pacer can swing the ball just as much as a quick. I'm a medium pacer(115-120k)

wtf thats a fast bowler for our age, i mean im pretty sure no one in your team bowls 130-140.

i bowl about 80-95 left-arm medium and i usually dont get swing often but i do get the ball nipping of the seam quite alot, without this i would probably get hammered.

 

[-D-S-B-]

wtf thats a fast bowler for our age, i mean im pretty sure no one in your team bowls 130-140.

Well I guess I'm a opening bowler medium-fast at best. And probably just the 115k bit not the 115-120 :laugh
And no, I was in the 2nds for last season (firsts next) but the last 2 years we've had 130k bowlers in our first XI .

BTW I'm just basing my pace on the fact that I've faced a 130k bowler before and I'm trying to compare my speeds to others that I've faced.