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?
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 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.
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.