Bowling with the Old Ball

[Jonesy]

Bowling with the Old Ball

I was sitting up in bed listening to the cricket last night and the commentators were talking about West Indies' fast bowlers and how they are nothing like they used to be back in the hey day. They said the Windies' bowlers struggle because they can't do anything with the old ball.

Now I swing the ball a lot and I can still get it to swing when both sides are pretty bad. But saying that, the most overs I play are 50 overs matches and the ball doesn't get completely wrecked. Whenever I ask my coach how to bowl a good cutter he always just tells me this slower ball method where it's basically an offie. It does move but I want a proper cutter that goes a bit faster. I've tried running my fingers down the ball once at the nets, but I think they must of layed the synthetic down wrong or something because it goes the other way than it's supposed to and even when I tried offies they spun the wrong way.

So yeh, what's the best way to bowl an off cutter and what are some other balls to bowl with the old ball?

Thanks.

 

[mas cambios]

Re: Bowling with the Old Ball

Hold the ball with the seam turned 90° to normal. If you hit the seam from here then the ball can do unpredictable things, like bounce more or maybe shoot.

Also, experiment with various grips etc, have a go at nets and see what works.

 

[FBI]

Re: Bowling with the Old Ball

I seem to remember Andy Roberts remarking that the cross-seam approach was effective because it will bounce if it hits the seam, skid if it hits the shiny side and die if it hits the rough side - a win-win-win situation.

 

[FBI]

Re: Bowling with the Old Ball

Also, experiment with various grips etc, have a go at nets and see what works.

One thing that I have inadvertantly found works is that gently ripped slower balls which are made through effort rather than an early release, to be pitched up tend to swing to a batsman of the same hand in this way...
- Leg break slower ball, swing in
- Off break slower ball, swing out

 

[mas cambios]

Re: Bowling with the Old Ball

Took this from the Aggers blog on the BBC:

Stuart Broad's bowling stood out once again. I was interested in the way both he and Wright bowled a number of balls with their fingers across the seam. This can, given a receptive pitch, make the ball stop a fraction and cause the batsman to mis-time their strokes.

Sort of backs up what myself and manee have been on about.

 

[Simbazz]

Re: Bowling with the Old Ball

Its vital that all seamers have variations, but the cross seam is probably the easiest most effective, if used in the right way on the right track.

Getting the older ball to "talk," just requires patience. If you're bowling with it, then just hold the seam slightly differnt, what Manee says, and AA (i'm sorry its a habit) are exactly right.

The thing is, the nets is the perfect place to get things done, i don't know how easy it will be to get hold of older balls (If people on these boards weren't so mature, im sure we'd have some wise cracks here) but i know i'd struggle.

The way i use a cutter is not overly differnt to how i hold the straighter ball when i'm bowling SLA. I tend to have my first finger on the seam, with the seam going off into the direction of my other fingers, but slightly more forward, so basically angled at 1st slip. I tend to basically let the ball leave in the same way as i do bowling SLA, i let it slip off my first finger. Now this takes some getting used to to get it accurate! Once you've mastered it, you should be able to start to master how to cut it effectively.

 

[Jonesy]

Re: Bowling with the Old Ball

Awesome, mas, manee and simbazz.

Yeh I used to bowl cross seam as a variation but I seemed to have forgotten it this year. Great, thanks guys!