Pace Bowling | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

The One Secret Exercise You Need to Improve Bowling Speed

Exercises to Bowl FasterYour hips are the powerhouse of the bowling action: You have leapt to the crease, landed with a braced front leg and there is a surge of energy heading up your body like a pole vaulter's pole sends them over the bar.

Should You Bowl at Batsmen in Nets?

Every team has one.

The staunch one. The guy who says bowlers should always bowl at batsmen in nets. It more realistic and anyway, nets are more for batsman than for bowlers.

This is frustrating. You know how it goes. The batter who is timid in the middle feels like KP in the safety of the net. There are wild swings, switch hits and all manner of unreal shots. You know they would never be played in a match.

Your practice is wasted.

Worse; there is nothing you can do about it while the staunch one looms over you telling you to pitch it up and give the batsman a chance to work on driving.

And besides, you want to give your team some batting practice too. It's not like you are totally selfish.

Do you fight hard against the staunch one to get time to bowl at a target, or do you give up an resign yourself to being a bowling machine?

In fact, you can keep everyone happy quite easily with a simple trick.

Work on Your Strengths to Bowl Faster

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What Yorkers Teach About Cricket Coaching

I watched a bowling session last week with Kevin Shine, the Lead Fast Bowling Coach for the ECB. The topic was one that was discussed recently by Steffan Jones: bowling yorkers.

Everyone Stop Messing About and Bowl Some Yorkers

Steffan Jones bowled a yorker or two in his time and he wants to stem the flood away from bowling them. Here is how to take out those toes.

Why is the yorker going out of the game?

Maybe you have been told that by trying to bowl the yorker you are likely to either bowl a full toss or a half volley.These days those balls will disappear into the stands either over long-on or ramped over the keeper. The batters have got stronger and the bats have got bigger so the margin of error has decreased. Bowling a yorker is a risky business.

But you know what?

A true yorker still remains a ball you can't hit for six.

Unlock Your Coaches' Code to Boost Your Cricket

Has your coach ever said something to you that you don't quite get?

Don't you feel like you are missing out because you can't decode it?

You are not alone.

Is There Really One Simple Change That Corrects Almost Every Bowling Technical Error?

I'll cut to the chase; there is a simple change to your bowling action that is a big hitter in fault correction.

Straighten your run up.

You see, when it comes to technique, so much that goes wrong can be traced back to an earlier point. That's why batting coaches focus on the grip and stance first, and it's why your bowling coach should look at your run up before he starts with the "business end" of the action.

Of course, a straighter run up will not fix everything, and there are exceptions to the rule. That said, there is plenty that can be done without ever worrying about 6 months of corrective drills and rebuilding your action.

So, spinner or seamer, Here are some of the things a straighter run up can correct:

Good Enough for Dhoni: 4 More Village Tactics to Try

In the 2nd Test against England, Dhoni stood back to the spinner.

It's a tactic regularly employed in lower standard games where the keeper doesn't have the confidence to stand up. In short, it's village cricket.

But there was a method in the madness.

Use a Coin to Stop Bowling No Balls

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Want to stop bowling no balls?

It's a horrible problem because no one has sympathy for you. It's almost like people think you are doing it on purpose. The captain gives you the stink-eye every time and you feel terrible.

Worse, the more you think about it, the harder it gets to bowl well.

So, even when you do stay being the line, you bowl like a drain anyway.

Let's put an end to the pain. Today.

Bowl Faster with Better Training Timing

This is a guest article from Steffan Jones.

You're bowling speed can drop in a just a week.

It's no good training all winter for speed, coming to the start of the season and losing the vital physiological qualities that enable you to bowl quickly. That's why understanding the timing of training is crucial if you want to stop wasting your off-season.