Bowling Styles

There are two basic approaches to bowling: fast and spin. A fast bowler bowls the ball as fast as practicable, attempting to defeat the batsman with its pace. If the ball also swings in the air, or seams (moves sideways) off the pitch because of bouncing on the seam, it can be very difficult to play. A spin bowler has a more ambling run-up and uses wrist or finger motion to impart a spin to the ball. The ball then spins to one side when it bounces on the pitch, thus also hopefully causing it to be hard to hit. Fast bowlers are generally used with a new ball, while spin bowlers get more spin with a worn ball. There is also medium pace bowling, which concentrates more on swing and seam than pace.

A swing bowler will hold the seam of the ball at a certain angle and attempt to release the ball so that it spins with the seam at a constant angle. With one side of the ball polished and the other rough, differential air pressure will cause it to swing in the air.

A seam bowler attempts to keep the seam vertical, so that the ball hits the seam when it bounces on the pitch and deflects in its path either to the right or left.

A fast bowler can also pull his fingers down one side of the ball as he lets it go, imparting a small amount of sideways spin to the ball. This can cause the ball to move sideways off the pitch. Such a delivery is called a leg-cutter if the ball moves from the leg side to the off side of a right-handed batsman, or an off-cutter if moves from the off to the leg. A specialist spin bowler can get a lot more spin that a fast bowler bowling cutters, however.

There are two types of spin bowling: off-spin, and leg-spin. Imagine holding a ball in your right hand and, for simplicity's sake, throwing it. If you twist your hand in a clockwise direction on release, then the spin on the ball will be such that when it bounces it will spin to your right. This is essentially off-spin bowling (so called because, to a right-handed batsman, the ball spins from the off side to the leg side). The off-spin delivery itself is called either an off-spinner or an off-break. An off-spin bowler will sometimes not spin the ball so much, putting more pace on the delivery. Such a delivery is called an arm-ball.

Now imagine twisting the ball anticlockwise and releasing it from the palm so that it 'rolls' over the base of the little finger. This gives the ball spin in the opposite direction, so it spins left when it bounces. This is basic leg-spin (because to a right-handed batsman it spins from leg to off). The basic leg-spin delivery is called a leg-spinner or leg-break.

The interesting thing about leg-spin is that if you cock your wrist at various angles you can in fact, with the same basic bowling action, produce spin in different directions. With the wrist cocked a little towards the inside of the arm, you can produce top-spinners. Go further and you actually end up producing spin in the same direction as an off-spinner. A ball bowled in this way by a leg-spin bowler is called a wrong 'un, or sometimes a googly . Probably trickiest of all is a ball bowled with the hand in the same position as a top-spinner, but released from under the hand, thereby gaining back-spin. This ball is called a flipper.

(Mike Whitaker tells me that a flipper is actually bowled from the back of the hand like a normal leg-spinner, but with the forearm twisted outwards, so the ball spins about a vertical axis. I'm not sure which of these is correct, so I'm mentioning both here!)

Mike has also kindly supplied a graphic which attempts to show the arm and wrist action of the different leg-spin deliveries. Sorry for those with only ASCII browsers, but this is too difficult to show in ASCII! For those of you with graphical browsers, the following diagram shows a view of a (right-handed) leg-spinner's arm, from in front (i.e., batsman's point of view). The rotation of the ball out of the hand is the same in each case, with the ball spinning with the seam as an "equator".

So right handed spinners fall into two classes: off-spinners, with their simple off-spin and arm-ball deliveries; and leg-spinners, with their leg-spinners, top-spinners, wrong 'uns, and flippers. Leg-spinners are naturally much more difficult to bat against, because of the great variety of balls they can produce, but they are actually rarer than off-spinners because it is so much more difficult to bowl reasonably accurately with the leg-spin hand action.

For left-handed spin bowlers there is a whole different system of nomenclature!

A left-handed bowler who uses the same action as an off-spinner is called an orthodox spinner. Such bowlers are not uncommon. A left-hander who bowls with the same action as a leg-spinner is called an unorthodox spinner - and these are the rarest bowlers in cricket. The left-handed analogue of the leg-spin delivery (which spins the opposite way, of course) is called an unorthodox spinner. The top-spinner and flipper retain their names. And the left-handed analogue of the wrong 'un is called a Chinaman .

Typical bowling speeds are:

Fast bowler:

130-140 km/h (80-90 mph)

Medium pace bowler:

100-130 km/h (60-80 mph)

Spin bowler:

70-90 km/h (45-55 mph)

Bowlers also make use of the state of the pitch, which is quite crucial to the game, and is one of the things the commentators look at in great detail before the game begins. Because it's a natural surface, there are usually small inconsistencies in its flatness, hardness and elasticity. Over a multi-day game, or even over a single day, these become more pronounced, so it often gets more difficult to bat as the game progresses. Spin bowlers in particular often find that they get much more spin from an old pitch than a freshly prepared one.

Some of the different types of balls bowled have special names:

Bouncer:

A ball bounced short so that it bounces high, usually chest height or higher as it passes the batsman.

Yorker:

A ball bounced very close to the batsman's crease. This is difficult to score from and often gets batsmen out, but is difficult to bowl without accidentally bowling a full toss.

DETAILS ABOUT SWINGS

Normal swing

Normal swing is acheived by keeping one side of the ball polished smooth and shiny, and delivering the ball with the polished side forward, and the seam angled in the direction of desired swing. The outswinging delivery moves away from the right-handed batsman, while the inswinger moves in towards him. Normal swing is achieved by maintaining laminar boundary layer air-flow on the shiny side whilst creating turbulent flow on the seam side. These deliveries, particularly the outswinger, are the bread and butter of opening bowlers who get to use the ball while it is still new.

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Reverse Swing

Reverse swing is very different to conventional swing. Although the seam is oriented in the same way as for an outswinger and the action is the same, the rough side of the ball is to the fore, and the ball moves in to the batsman like an inswinger. Reverse Swing is Achieved when the ball is bowled very fast. In this case the air flow will become turbulent on both sides before it reaches the seam.

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Some points of interest:

Humidity: Despite being widely observed in practice, there is currently no theoretical, or experimental, evidence for humidity having any affect on the amount of swing. Humid air is less dense than dry air - although the difference is minimal - and so would be expected to induce less swing. Experiments in wind tunnels show no noticeable difference in the amount of swing between dry and humid air, and there is no measureable aerodynamic difference in the state of the ball due to moisture.

Late Swing: There are several possible explanations for late swing - where sideways movement occurs only late in the ball's flight.
i). It is an illusion. The flight path of a ball with a constant sideways-acting force applied to it is parabolic: the amount of the sideways movement naturally increases along the flight path.
ii). The ball is initially above the transition speed for turbulent flow on the shiny, non-seam side, but drops below this threshold as it deccelerates in flight, particularly after bouncing, initiating late swing.
iii). The ball rotates slightly in flight, with the seam becoming angled and thus initiating late swing.

With a turbulent boundary layer on both sides of the ball, the effect of the seam is reversed. It now acts as a ramp, pushing the turbulent air away from the ball and causing the boundary layer to peel away sooner. That makes the pressure on that side higher, forcing the ball to swing towards the batsman.

To get reverse swing with a new ball, smooth on both sides, experiments show that the bowler has to reach 80-90 miles per hour to get appreciable movement. This kind of speed has only ever been achieved consistently by a few bowlers. A scuffed ball however can generate substantial reverse swing at speeds well within the capabilities of any medium-paced bowler.

The ideal ball for reverse swing has one side rough, the other smooth, with a prominent seam in between. The seam should be angled at about 15 degrees to the direction of flight, pointing away from the desired direction of movement. The ball can then be swung both into and away from the batsman depending solely on which side of the ball is delivered at the front - generating either normal or reverse swing. Because the bowler does not need to change either his grip or his action, the batsman will have no clue which way the ball is likely to move.

For reverse swing the amount of sideways movement is related to the speed of delivery, making this a particularly effective delivery for fast bowlers.

The basic idea about reverse swing that a bowler has to understand is that the ball moves in the direction of the shiny side or the heavier side (wet side), the other side of the ball being considerably rough . This is the only thing a bowler has to realize and not the ball mechanics involved in reverse swing . So as stated above, the ball moves in the direction of the shine , irrespective of whether the bowler is gripping the ball for an outswinger or an inswinger .

Different variations that can be used with reverse swing (unless stated, the following is looked at a right arm bowler bowling to a right handed batsman ) :-

(1) Holding the ball for an outswinger , with the shiny/wet side on the right side .

Result : Ball initially moves out in the air and comes back into the batsman sharply .

Usually, a batsman can be out leg before as he tends to play along the wrong line . Even a half volley with this kind of ball may not be as easy as it appears for the batsman , with a gate opening between bat and pad (the batsman attempting a cover drive) as he tends to play for the outswinger .

(2) Holding the ball for an inswinger, with the shiny/wet side on the left side .

Result : Ball initially moves towards the batsman and at the last moment darts away from the batsman.

A batsman can be caught behind the wickets and sometimes bowled . One best way to ball this type of delivery is to go wide off the crease and with this angle, a batsman is forced to play the ball . Outside offstump line may only result in the batsman being beaten, so the more effective line would be on offstump, the length should be around the good length - forcing the batsman to play a forward defensive shot .

(3) Holding the ball for an outswinger, with the shiny/wet side on the left side .

Result : It is very obvious that the ball moves more and more away from the batsman

So the line of the delivery should be more on the middle stump . This kind of delivery results more in getting the batsman to nick the ball to the wicket keeper and the slips . It is important to know that by holding the ball in this fashion , a bowler cannot afford to pitch it outside off stump, atleast in limited overs matches as it would be called a 'wide' .

(4) Holding the ball for an inswinger, with the shiny/wet side on the right side .

Result : The ball moves in very sharply almost like a double inswinger/banana inswinger .

This kind of delivery must be pitched outside offstump so that the Umpire thinks it would hit the legstump atleast .Great delivery for the big inswinging yorkers or the 'toe crunchers' as they are called . Batsman can be out either by getting bowled or leg before .

Left Handers , hmmmmmm I always liked bowling round the wicket to them . You can create more angles for a left hander than a right hander, thus making bowling to lefties a lot more fascinating .

There is a myth that reverse swing is only effective for the real quick bowlers , which isn't true at all. Best example that comes to my mind is that of Nathan Astle ,of New Zealand, in a Test Series in India . Nathan Astle bowled many overs in that series, the pitches were not quick but Astle was successful in keeping one end tight with his millitary medium pace. All he did was to just keep on persisting with an offstump line backed up with some good reverse swing . Of course, the faster you bowl, more are the chances of a batsman being bowled by those fast toe crunchers . Medium pacers have a great chance of getting leg before decisions and caught behinds if not the 'bowleds' .

There is a worry in the Pakistan camp that the Indians might not be susceptible against reverse swing. The way they played in Australia it was apparent they knew what the ball would do. It might still be a mystery for teams like England and South Africa. But that doesn't seem the case with the Indians.

We in Pakistan are very good in "caring" for the ball. We make sure that at least one side of the ball retains its shine. After 30-40 overs, the dry conditions of our sub-continent help the ball to reverse swing. When Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis operated, we tried our best to ensure the ball didn't get wet or too much of sweat was not applied on it.

I remember the Old Trafford Test of 2001 when sweat on the hands of Saqlain Mushtaq didn't allow the ball to dry up enough. Saqlain usually sweats a lot. In order to counter it, and to make sure our fast bowlers got their way, he used to apply cream to keep his hands dry. These days I am speaking a lot to Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, who incidentally is from my academy, about the plans they should hatch against the Indian batsmen. Most of the Indian batsmen are great but everyone has faults. As a coach, you must look at the current fault of batsmen. Sachin Tendulkar for instance does not have a long stride forward and any delivery which comes in quickly from a good length spot, he tends to inside edge on to his stumps.

Tendulkar, of course, is a genius and I would never forget his double century in Sydney. He clearly was struggling with his form. He had been dismissed a few times driving on the off-side. He cleverly took the centre rather than the off-stump guard. It allowed him to walk on to his off-stump and any delivery pitched on the middle and leg were worked on the on-side beautifully.