Full Tosses

[TomBowler97]

A frustration for all bowlers, but why do we bowl them, what goes wrong and how can we stop bowling them?
Is it releasing too early, or spinning it up too much, or trying to spin it so hard we bowl it full.
How do I stop bowling the full toss?

 

[boogiespinner]

I am bowling these down leg along with the off-side half-trackers. I think it's a release thing. If the ball comes out uncooked then it's the legside full toss. Otherwise if it gets stuck in the fingers it bumbles down the offside. I don't know what to do to correct except keep practicing. On another thread, bosie recommends working on the pivot, which I confess I haven't really got down.

The sequence of movements is a similar skill to those used by musicians. But with music, you can slow everything down to dead slow, and then gradually ramp up the speed. This is considered essential if there is any kind of technical struggle and I don't think any serious musician manages without it. Can that be translated to cricket?

 

[leftie600]

There's many ways to fix things, for me it is getting away from the team and practicing in the nets bowling to a complete stranger. Why? The stranger will treat my bowling with respect and I'll respect him and bowl to a genuine plan.

Your full toss issue is usually due to inconsistency in your action. You'll find that when something does go wrong you overthink it and start changing other things to compensate when you don't have to. Always practice spinning the ball at 100%, develop a consistent action and follow through.

IMPORTANT! The more you focus on a negative aspect the more you are likely to do it when under pressure. Focus on a positive thing instead, like getting the ball on a good length and spinning the ball hard.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

What I'm going to do in the coming season is I'm going to write myself notes on my right hand and look at them just before I start walking in. I did it at the last net session, just wrote "Revs - Top Spin" and those words would be the only things in my mind when I release the ball. It helped quite a lot and its seems like an effective mind trick. Plus you can apply it so easily under pressure because its already there and all you have to do is read the words and do what they tell you to do (unless you're so stressed that you've forgotten how to read?)
It seems a bit silly but it feels like it works, especially for me since I tend to overthink and try to do too many things at once. With a simple message to myself I can know what to do and that helps a lot with accuracy.
You could try it in practise and write something like "Good Length" or "Use the pitch" and look at it every time before you bowl. Next time you write something else and you might be able to improve on various aspects just by writing them down on your hands like a cheating schoolboy in an exam.
Surely there aren't rules against notes in cricket?

Even though that sounds absurdly obvious as a thing to set yourself to do, I find I get wrapped up in the moment and those ideas go out of the window and it's not till afterwards when I reflect again that I realise that I didn't implement my plan. So doing this would definitely help me.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

A frustration for all bowlers, but why do we bowl them, what goes wrong and how can we stop bowling them?
Is it releasing too early, or spinning it up too much, or trying to spin it so hard we bowl it full.
How do I stop bowling the full toss?

Practice and being relaxed. If you're doing it loads, stop walk away, go and have a cup of tea and do something else, then come back and try again in a different frame of mind - a more positive once as Leftie has said.

 

[Kram81]

I reckon about the worst way ever to get out batting is getting out caught on the boundary try to smash a dropping full toss..

 

[someblokecalleddave]

I'm still being asked to bowl despite the fact that I'm coming back from injury, my bowling's nowhere near where it should be and I'm bowling full tosses and wides almost as bad as Phil Tufnell!