Bouncers

[Sanz]

How do you bowl them ? I have started to play cricket again (after 5 years) and have been making decent progress with my bowling except that I have been trying to bowl bouncers and have had little luck. I suspect that it has something to do with my action or when I release the ball.

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Kev (Goughy) is the man tbh.

 

[silentstriker]

You're Indian, you can't bowl a proper bouncer.

Seriously speaking, I generally find I have to jump a little higher and kind of push myself down more to bowl a good bouncer. I am not a very tall man, and I'm sure my action is a mess, but usually I keep my wrist position up right, and release the ball slightly later than I would normally...kind of forcing the ball onto the pitch a little bit. Weird thing is, I aim for good length but because I release the ball a little later, it lands a bit short and ends up being a bouncer [or at least a passable approximation of a bouncer].

I'm sure Goughy can tell you the proper way to do it.

 

[Sanz]

I thought one needed to release the ball earlier than one normally would to bowl a bouncer, could be wrong though. Also I dont think you should be changing your action for any particular delivery.

 

[Dasa]

It's a hard question to answer actually. When I try to bowl pace (usually turns out to be slow crap), I don't have a problem adjusting my length to bowl shorter. I suspect it's just playing a lot that helps you get into that rhythm where adjusting your length isn't a big deal.

 

[Ash_A55]

Just bang it in shorter and harder, always worked for me.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Just bang it in shorter and harder, always worked for me.

 

[cover drive man]

Well I very rarely use bouncers, and surprisingly there quite hard I feel for Harold Larwood for having to bowl them every bowl of a test series. My technique for bouncers is to shorten my run up and just bang it short with all my power put into it. With my Malinga style action it's very hard to bowl bouncers so When I do bowl bouncers you can see it coming because I have to change my own action. I'm trying to master bouncers with the slinger action. Btw forgive me if I'm wrong but I don't often see Malinga bowl bouncers, so I suppose he might have the same problem as me, which is a bit reasuring.

 

[Ash_A55]

Just bang it in shorter and harder, always worked for me.

Not like that

 

[cover drive man]

Btw I'm sorry if I'm getting on everyone's nerves going on about the Malinga action.

 

[Goughy]

The simple answer is just to keep the same action and just drop it a lot shorter. To do so you have to let go of the ball later than you would with a normal delivery. IE you hold on to the ball longer and drag it down way short of a length.

Depending on pace and height of the bowler the length required is different. Shorter bowlers have to make the ball bounce far closer to themselves than taller bowlers.

Its a delivery that needs to be practiced (to work out the exact lenght for yourself) in order to get the ball straight at the region between the heart and the head of the batsman.

Its also a tough delivery to practice as many nets are only half nets with a patch of grass between the bowlers delivery and the batting surface and that is often where the bouncer must land.

I would (if the facilities are available) take chalk to the nets and make a mark on the surface (where I want the ball to bounce for the bouncer) and work on hitting it regularly.

Sanz, as you are in the USA I would expect that you play on astro wickets. This is an advantage as its easier to bowl bouncers on astro than grass as there is more carry on that surface. On grass many times you have to have a lot of pace to get the ball to the required height.

 

[silentstriker]

I thought one needed to release the ball earlier than one normally would to bowl a bouncer, could be wrong though. Also I dont think you should be changing your action for any particular delivery.

No, because the ball has a shorter distance to travel before it hits the pitch. And I agree that you shouldn't change your action, but a slight difference really won't be noticeable to the type of batsman you and I would generally face.

 

[silentstriker]

Also, even at the international level, there is definitely a change in action as well, or at least the release point. If you look at McGrath, his awesome action hides the changes of length perfectly form the batsman (a major reason for his success), but it's still not exactly the same (though you'd need replays to see it).

 

[Sanz]

Thanks everyone for the input, I will try those out and see how it goes.

Goughy, we do play some sort of turf which is bit different from Astro and offers less bounce than an Astro would. Also I wanted to ask was is there a particular grip that can help you hitting the ball harder.

 

[Sanz]

No, because the ball has a shorter distance to travel before it hits the pitch. And I agree that you shouldn't change your action, but a slight difference really won't be noticeable to the type of batsman you and I would generally face.

Not really, Actually some of the batsmen are really good, back home they used to represent their university/State etc.

 

[adharcric]

Also I wanted to ask was is there a particular that can help you hitting the ball harder.

Missing something there?

 

[silentstriker]

Not really, Actually some of the batsmen are really good, back home they used to represent their university/State etc.

Cool stuff. If they are really good, and you want to do well against them, than you just have to practice a lot. If you want to get really into it, you can video tape yourself bowling and analyze it (or post it here so others can help). Where I play, we sometimes bring video cameras for just that sort of thing.

In terms of 'hitting the ball harder', many times I find that people don't really put their back into it. You have to kind of arch back in the air and then propel yourself forward with full momentum, if that makes sense.

 

[adharcric]

Cool stuff. If they are really good, and you want to do well against them, than you just have to practice a lot. If you want to get really into it, you can video tape yourself bowling and analyze it (or post it here so others can help). Where I play, we sometimes bring video cameras for just that sort of thing.

In terms of 'hitting the ball harder', many times I find that people don't really put their back into it. You have to kind of arch back in the air and then propel yourself forward with full momentum, if that makes sense.

Backlift.

 

[Sanz]

Missing something there?

Grip

 

[Ikki]

Hitting it harder? Technique and back I'd say. You gotta utilise the muscles in your back to give you extra stength. Try bench-pressing.