Spin Bowling | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

How To Bowl A Yorker

Yorkers are game changing balls.

Any bowler. On any pitch. At any time. You turn an innings around with the use of a good yorker or two. Ian Pont thinks they are so important that mastering one gives you a blank cheque for the IPL. But it's not just at the end of a Twenty20 game where they are destructive.

A yorker is a difficult ball to negotiate, even for well set batsman. You can bring it any time you want to upset the guy at the other end. You can use it to break a big partnership in longer games just as effectively as you can keep runs down at the death.

So if they are so useful, why don't we see them used more often?

Video: Spin Bowling Coaching Session

Here's the next cricket coaching video filmed recently at Millfield School. This time it's all about the spinners.

More Spin With The Helesfay-Dewer Spin Bowling Drill

I know you love a drill, so here is one from one of our recent coaching additions at Millfield School, Dan Helesfay. Dan has recently been shortlisted for the ECB Young Coach of the Year and has made a really strong impact within our programme since joining us in the 1st week of the January.

Dan took the drill from another ex-work colleague of mine, Ross Dewar. Ross is the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Worcestershire. Dan adapted it and worked it into a session that was concentrating on the role of the hips within a spin bowling action.

You may recall a recent article which featured the research taken from the ECB's Spin bowling department. This drill is a good way of building a bowling action which promotes increased body rotation, increased revolutions on the ball and a more advanced release position: All good things for a spinner to have in their technical tool box.

Set Up: Knock Down: A Leg Spin Field Tactic

Max Andrews is a freelance coach on PitchVision Academy, in this article he talks us through the mysteries of spin bowling tactics.

There is a lot of information on the the correct action to be able to bowl well. But it is very difficult to find information on how to bowl in match scenarios, and what fields to set.

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.

How to Prepare for a Cricket Trial

Trials are unique: The feeling of nervousness on arrival, the pressure of your first delivery and - hopefully -the feeling of excitement as they crunch a pull shot from the “big lad”.

Here are a few tips. They may not revolutionise your stats at the end of the season, but will install a game plan, or a little structure to your trial. Possibly taking you from a player who just missed out, to the one that snuck in the back door.

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.

Learn as Fast as Moeen Ali with These Spin Tips

Alistair Cook called England all-rounder Moeen Ali the fastest learner that he has ever played with. England's spinning sensation has gone from barely-used in his debut to take 19 wickets in the series against India.

So what exactly is it that Moeen has learnt?

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.