How To Bowl A Yorker | 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?

 

Because they are hard to bowl for most of us.

The target area is smaller than any other ball. There is no room for error. The ideal yorker must land in a tiny area at the batsman's feet:

Miss that box (which is about 50cm by 20cm) and you end up bowling a half volley or full toss and getting smashed for a boundary. You have to be exact and that ain't easy. So what do most of us do? Work on "line and length" and ignore the yorker until you bowl one by accident.

That plan will never get you to the top. Let's do something different instead: Learn how to hit that target with confidence and you will have a powerful weapon.

So, how do you bowl a yorker?

  • Look at the target. Ask most bowler's where they look when they are running in and they won't be quite sure. For some of us, this is fine, but for at least half (if not more) laser-focus your eyes in on something. This could be the batsman's toes, the crease line, the base of off stump or anywhere you know will drive you to the right length. I know of one bowler who focused on just above the batsman's head! It worked for him, he could nail those yorkers. So, find your point and imagine yourself hitting the right spot as you run in.
  • Drive your bowling shoulder to the target. The bowling shoulder is crucial in bowling a yorker. Drive it towards the base of the stumps and if you do it right the ball will be faster and fuller. Other than this technical change, there is not much more you can do to specifically bowl a yorker. That said, the more powerful your action, the better your accuracy in general, so send time developing an action that gives you the best chance of accuracy. Use Ian Pont's 4 Tent Pegs as a starting point.
  • Practice deliberately. If you do nothing else, do this. Yorkers are hard to bowl so they need practice. Don't wait until a game to see if you can bowl one. After your normal net session, do some target practice without a batsman in the way. Go for 80:20 split. So if you bowl 40 balls in practice, bowl 8 yorkers at the end. This is why PitchVision is so important for bowlers, as you can track your improvement over time no matter how small. If we don't track it, we tend to assume we did well or badly based on the last few balls rather than seeing an uptick in accuracy from 64% to 71%. Keep track of your accuracy over the weeks you can trace how much you are improving.

Producing a good yorker is not about having a natural talent for it, but it's more about practicing so much you can get it right under pressure in the middle. Yet most bowlers trying for no more reason that it's harder to bowl than a good line and length.

Don't be that guy. Use just a few extra balls practice a week, build the confidence to bowl yorkers and take more wickets.

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Comments

I don't bowl them too often, but when I do I make a conscious effort to release the ball later (but not too late!) than my normal 'length' ball. Similar process to a successful bouncer i've found, although bouncers are easier due to not having to aim as far down the pitch.

I'd say your releasing the ball earlier rather than later.
Anyways my own tips for yorkers:
- Yorkers can be varied in terms of line and speed.
- For saving runs, yorkers should be bowled a little conservatively to maintain your control.
- Save your energy for your yorkers and build up to it, ie. bowling a bouncer, short of a length, short of a length, than a yorker.
When i want to bowl yorkers or even just fuller, i have a couple of different techniques besides the usual "bowl faster", "release the ball earlier" and "aim where you want to bowl" techniques. 1 is by dragging my right foot along the ground at the point of delivery (i'm a right arm bowler), i feel this keeps my body stature up a bit more, the other is i might bowl a bit more side on, which kind of forces me to bowl the ball earlier, and also you have more control on length but lose a bit of accuracy with line.
- It's also important to know where exactly you want to land your yorker. For saving runs, I'll probably bowl very wide outside off and set an offside field if the wide rule is lenient, if it isn't I'll probably aim just outside off to stop the batsman from swinging his arms and also forcing him to play across the line. Obviously this depends on where the batsman is standing and what his weaknesses are. I try not to bowl the yorker too straight cause it risks being flicked for four.
For attacking, I like aiming at off stump rather than middle or leg because i feel it's harder to play. I found this out once while i was batting, have never had any problems playing yorkers until there was a yorker on off stump, can't say i played it too well, makes it worse that i was batting defensively.
Hope i helped.

"I'd say your releasing the ball earlier rather than later."

Yes you're right, obviously dreaming of bouncers too much!

I ask my bowlers to focus on the base of the stumps or, if the keeper is standing up, his gloves as a target. Focusing on the batsman's feet can be off-putting, particularly in T20 format cricket, as batsmen move around in their crease and can distract the bowler in his run-up. Even at elite level you see bowlers bailing out of deliveries due to this.
If you miss the small target area described, a low full toss is generally more difficult to put away than a rank half-volley.

so sir how to grip the ball and how to release the ball

same grip!like ur outswing or ur inswing the only diference is 2 keep ur eyes on the target ....that is the toes or the base of stums which i find is more suitable fr me...and remeber 2 aling ur slef 2wards the target n practice hard ..gud luck Smiling

hi i hope you r fine as a matter of fact bouncers are easy only for bowlers who r tall i think u r tall too therefore u r calling bouncer easy but a perfect bouncer much harder to bowl than a yorker by the way r u on facebook if yes add me there issac441@hotmail.com is my id take care goood bye

thnxx..fr ur advice ,,but i hv one more major problm,,,i m nt able 2 bowl well constantly..say in one match i take 4 wikets in 2 overs nd sum other day i bowl at pathetic speed,line nd length..in a singl over i bowl 5-6 wides,or no balls..my frends make fun of me.. Sad

i'm only 18 years old but i can easily yorker my 25 year old brother. when i do so he says im cheating.

i think to bowl the right yorker is very hard but it can be practiced then and then we can bowl the yarker when i bowl yarker (i am left handed) i used to bowl it faster and try to bowl in the feet

i want to increase my pace and bowl more yorkers. wat shud i do? and in batting i cant hit many sixes so wat to do? only can hit 4s.

How to swing tennis ball?
I tried with tapping it on one end and it really works fine but in tournament we cannot use tapped tennis ball and all the practise done with tapped ball doesnot work there Sad

Can you please advice what should i do to swing the tennis ball without tapping it out?

Usually i can bawl at the speed of 120 - 130 KMPH.

How to ball ofcutter with tennis ball...
Plz rply frndz...

How to ball yorker and on good lenth should be claerly explain plzzzz

Hi,
I am not a regular bowler .My probleme is that i am unable to place the ball.If i want to place a short pitch ball i bowl a good length ball.I cannot ball which i want to.

there should be window between the ball and the hand.push the hand to throw it!its simple:D

Hi i m a medium fast in swing bowler my deliveries are usually short pitched can u please suggest me how to bowl a beamer so that i can thrash batsmens head off

Hi i m a medium fast in swing bowler my deliveries are usually short pitched can u please suggest me how to bowl a beamer so that i can thrash batsmens head off

Beamers are inefficient - what if you miss? Just run down the pitch and punch the batsman in the helmet. Much more effective means of getting yourself permanently banned from all forms of cricket.

Off cutter is easy to bowl but it is less useful than leg cutter. Big defact is that off cutter didnot reduce much speed and after spin it could come straight to bat and hope for a six or four whether in leg cutter or backhand (turn wrist after releasing bowl) these are slower than off cutter and more chances of stump if keeper is standing b/w wickets. But it is difficult in tennis ball rather than the Hard ball.