Bowling | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Fixing Fast Bowlers: Curing Excessive Side Bend

We now know that the most significant cause of spinal stress fractures in fast bowlers comes from excessive side bend, or "lateral flexion" in scientific speak. This is often caused as a result of the body compensating in the delivery stride for things that have not worked correctly further back.

This could be the angle of approach, the angle of bound or misaligned back foot contact.

However, we sometimes get a situation where all of the above are OK and the bowler is still displaying excessive side bend at point of release.

So what can we do about it?

Here is my solution:

Fixing Fast Bowlers: Back Foot Contact

This is the first series of troubleshooting to repair inefficient or physically dangerous fast bowling technique.

The bowling action is complex and prone to breaking down. While we want bowler's to bowl with natural actions, in many cases when we see a flaw we will be quick to try to iron out. This is because injury, and reduction in pace and performance is often associated with the flaw.

One of the most common of these flaws is; as a bowler comes out of her bound and into her back foot contact (BFC). We often see the back leg sweeping underneath the body and then land in a position towards the return crease. As the action is a chain of events only one thing can happen: A misalignment between BFC and front foot contact (FFC).

How to Come Back From a Drubbing

We have all been in England's shoes: A good side at the hands of a huge defeat. How the English fight their way out is a good case study for the teams that we coach.

England are not in unfamiliar territory. They are used to chasing a series after losing the first test match of the tour, It's been happening for years; it started on my watch unfortunately! As the perennial bad starters into fast finishers, England are the Usain Bolt of cricket.

Looking at the facts, England have been undefeated in 55% of overseas Test series in the last 11. However, they have won the opening Test once since 2006. England Coach Andy Flower thrives under this type of pressure, he knows that his team are slow starters and most importantly, history tells him that England fight back well after their slow starts.

So where do they go next, and what can we learn?

Quickfire Analyst: How to Use your Phone to Analyse Bowling Actions

We often talk about video analysis of bowling actions and the importance of building your understanding and awareness of your bowling action as you look to develop and improve.

Lots of people use video analysis, some do it well and others miss opportunities. The reason? Footage from poor angles.

Here is my guide to filming bowling actions on your mobile phone.

Hot like the Sun: Coach Bowlers to Bowl like Broad

Graeme Swann described Stuart Broad as "hot as the surface of the sun" at Durham after his match-winning 11 wicket Ashes haul.

So how did Broad do it, what happened to give him such an edge in the match? And what lessons can we learn from it.

Batting Tactics that Keep Captains Awake at Night

This afternoon, I had a conversation with ex-England captain, Michael Vaughan about the impact on batting tactics and shot execution in limited over cricket.

We discussed how - tactically - the game has gone full circle. The new ODI regulations have influenced the renaissance of an age old limited overs adage.

Keeping wickets is, once again, the holy grail of batting.

Spin Mentor: How to Spin the Ball More

You know that I always am looking to get better myself so I can help players. Recently I have spent time with Muhammad Haroon who now acts as one of my consultants at Millfield School.

Haroon has helped our spinners to spin the ball hard, deceive the batters regularly and has given them unrivalled confidence.

Forced to be Brave: How Spinners Will Achieve the Holy Grail

I used to get annoyed watching the ODI game when a new batter would come to the wicket against a spinner and merrily knock 10 singles in 15 balls without any pressure.

The field setting and the tactics were so defensive.

The New ODI rules and regulations will change all that.

With 5 men as a minimum inside the inner ring, here's what will happen:

How Smart Captains and Fast Bowlers Can Stop the "Batsman's Game"

Most changes to ODI Rules are made to increase scoring opportunities for batters and teams to make the game more of a spectacle. The great thing about the latest rule changes is that captains and bowlers have the chance to hit back!

Here are a couple of options around one type of delivery, the short ball.

How 3 Simple Fitness Exercises Improve Spin Bowling Guile

We all understand how important being strong, balanced and powerful is to a fast bowler, yet we are generally "take it or leave it" when we talk fitness to our spinners.

So, how can being strong benefit a spinner?