How To Keep Pace In My Bouncer

Firstly, its important to understand that all deliveries lose pace after ball release from the hand and contact with the wicket.
You may often hear comments like ‘he’s quick off the wicket’ or ‘he seems to pick up pace off the wicket’.
These comments can be misleading, perhaps a bowler has a strong action and the ball has greater speed than a batter anticipates or a spin bowler bowls a ball with a lot of top spin and the ball spins forward more than it does sideways.
But all deliveries will lose velocity as the ball moves forward.
Anyway, back to your question, how to make sure that your bouncer keeps as much speed as possible.
You need to examine the length you are bowling.
If you are banging the ball in too short then the ball will lose a lot of pace and it will balloon through to the wicket keeper or batsman, rather than holding its pace and trajectory.
Practice varying your lengths to see if you can bowl the bouncer with a slightly flatter trajectory, about head high or up into the batter’s rib cage.
This will keep greater speed on the ball.
Also work on making sure that your action is vigorous and that you work hard all the way through your follow through.
See the picture of Dale Steyn above, as an example and notice the full follow through which is the completion of the delivery.
Quite often what a bowler thinks is a bouncer is really a half tracker, bowled half way down the wicket with little intent on the ball.
Make sure that each ball has a goal, in height, direction and speed. Where you want the batter to move to or to hit the ball with the intention of forcing a catch.

The Unstoppable Power of Left Arm Pace Death Bowling

If you have any pride in your left arm seam bowling, you need to bowl at the death in your cricket matches.
As a left armer, you have all the tools open to you of a righty, plus an extra one that makes you perfect for closing out a game. But it does require a great deal of skill.
Are you up for the challenge and chance to be the hero?

The wide yorker

Your weapon of difference is the wide yorker.
Deliver this ball into a small slot just inside the wide line and just in front of the popping crease (10cm or so).
This works because when you hit your yorker, you have cut off the leg side. You can pack the off side and keep the runs to a minimum. Against batsmen who go to leg at the death - most club and school cricket players - you will see increased frustration and more wickets from silly shots.

Wide yorker: yellow line

Practice your skills

Of course, you need to work on hitting this small target. Get it wrong and you will see the dreaded wide signalled.
Practice the ball often. Ideally against real batsmen as you can gauge how they react to it. However, you can bowl at cones or shoes.If you feel you are making progress - about a 25% success rate is a good point - you can start to increase the difficulty by adding more variations.
Many left arm bowlers find it difficult to choose the right option for the right moment. As a result, their variety is often their biggest weakness. They have not worked out what to bowl and when to bowl it.
So practice this too.
For example, you might want a range of balls to bowl at a newer batsman while sticking to your wide yorker to get a set hitter off strike.
To increase your skill in this area, set a cone straight in front of the stumps 5 to 10cms in front of the popping crease and a cone on the same length just inside the off side wide line.
Hit the wide cone with every ball unless given a signal. As you run up, have a coach or team mate occasionally shout for you to hit the straight cone. If you get good at that, you can also add length balls and bouncers to the options.

Improve Your Bowling with Variety

How many times has a left arm seamer been picked because they offer “variety” to a cricket team?
In a world dominated by right-arm over medium pace bowlers, the promise of a different angle to batsmen is too tempting for selectors. And it works. Many batsmen find it hard to adapt to the change of angle. The left arm bowler gets more wickets.
It’s exactly this reason - creating problems for batsmen - that means any variety will help your team. Here are a few more ways.
Always pick a spinner
There are plenty of excuses not to pick a spinner. Maybe you don’t have any good ones in your club. Maybe the pitch is green. It doesn’t matter; you always have a spinner.
This is because batsmen who play spin well are rare. Even an average spinner causes problems simply by the fact there is less pace on the ball. Tail-enders especially can’t resist. Even if the ball does not turn an inch, there is still flight, dip, drift and variations of pace. Combine that with left arm spin and you are looking at a hero for all conditions.
Yes, there is a risk to blindly playing a spinner. You may be left with three seamers to do most of the work if your spinner does nothing. Yet, without that variety you will always be left wondering if you could have done more.
Get out of the corridor
Whatever arm or pace the bowlers use, you can offer variety through changes like going around the wicket, bowling yorkers and slower balls or just setting unusual fields: Anything that gets the batter out of their rhythm for a little while.
It may not work but as the saying goes;  if you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
Of course, you might be confident enough with the skill of your reliable right arm over pitch it up medium pace bowlers to never worry. I'm willing to bet there are times when that extra effort was worth the risk. You can always find something to to do.
Change the bowling
Which brings us onto the last tip: If nothing is happening, change the bowling.
Give your main bowlers time to get a batsmen out, especially your spinners, but you also need to get that feel for when the batsmen are finding it easy: scoring runs without looking like getting out.
That is the time to switch to another bowler.
Keep spells short to confuse the batsman as much as you can. You can even swap ends with bowlers. The change might just be enough variety. 
At club and school level you have to work with what you have. But even if you just have three right arm seamers and an occasional slow bowler you can create variety. It's not an exact science (it wouldn't be as much fun if it was) so get creative and never stop thinking when you cross that white line. You never know what might work.

Deploy Your Doosra Like A World-Class Spinner

Slip this variation into your off spin toolkit.
Let’s talk about the problem of the doosra. It’s controversial. Some people think you can’t bowl it without chucking. It’s never been mastered by more than a handful of players. It’s very, very hard to turn it accurately. Why would any mere mortal cricketer try it?
Because it’s mysterious and powerful.
Because you love a challenge.
And if you spend time on getting it right, you will gain the edge as a spinner for you and your cricket team. All by making the ball spin the other way.

The value of doosra

Is it worth learning a doosra?
It makes sense that finger spinners would hunt for a ball that turns the other way. Leg spinners have been able to turn the ball both ways as standard for decades. It give you more ability to deceive batsman and take wickets.
(For that is what a doosra is, a ball from a finger spinner that turns in the opposite direction. For example away from the right handed batsman.)
Leg spinners have also found it easier to learn a googly than off spinners have to learn a doosra. It’s never become a standard variation despite being around for many years.
Why do most spinners leave the doosra alone?
I think for most, the effort is not worth the reward.
It takes a lot of practice to get it to turn and land in the right place.
There’s no standard advice on how to bowl a doosra. There are a dozen methods online and probably more happening in various Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan street and fields that we don’t know about.
And even if you do master it, you might find you throw it. So you have wasted your time.
No wonder, with so few seriously bowling the ball at every level, the doosra remains a marvellously challenging mystery ball.

How to bowl a doosra

Let’s say you still want to give it a go.
Let’s say you still like your lips at the prospect of fooling a batsman with the other one.
Awesome!
Step zero is simple: get ready for a lot of practice.
Use target bowling in nets, bowl at batsmen in games, bowl at willing passers-by in the street.
To give yourself a ball-park figure for starting success:

• Turn the ball at least 1 degree.
• Land the ball on target at least 30% of the time.

At this point, you might be asking “but, how do I bowl it?”
While there is plenty of doosra advice, the real answer is just keep trying. The ball has very little history of success so the page in the coaching book is unwritten.
You have a chance to find your way.
You can start by flicking it out of your hand, then progress to overarm throws and finally bowling. You might find you don’t even need those stages and you can get the ball out all right at the first go. Whatever it takes, it’s going to take plenty of deliveries to get good at it.
Also remember that, while important, the technique is nothing without being able to use it against a batsman in a game. This is especially true when it’s a crunch moment. Your ultimate aim to to be confident to turn to a doosra even when the opposition need two from the last ball in the Grand Final.
That’s cricket mastery.

How to Bowl a Googly

Make the most of this awesome leg spin variation.
Watching a good leg spinner operate against an average batsman is like watching a lion play with its prey before going in for the kill. The helpless beast has no idea what’s going on and no way to combat it.
The googly is the lethal blow for the poor creature.
Spin is all about outsmarting the batsman and the googly puzzles batsman by turning the wrong way with the same action, leaving him walking back to the pavilion with a confused look and spread-eagled stumps.
Here is how to bowl that destructive googly.
Grip and wrist position
Hold the ball in the identical way as you would hold for a usual leg spin delivery:

Most leg spinners place index and middle finger on the seam while thumb place adjacently to them along the seam. The ring finger is often placed slightly wide of the seam and used for holding the ball.
From here you’ll see the difference between a googly and a standard leg break. As you bowl, the palm of your hand carrying the ball points up. The back of your hand faces towards batsman so they cannot point out the difference. If the googly is picked, it is less effective.
Twisting the wrist at around 180 degrees towards the ground will cause the ball to spin into the batsman. The ring finger plays an important part as it rotates the ball in an anti-clockwise position. This will cause the ball to turn like an off spinner after pitching.
All this takes a lot of trying, so don't expect to master it in a weekend.


Avoiding the ‘googly syndrome’
The control, precision and accuracy in bowling a googly come with time and practice. However, there is a risk associated with too much googly practice.
You can lose your leg break and end up only being able to bowl googlies.
This has been coined the googly syndrome and has been recognised by leg spinners and their coaches for many years.
The best way to avoid it is to be careful how much you practice. A typical club leggie might bowl 10 overs a week in the nets. Of that, you can avoid getting stuck only bowling a googly by keeping the practice down to 6-12 balls. On top of that, look to finish with 2-3 overs of pure leg breaks with no variations).
This limited practice time is why it is so hard to master the googly, especially for young spinners.
If you stick with your practice, keep firing the ball at a target without a batsman.
Also make sure you throw it in when a batsman is facing so you can see the response.
Before long you will be confident to use it in a crunch moment of a game. Your team-mates will consider you some kind of leg spin genius when you bowl the hapless batsman with a perfect bosie.

How to Maintain Pressure on Batsmen in Limited Overs Cricket

It's common to say an inexperienced bowling attack can't "maintain pressure".
Is this double-speak for bad bowling, or is there something more to the idea that experience improves your ability to tie batsmen down in the middle overs of a limited overs game?
Many say experience makes no difference. If you have a repeatable action, you can bowl good line and length and yorkers at the death, you have all the skill you need.
Personally, I think experience has a huge influence, but it is not obvious at first glance.
The key to the power of experience in bowling is linked to a skill that batsmen are desperate to develop: picking line and length.

Picking line and length: Not just for batsmen

One of the most important differences between elite batsmen and lesser players is their ability to pick line and length. It's a topic that we have discussed often on PitchVision Academy.
With much practice, the batter learns to subconsciously read the signals from the bowler and respond to the bowler, rather than wait to pick up the ball from the hand.
But experienced bowlers also have a version of this ability.
If you talk to a bowler who has played from many years, they will confidently speak about a sixth sense: The ability to know what a batsman is about to do based on some kind of a hunch. They just feel something is about to happen.
Except, it's not really a hunch at all. It's the result of years of experience of bowling to batsmen and learning how they react in any situation.
Sure, there are variations of reaction, like there are variations in bowling cues and clues, but the more you bowl, the better you get at reading the reaction before it even happens.

Use experience to maintain the stranglehold

The experienced bowler senses this, knows what to bowl next and how to change the field accordingly.
The wild swing to leg countered by fifth stump away swinger, the sweep countered by a fuller, quicker ball that slides straight on, or the batsman with fast footwork set up for a leg side stumping by bowling wide down the leg side.
These tactics are all logical and simple and a bowler of any experience can come up with the idea.
The difference is the experienced bowler knows exactly when to bowl the right ball based on the batsman's reactions.
When you are skilful at this, you are much more able to tie down good batsmen in limited over cricket based on your hunches.

Sometimes, simple is effective too

All that said, experience is just one factor. The better the player you are bowling at, the more you need experience to counter his skills.
However, sometimes you will be in a situation where you don't need to be clever at all. You can bowl an over at the top of off stump and walk away with a maiden no matter who is at the other end.
You can bowl an over of yorkers and go for five runs or fewer at the death.
So there is no need to try and get too cute with experience. Simply try to bowl well, work on your accuracy with deliberate practice and develop a useful variation. This will see you well.
But also bowl a lot in matches, and mindfully try to learn how batsmen handle the pressure you build.
As you move up in experience - you get the "aha" moments of your career - you will find that your ability to tie batsmen down improves.

Bowling Tactics: How to Bowl Dry

Frustration: An underrated way to get wickets, and enormously effective at any level. In recent years, this has been called “squeezing” or “bowling dry”.
How do you bowl dry this way?
 The key is simplicity. You bowl outside off stump and set a strong off side field. This prevents batsmen from scoring, increases frustration and forces an error.
But as with all simple plans, it’s difficult to put into action. Here’s how to avoid the problems and make the plan a success.

When to use dry bowling

In all forms of cricket, one of the best tactics is to bowl at the top of off stump and hope for some lateral movement off the pitch or in the air. It’s time tested. It works.
Bowling dry is a flexible alternative.
It might be that you are up against strong batting who are playing your “top of off” plan well. You want to change it up.
A few years back, England used it in Test cricket in Australia more actively. They knew the ball would do little after the initial shine went off. The plan was to change line as soon as the ball stopped swinging, regardless of what the score looked like.
This approach is similarly useful in the middle overs of limited over games. The batsman are more aggressive than Test cricket but are forced to only use half the outfield to score.
In fact, it can also be used to slow down the start of a limited over innings or at the death, to manage where the ball is going.

How to bowl dry

There are two aspects to the tactic: areas to hit, and field placings.
The line and length has to be good because straying is costly. Straight balls have little defence and can be hit into large gaps. So, for seamers, aim the ball:

• pitching 5–7m from the stumps (good length for most)
• passing the stumps outside the line off off stump (between OO1 and OO3)

Your margin of error is bigger on length, as you can over or under pitch and get away with the ball struck hard into a well defended off side. However, if you stray your line onto the stumps you open up the undefended on side. Despite this, it’s no more difficult to bowl dry than to hit the top of off; it requires precision either way.
The field is all about packing the off side.
Most balls will be hit into the off side, so you need to defend it strongly. Clearly the game situation will define exact placings, but the general rule is six or seven on the “posh side”.
Here’s a sample field for a seamer in the middle overs of a 50 over game:

In this case, three boundary runners back up a ring field in the covers. Three leg side fielders offer some protection for errors. Equally, if you are attacking you can have three slips and a gully with no one on the rope. The options are varied but the first principle is to defend the off side.
Some argue seven is better on the off side. I think this encourages bowling too wide and leave almost no margin for error. It changes the tactic from a squeeze to pure negativity. So, be cautious. If you have a bowler capable of it and you are searching for a way to change tactics it may work, but only as a last resort.
How will you know it’s worth pursuing?
The ultimate test of the tactic is wickets. If they are falling you are winning. That said, if the ball being struck well into the off side for little value, you can also see the batsman get frustrated. That’s a more subtle sign you should keep at it.
Eventually you see the batman trying to work the ball into the leg side. They may even succeed with some unusual shots. However, you are forcing this and eventually a mistake will come. Stay patient and stick with it as long as it’s feeling right.

Summary

• Bowling dry is a viable tactic at club and school level.
• It requires similar skill levels to other tactics.
• It works by patience and perseverance, bowling to a packed off side field and drying up run scoring.

The Myth of Bowling Accuracy

How accurate is accurate?
We all know the stories. The opposition bowler who bowls perfect line and length all day and doesn't give you a thing. The long retired former player who is spoken about in hushed tones because he only bowled one half volley in 17 summers.
We know these are myths, but we like to believe them, especially our team has collapsed, or we bowl badly. We jealousy assume there is nothing we could do. We don't have the bowlers/the batsmen didn't have a chance.
We know these are myths instinctively, but modern methods are making it tougher to use the accuracy excuse any more. You can see on TV exactly how accurate international bowlers are. And even world-class performers bowl a lot of poor balls. Now with PitchVision you can see the same for club and school bowlers.
Here's an example.

The truth about metronomic bowling

At my club we have a 1st XI bowler in the classic "metronome" mould. He has a reputation for stump-to-stump accuracy right through a 15 over spell (the limit in our league). He's so good he's used by the senior batsmen as a real life bowling machine in nets and is often the last to leave as he takes requests for "just a couple more".
So, I stuck him on PitchVision to find out his accuracy.
He bowled at an average speed of 65.2mph (105kph), which is about right, and sent down 68 balls in the session. He was bowling to real batsmen and wasn't aware I was tracking his accuracy so was not trying to put the ball on the spot any more than usual.
I guessed he would bowl 80-90% of balls in the channel on or just outside off stump on a good length. He has that kind of reputation.
I think you can already guess the outcome.

• 48.5% (33 balls) landed in the target zone.
• Only 14 (20.6%) balls were on the line of the stumps.

Of course not all the balls outside the zone are automatically smashed for four, but it goes to show how perception can be altered by other factors than where the ball lands. You can see the results here (the target zone is the grey area inside the "good" orange area.

Why we are tricked by accuracy

So, if accurate bowlers are less accurate than we think, why are scores not higher?
Because, batsmen.
The moment the bowler lets the ball go, her involvement in the game is over. It becomes all about the response to the ball from the batsman. It might be an unplayable serpent, a gentle half volley or - most likely - something between, but whatever happens next is all down to the batsman. And the mind of the batsman is more important than the actual ball.
Think of all the factors that are going on in the head of a batsman as the ball comes down:

• The reputation of the bowler
• How much the ball is swinging
• Overhead conditions
• The pitch (seaming, turning, flat...)
• The game situation
• How others are playing the same bowler
• Who's bowling at the other end
• How "in" you feel
• How many runs you got last week
• How well you slept
• The way you were coached as a 10 year old
• The absence of a lucky rabbit's foot

These are not all conscious thoughts, but they all go together - alongside a million other things - to slightly adjust the way you play that ball. When you are flying along without a care in the world on a flat deck you might be able to gun a good length ball for a boundary. On another day you play and miss exactly the same ball.
So, our metronomic bowler can rock up and bowl exactly the same spell and get totally different results. That fools us. We look at his figures of 2-39 off 15 and say he bowled well. Rewind the same game and he bowls exactly the same spell that ends up 2-72 and we all admit his lines were a bit off.


from:pitchvision.com/cricket-accuracy-myth

Bowl Faster: Brace the Front Leg

One of the most common pieces of advice from top bowling coaches is to learn to "brace the front leg". But that's a technical term, and it's not obvious to everyone what it means, or how to do it. So, here are more details about how and why you brace the front leg to bowl fast.

Why brace the front leg?

Two words: Pole vault.
A pole vaulter generates enough power and energy to get over a bar five or six metres in the air. Much higher than a high jumper. The difference is the pole, which is used to brace against the ground after a run up, put energy through the pole and lever the athlete high in the air.
You don't have a pole and you don't need to be flipped, but you do have a leg and you need to get energy into a ball. The straighter you leg, the longer your lever and the more power into the ball. So, by keeping your front leg straight when it lands, you are creating energy. It looks a bit like this:

Why a braced front leg is an advantage

The idea is becoming more popular in coaching - thanks in no small part to Ian Pont - but it's still not standard practice. That means many players learn how to bowl without ever being told to brace the front leg for improved pace with no loss of accuracy.
In fact, there are even professional bowlers who don't brace the front leg. Even very quick bowlers, who often use other methods such as upper body power to bowl fast.
However, chances are you will bowl faster whatever you method if you brace. This is a huge advantage for you can get an extra yard of pace if you can learn the skill well. You may or may not become a 150kph bowler just by bracing, but you will certainly get quicker and you won't lose accuracy. This is true, even if you have an established action with a bent front knee.

How to brace the front leg when bowling

The first step is to check if you knee bends when your front foot lands. If it does, you need to do some work. So, get yourself on video from the side and see for yourself.
If you do need to brace, this skill is difficult to learn. It's especially tough if your action is well set. It feels "wrong" when you try it. It may even feel like you are going to damage your knee by locking it. This feeling won't last long if you persevere. Don't let it put you off.
Take some time to try bracing your front leg (also called the front foot block) from standing still. You don't even need to bowl a ball. Get a feel for that braced leg in a still position first. It takes more time for some than others but everyone gets it. Then you can try walking it through slowly and building it up to a jog then full speed. You can see the full drill progression here.
For some, this will come easily and you will see an uptick in speed. For others it takes more time but with effort you can get there and add speed whatever your starting point.

Top Ten Cricket Bowling Tips: Morne Morkel

Cricket Tip No.1
Fast Bowling is hard work, spend time on your cricket fitness, get fit and strong for the work ahead (Do your gym and running work).
Cricket Tip No.2
You need to understand and know your bowling action. When your action is repeatable you will be able to control your line and length.
Cricket Tip No.3
Fast bowling needs mental toughness, you need to mentally prepare yourself for the hard work and challenge ahead.
Cricket Tip No.4
Learn to enjoy bowling and spending time in the field. It helps by setting small goals that you can focus on and achieve.
Cricket Tip No.5
Keep it as simple as possible, don’t try too hard.Manage your expectations, don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself, it allows you to keep your mind quiet and allows your skills to flow naturally.
Cricket Tip No.6
Understand and learn from your bad days, its important to reflect so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes.
Cricket Tip No.7
Always back yourself, what we say to ourselves is important, keep your self talk positive and focused.
Cricket Tip No.8
Be prepared to put the work in at the nets to get your skill 100%
Be specific and always train at a 100%.
Cricket Tip No.9
Look after your body regarding your diet, recovery and over bowling.
Cricket Tip No.10
Have fun every time you step on the park!

Control, Pace , Line and Length

1. Net practice: when you bowl in the nets its important for you to run in and bowl quick, if you have real pace you need to learn to work with your pace and bowl strategically at different batters. 2 x per week for 5-6 over spell.

Technical Practice: Once or twice a week depending on your practice workload, fit in a technical session.

This will be 5-6 overs of target bowling, where you put a target down on a length, five full walking paces down the wicket on off stump.

Once you are warmed up, the goal is as many hits on your target in your 30-36 balls.

This will train your brain and body to focus on your stock length and learn to hit it repeatedly without the distraction of having a batter to focus on.

Keep a log of this so that you can monitor your improvement, make observations and set new goals.

Building your stamina: your body is still growing so its important not to overload it , you will improve your stamina by bowling in the nets and doing one technical session a week.

If you net once or twice a week in-season and bowl in club games this will be enough.
For off season training it will be worth joining a
gym, you can begin with Greg King’s conditioning
program so that you can start the process of getting stronger.

For running you can begin with 3km timed runs during the off season and build that up to 5km timed runs. Do this twice a week to get a cardio base as you move into pre-season nets.

How to control where I bowl the ball?

A simple way of training control of line and length is to put a marker the size of a piece of paper (A4) on a good length. I regard a good length for a fast bowler as being four walking strides from the crease, down the wicket, put your marker down on the line of off stump. You can use a plastic coke bottle with some water or sand in it or a piece of old carpet as a marker.
This drill can be done in season or for pre-season : You will also need a notebook to mark yourself on success rate for overs bowled.

Six balls times six overs.

Make sure you have fully warmed up with a run around and stretch.

You are going to bowl 2 overs off your normal run up to warm up.

Then I want you to bowl 6 overs twice a week, with a days rest in between.

The first 3 overs will be off a half run where you will keep your eyes focused on your target. Bowl the ball with full intent each delivery

Mark every time you hit your target.

You are then going to bowl 3 overs off your long run, again with full intent to bowl quick.

Again monitor your accuracy, as you practice this your control will improve as each week goes by, aim to improve from week to week.

You can use this for each delivery you want to work with, yorkers, slower balls etc.

Illegal bowling actions

What is an illegal bowling action?
An illegal bowling action is one in which the bowler's 'elbow extension' exceeds 15 degrees while he is in his delivery stride. The ICC set the 15-degree limit for all bowlers in November 2004.
What constitutes elbow extension?
Elbow extension includes flexion (in this case, the closing of the elbow joint) and extension (the straightening of the elbow joint).
Does a bent arm automatically signify an illegal action?
If the arm is bent at the onset of the delivery stride but remains rigid or does not flex or extend beyond the permissible 15 degrees during the duration of the stride, the action is not illegal. An action is only illegal if the arm flexes or extends beyond the permissible limit while in the delivery stride.
What happens after a bowler's action is reported by the match officials?
Once the match officials' report is received by the bowler's team management or home board, he must undergo testing on his action at an ICC-accredited facility within 21 days. At present, there are ICC-approved centres in Brisbane and Cardiff, and another one in Chennai is expected to be functional soon. The player is free to bowl until the results of the test are out.
What does the test involve?
The bowler is expected to replicate the action he uses during an international match and bowl at the same speed too, for the various deliveries being tested. His action is captured by multiple cameras and his movement is monitored using sensors placed on his body. The test, which is conducted by biomechanists and human movement experts, measures the degree of flexion and extension for every delivery and determines whether the action violates the prescribed 15-degree limit.
If the action is found to be illegal, what then?
The player will be suspended from bowling in international cricket immediately and a report of the test will be sent to the player's home board. On receipt of the report, the board has the option of appealing the results to an ICC-appointed bowling review group (BRG) within 14 days. However, should the appeal fail, the BRG could impose a ban on the player for a period of time.
What is the process if the player's board decides not to appeal?
The player will have to undergo remedial work on his action. He can apply for retesting at any point of time, and if his remedied action passes the ICC's 15-degree rule, he will be allowed to resume bowling in international cricket.
What happens if the bowler's action is found to be illegal a second time?
If the player is suspended a second time for an illegal action within two years of the first instance, the second suspension - from bowling in international cricket - shall last for a minimum of one year. He will be allowed to apply for reassessment only at the completion of the one year.
What if only one of a bowler's deliveries is deemed to be illegal?
If testing shows that the bowler's action is illegal only for a particular delivery, say the doosra, he will be banned from bowling just the doosra in international cricket until he corrects his action for this particular ball and has it passed as legal. If he is found to have bowled the doosra in an international game without having it reassessed first, he will be reported and suspended from bowling in internationals altogether, and the suspension shall be considered a second suspension in keeping with the terms mentioned in the previous question.

Illegal Bowling Regulations

FROM: ESPNCRICINFO

[TIPS] How To Bowl In Swing

The great West Indian fast bowler Malcolm Marshall was the master of swing and the key to it was his wrist action and the follow through of the bowling hand.
Be patient with these drills, play around with the ball to experiment what works for you. It takes time to master so BE PATIENT
Stages of Learning: We learn through these stages … standing, walking, jogging, running … we need to consciously learn to control the basics as we increase pace and difficulty.
Position in the crease: Bowl from slighly wider in the crease to create an angle and give the ball space and width to swing back in.

Practice drills for bowling In Swing:

1. Begin with the bowling grip, put your thumb to the outside of the seam, the left hand side if you’re a right hand bowler. This softens your grip on the ball and makes it easier to direct it in toward the batter. Turn the seam to angle toward fine leg.

2. With a partner at the nets … hold you right elbow with your left hand so you lock it tight. Cock your bowling wrist back, with the grip for In Swing and practice flicking the ball out to your partner, work on keeping the seam vertical with the angle toward fine leg.

3. Now stand facing your partner, off 1 pace, step and gently bowl the ball to them. Make sure the bowling hand sweeps down straight now, to give the wrist action the opportunity to direct the ball toward fine leg. The ball swings with the arm action.
Again pay attention to seam position, practise this till you can control the seam.

4. Walk back now and off 3 paces do the same, sweep the bowling hand straight.

5. Repeat off 5 paces, runnng in now.

6. Repeat off your long run.

Problem With Throwing When I Bowl

The best time to do this is in the off season so that your brain and body have time to learn the new action.
1. Begin by standing still and shadow bowl as if bowling at the batter in the reflection.
Check your arm action, is it straight? If not, then self correct and straighten it as it comes over.

2. As you become proficient at this, take a couple of steps back and walk through your action, monitoring your bowling action, making sure that your bowling arm stays straight throughout the release.

3. As you improve, probably after a couple of weeks, you can progress by jogging toward the mirror or window reflection and shadow bowl through your action.

4. Keep progressing this as your action becomes stable and you can repeat your action without it regressing into a throw.

Are you keeping hydrated?

The number one challenge for any cricketer is how to maintain hydration in long days of hot weather when fielding or bowling. Did you know that being dehydrated any more than 1% of your body weight can impact negatively on your performance?
Dehydration makes it more difficult to make decisions and can cause you to fatigue earlier.
Dehydration impairs:
• The body’s ability to regulate heat = increase in body temp + heart rate
• Perceived exertion = feel more fatigued and decreased work output
• Mental function = decreased motor control, decision making, skill & concentration
• Gastric emptying = stomach discomfort and reduced opportunity for fluid replacement
How do I know if I am dehydrated?
Symptoms of dehydration may include overheating, feeling thirsty, early fatigue, headaches, nausea, loss of concentration, muscle cramps and twitches and dark concentrated urine. Sweat rates differs depending on body size, age, exercise intensity, environment and fitness levels so there is no guideline that suits everyone. A great way to check if you are hydrated is by the colour of your urine. Clear to pale straw = hydrated. Yellow, dark yellow or green/brown means dehydrated and impairment of your performance.
What fluids do I need?
For everyday hydration choose water as your main fluid and drink frequently throughout the day. For standard training sessions water is fine too. Keep a water bottle nearby and drink small amounts at every opportunity. If you are training or competing for over 90 mins, it is particularly warm or you know you are a salty sweater (think salt deposits on your lips and face when exercising, a feeling a salt crystals on the skin once sweat dries and a salt ring on clothing once sweat dries) you may choose to use a sports drink such as Gatorade, Staminade or Powerade to help provide carbohydrates and replace electrolytes. Keep sipping on water with your sports drink to ensure adequate hydration.
Practical Tips
– Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink
– Take a water bottle with you to training and sip often throughout the day
– Check the colour of your urine and aim for a pale straw colour (think homemade lemonade). If it’s more like apple juice, you’re dehydrated!
– Don’t just drink from the bubblers, you will not consume nearly as much as if you have water bottle with you and take sips regularly
~ Eat Smart Nutrition

How many days should I be training in the offseason?

The offseason is typically the season that most athletes, particularly junior athletes let things slide. It’s often the case that athletes take the opportunity to rest too much rather than continue to work on their fitness or technical ability during the offseason. As part of the offseason, particularly for high technical based sports such as cricket, it is very important to consider each individual’s needs, particularly at a junior level.
To answer the question of how many days per week should I be training in the offseason is always difficult, due to the needs of each individual. In terms of the strength and conditioning point of view, or in other words the sessions that focus on the physical fitness of an athlete, normally 3-5 days per week training is adequate for a junior cricket player.
Within these 3-5 days there needs to be at least 2 strength sessions, where the player focuses on improving their strength, power, core strength or general ability to move. Then there needs to be 1-2 aerobic or anaerobic conditioning sessions which focuses on the cardiovascular fitness of the athlete. Finally there needs to be 1-2 speed sessions which focus on improving the player’s ability to move between two close points with speed and agility.
The offseason provides a fantastic opportunity for the cricket player to improve their physical ability so they reach the season in good physical conditioning to withstand the rigours of high volume cricket competition. As the season approaches, i.e. during the preseason or competition phases, it’s a lot more difficult to focus on the development of physical fitness.
While the development of physical fitness during this period is important, so to is recovery. So while we recommend that there are 3-5 physical fitness sessions in a week during the offseason it is equally important to have 1-2 days that are purely about rest and recovery. Cricketers’ have a very intense competition period with long bouts playing the game, so remembering to have this time off to prevent injuries is important.
The technical nature of cricket lends itself to continued development of the required skills to become a better cricket player, i.e. batting, bowling and fielding. Ultimately the more the junior can spend refining and training these skills the better they can become. Much of this training time needs to be self directed and is what often sets the best players apart from the rest. Obviously we don’t recommend fast bowlers bowl too much because of the impacts on their musculoskeletal system. However for all other players, and generic skills such as fielding, the more effort and focus the junior can have themselves the better. Stick to the 1-2 days of complete rest, but the more time spent being self directed in developing their technical abilities the better.

How effective are bodyweight exercises?

Body weight resistance training is a widely used aspect of resistance training. Additionally, the high intensity interval training movement has utilised body weight resistance training as key aspect to their training regime. However, where does it sit in terms of performance and strength and conditioning?
Bodyweight resistance training is the building block for strength training. Every key movement, i.e. squat, deadlift, lunge, push up and pull up needs to be first mastered at body weight prior to adding load.
So what does mastery look like? The Australian Strength and Conditioning Association has in place some guidelines around this, but I personally like to simplify it. Can the key movements be performed safely and can the lifter perform these with as close as possible to perfect technique? In other words, ensuring correct muscles are utilised and body parts are in safe position throughout the course of the movement.
If these key criteria are met then the progression to load should be a natural one. Again, when load is added the criteria should not change, i.e. safe movement and correct muscle utilisation throughout. If we are able to add load to the movement we are triggering our system to overload and therefore gaining additional benefits. Therefore, the goal from a strength training point of view is to get to a point to add load. The stronger you become the more you can tolerate the impact your sport requires.
Bodyweight training also has an additional use, to assist with stability. Bridges, planks, single leg deadlifts and lunges are all examples of prehab, core strength or balanced based exercises to assist with performance. These exercises should remain a consistent part of any strength and conditioning program as an injury prevention activity.
To summarise, start general bodyweight training to master form then progress to adding load to the exercise. Make stability exercises a consistent and ongoing part of a strength and conditioning program.

Bowling strategy

The main objective of the bowler is to obtain wickets. The batting order of a team is such that the best batsman make up the first 3-4 players (or top order) of the line-up.
The next 3-4 players consist of batsmen with reasonable batting abilities and the remaining player consist of unremarkable batsmen. The duty of the opening bowlers is to breakthrough the opening line up so that batsmen with lesser ability are exposed. Normally a fast bowler opens the bowling line-up. With the ball being new and hard at the beginning of the match it will zip through with a lot of bounce, this creates many wicket taking opportunities.
A good line and length ensures that the batsman is kept in check. An example would be waist high balls pitched on the offside between the batsman and his body where the ball isn’t deep enough to play a shot off the backfoot and is not short enough to play off the front foot.
The other objectives of the bowler is to reduce the number of runs and extras given.
In ODIs the fast bowlers usually bowl the first 10 overs, whereas in test matches they bowl the first two hours, after which medium pacers and spinners are brought on. As there is less pace on the ball with these bowlers the batsman has more time to prepare his shots and therefore score more runs.
Using variety, the bowlers can stem the flow of runs as well as create opportunities for wickets by confusing the batsman with the flight, swing and spin of the ball. In ODIs these bowlers continue till about the 35^th over after which the fast bowlers are brought back into the bowling attack.
This is because in an ODI, towards the end of the innings the batsmen are on the lookout to maximise the runs scored and will therefore, have a better chance to do so with the slower bowlers, because they are looking to take more risks. It is therefore wise to use a fast bowler as opposed to a slow one.
This period is ripe with opportunity to capture a wicket and to try and force a breakdown in the batting order. Bowlers often use the slower or faster ball to catch the batsman off guard. These deliveries are particularly useful to surprise the batsman, when the batsman has got into a rhythm and is expecting the same pattern to continue.
In a test match, where the overs are plentiful, there is no hurry to score runs. Therefore batsmen have to take fewer risks. The duty of the bowler is to try and obtain wickets because more wickets translate into fewer runs being scored over a long period of time.
The restrictions for wides are eased so that the bowler can afford to be less accurate. He is also allowed two short pitched balls per over as opposed to just one in ODIs. These balls can be used to unsettle the batsman and cause him to play a loose shot.

4 Ways to become a high class death bowler

Master the four balls of death
The secret to good death bowling comes in two parts:

• Be able to bowl the four death deliveries better than anyone else
• Know which of the four balls is the one to use

Both skills are tough. Learning to bowl a ball at will takes a lot of practice at creating a repeatable action. Knowing when to use it takes experience.
Let's take a look at each of the four balls and how best to use them.

1. Slower ball

The slower ball's job is to upset the rhythm of the batsman. It can be bowled in a number of ways  but the trick is to do it without changing action.
This means the batsman is fooled into thinking the ball is arriving at normal speed and mis-times his shot.
Bowl it just short of a length to keep the pretence up, but avoid bowling it on a length he can play forward to as this gives him greater margin for error.
The danger with this ball is that the batsman spots it early and it just becomes a slow, shorter ball he can pull into the stands. Avoid this by making sure it's well disguised and use it sparingly, even at the death.

2. Length ball

We are taught that the best ball in cricket is the one that is hitting the top of off stump after pitching on a length that has the batsman undecided whether to play forward or back.
At the death this is risky, because the batsman is no longer playing 'properly' and is looking to hit the ball in unorthodox ways. The good length ball is easier to hit with premeditated shots over extra cover or midwicket.
However, it's still a good ball to have available in certain situations:

• If there is still some movement in the air or off the pitch.
• If the batsman is struggling to put bat on ball.
• If the batsman is premeditating to hit everything to leg, bowling it wide outside off stump.

Don't be too quick to write off the good length ball at the death, it has a use if you are clever.

3. Bouncer

If you bowl a good pace on decent wickets, you can use the shorter ball to restrict the batsman's scoring area and with a well set field you will keep the runs down. There are two ways to use the short ball:

1. Stock ball. Batters who don't play the ball at the ribs well will struggle to score against the ball bowled accurately at chest height. If the pitch is hard and bouncy enough you can set your length so the ball reaches chest height with the yorker or slower ball as variation.
2. Shock ball. For those batsmen who are better at hooking and pulling (or are sitting on the back foot), the bouncer becomes a variation: Something to stop the batsman premeditating a front foot shot. It's especially good against the player who prefers to go off side in the death as the bouncer forces them to think twice about playing inside-out (i.e. stepping to the leg side to hit the ball through the covers).

With both these tactics, it's important to set a good field. Variations are many, but a deep midwicket, deep square leg and fine leg cut off the boundaries and take catches. Third man is up assuming there are field restrictions:

4. Yorker

The yorker, as we know, is a fast ball pitching at the toes of the batsman, usually around the popping crease, ideally with swing. This is the classic ball for death bowling: Full and straight.

The mantra is: If you miss, I hit.

It's hard to bowl as the margin for error is small. Bowl it too full and it becomes a low full toss and a free hit. Bowl it too short and it becomes a half volley and you will be fetching it from the crowd.
If you can get it right it becomes an excellent stock ball to use at the death. Unless the batsman is very good it can only be hit straight down the ground, so you can set your mid on, mid off, fine leg and third man back and straight to cut off the boundaries.
If you are using it as a stock ball you will need to practice it in the nets a lot both with and without batsmen. It's worth the effort if you know you are likely to be bowling at the end and might suffer 5 overs of the long handle.
It can also be used as a variation if you are using length or short bowling as the stock delivery.
Either way, the mark of a really good death bowler is one who can use the yorker to restrict scoring and take wickets because it is so difficult to master.
With all death bowling the key is not to be average at all four types of bowling, but to become really good at one or two. If you can master all four deliveries you will be unstoppable.

How did Shane Warne manage to spin the ball so much while other leg spinners did not?

Spin depends on the number of revolutions imparted on the ball. To get maximum spin,two things are important.
Firstly to use your whole body to spin the bowl.Warnie was a stocky fellow. He really gave it a rip.
Secondly, the process of above,i.e the technique.
1) run up-first step of bowling. This is important to build momentum upto the delivery stride.when he started his career, he would jog couple of spaces. Later he would just walk. Didn't make a difference to him, because of his physical structure.
2) delivery stride-back foot parallel to the crease, front toe facing fine leg. Front shoulder, hips towards the batsman, knee lifted, high front arm. This gives the perfect side on position, also called coilling.
3) release-using his front arm for direction, imparts enormous side spin on the ball with wrist corked. His arm speed was as quick as that of say, Gillespie.The catch here is that revolutions have to be more than the arm speed, else the bowl would just skid.
4) After the release-He would pivot around his front leg and follow through. His pivot was bull strong, that would result in oomph. Now his right shoulder would be facing the batsman and bowling arm well past his body.This is uncoiling. Finally bending forward would complete his action. Now he has given his all to spin the ball.

Additionally there is a concept, Magnus effect .It says that the direction in which the revolutions are imparted, ball behaves exactly reverse in the air.
So, Warne would get the drift into the right hander,because of side spin.This would seemingly increase the turn after the ball pitches,because batsman would play inside the line of the ball.
The ball of the century, dismissal of Getting, is a classic example.

via :https://www.quora.com/How-did-Shane-Warne-manage-to-spin-the-ball-so-much-while-other-leg-spinners-did-not

How to Bowl Perfect Line and Length

Become obsessed with process

Modern coaching uses terms like "processes" to break the shackles of outdated methods. We used to use the technique as the beginning, middle and end of bowling. It was striving for a perfect technique that created bowlers with perfect accuracy.
That is certainly true, but we also know now that techniques vary. The technique is an important part of the bowling process that also includes other factors. Take the example of Lasith Malinga. The Sri Lankan has a bowling technique that should be super inconsistent. Yet he can bowl that death yorker for 12 balls in a row if he likes. He has a process.
And that's what you need too.
That starts with your bowling technique. Does your technique give you the best chance of bowling with accuracy? Do you find that your action can vary between balls?
Video yourself bowling both in nets and in games, especially towards the end of a match or session where fatigue can influence your movement through the crease. Watch to see what stays the same, decide what changes as you get more tired or stressed.
When you can see an area of weakness, strive to improve it.
This is not about wrist or head position or any other particular technical point per se. It's more about seeing what works in your technique, and what goes wrong when you fire it down the leg side. For example:

• If you notice your head falling to the off side at the end of the game, you might need better fitness (both core strength and endurance)
• If there is variation in your arm position as you release the ball, work backward through each step of your action and decide where it breaks down, then work on it with chaining drills.
• If you bowl poorly under pressure situations, start developing methods to become better and handling those pressure moments.

You get the idea: Spot the issue (technical, fitness, or psychological), design a drill or training plan to overcome that method and work on it with single-minded obsession.

Remember the basics

Of course, all this takes some effort and no small amount of skill and knowledge. Luckily, during this process, you can do something a lot simpler and that is almost always effective: basic target bowling.
Target bowling is useful because it is the purest form of deliberate practice: You can set it up quickly, get instant feedback and track your improvements over time.You can use a pen and paper or track it in your notes app on the iPad.
So, set up some targets, mark your pitch and bowl like a crazy person until it starts to click and your percentages shoot up. The more you do it, regardless of any other factor, the more accurate you will get. You learn where to look, you learn how bowling a good ball feels, you learn how to stay focused in a long spell. If you do it enough you develop bowling stamina.
Like all practice methods there are limits - you don't learn how to bowl under pressure, and you can't correct technical issues - but overall it works so well I would be amazed by any bowler who didn't use it.
Combine your target bowling with your new obsession with process and you have a bowler, over time, who can reach insane levels of accuracy.

Want to bowl fast and straight? Stay out of the gym, says Brett Lee

Indian cricket currently has its fastest crop of bowlers in recent memory but they might also be the most wayward crop of bowlers in recent memory. The likes of Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, and Mohammed Shami are brilliant one day, appalling the next or simply out injured.

It is a mystery that has bedeviled MS Dhoni and convinced him to rely on the cunning of line-and-length operators rather than the battering-ram of genuine pace.

For Brett Lee, the former Australia fast bowler, it all comes down to the proper training. Lee took 310 wickets from 76 Tests at an average of 30.81 and a strike-rate of 53.3, so he knows a thing or two about bowling quick and accurately.

File photo of Brett Lee. AP

“I have always said that there is no reason why you can’t bowl fast and you can’t bowl the perfect line,” he told Firstpost in Mumbai last week. “It takes practice.”

The trick, according to Lee, is to train your body so you don’t have to bowl flat out all the time. “If you are going at 100 percent every time, you might be here, you might be there kind of thing. But if you go to 90 percent, you can bowl nice and straight and that’s probably the key.”

That sounds easy enough but it comes with a catch: “You have to train to get yourself up to bowl 150kph at 90 percent, which is hard to do.”

Lee was kind enough to provide a list of dos and don’ts that helped make him into one of the quickest bowlers in the world in his prime:

1) Stay out the gym room. No weights

2) Be a good runner.

3) Work on your flexibility.

4) Work on your lower core strength through sit-ups and push-ups.

5) Have the right momentum and balance at the crease.

Staying out the gym is something a number of former fast bowlers, including India’s own Kapil Dev, have said over and over again. It makes intuitive sense but goes against the conventional wisdom in the gym-obsessed times we happen to live in.

Lee has a career economy rate of 3.46. That is almost a full run lower than Umesh, who concedes 4.31 an over, while Aaron is more of a spendthrift, with an economy rate of 4.91. As a result, even though Umesh’s strike-rate is almost identical to Lee’s at 53.6 compared to 53.3, Umesh’s average is eight runs higher than Lee’s at 38.56 compared to 30.81.

This doesn’t mean Lee never went for runs. All bowlers can be expensive on any given day. “You have to accept it and move on and try to limit the number of times that happens,” he said.

According to Lee, the one other crucial trait a fast bowler also has to have aside from pace is a 'very high pain threshold'.

“What a lot of people are realizing these days is that fast bowling is a very hard job. You night have a blister on the back of your foot. You might have a toenail that is coming off, that is black. You might have a niggle in your back. You might have a sore elbow, a sore shoulder or a sore calf. You’ve got to get through it.

“Throughout my whole life I have played and bowled with pain since 16, People think you are you 100 percent, but that is not the case. You have to find a way to fight through it.”

Lee was in India as the first global brand ambassador for Cochlear, an Australian company that makes devices that can “provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing.” He was promoting the “Sounds of Cricket” campaign that is aimed at spreading awareness about the impact of hearing loss and how implants can help mitigate them.

“Imagine watching a game of cricket, and watching your favorite cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, and you can’t hear the crowd, you can’t hear the sound of ball on bat, you can’t hear the sound of people cheering or the players talking,” Lee said.

“I would like everyone to walk away and go — me as a parent or an uncle or a teenager — if I know someone who is suffering from hearing loss, or they think might be suffering, to encourage them to see a specialist. The quicker you get the implant in, if that is what you need, then obviously the better off you will be.”

Originally appeared in Firstpost 

CRICKET STRATEGY AND TACTICS

To begin we need to understand what Cricket Strategy and Tactics are and how we can use them.

As we learn these skills and understand them we can not only use them to begin to play ‘Winning Cricket’ more frequently. We can begin to understand, for example, what Gary Kirsten as India’s Coach and M.S.Dhoni as Captain are seeking to make happen on the field during a game. How are they applying cricket strategy and tactics, whether it be in a Test Match, ODI or a 20 20 cricket game.

Strategy in its application in cricket is the overarching plan to bring victory.

It begins with the planning and preparation stage and follows with the active engagement with your opponent in a match situation.

Your cricket strategy is broken down into a sequence of steps, which like our man on the staircase here, are most typically followed in a logical form.

One step usually follows the other, although not always, they can be free form, but more of that later.

A simple analogy is to think of a journey from A to E, if you can imagine flying above the journey you will be able to to see the steps from A to B to C and so on to E, you need to go through B to get to C, from C to D, D to E. The steps lead up to E, which is the culmination of the strategy and brings victory with it.

Cricket, as we know, isn’t always logical, nor linear, in the planning stage we can break down our cricket strategy into a simple structure which has logical steps, this gives us a template from which to choose options during the game.

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There are Three Key Areas to Cricket Strategy, there is Individual ‘Player Strategy’, then there is the strategy for a ‘Sub Team’, for example, the bowling or batting unit within the team, then there is the overall ‘Team Strategy’.Tactics are the use of different ‘weapons’ or units within the team and we can see they operate on different levels, the ‘Players strategy’ fits into the ‘Sub Team strategy’ and the ‘Sub Team Strategy’ fits into the ‘Team Strategy’.

The players tactic may be to use a ‘weapon’ they have in their armory. The weapon is typically a strength they have, it may be a bouncer, a sweep shot, a googly, a lofted drive, these are used as tactics to execute their own game plan and disrupt their opponents.

The batsman may choose specific tactics as part of their overall batting strategy; as you can see in this photo of the great Australian batsman Matthew Hayden, he would bat out of his crease on an off stump guard to take the bowlers line and length away.

The primary objective of the tactic is to control where the bowler bowled, thus opening up his own scoring options.

The bowling units’ tactics may be to use the short ball against a key batter who they know likes to play front foot strokes. This will force him to play strokes in the weaker parts of his or her game, off the back foot.

Another example, the Captain may ask his fast bowlers to bowl a full attacking line and length outside off stump, this tactic is so that he can set a field with the goal to get the batsman caught behind.

You can see in this classic photo how the Captain has set his field, although the field setting was orchestrated for the photo, the line of attack is obvious, off stump and outside.

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Why a Code and how do you Unlock it?

Parts of what I have already discussed may be beyond where you currently are in your understanding of the game, that's fine, be patient, as you grow and study cricket it unfolds and things that were seeming ‘Greek’ begin to be understandable. If you speak Greek now then great!

The code is understanding the sequence of steps within the strategy, with the ultimate goal to bring Victory.

So this may simply be the logical steps I spelt out earlier, or it may be ‘free form’, where the Captain and players use interchangeable tactics dependent on the situation and time during the game.

This is typically cricket played at International and First class level, where the level of research into the opposition is deep and far reaching and the skills and their application are world class.

Unlocking the Code is learning how the the parts of the jigsaw that make up Cricket Strategy and Tactics fit together.

As your knowledge grows your appreciation and enjoyment deeper, you begin to read the ebb and flow of the game and understand what Captains like Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith are seeking to do with their bowling attack, or why they are placing their fielders in specific positions. I am going to keep the discussion around cricket strategy and tactics as simple as possible for two reasons.

Firstly, because when it is simple it is closer to being accurate, efficient and effective.

As Einstein said, ‘Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler’.

Secondly, the goal here is an introduction to Cricket Strategy and Tactics, it isn’t meant to bamboozle you like a Shane Warne Googly.

Source: http://www.cricketlab.co/cricket-strategy-part-one.htm

How To Bowl A Yorker

Yorkers are game changing balls.

Any bowler. On any pitch. At any time. You turn an innings around with the use of a good yorker or two. Ian Pont thinks they are so important that mastering one gives you a blank cheque for the IPL. But it's not just at the end of a Twenty20 game where they are destructive.

A yorker is a difficult ball to negotiate, even for well set batsman. You can bring it any time you want to upset the guy at the other end. You can use it to break a big partnership in longer games just as effectively as you can keep runs down at the death.

So if they are so useful, why don't we see them used more often?

Because they are hard to bowl for most of us.

The target area is smaller than any other ball. There is no room for error. The ideal yorker must land in a tiny area at the batsman's feet:

Miss that box (which is about 50cm by 20cm) and you end up bowling a half volley or full toss and getting smashed for a boundary. You have to be exact and that ain't easy. So what do most of us do? Work on "line and length" and ignore the yorker until you bowl one by accident.

That plan will never get you to the top. Let's do something different instead: Learn how to hit that target with confidence and you will have a powerful weapon.

So, how do you bowl a yorker?

• Look at the target. Ask most bowler's where they look when they are running in and they won't be quite sure. For some of us, this is fine, but for at least half (if not more) laser-focus your eyes in on something. This could be the batsman's toes, the crease line, the base of off stump or anywhere you know will drive you to the right length. I know of one bowler who focused on just above the batsman's head! It worked for him, he could nail those yorkers. So, find your point and imagine yourself hitting the right spot as you run in.
• Drive your bowling shoulder to the target. The bowling shoulder is crucial in bowling a yorker. Drive it towards the base of the stumps and if you do it right the ball will be faster and fuller. Other than this technical change, there is not much more you can do to specifically bowl a yorker. That said, the more powerful your action, the better your accuracy in general, so send time developing an action that gives you the best chance of accuracy. Use Ian Pont's 4 Tent Pegs as a starting point.
• Practice deliberately. If you do nothing else, do this. Yorkers are hard to bowl so they need practice. Don't wait until a game to see if you can bowl one. After your normal net session, do some target practice without a batsman in the way. Go for 80:20 split. So if you bowl 40 balls in practice, bowl 8 yorkers at the end. 

Producing a good yorker is not about having a natural talent for it, but it's more about practicing so much you can get it right under pressure in the middle. Yet most bowlers trying for no more reason that it's harder to bowl than a good line and length.

Don't be that guy. Use just a few extra balls practice a week, build the confidence to bowl yorkers and take more wickets.