|
|
Paced out
There are few more thrilling sights on a cricket field than seeing stumps
cartwheel out of the ground following a quick man breaking through the
guardian's defences. Bowlers like Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar, Shane Bond and Steve
Harmison regularly break through the 90mph (145kph) barrier, but outright speed
isn't the only way to remove a batsman.
Modern-day legends like Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath rely on bowling slightly
shorter (i.e. pitching their deliveries further away from the batsman) with
exceptional control, hitting the seam of the ball and then finding movement in
both directions into and away from the batsman in order to deceive the batsman.
Bowlers such as Chris Martin, Chaminda Vaas and Matthew Hoggard use the natural
shine of a cricket ball, angle the seam and use the direction in their actions
to swing the ball either into or away from batsmen. The majority of fast bowlers
also have a stock of variations aimed at catching their quarry unawares, two
fine recent examples being the slower balls of Ian Harvey and Chris Cairns.
The basic grip used by a quick bowler - or 'seamer' - is to hold the seam of the
ball between his index and middle fingers at the top of the ball, with the thumb
resting upon the seam at the bottom. All the different types of bowling at speed
use this as their base, with slight variations depending on the intended outcome