How to Bowl at 161kph
This is a guest article from Tom Matcham
No country can consistently produce fast bowlers.
Why?
It’s clearly desirable and clearly possible: the West Indies proved this in the 1980s. With all the science and coaching effort being put into understanding cricket, why do we understand bowling so poorly?
We are not training our bowlers correctly. We have not learnt enough from older, wiser sports, and this is evident in our variable results.
In fact, bowling over 161kph should not be a particularly exceptional achievement.
I do not know how the international teams are practicing, but I doubt it’s with the same mindset as other sports, or we would see many 100mph bowlers. If we think more carefully about how we train, we will see more bowlers reaching their full potential, and getting less injured.
Learning from the Olympics
This is a very old fashioned idea, so it’s not very cool. However, there’s very good evidence that it works.
Russian, Cuban and Chinese weightlifters have known that volume is the key to their sport for half a century. They perform an insane amount of repetitions per month in the classic lifts (totally 4000 odd I believe). These reps aren’t done at full intensity though: the loads are around 60-70% of their maximum lift.
The purpose is to drill technique, and to reduce the risk of injury. This is important because contrary to popular belief, strength is not the limiting factor in elite weightlifter; it is technique. A 2.5kg increase on the bar can feel incredibly different whilst lifting; demonstrating the same technique whatever the weight is of great importance.
The same principle is even more important in bowling: strength is a tiny factor, technique is vital. A slight increase in run-in speed results in a vastly different ‘feel’ throughout the delivery.
What can we learn from weightlifting?
That we must practice and practice and practice at medium intensity, repeating the same technique over and over again.
Biomechanics of the action should be perfect, with minor exceptions. In no other sport do we see such widespread bad technique. To not master your action is just plain lazy.
Drop the drills
Drills are pointless. Working on an isolated faulty portion of an action is a hopeless task, and I have never seen it work. If you are not happy with your technique, the only way is to start from the bottom and work your way up. This is unlike weight training, where in some circumstances one can correct some faults with strengthening.
When bowling, if your front leg buckles, you will not correct it unless you retrain yourself from the bottom up. This is an inconvenient truth. As busy people, you must decide how much time you want to put into your cricket to correct a biomechanically unsound action. Just don’t waste your time on drills.
Furthermore, most bowlers get injured from wearing their bodies down through constant maximum exertion: my method eliminates this problem, as with good technique (using stretch reflex rather than muscular contraction) and moderate intensity, the load placed on the body is much lower.
Increase bowling volume
Some people will think I’ve gone mad when I say this, but I think elite fast bowlers should be bowling 30 overs a day, 6 days a week.
I suggest two sessions of 15 overs every day.
You may want to reread that. It's totally different from every other opinion.
One must build up to this level, but at lower intensity this is possible. If you feel very tired, ask yourself, ‘am I just adapting to working hard?’
For every single ball bowled in each training session, the focus should never ever be on maximum speed. If technique is faulty, months will be spent correcting, first from a standing position, then to a walking run up, then to a 3 step run up, and so on.
Once the bowler can fully run up with some control, then training should proceed as above.
Use weighted balls
Far and above any other training method, weighted javelins have been shown to have the greatest crossover to competition weight javelin throws. The same holds for cricket. The slight change in technique for a lighter or heavier ball for 3-4 sessions a week has no long-term negative effect on competition weight cricket balls.
At the end of each bowling session, a variety of sports specific training methods should be utilised. I recommend medicine ball and shotput throws. Because the speed of the shot or ball is slower, the risk of injury is minimal. I would stick to one throw for a whole month to allow for some adaption to the movement, before cycling to another throw the next month. Always aim for a PR in every session.
Squat, and Clean and Jerk
Both these exercises are recommended. They should be performed beltless.
If you think that squatting causes back injuries, please look into the science of pain. The squat is known to have a very strong carryover to many sports, and has a little carryover to the javelin. I doubt it does much for bowling but it builds a strong motor; no bad thing. So, go heavy with good technique.
The clean and jerk is the best way to improve your jumping, which also helps cricket. Perform about 8-15 total reps of the clean and jerk in sets of 1 or 2 reps. Go light if you are tired but still get in the reps at a lower intensity.
I also recommend a little bit of bodybuilding in the chest, shoulders and back, if only to build the look of an athlete. Stick to sets of 12-15 with a minutes rest inbetween sets. If you don’t care about how you look don’t bother. But I don’t recommend bands. I think they only work for a few minutes.
I cannot promise that this fun unless you a bit mad like myself and enjoy monotonous.
However if you stick at this, you will reap the rewards.
Train like this and, with time and natural potential, you will be able to bowl over 161kph.
Tom Matcham has a keen interest in Biomechanics and Sports Science. After performing detailed mathematical modelling of the fast bowling action, he now has a working theory on how to bowl fast with a huge bank of evidence to back him up.
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Comments
good article
Are you suggesting that these sorts of speeds are possible for everybody, whatever their physical attributes? There are plenty of boys who have the desire to bowl quickly but are their bodies actually capable of getting up to the speeds we're talking about?
How would you adapt the bowling work load for a 12/13 year old fast bowler considering their growth patterns?
Can't see he is suggesting that 161kph+ is possible for everyone. More like that people can maximise their potential, whatever that may top out at.
With regards to the 12/13 year old question, I get the impression he would propose very little change to the suggested training workload. The key is not the number so much as the quality of the action and the intensity it is performed at. I guess if existing guidelines say you can bowl 60 balls in a day at 100% intensity, you should in theory be able to bowl 90 balls at 60%.
I like and can understand the thinking behind the article but it is vague when it comes to what actually is good technique. Lifting weights (for example) must surely have fewer possible 'faults' compared to bowling. There is also a pretty prescribed action when lifting; just consider all the different ways that people bowl. Either we produce clones or everyone would need to be individually assessed and there are issues with both.
There are other things that need talking about but as I'm short on time will come back to them later.
In the section "Use weighted balls" I'm unclear if you are suggesting that using weighted balls is a good training method or a bad one. Please explain this paragraph. thanks
Far and above any other training method, weighted javelins have been shown to have the greatest crossover to competition weight javelin throws. The same holds for cricket. The slight change in technique for a lighter or heavier ball for 3-4 sessions a week has long-term negative effect on competition weight cricket balls.
I see someone else has picked up on one of the issues I was going to highlight.
Oops that's a typo! It's now corrected.
Sorry, I'm confused by the drop the drills bit. It says if you're not happy with your technique you need to start from the bottom and build your way to the top but by not doing drills you won't be able to have your muscle memory memorize the new technique without doing drills. I may have misinterpreted it though.
Think he means it is pointless working on something via a drill as the best way to correct a fault is to start again from scratch.
No good working on an issue with your gather, as it may have been triggered by run up, leap etc or may trigger other issues once corrected. Start from a fresh base, ensuring all is correct from the get go. You still 'drill' but in a very simple way.
I could be wrong though!
One Thing Guys To Bowl At Good Speeds,I Heard You Have To Flick Or Jerk Your Wrist Or Keep Your Leg Straight,I Bowl At Bone Breaking Speeds But Dont Keep My Leg Straight Or Use My wrists Im 15 Only Too,I Bowl At Around 75-85 Mph With A Tennis Ball And With A Hard Ball I Bowl Much Quicker,So Can I Join My Nations Team Because Of My Speed?
Also Give Me Tutorials On How To Use My Limbs Correctly
1.Wrist
2.Legs
3.Hips
4.Shoulders
Ever heard of being polite? A please/thank you would not go amiss. Don't demand that information is given.
sir,I'm a right handed fast bowler.my bowling action is pretty much front on in my gather....but based on what delivery I'm bowling it sometimes turns out to be side-on..Is it normal,sir?..and my outswingher is good..but I tend to lose my balance or control when trying to bowl the inswinger.....could you please suggest me a solution for that...could I send you a video of my bowling action, so that I could give you a clear idea of my bowling action....?
Good to see you writing articles again Tom. You have been absent for quite a while. Don't agree with the part about discarding the drills.
It's certainly food for thought, and something we discuss in more detail on this Cricket Show for download: http://www.pitchvision.com/cricket-show-176
I don't normally post just to be critical but I am a bit concerned this article has been published on here as there are a few alarming suggestions contained within it. At the bottom of the article, it states the author has evidence to back up his theories, however the whole article seems to be based on anecdotal evidence or in most cases no evidence at all. To take this even further, it actually goes against the actual evidence contained in cricketing literature. To avoid boredom when reading this I will briefly summarize my concerns. Firstly, saying that to get better at one sport by training how they do in another violates the notion of training specificity. Weightlifters have obviously learned that the works for them, however many studies find over-bowling is a primary cause of injury so recommending this type of training for a fast bowler is very strange. This is then contradicted by saying drills are of no use. Weightlifters use drills, they don't just clean and jerk/snatch all day. Drills aid mobility, stability, range of motion, relative strength etc and can be incorporated effectively into a program. Ian pont uses his front block drill for example and he hasn't done too bad in this field. I wonder what Ian would think of this article? Weighted balls is an interesting concept and I believe requires further research however current studies have shown no effect on pace but a negative effect on accuracy. Olympic lifts are complex and may not carry over to overhead throwing sports where shoulder instability is common in throwing athletes such as baseball players. Squats are good, if done with strict technique. Training like a bodybuilder however should again be left to the bodybuilders of this world. If you train to improve your cricket game by gaining strength in the correct areas and reducing body fat, then you will get the body of an athlete/fast bowler. I'm not aware of a bodybuilder that can bowl 161kph. Apologies for this going on a bit long but I just wanted to highlight that it could be dangerous or unproductive to follow someone's opinion. There are other great articles on this site that are by coaches with a proven track record and whilst I encourage new ideas, caution should always be taken due to coaching ethics. Any comments are greatly welcomed as I'd be interested what others think. I can point towards references if required
It's great to get an opinion like this to add to the debate. I think you have some valid points but I hope nobody reads this article and considers it to be the final truth. It is one opinion and part of an ongoing debate.
You seen to know your onions cricket fan, I would love to chat to you more. Can I contact you to get some details on this? email me at www.pitchvision.com/contact if you want to remain anonymous.
while I think folk like Mr Macham who wrote the article should be encouraged to inquire and come up with ideas I don't think it's beneficial for a site like pitchvision to publish them without really looking into the validity of the claims. From a quick Google search it seems Tom Macham is a 20 year old math student who plays league cricket in Kent and holds an ECB coaching certificate.
The problem with writing an article based on opinions when it isn't clearly stated that these are just opinions is that the advice can do more harm than good.
perhaps Mr Macham could visit this forum and answer a few questions on his article?
I urge you to also listen to Cricket Show 176 where we discuss the article in more detail. You can listen in here: http://www.pitchvision.com/cricket-show-176
Hi David,
I listened to the show - very interesting btw. Put me on the mailing list alerts for when you publish the new ones if you can.
That said, it didn't really address all the issue with the above article. There are statements of fact in the article that are at best just personal opinions, such as,
"Working on an isolated faulty portion of an action is a hopeless task, and I have never seen it work. If you are not happy with your technique, the only way is to start from the bottom and work your way up."
If your head is dropping away slightly early or your wrist position is a little off why would you want to start again with your bowling action? You identify the problem and put it right. To start from the bottom up would be a massive waste of time and would likely do a lot more harm than good.
You addressed the "over training" issue in your show. It's just not physically possible to maintain the type of intensity indicated over long periods.
"cricket fan" pointed out that the benefits of using heavy balls as a training aid haven't been verified.
That said, if the article was designed to stimulate comments it has done it's job
RB, you can see how to subscribe at www.pitchvision.com/subscribe, or you can add it to your itunes (if you have it)
hey david and tom and pont, also the other coaches of fast bowling.
How to bowl really fast at the age of 15 when you are overweight? till the time you lose weight, how to bowl super fast ? and also, how to avoid injuries?? please reply
There are a couple of points to address there. Assuming we are talking about being overweight from bodyfat rather than excess muscle, you know it is not idea for fast bowling (reduced mobility, more dead weight).
However, while you aim to improve your fitness through strength training, a diet rich in healthy whole foods, and lots of bowling, the actually principles of bowling quickly do not change.
You still need an action that has as few energy leaks as possible, you can get the basics here: http://www.pitchvision.com/the-immutable-laws-of-fast-bowling-part-2/
That's the practical stuff, you also need a commitment to bowl really, really fast. And that is where most people fail. They give up before they have achieved anything. So, combine mental strength with your technical work and you will be golden.
I have an action like that of Flintoff but i am not getting much pace. i am 15 and my speed is just over 95kph. i want it to be over 125kph now. so that i could bowl at over 155kph when i'll be older. but i get a lot injured. most of the times. please help real. consult with ian pont if possible.
I'm not sure what more help you need? The archive on fast bowling here is extensive. Start with the link I gave you. Then progress to studying this category on the site: http://www.pitchvision.com/category/pace-bowling Subscribe to the newsletter, listen to the podcast and consider enroling on the online coaching for fast bowling.
Hello everyone,
Just a quick note. I am now a 23 year old maths graduate from Imperial College with a 1st class degree. I was just about to start a phD in applied maths but decided to work on my business instead.
I will be looking at comments tomorrow and replying. Thank you all for taking an interest.
I shall be cheeky and direct you to my youtube channel if you can't wait until then:
http://www.youtube.com/user/twmatcham?feature=CAQQwRs%3D
my question is cant you tell me a way of bowling superfast without many injuries?
I can give you my opinion on how to do it.
1) Work religiously hard on technique (see my past pitch vision articles and youtube channel)
2) Bowl a lot of overs but without ever bowling as fast as you can
3) Use weighted balls once or twice a week. Contrary to one commenter Steffan Jones has evidence that they do work, although I can't comment on how well designed his study was yet.
4) Throw other things a couple of times a week.
4) Do a small amount of GPP (squats, cleans, bodybuidling to make you feel good).
In my opinion, bowling at maximum speed is what gets you injured. Trying to bowl fast makes you tense, and tension gets you injured.
RB,
Thanks for the comment.
With regards to the head dropping etc, for starters I think all bowlers' heads drop. There are a few reasons for this. However, these are very small details that I'm not really talking about in this article. Every bowler has their own technique, but the fundamentals must be there to bowl really fast. I've never seen anyone below international level with really good bowling technique simply because bowlers are rarely coached. It's madness! Everyone could do with starting again. Furthermore, what's the point in correcting a weak front leg if the bowler's hips come through before the plant?
I do have references from several books and studies in other sports which I think strengthen my article. However, the evidence for volume based programs is already there in other technique based sports.
Cricketfan, thanks for the comment
I'm very critical of the notion of overbowling or overtraining. For starters, I don't believe that bowling can place a really significant demand on the CNS. In truly overtrained individuals, this is where the problem lies. I believe overbowling can only occur from poor bowling practices. If you're bowling 100% flat out every single day you will get injured. However, being tired is not the same as overtraining. A properly structured training program should make the bowler tired, but this leads to adaptation.
How else can you learn good technique without bowling every single day? It's the same as everything in life, the more you do it the better you get. Bowling at 60-70% every day for a large volume would make your muscles tired but you would adapt and grove the technique into your muscle memory. Also, its vital that we can demonstrate good technique whilst fatigued. As an only slightly related example, have been squatting 5 times a week for the last two months and have put 12kg on my squat. At first I was very tired but I adapted!
With regard to your specificity argument, cricket and javelin and weightlifting are all related by the importance of technique. One reason why I wouldn't recommend a fast bowler to follow the same sort of program as a long distance runner is because technique is not the limiting factor. Technique must be drilled over and over again if you want exceptional results.
The problem I have with drills is that I've never seen them be incorporated back into the bowler's action for sustained periods. The bowler simply forgets to do it right. They are simply not specific enough. With such a low success rate why bother? The only drills I ever see successful weightlifters do are basically shorted versions of the full lifts (apart from the muscle snatch). Specificity is key. And yes, some just do the Snatch/Clean and Jerk all day, seven days a week. Just because Ian Pont is doing well (which he is) doesn’t mean he’s infallible and has everything right. There are many ways of doing things right, this is my way.
There is plenty of evidence that under/overweighted javelins are the best training tool for javelin throwers with the greatest carryover out of all supplementary exercises. With so many similarities in proper bowling and javelin throwing, I see no reason why this shouldn’t work. The problem I have with papers on weighted bowling that I have seen is that the methodology is very poor. They shouldn’t be trained with all the time, as again doing so would violate the law of specificity.
I only recommend bodybuilding to improve self esteem. Bowlers are usually skinny, a little bit of muscle mass never hurts. It doesn’t seem to hurt Graeme Napier.
I do appreciate your point about track record however. I am not a professional cricket coach, but I have been playing cricket all my life and do understand the mechanics of bowling very well through my own mathematical research. I appreciate that people are unlikely to follow my advice, but when these ideas do become more popular in the future, when cricket catches up with the rest of the sporting world, I would like to say that myself and Pitchvision were ahead of the times.
I can also point people towards references.
Hi Tom
Thanks for the full reply, please don’t think I am completely throwing out your suggestions as I have read some of your other articles and what you say is logical and in many cases I like where you are coming from. What is seemingly logical however, is not always true; just because A=B and B=C, does not automatically mean A=C.
Whilst I agree bowling, javelin, baseball all rely heavily on technique and your focus on technique is justified, there are differences in the actions which separate the three and hence differences in the training requirements. Among the many subtle differences between the sports you mention, the forward facing run up in cricket differs to baseball and javelin where they attain a more side-on position prior to release. Cricket bowling is perhaps always going to have a higher degree of spine hyperextension, lateral flexion and rotation compared to these other sports where you are closer to the release position in the final stride, where impact and braking forces are at their peak. Added to this, it has been argued that strenuous prolonged loading is a stimulus for asymmetric hypertrophy on the bowling side that combined with shear loading, predisposes bowlers to stress fractures. Therefore since hypertrophy is linked to volume, continuously bowling may only magnify this asymmetry. Doing less bowling and more work to iron out these asymmetries (maybe not completely possible) and build strength is one reason for having time off from bowling in the winter. Resistance training carries a low injury risk compared to actually playing sport and this may be a better to achieve physical goals than playing alone. Based on these reasons, my argument is that even training at 60-70% for long periods will place significant stress on the body and could result in injury. Is technique training in this way every day completely necessary for bowling? Maybe extra sessions if you are trying to alter a faulty technique, but 365 days per year may be a bit excessive.
In terms of specificity, this implies that you train at the intensities experienced in match conditions, so would practicing at 60-70% enable speeds of 161kph? I’m not so sure you can guarantee the same performance (technique) when producing a maximal effort. Relating this to your squatting example, if you train at 60-70% for a large number of reps, the adaptations may be more hypertrophy or muscular endurance related rather than maximal force/power production, which I hope you would agree is essential for bowling at 161kph? The energy systems used in cricket would be a lot closer to that of sprinting than long distance running, which again makes your suggestion of 15 overs at 60-70% max effort, a contradiction in aims. You wouldn’t advise a sprinter to run 90 (15x6) bouts of 60m (over 5km) at 60-70% intensity to work on sprinting technique as this would train an energy system that is not used for the sport and would most likely be detrimental to performance. The title of the article is how to bowl at 161kph and I would hope you would agree that this would require both mechanical efficiency AND maximal force production? It appears to me as if your focus may be too orientated towards technical efficiency than creating maximal forces or torques around the joints.
Technique and drills are also quite ambiguous terms so would have to know what particular aspects you are referring to before commenting further on this. Drills should build kinesthetic awareness/neuromuscular programming and therefore be built into the subconscious and simply ‘forgetting to do it’ should not be a major issue. If this is failing however, then as you say, they may be of little use.
As for the bodybuilding argument, I’m afraid I am going to have to disagree with you. I’m not against adding muscle mass, but If your aim is to bowl quickly, then actually bowling quickly should raise your self esteem, and adding extra mass in undesired/unrelated areas would reduce the efficiency of your system for bowling quickly. Extra mass should only be as a result of the specific training you do to enable the final outcome – bowling fast. Any other aims such as ‘big guns’ for the ladies will not contribute to bowling quickly and has little to do with the title of your article. Extra muscle without a functional sporting purpose, if maximal performance is your aim, is like buying a flash car without being able to drive – good to show off and brag about, but is actually of little functional use.
I do think there is a lot of research to be done in cricket to, as you put it, catch up with a number of other sports and as I said in my earlier comments, I think weighted balls require further research as there may be a place for them for increasing velocity. Mechanics however will alter, so caution must be used when applying techniques such as this, as accuracy/ repeatability in cricket is of vital importance
Would you mind providing a link to some of the research you refer to as I think this could help me understand your angle further
I do like a debate rather than an argument so please feel free to give your thoughts on what I have said as I (or more likely my girlfriend) will be the first to point out I am not always right!
Cheers
"Just because A=B and B=C, does not automatically mean A=C"
You sure about that?
Reading that over, in simple terms, no! I was trying to simplify a logical fallacy and actually that is a logical conclusion and I should have expanded. A better example may be: Shoaib Akhtar can bowl 100mph and every day he eats broccoli, therefore a logical conclusion may be eating broccoli every day will make you bowl 100mph. Whilst this may be a healthy choice, doing this alone will not make you bowl 100mph. Cheers for highlighting that AB
I am also not sure that Shoaib Akhtar eats broccoli every day, that example was purely hypothetical
I see what you're getting at, not mistaking correlation for causation.
Hi Cricketfan,
I'll try to systematically address the points you make.
-My point still stands about bowling being a technical sport. There is nothing special about cricket, why should we train in such a sporadic way when compared to other technique based sports?
- Why should bowling be front on? I would say that getting into a side on position earlier is a much better idea than what most bowlers currently do.
- You say that forces are greater, what's the harm in that? Fairly old research has shown that disc bulges, herniations and fractures are not associated with back pain if that's what you're worried about. I suggest reading this page as it's well referenced and informative
http://saveyourself.ca/articles/structuralism.php.
Simply put, backs do not get worn out like 'structuralist' PT's would have you believe. Personally I believe the science of pain is greatly misunderstood, and people need to take the psychological aspects of pain a lot more seriously. As such I don't think bowling poses a serious risk to spinal injury, unlike contact sports for example.
- Furthermore, this article is about bowling fast and nothing else. However, my advice would not change much if it was about injury prevention as well. If you want to be exceptional you must take risks, and I personally think this method minimises those risks. I think 'Stretch' bowling with lower intensity methods as I describe are as safe as bowling can be done.
- Do you propose high intensity sessions a few times per week? If so, there is plenty of research in other sports and anecdotal evidence that your are more likely to be injured at high intensity than low. What would you have your bowlers do in other training sessions? Weight training programs are usually so inappropriately designed that most of the time coaches do more damage than good. Also, considering how the current methods fail to produce exceptionally quick bowlers with any regularity, do you really think they are effective? Technique must be drilled endlessly.
- Yes, I do think that training at 70-80% with high volume will help increase your 100% bowling speed. It works for similar sports, I see now reason why it shouldn't work for cricket. Some call it 'greasing the groove'.
- I never said I squat at 70-80% all the time. When I do squat at this intensity I squat for low (1-3) reps, focusing on speed.
- I never said to bowl 15 overs b2b with little to no rest since we're not training energy systems. Personally I'm not fussed what energy system I'm training. All I care about is training muscle memory.
- You mention force production, but with stretch bowling force production is of little consequence. Force production is slow and regularly produces beat-up bowlers. Stretch bowlers should think of conservation of energy from the run up and relaxation, not tension.
- By drills I mean anything apart from running in slower or taking less of a run-up. The cost-benefit analysis of drills is so bad I don't consider them worth the effort, however attractive they are for coaches.
- With regards to hypertrophy, I really don't think it hurts. Take a look at the chinese weightlifting team and compare them to other lifters like hysen pulaku. Why are they so muscular when there are plenty of weightlifters who aren't?
Please hit me back with any thoughts you have on this, I enjoy these sort of discussions so give me your best shot!
Hi Tom,
I read this article and have taken in some points, alot of which I agree on, I think volume (with strict adherance to technique) is a key factor in building up speed.
One thing that I do not think you touched on was genetic capability, there is people who, no matter how hard and perfect they train will simply never bowl at speeds _remotely_ close to 161kph, this may be due to a variety of factors ie. Height, limb length, fast-twich muscle fibres. Some people just werent built to in such a way that all their muscles will fire in unison to produce speeds, which is why there is only a handful of people in the world that near the 160kph mark. (With respect to the fact that your belief for this speed not being a regular occurence today is due to poor coaching)
The part of this article that I do not agree with is the 'bodybuilding for self-esteem', this seems very out of sorts for this article as the purpose of this article is solely about reaching a maximum speed, I dont see how this article has any room for 'vanity training', and you did admit that it was for the purpose of vanity and feeling better about yourself, any non-fuctional mass would decrease performance. Infact, I think you secretly regret putting it in the article but are too proud to go back on it.
Regards,
The Wild Cat
haha I honestly stand by everything I put in this article.
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Hi guys,
I would like to share my two cents with you. I have just got back into cricket like 4 years ago. I was a medium bowler with no swing or pace.
The most effective thing that has made me progress in the last couple of years are the four tent pegs.. running Nd sprints. I also have developed a swing, basically being able to swing the ball in and out at will. The swing is considerably greater when there is a bigger gap between the front and back leg.. and the way the wrist is positioned. I have also noticed reverse swing in the past year.. and depending on the ball and the condition it varies.
What has helped me bowl faster.. is to gain core strength, and a lot of lunges.. mixed with clean and jerks, and press ups. I also train on my wrists for 20 minutes when ever I can, with an intensity level of 8.
I work on my technique regularly, and sometimes get frustrated as to where I go wrong. I have learnt that when you try to rush your action whilst bowling, you tend to lose speed and accuracy. So therefore I try to keep upright as much as I can when running in to the crease..
What I would like to know is where I can get this heavy or weighted ball?
Thank you for reading
People are really missing the point with regards to the bodybuilding bit. This idea of nonfunctional mass decreasing performance is absolute rubbish and shows how little some people actually know about strength training.
When you are an untrained individual (which, by nearly all standards I'm sure the majority of us on this site are), ANY strength training, in a bodybuilding style or otherwise will cause strength gains and add functional mass to your frame, as well as hypertrophy the sarcomere. Unless you guys are squatting double bodyweight, then you can't talk about the difference between bodybuilding and strength training since there is effectively none, for drug-free individuals.
SO much emphasis is put on rep range and it's a fallacy. You can't get more muscular unless you get stronger, unless you're on something special.
I think it's a lot about labelling. I don't think the term "bodybuilding" is useful to cricketers because it is conjuring up (incorrectly) images of the elite muscle men. I think using the term "strength training" is more resonant, even though the techniques are mainly similar.
I do agree with certain aspects of this article, i have been clocked of speeds 80mph when i bowl with some technique faults to work on but i do not believe everyone can achieve high speeds of bowling due to fast and slow twitch muscle fibres. Which can be trained to a certain degree but you are either born with more fast twitch muscle fibres or not which are mostly found in Jamaican heritage and could also back up why the west indies bowling attack was one of the fastest in the world and why usain bolt is dominating the sprint events. Without being said they still trained hard.
I would also like to give you some background information about my self i have a degree in sports science with coaching i chose cricket as my coaching side of my degree i now work at a serco gym gym as a level 2 gym instructor and level 3 personal trainer. I would like to point out you said do 8-15 reps for the clean and jerk with them as rep ranges you have stated 3 different types of training which are strength training, muscle hypertrophy training and muscular endurance training and with the squats you have suggested a mix of hyper trophy training with muscular endurance training with a 12-15 rep range. Fast bowling would also be power so none of these training methods would improve your bowling pace if you wanted to improve your bowling pace try doing 3-5 reps of an exercise using explosive movement and 90+ of your maximum effort keeping good form through the exercise.
Thank you very much James.. I have just been doing that recently and have noticed a huge diffrence.
Can someine tip me on how to collapse the back foot correctly. I mean I can collapse it but I fail in dragging it along... because im having difficuties balancing when doing the tent pegs
sir i want to become a fast bowler how i will do it
GOOD ARTICLE IT MAY BE HELP ME FOR INCREASE MY BOWLING SPEED
Hi,I'm 6.4 and I'm 15 how can I bowl at 130 km/h and how do I get noticed in the cricket world
I'm no longer sure where you are getting your information,
however good topic. I needs to spend some time studying much more or understanding more.
Thank you for fantastic info I was looking for this info for my mission.