At the other end of the wicket from the wielder of the willow, the bowler is the man charged with using his skill, power and wit to dismiss the batsman. Bowlers can roughly be divided into five types; seam bowlers, outswing bowlers, inswing bowlers, finger spinners and wrist spinners.

There’s one golden rule that has more effect than any on the performance of a bowler; it’s always essential that a bowler concentrates on the entire process of bowling the ball, rather than just thinking about where to bowl – or just “putting in there”. When this happens, quick bowlers tend to lose pace and spinners lose turn because they neglect the rest of the action. It’s often the case that this change in the result brought about by the neglect then has a knock-on effect when it means that the ball isn’t delivered as the bowler expects anyway. This perceived concentration on accuracy can then result in both the bowler being less accurate, and easier to hit – never a good combination!

The introductory section on the basic bowling action is relevant for both quick bowlers and spinners, whilst after that the individual disciplines that fall under the bowling umbrella are discussed and explained at greater length.