Pro Bowling Actions?

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phil2oo8

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Pro Bowling Actions?

Hi, this is a fairly irrelevant thread but i was talking to me mate down at the club other day and he told me that (by the way Jimmy Anderson is one of me favourite bwlrs) that Bob Willis said Anderson would only be able bowl for 5 years with his action.
I was just wondering:
Whats wrong with Andersons action?
Which fast bowler has the worst action?
How many bowlers and who have mixed actions?

Just one of these things that I talk about quite alot with lads down at club when where playin Table Tennis, so i don't no how many people have thought the same?
 
Re: Pro Bowling Actions?

It's a good question but just what is a bad action? Some people can bowl with an action that is as far from the ideal as you can get, yet never suffer injury. Others are near enough spot on and break down.

The same goes for success and taking wickets.

IIRC Anderson had his action changed a few years ago, so you friend may be thinking of an old Willis quote.
 
Re: Pro Bowling Actions?

There really aren't huge amounts of young international standard, or, well, even first class cricketers that have really dangerous, mixed bowling actions. They just don't make it through the cracks now. I know more and more grassroots clubs in Australia are investing in accreditations for coaches overseeing kids as young as under 10 (or milo-have-a-go) and are being trained to spot mixed actions.

My guess would be that the most undesirable thing that fast bowlers at the top level do are 1) poor, or incorrect use of the front arm (maybe explaining the lack of mcgrath clones/ people able to bowl line and length) and 2) poor run ups (too long, too short, angled)
 
Re: Pro Bowling Actions?

I totally agree with your second point about the run-ups. That seems to be one of the main area that needs to be cleaned up with the kids I see. They often think coming in from 30 paces is fine, or that they can amble up from 3 and then fire the ball down at 80mph just using the back/shoulders.
 
Re: Pro Bowling Actions?

Spot on, Scott.

I can't wait til I get a decent digital video camera so I can upload videos of a couple of my kids for critique's sake.

But there are four in particular that have enormous potential but that have all the issues that are likely to come up with young and talented bowlers.
1) Probably the most complete of the bowlers right now, who has a lovely action, but ambles in off a medium sized run up almost without purpose. Approaching any quicker seems to throw him off though. I'm sure he'd gain between 5 -10kms an hour with a faster, more purposeful approach.
2) Not far off from being the same talent as number 1), but who is the exact opposite: Runs in off a near identical sized run up, but almost too quickly, and as a result, with a greatly exagerated leap into the bowling crease, which sees him lose most of that momentum.
3) Beautiful swing bowler (probably just a little short though, damn!) who approaches almost perfectly, but sways off his train tracks in the last two steps before entering his delivery stride. I've given him lines to run down, set up cones, etc. I'm thinking the only thing I can do is to set up two poles horizonally to ensure that he can't physically move off of that line.
4) Probably the quickest of the lot: But has an incredibly unusual stutter that unfortunately should have been coached out of him a long time before he reached me. As a result, he is one of the 'come in off four steps and shoulder the ball down'.

It's amazing the variety of the issues that can come around with something that seems like it should be so bloody simple: Running in to bowl!

/end thread hijack.
 
Re: Pro Bowling Actions?

It also pays to be mindful that sometimes actions outside of the accepted 'best practice' can and do work. The main thing in all of this is the individual - as long as what they're doing works, is causing minimal injury risk and that they're happy, then that's a big part of the job done.
 
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