Warning: These Twenty20 Tactics Will Drastically Reduce Your Run Rate

Most batsmen think a fast bowler in twenty20 is there to serve up balls to be hit. You are just a bit part in the real drama of fours and sixes.

But you intend to spoil the fun by keeping that run rate down, drying up the boundaries and putting your team in a winning position.

Frustratingly, everything you have learned as a fast bowler flips over. What you thought you had to do to keep the runs down now becomes a way for the batsman to hit more.

Your consistent, nagging line and length becomes predictable. The batsman sets him or herself up to swing across it and puts you in the trees.

That subtle away swinger drifting late outside the off stump allows the slogger to free his arms, swing hard and get a thick edge high over slip for a streaky four.

All you can do is pull a double teapot with your hands on your hips while the cheeky batter has a quiet grin.

You may have won the moral battle, but your run rate doesn’t care about morals.

The good news is that once you have read the rest of this article you will know exactly how to adapt to twenty20 in the way of modern professional fast bowlers.

Become world-class at the basics

Traditional bowling methods might be limited in T20, but they are not dead. The trick is getting really good at them.

A new ball will still swing late if you know how to make it swing late, even in T20. And late swing is dangerous. Sure the batsman will have a go at it, but it’s difficult to hit and he misses the inswinger he is still bowled or LBW.

The trick is to be able to make it swing at pace.

Any bowler is capable of both making the ball swing and increasing his or her pace. You included. It just takes practice and experimentation. That’s why in “Beating the Odds” there is a section dedicated to showing you how to swing the ball, how to up your pace and how to work on both elements in the nets.

Adjust your length

We all know predictability in T20 means serious damage to your bowling figures. Most bowlers at club and school level don’t have any variety, meaning its happy time for the batsmen.

But really good T20 bowlers are more about length variations than a million different slower balls.

It’s very effective because the batsman can’t set himself up to play a shot. He doesn’t know if you are going to fire one at his toes, aim a bouncer at his ribcage or do something in-between. That means more risk taking and a greater chance of bowling success.

This tactic gets even more effective when you learn to adapt it to the batsman. The more you bowl in T20 the better you get at predicting what a batter is going to do and bowling to overcome it. It’s often just a subtle feeling but you get to know a big shot is coming and whip in the yorker.

But it’s also very difficult. Not many bowlers’ have the skill to do it accurately because they don’t practice making length adjustments; they are always looking to hit a good length.  It’s something you need to practice. You can’t do it in traditional nets, so get away from the batsmen and work at those subtle adjustments.

As you have noticed, these tactics are not simple.

You need to put in the work to practice and get as good as you can at skills you are not used to practicing.

If you don’t practice you end up going for more as your attempted yorker becomes a simple full toss or your length ball doesn’t swing.

“Beating the Odds” is an online coaching course that contains not only specific T20 practice methods for you to copy, but also a way to personalise your training with worksheets.

Plus, when you buy “Beating the Odds” you will track your progress with the exclusive member forum keeping you accountable by sharing your efforts with like-minded T20 pace bowlers.

So, enrol on “Beating the Odds” and give yourself the best chance of putting these tactics into action.