Bowling tactics

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akkers

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Bowling tactics

We are going to face a (junior) team soon where their main batsman tends to work the ball around. He is not very good at pull shot or aggresive drives but just works the ball around at angles, edges, glances etc to pick up his runs. His main area is working the ball towards fine leg and gully.

What kind of bowling would be best to restrict this batsman.
 
Re: Bowling tactics

Wrist spin. Bog standard Leg Breaks on the off-stump, vary the flight, speed and length and the amount of turn you get - e.g. don't spin all of them - let one go straight every now and then. If you've not got a Wrist Spinner get one of the younger kids to start bowling wrist spin, or better still try and get all the team bowling wrist spin and then let the naturals stick at it and encourage them to become proper wrist spinners. Get the captain on side or better still make sure the captain is a wrist spinner.

Have a look at this and you'll see what I mean - Wrist Spin Bowling: Ben and Joe - Basildon & Pitsea CC
 
Re: Bowling tactics

If you have one, a good inswing or off spin bowler bowling dead straight at the stumps can tuck a batsman like that up.

But any good, accurate bowling will do. If it is a limited over maych keep the field up and force him to play shots into areas he does not normally like to play - hitting over the top for example.
 
Re: Bowling tactics

Saw a junior match today where most of the batsmen were just playing the Vs - driving everything towards mid-off and mid-on. The bowlers were pitching the ball up to them and the batsmen had a whale of a time.

Should the bowlers have tried some short balls? Whats the best tactic against these kind of heavily 'coached' young players.
 
Re: Bowling tactics

What were the Mid On and Mid Off fielders doing -were they stopping the ball? Again my answer is going to be predictable - Wrist Spinners. I think even David Hinchcliffe will agree that if you've got wrist spin learners they'll still take wickets because they'll bowl what looks like easy stuff and the bats will go after it and get themselves out.
 
Re: Bowling tactics

The fielders at Mid On and Mid Off did stop a few but on the whole were ineffective because the batsmen were driving with some force and the ball was passing either side of the fielders at great speeds.

It was one of those situations where the batsmen had been heavily coached into playing straight all the time. So they played the drives (mainly off front foot) but were not too keen on pulls or cuts.

I wonder if some short balls may have tested them.
 
Re: Bowling tactics

yer i would of mixed it up with a few back of a length balls quite tight on middle-off line, no width to stop em throwing there hands through the ball,,,, and maybe a few driveable balls but mix in the odd slower ball because if they get through there shot to early but they are obsessed with driving straight they might just dolly it up to mid off
 
Re: Bowling tactics

best bet might just be to keep it simple. bowl every delivery at the stumps with a good length, make it so that they have to play a shot on every ball, and hope that sooner or later they make a mistake. if youve got a good spinner then you might get them to play a silly shot, or trick them with the delivery. but line and length, bowling at the stumps has got to be the best method. everyone makes a mistake sooner or later, no matter how good their shot playing is, and if the ball is hitting the stumps then when they make the mistake its going to take a wicket.
 
Re: Bowling tactics

I'm reading bewteen the lines a bit here. you are saying the bowlers were bolwing half volleys and the batsmen were hitting them for four?

Less half volleys would seem an obvious answer. Unless the kids were driving good length balls.
 
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