mas cambios
Active Member
Interview with Fast Bowling Guru Ian Pont
I was lucky enough to be able to ask Maverick Cricket founder and fast bowling guru Ian Pont a few questions about, well, fast bowling of course (and a little bit about cricket in general)!
Here is what he had to say:
Looking at the forums it seems that the first thing people ask is the old favourite - 'how do I increase my pace?’ What do you feel is the best way for the average club player to do this?
The great news is that everyone has the ability to bowl faster! The secret is understanding what parts of the action work in which way.
As an overview, the hips (core area) of the body generate a power blast to the action. This is in the same way as a boxer throws a punch. It can be accelerated by driving the bowling hip towards the target. In my experience, the common areas for improvement are:
Also ensure that you keep moving through the crease from back foot to front foot (momentum) and pull the ball like a javelin thrower would. Arm pull is created by imagining a bow and arrow, and the further apart your hands, the greater the arm pull will be.
The LAST thing you do is bowl a cricket ball, so hang on to it, let your body get ahead of your bowling hand and then accelerate the ball to the target hard.
What is the best drill/practice for improving accuracy? Also, what do you think is more important, line or length?
If you run up straight, go through the crease straight, and then follow through straight, there's a high chance the ball will go straight. So I always do bowling drills that encourage a bowler to focus on lining up to the target and driving down a 'railway track' so everything stays at target. It's a simple thing to think about and helps with delivering a consistent line, which is far more important than length.
Length is simply a result of when you let the ball go and if you bowl an excellent line, you can really eliminate scoring opportunities for batsman. For a good bowler, leg stump and middle stump shouldn't exist. The focus is top of off stump and the 3-4 inches just outside. I use a foam channel target placed on the top of the stump to bowl at. It concentrates the mind and creates a zeroing-in effect to the delivery.
We get a lot of members asking about the importance of a good follow through and I know that it is something which you talk upon in your book (The Fast Bowler's Bible). What are your thoughts on what makes an effective follow through?
Follow through is the result of the bowling action and momentum. If you have a small follow though chances are you haven't driven out of your action to the target. If you follow through towards the offside or gulley, then that's where your momentum is also going. A poor follow through would usually be caused by either the top half pulling away to the offside, or the legs not powering through down the railway track to the target.
A follow through is not something artificial therefore, it's an indicator or where your power goes as you release the ball. So a good follow though is important because it reflects how well you have used what you've got and how well you have carried your momentum through your action. As a rule of thumb, it should be about 50% of the distance of your run up.
Again in your book you touch upon left arm bowlers being unable to bowl as fast as right arm bowlers, due to feet set-up and shutting off their actions. What (if any) is the best way to overcome this and give them the same chance of reaching top pace?
Left arm bowlers seem to bowl across themselves as they set up to a right hand batsman. But they don't have to do that. It would be better and more efficient to run straighter (rather than at some weird angle) so the feet can stay down this railway track.
Practicing feet line up is important for left arm bowlers, who are mistakenly told by poor coaches that by shutting off their feet they will swing the ball more. Swing is created by the WRIST position and release, not the feet, which is why Andre Nel can have an open feet position yet bowl outswing.
Left arm bowlers are IDENTICAL to right arm bowlers, so there's no reason why there can't be a left arm Brett Lee, Dale Steyn or Shoaib Akthar.
I was lucky enough to be able to ask Maverick Cricket founder and fast bowling guru Ian Pont a few questions about, well, fast bowling of course (and a little bit about cricket in general)!
Here is what he had to say:
Looking at the forums it seems that the first thing people ask is the old favourite - 'how do I increase my pace?’ What do you feel is the best way for the average club player to do this?
The great news is that everyone has the ability to bowl faster! The secret is understanding what parts of the action work in which way.
As an overview, the hips (core area) of the body generate a power blast to the action. This is in the same way as a boxer throws a punch. It can be accelerated by driving the bowling hip towards the target. In my experience, the common areas for improvement are:
- Line up of the feet so everything goes at the target
- Driving towards the target with the top half (chest drive) and not leaning back too far
- Full shoulder rotation (finish off the action)
Also ensure that you keep moving through the crease from back foot to front foot (momentum) and pull the ball like a javelin thrower would. Arm pull is created by imagining a bow and arrow, and the further apart your hands, the greater the arm pull will be.
The LAST thing you do is bowl a cricket ball, so hang on to it, let your body get ahead of your bowling hand and then accelerate the ball to the target hard.
What is the best drill/practice for improving accuracy? Also, what do you think is more important, line or length?
If you run up straight, go through the crease straight, and then follow through straight, there's a high chance the ball will go straight. So I always do bowling drills that encourage a bowler to focus on lining up to the target and driving down a 'railway track' so everything stays at target. It's a simple thing to think about and helps with delivering a consistent line, which is far more important than length.
Length is simply a result of when you let the ball go and if you bowl an excellent line, you can really eliminate scoring opportunities for batsman. For a good bowler, leg stump and middle stump shouldn't exist. The focus is top of off stump and the 3-4 inches just outside. I use a foam channel target placed on the top of the stump to bowl at. It concentrates the mind and creates a zeroing-in effect to the delivery.
We get a lot of members asking about the importance of a good follow through and I know that it is something which you talk upon in your book (The Fast Bowler's Bible). What are your thoughts on what makes an effective follow through?
Follow through is the result of the bowling action and momentum. If you have a small follow though chances are you haven't driven out of your action to the target. If you follow through towards the offside or gulley, then that's where your momentum is also going. A poor follow through would usually be caused by either the top half pulling away to the offside, or the legs not powering through down the railway track to the target.
A follow through is not something artificial therefore, it's an indicator or where your power goes as you release the ball. So a good follow though is important because it reflects how well you have used what you've got and how well you have carried your momentum through your action. As a rule of thumb, it should be about 50% of the distance of your run up.
Again in your book you touch upon left arm bowlers being unable to bowl as fast as right arm bowlers, due to feet set-up and shutting off their actions. What (if any) is the best way to overcome this and give them the same chance of reaching top pace?
Left arm bowlers seem to bowl across themselves as they set up to a right hand batsman. But they don't have to do that. It would be better and more efficient to run straighter (rather than at some weird angle) so the feet can stay down this railway track.
Practicing feet line up is important for left arm bowlers, who are mistakenly told by poor coaches that by shutting off their feet they will swing the ball more. Swing is created by the WRIST position and release, not the feet, which is why Andre Nel can have an open feet position yet bowl outswing.
Left arm bowlers are IDENTICAL to right arm bowlers, so there's no reason why there can't be a left arm Brett Lee, Dale Steyn or Shoaib Akthar.