Bowling "off the wrong foot"

[Blenkinsop]

I see quite a few bowlers with unorthodox actions described this way, but has anyone really done it? Is it even possible?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Lance Cairns and Chris Harris.
And Mike Procter.

 

[StephenZA]

Procter did not bowl of the wrong foot... just an awkward action.

 

[trundler]

Sohail Tanvir.

 

[Blenkinsop]

Yes I don't think most of those classic examples really bowled off the wrong foot, they just had short delivery strides or planted the front foot earlier than usual.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah, they were kind of on the way to bowling off the wrong foot but never actually landed the wrong foot before releasing the ball.

It's definitely possible but I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually do it in professional cricket.

 

[Line and Length]

Max Walker looked as if he was off the wrong foot at times.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

There was Damodar Daesrath, an all-rounder from Guyana. He played a couple of ODIs for Canada.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah, they were kind of on the way to bowling off the wrong foot but never actually landed the wrong foot before releasing the ball.

It's definitely possible but I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually do it in professional cricket.

Yeah I think this is right tbh. The benefit of trying to do it is you often get crazy inswing with it

 

[Blenkinsop]

It does seem to go along with having an action that goes past the vertical.

 

[honestbharani]

Virat Kohli

 

[Starfighter]

'Bowling off the wrong foot' is a description used for bowlers where the swing of the arms is very early compared to the progress of the delivery stride, with the result that the front foot is planted far closer to delivery than normal. While I suppose it's possible for a bowler to make the swing so early the front foot is not in contact, thus actually bowling "off the wrong foot", I'm not aware of any such cases.

 

[ankitj]

Sohail Tanvir.

Also did not bowl off the wrong foot. That's just an expression for awkward actions

 

[Shri]

didn' wasim akram also bowl off the wrong foot

edit not exactly. he pointed the other foot but by the time he released the ball his other foot weirdly seemed to be in front of him like it was out of sync or something

 

[AnthonyC]

Bowling "on the hop", that is starting the arm action slightly early so that the ball is released slightly before the front foot lands, is often called bowling off the wrong foot. That is for a right arm bowler, you land the back (right foot) near the bowling crease) and the ball is released just before the left foot lands on the popping crease. My eldest son just naturally bowled that way, with a very fast run in somewhat like Mike Proctor's action.
Lots of swing, almost no chance of a bouncer. He was accurate though.

 

[Aritro]

Is bowling like that actually something worth avoiding? It sounds like it would throw off your balance and in a lot of cases, accuracy. I didn't realise there were such benefits to be gained in swing though.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I wouldn't go teaching your 8 year old to bowl that way on purpose. It's generally something that you grow up doing and it's too late to change it

 

[Starfighter]

It is worth avoiding as it's less efficient. It neither takes advantage of the braking force from the front foot in the Ian Pont approved manner nor the rotation of the body. Hence a bowler has to rely on muscular strength and very high momentum through the crease.

Proctor's the only genuinely fast bowler to have used that style and he had bad knee problems. All the other bowlers I can think of in that style have been of less than intimidating pace.