Bowling

Types of bowling

In this article it is assumed that the batsman and bowler are both right handed. There are 2 varieties of bowling:

• Pace Bowling
• Spin Bowling

Pace Bowlers

 A pace bowler is classified according to the speed he bowls. It ranges from in miles per hr:

In addition to this is Express Fast (145-150k), Super Fast(150-160k) & Lightning Fast(160+k) . The term Fast bowler is used to describe bowlers bowling above 80kmph.

There are two variations of pace bowling: Seam Bowling and Swing Bowling. In both cases the ball curves in the air. However the term "seam" bowling is also erroneously referred to swing by most cricket viewers.

Seam

Seam Bowlers make the ball swing after pitching. Note that the ball curves in the air in this case.

If a bowler can make the ball swing in air after it bounces on the pitch either towards or away from the batsman he is called a seam bowler. If the ball moves away from the batsman it is an IN-SWING, and if it moves away, it is an OUT-SWING. To make the ball curve, the bowler hold the ball as demonstrated.

Swing

If a bowler can make the ball swing in air before it bounces on the pitch either towards or away from the batsman he is called a swing bowler. If the ball moves away from the batsman it is an IN-DIPPER, and if it moves away, it is an OUT-DIPPER. The dippers are pitched close to the batsman's toes. A ball which swings opposite to which it is intended, is called a REVERSE swing.

Cutters

Cutters are balls bowled by pace bowlers that changes its direction at an angle after pitching (bouncing on the pitch). Cutters are of two types: The Off-cutter (into the batsman) and Leg-cutters (outwards). To execute a cutter, the bowler spins the ball while throwing it.

Spinners

A spinner is a bowler who can spin the ball after pitching. The act of spinning is called the BREAK. There are two types of spinning actions. The Wrist-spin and the Finger Spin. Spinners produce more turn than the cutters. Finger spinners use their fingers to turn the ball, similarly wrist spinners use their wrist to turn the ball.

If an off-spinner bowls a leg-break or vice-versa it is called a ' rong 'un or Googly .
In addition to this there are fast ones where the type is forward spin, where the spinning motion is forward; and back spin (sudden slowdown as the spinning motion is backward) and a disguised ball where the ball doesn't spin at all (arm ball ).

A leg-spinner who bowls a ball which is a forward spin is called a Flipper . An off-spinner bowling the leg-spin ball is the 'doosra' .

Bowling End

Note: After each over, the bowlers change ends. That is, if the bowler is bowling from North to south, in the next over, the bowling will be from South to North. Correspondingly the field also has to be changed. However, the batsmen do not swap their ends. So if the batsman was at the striker's end after the last ball of the over, he now becomes the non striker in the new over.

Match details!

The Toss

Before play the captain will inspect the pitch. Based on the pitch and weather conditions, he will select his final 11 players. If the pitch is soft, there will be more spinners; pitch is hard, more fast bowlers.
Half an hour before selected play, the two captains and the umpires will move on the ground and toss a coin. The captain who wins the toss, gets the option to bat or bowl. He then announces his 11 players.

Bowled Out

Getting Bowled out is nothing but getting all 10 wickets before 50 overs are up. If you can bowl a team out, then that reduces the score the opposition could have scored had they batted the full 50 overs. Getting bowled out happens mostly to teams batting second.

Should I bat First or Second?

Batting First

If the team  is uncertain about the nature of the pitch or simply wants to play safe, they bat First. If the opposition bowling is strong, batting first is a good option.

Sometimes the nature of the pitch deteriorates (ie. makes batting difficult) as the game progresses, hence batting first is also a better option.

The advantage of batting first is that once you have got a total on board; the other team still has to chase it, and anything could happen once they chase. Most weak teams have got wins over fancied teams by batting first and bowling the opposition out.

Batting Second

Batting Second, usually the captain opts for it, if he is confident that his team can successfully chase any total. You know your target, and you don't have to worry what total to set. All you have to do is to limit the opposition to a low score, and bat well.

If the pitch does not deteriorate, and is good for making runs, batting second is a better option.

Another advantage of batting second is during day-night games, played under lights. The ball collects a lot a dew in the outfield, the bowlers cannot get a good grip on in the ball due to the moisture.

Field Restrictions

As we have seen, the field is divided into the Infield and Outfield. In addition to these, there is a close-catching position. This is a circle 15 yards (13.716m) radius around the batsman.

In the first 15 overs of the game, the captain can only put 2 fielders in the outfield. Also there has to be a minimum of 2 players in the the close catching position, excluding the bowler and wicket-keeper.

After the 15 overs, the restrictions are relaxed, but there can be no more than 5 fielders in the outfield, standing at the boundary.

Partnerships

Fall of Wicket ( FoW ):

When a wicket is lost (person out), the score at which he is out, is called the Fall of Wicket.

A FoW scorecard might look like this: The first number is the wicket fallen and the next number was the score at which he got out.

1/4  2/34  3/68  4/130  5/145  6/189  7/210   8/222   9/245  10/250

A Partnership is the number of runs scored between the 2 batsmen since the last Fall of Wicket.

In the above example, the 1st wicket partnership was worth 4 runs, the 2nd worth 30 runs, 3 rd worth 34 runs and so on. It is the difference between 2 consecutive FoW's.

Win

If the team batting first wins the match, then they are said to have won the match by "n" runs . Where 'n' is the difference between their score & the losing team's.

If the team batting second wins the match, then they are said to have won the match by "n" wickets . Where 'n' is the number of not out batsmen of their team.

The Bowling Match

When a team opens its bowling, (the opponents are simultaneously opening their batting), they put their fast bowlers first. Two fast bowlers open the bowling. They bowl for about 6 overs each.  Since the ball is initially hard, it does not spin much.

The fast bowler's job is to get as many early wickets (batsmen out) as possible and make inroads into the opposing line-up. This would severely put the opposition into trouble. The bowlers use their arsenal of speed, swing, seam and cutters in use.

After 12-15 overs the spinners come to bowl. Spinners like the soft ball as it turns more. Usually the fast bowlers bowl the initial 15 overs, then the spinners and medium pace bowlers come between the 15 and 30 overs to bowl.

After that the initial seamers return at the 30 to 50th overs to complete their quota of 10 overs. There is no fixed rule as to when a bowler can bowl, as long as he bowls a max 10 overs and NO 2 consecutive overs. It is up to the captain to make this decision.

Objectives

The main objective of the bowler is to take wickets. Usually the batting order is such that the best players bat first. If you take wickets, it exposes the not-so-good batsmen. This results in the opposition score being kept low.

The second objective of the bowler is to keep his economy rate low. Economy rate is the number of runs scored of his bowling per over he bowls. If he succeeds in keeping the economy rate below 3 an over for say 4 of his overs, this would create some pressure on the batsman to score runs. Then two things can happen: A 6 or some 4's are hit, to ease the pressure; or the batsman plays a rash stroke, thus getting out.

The third objective of a bowler, is to limit the number of wides and no-balls he bowls.

Line & Length

The bowler must bowl a tight line and length. The best line would be pitching the ball just outside the off stump. On the TV, this would mean that the ball passes between the batsman's bat and body.

The ideal length to bowl is the good length balls, which bounce around the batsman's waist level. At this height, it is difficult for the batsman's to free his arms to hit the ball. But bowlers should also mix the length, ie. vary the bounce so that the batsman doesn't get settled. A bouncer (above the head) can unsettle the batsman.

The bowler can also bowl a surprise speed ball, at a slower/faster speed than he normally bowls. Such surprises often result in a wicket falling.

Bowling First

If the team is bowling first, taking wickets helps in slowing the opposition get a huge score. As the batsmen are looking to put up a decent total, the bowlers must bowl accurately. The best line the bowlers bowl is that the ball passes just outside the off-stump.

After the 15 overs are up, the game slows down a bit. There aren't too many boundaries hit. After the 35 th over, the batsman are again looking to hit out, so here the most experienced bowlers bowl. The last 15 overs are known as the SLOG or DEATH overs. As the batsman is looking to hit as many big hits as possible, bowlers get hit around. This is also the most productive part of the game for the bowlers as wickets tumble here.

Bowling Second

If the batsmen have scored above 250 runs, the bowlers have a good total to defend. They try and be as miserly as possible in letting runs being scored. Taking wickets is crucial to win the match, as the more wickets the opposition have in hand (not out batsmen), greater chances of the batsmen scoring runs rapidly.  If the bowlers are defending less than 200 runs, wicket taking is imperative to win the match.

Overs of the Match

Batting

The Batting Order

When a team goes out to bat the best players bat first. The 1,2,3,4 batsmen are known as the top order. 5,6,7 form the middle order and 8,9,10,11 are the lower order or tail. At any given time there are always always two batsmen in the field.

The first 2 are called the openers. The first 2 are supposed to play a quick innings (more runs in less balls). 3,4,5 are players capable of playing an anchor innings and usually the best batsman of the team is put at no 3 or 4. This is to protect him from an early bowling attack.

 However the line-up is flexible and it can be changed as the scenario of the game demands it. At no 3, a lower order batsman can come and pinch hit (more runs in less balls) to score quick runs and shield more decent players, as his wicket is anyway not worth much. There are no restrictions on where a batsman bats. The best batsmen of a team bat at the top of the order, so as to score more runs.

The lower order consists of the bowlers of the team. They are not known for their batting prowess and so bat as low as possible.

Scoring Runs

Earlier we had discussed the how 4's, 6's were hit. However it may not always be possible to score these big shots. In any match, getting the 1's & 2's are the best way to keep the score moving.

A run is scored when the batsmen exchange ends. Once the ball is bowled to the batsman, he can hit it either between two fielders (like place hitting in baseball) , or just over the fielder's head, out of his reach.

He can also drop it at just outside the pitch, and run quickly to the other end before the bowler or the wicketkeeper can get to it.

Foot-Work

The best way to take the opposition bowling apart is by good footwork. What footwork means is that the batsman moves his as feet close to the spot where the bal l is going to be pitched. With this he can free his arms and hit the ball. The advantages are many fold:

1. He can place the ball well, as he frees his arms.

2. By moving close to where the ball pitched, the batsman negates the turn or swing a bowler gets after pitching.

3. The only disadvantage of moving toward the ball is, if you miss the ball, you can get out stumped.

To play a shot, you can play it on the front foot, or back foot. Front foot shots make it easier to play on the on-side, while back foot make it easier to hit on the off-side.

Rotation of Strike

The key to batting is the Rotation of Strike. While batting, it is important that both batsmen face the ball by alternating the strike between them. After they run a single (1 run), the other batsman faces the bowling. If the batsman has difficulty in rotating the strike and also not scoring boundaries ; what happens frequently, is that the bowler is bowling to your weaknesses. He also deprives the other batsman from scoring, and this could be  frustrating for him.

By rotation of strike, the bowlers are not allowed to settle down into a fixed rhythm as, they have to change their line and length, ( spoken of earlier ) to the batsman at the crease. This is compounded further if there is a right-left hand combination batting. Rotation also keeps the scoreboard ticking. Rotation of Strike is the hallmark of good batting.

Personal Score

All runs hit with the bat (or gloves) are credited to the batsman. Each run scored adds to the team total AND his personal score. Extras (discussed earlier, see extras) are directly credited to the team. If a batsman gets above  50,  it is good personal score. If he goes on to get a century (also called a ton), it is considered an achievement.

Over Wise

The general trend in batting during the match is as shown below.