Playing Swing Bowling

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kafkaesque

kafkaesque

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Hey guys,
What are the fundamentals for playing fast swing? My biggest problem here is with facing inswing. I find my head moves over the initial line of the ball, and when the ball swings in I have to play around my front pad. Another issue I have is picking which way the ball will swing. How do you read an inswinger from an outswinger from the hand?
 
Don't commit to the shot too early, I.e. play it late.Watch the ball closely out of the bowlers hand, the earlier you detect the swinging ball, the easier it is to adjust the line of your shot. Analyse the bowler, is the ball swinging in one direction consistently? Or is it just the odd one. Practice loads.
 
Hey Kaf, i have the same problem as you do, which occurs because of my initial movement occasionally over committing towards the offside.
Picking the swing out of the hand can be done a few ways. change in action i.e opens up his action to swing the ball in, moves the position of their front arm considerably.
Change of wrist position is also key..
 
keys to playing swing bowling:
1) watch the ball closely to pick up what direction it is swinging (if it is swinging) as early as possible. Do not guess, and do not assume.

2) If the bowler is slow enough, you won't have to move your feet until you've recognised the path of the ball. Stand still until you pick the swing and then quickly move into position.

3) If the bowler is quick enough that you aren't able to wait before moving your feet, then at least move your feet into an adaptable position from which you are able to play down a few different lines, but in particular are in a good position to make contact down the line of the stumps.

4) Make last minute adjustments when necessary. Playing swing requires good hand-eye coordination. Its too late to move your feet, pick up the ball a 2nd time after it bounces and adjust to any movements by adjusting your bat position with your hands. Its better to play slightly away from your body and hit the ball in the middle of the bat than it is to keep the bat next to your pad in classic textbook style, but then nick the ball to the keeper.

Most common faults I see:
1) assuming the next ball will move the same way as the last one.
2) Moving feet too early, before direction of swing is recognised.
3) Moving feet too extravagantly and leaving no room for adjustment.
4) Freezing - no footwork whatsoever.
5) Failing to adjust with the hands - may be a vision issue.
 
1. Watch the ball
A reaction time limitation means that it's impossible to watch the ball right onto the bat. What distinguishes the good players from the average ones is their ability to correctly predict where the ball will be and move into the correct position. That is according to Bob Woolmer and Tim Noakes coaching book.
In practical terms what does this mean?
Greg Chappell says that it's all about watching the point of release from the bowler. If you see the ball released late it will be short, if you see it released early it will be full. Additionally, the bowler can give you subtle clues in their grip, run up and delivery stride that can help you. If you see an angles seam you know the bowler is at least trying to swing the ball.
Those blessed without a great talent for this can improve their ability by practice. This is one reason why facing a bowling machine is less beneficial than facing real bowling: You don't get the clues from the bowler.
2. Get to the pitch of the ball
Swing bowlers are usually going to pitch the ball up to you. Without doing that they will not get the swing they need. This means you will usually be playing forward to them.
If the ball swings later than you ability to react you will be more likely to miss it or edge it. To reduce this risk, it's important to get as close to the pitch of the ball as possible. This will reduce the amount of time the ball has to deviate. It might be enough to stop you catching the edge.
The idea is not to over step. You still need to lead with your head and shoulder while having your weight over your front foot. You should be trying to get in as big a stride as possible though. The closer you are to the pitch, the safer you are.
3. Play with soft hands
If you are facing a good swing bowler there will be times you will be beaten. You can reduce the chances of getting out either nicking off to the slips or bowled through the gate by playing defensively with soft hands.
In modern limited over cricket it is often beneficial to push the hands and bat towards the ball so you can hit the ball into a gap and steal a single. While this is an excellent tactic, against a late swinging ball edges will carry comfortably to the slips or gulley.
Instead of trying to 'punch' the ball, play the defensive shot as intended: A way of killing the pace of the ball. If you do this correctly it is much harder for an edge
 
Try opening your stance slightly, this will help keep you more balanced, stopping your head from getting outside the line of the ball.
 
But what about bowlers who have a natural swing actions and bowl the other one straigh, i think you should only play to the ball attacking your stumps and wait for the ball to stop swinging and play it late
 
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