Gatorade Pacers Blog

Well really I should have started the first article with this, and I guess this epitomises the fact that you should get this point sorted first and foremost before you step out onto that green canvas.

Like a ship without a rudder, a car without a steering wheel, and a plane without a tail-fin, if you don’t hold the ball the right and comfortable way then you will be all at sea.

International fast and medium-pace bowlers generally hold the ball the same way, whereas spinners can hold the ball in a number of ways [check out Sri Lanka’s new sensation Ajantha Mendis who holds the ball practically by his fingertips- this guy will bamboozle many on his way through international cricket.].

Test cricket is the pinnacle of all cricket, and everytime the fortunate talented few set onto that field they know the world and all is watching them. They have a duty to perform for their country and for the sport as a whole. We are shown majestic and tantalising tricks and moments, and also stuff that belongs to the village green.

That is why we need to learn everything from them … Dennis Lillee used to say he wanted his first ball to be as fast as his last and boy was that guy prepared to win the second he stepped onto the field. Old D.K. never bowled any looseners. He knew it was Test cricket and the highest standard known to all, and everytime he had a point to prove. Every ball he was gunning for a wicket and he was not there as practice for the batsman. He had done his limbering-up well before stepping on to the pitch.

	The non-bowling arm helps keep balance and generate pace © ECB

So if you’re a right-handed bowler, you are evidently going to be using your right arm to release and propel the ball… pretty obvious there. However, let’s not forget about your non-bowling arm. This arm is almost as vital as your bowling-arm and should not be forgotten about.

Every bowler, whether you are the slowest of spinners or the quickest of launchers, will use the opposite arm (the non-bowling arm) through delivery. The non-bowling arm is used in the capacity of helping you rock-backwards/forwards and helping to pull you through the crease. I admit that sounds like Latin, but the point being that the non-bowling arm helps keep balance and generate pace.

On the image by this article, you’ll observe that the arm holding the ball will start around the chest/belly area when at the start of delivery, however the non-bowling arm will lift up in front of the body (between your head and the target) and move down in a ‘chopping motion’. This will help rotate your bowling-arm and bring momentum to your delivery and, in turn, increase both stability and pace.

Yes this is a pretty dull point to make, and it’s not very rock and roll: we aren’t talking about knocking stumps out and generating reverse-swing… but we are working on the basics of getting a consistent and easily-repeatable action so that you can become a Shoaib Akhtar or a Shaun Pollock.

And so the great Shaun Pollock has retired and left a gulf world-wide of class to be filled … South Africa have eased out his retirement and not made it so sudden by having brought in younger players through the Twenty20s and by the emergence of Dale Steyn. We can learn a lot from Shaun Pollock, or to be a little clever, we can learn very little from him; for the great man kept things very simple and concentrated on bowling on off stump or just outside. Heard of the corridor? Well Shaun Pollock was the key-keeper, the gate-keeper and Lord of all things to do with that little corridor outside off.

Shaun Pollock wasn’t the quickest (although Michael Atherton will testify that he was more than sharp in his early days), he didn’t show great variation, didn’t try and york everyone every single ball, didn’t puff his chest out and bowl bouncers and snarl at the batsman, and didn’t try clever slower ones every other ball. Old Polly kept things simple. He bored, stifled, and strangled the batsman into making mistakes and making them have to score off the good length in that corridor of uncertainty (remember the one on off or just outside).

This article is about how to keep your head still and tips on going about it. If, like me, you have trouble keeping your eyes level [simple way of thinking about how to keep your head still] and you keep sending the ball down the leg side or to second ‘Steve Harmison’ slip … then read on and let these words of wisdom keep you in good stead.

As a bowler, you want to have a consistent line and length so that your captain can set a field and build some pressure. You don’t want to be charging in, with the bowler at the other end having bowled a maiden and created some pressure with the run-rate going down, and sending the ball all over the place.

	A graphical representation of swing bowling © ECB

If you are reading this, and hopefully you are and are finding my little trinkets of information useful … you will undoubtedly be from the subcontinent: the greatest place for food, wildlife and of course … cricket!

If you are still reading this, you have come across this as you are a bowler and looking for little tips that can help you on the road to success. Now by being from the subcontinent … what happens with your type of bowling if you are a quick/pacer? Is the ball seaming away like at Headingley on a nice moist April morning? I doubt it very much. You will have the tough task of having to bowl on the dust-bowls of the subcontinent. So getting that action perfect is very key to your success.You are there to get a little of swing with that lovely new ball, then get it a little rough for the spinners, and then come on at the end [like the great Wasim Akram] and reverse-swing and boom that chunk of leather in your hand.

So - two points … you are trying to get that ball to swing, and trying to generate pace. There are various ways you can go about getting that pace. Visit your local gym and pump that iron till the cows come home; or you can work on getting your wrist behind the ball. This is by far the most effective way of generating both pace and swing, but most notably swing. Take a chance to have a look at Irfan Pathan, Dale Steyn, Brett Lee, and Simon Jones. Their wrist positions are second to none and it is something to be admired.

The wrist position I talk about is at the point of release. Remember and work on that, and you will be a better bowler for it. You will often hear commentators going on about a bowler not getting his wrist behind the ball, and this is a little saying that you should have in your mind.

Whatever you bowl, you should be consistent in your action. By being consistent in your action, you will bring accuracy to your armoury which is by far the most effective weapon for any bowler as you can then exert pressure and force the batsman to make a mistake.

However, accuracy comes with practice and a solid technique. But is technique the be-all and end-all of everything? The basics are that as long as your front foot is facing towards the target after your back foot has touched down, and your hips and shoulders are in line, then you’ll be fine. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, with his low-arm slingy action, hasn’t got the greatest technique. However, his shoulders and front foot are near spot-on and he proves effective and continues to trouble the world’s top batsmen.

A model for all young fast bowlers to check out on the internet is Allan Donald - smooth, balanced, rhythmical and consistent - his hips and shoulders were perfectly in line, and his front foot was perfectly facing the target. If you look at England’s Andrew Flintoff, his hips and shoulders are perfectly in line, however his front foot is facing fine-leg and this has put excess weight and strain on his ankle.