A Guide to Different Bowling Techniques

Bowling in cricket is probably the most difficult technique to master. The role of the cricket bowler is to try getting the batsman out by either hitting the wicket, or making the batsman hit a poor ball. There are basically two main bowling techniques. Fast bowling and spin bowling. From these two groups you will get bowlers using specific techniques or becoming experts in a particular type of bowling.

A) Fast Bowling

This is also known as pace bowling. The fast bowler has the aim to throw the cricket ball at high speed making it difficult for the batsman to hit it. Most fast bowlers are considered to be medium pace bowlers but some like Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan, who has clocked 161.3 km/h, are extremely fast with the heavy ball.

In the beginning of a fast bowler’s career, they are mainly more concerned with the speed of the delivery. However with more experience they add a few variations to their bowling speeds

1. Strike Bowling

In strike bowling, the bowler attempts to get the batsman out by sheer speed and aggression. Against world class batsmen, this technique might not work too well as it is hard to make the ball move too fast. On of the best techniques to use in strike bowling is the Yorker where the ball is thrown right at the toes of the batsman.

2. Seam Bowling.

Seam bowling involves using the seam of the ball to cause it to bounce in an unpredictable fashion. Variations in the bounce of the ball will make the bowler likely to make a mistake.

3. Swing Bowling

A swing bowler causes the ball to move laterally through the air, rather than off the pitch as seam bowlers. If the ball is new the ball will swing more in the air than when older. As it gets older the swing is weaker and as such you see the players and bowlers rubbing off one side of the ball on their shirts to conserve the spin or give it a reverse swing.

B) Spin Bowlers

Spin bowlers use the rotation of the ball at a slower pace than fast bowler to get batsmen out. Speed is not crucial in spin bowlers and the ball is thrown with the intention of confusing the bowler. There are two main types of spin bowlers.

1. Wrist Spinners

Wrist spinners use their wrist to spin the ball. Two of the best known are Anil Kumble and Shane Warne. The success of these two bowlers shows how dangerous the wrist spinning technique can be especially in test matches where the batsman gets tired.

2. Finger Spinners

Finger spinners use their fingers to rotate the ball. Muttiah Muralitharan is probably one of the best proponents of finger spinning. The interesting thing about finger spinners is that almost all left handed bowlers are finger spinners.

It takes a long time for one to become a proficient bowler. A lot of practise hours are used to improve on these techniques. It is important to do so because if a team has poor bowlers, they are bound to lose matches especially with the high-class batsmen in the world today.

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