Swing Bowling in T20 James Pattinson

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SWING BOWLING IN T20 WITH JAMES PATTINSON SWING BOWLING IN T20 WITH JAMES PATTINSON

There are three different types of swing.

New ball swing, old ball swing and reverse swing. The key factors effecting swing bowling are: • Condition of the ball (new or roughed up) • Wrist position (the position/direction of your wrist when you release the ball) • Seam position (the position of the seam once you release the ball) • Release point (where your arm is when you release the ball – higher or wider) • Arm pathway (where you follow through with your arm once you have released the ball)

Let me explain each type of swing and how each of these factors play a part. Firstly…..

New Ball Swing As the name suggests, new ball swing is when the ball is brand new and both sides are shiny. The way that the ball swings is by using the seam as a ‘rudder’. For my examples I’m going to be talking about a right arm bowler to right handed batsmen.

If you are trying to bowl an outswinger (swinging away from the right hander) with the new ball the seam will be positioned towards ﬁrst or second slip and your wrist angled in PATTINSON that direction as well. See the photo below….

www.australiancricketinstitute.comwww.clt20academy.com The release point for an outswinger is slightly wider, so your arm slightly away from your head and your arm pathway is across your body, down to your left leg….see the photo below….

www.australiancricketinstitute.comwww.clt20academy.com For the inswinger we do everything in reverse. The seam and your wrist point slightly to ﬁne leg. The release point is higher, so trying to brush your ear with your arm. See the photo below….

Your arm pathway is through to your right leg for the inswinger.

Old Ball Swing Old ball swing occurs when one side of the ball gets rougher than the other. This happens by purposely taking better care of one side of the ball by shinning it. The reason the ball swings is because the rougher side has more friction and catches the air more, dragging the ball in that direction.

www.australiancricketinstitute.comwww.clt20academy.com Wrist position, release point and arm pathways all remain the same as new ball swing. With the old ball, instead of using the seam as a rudder you are using the rough side so you can keep the seam straight. The ball will swing towards the rough side so if you want to bowl an outswinger (right arm bowler to right arm batter) you have the rough side pointing to ﬁrst slip. If you want to bowl an inswinger you have the rough side pointing to ﬁne leg.

Reverse Swing Reverse swing is similar to old ball swing but this time, as the name suggests, it swings in the reverse direction. So the ball starts to swing towards the shiny side.

Without getting to scientiﬁc, the reason this happens is because one side of the ball gets so rough that instead of encasing that side of the ball, air skips straight past that side, causing more friction on the side it’s encasing…the shiny side. This makes the ball swing to the shiny side.

Reverse swing is hard to achieve in t20 cricket because you are only bowling for 20 overs. It does happen sometimes on very rough surfaces and wickets but is more common in 50 over cricket and test matches. When you do get the ball

www.australiancricketinstitute.comwww.clt20academy.com reversing it’s very effective because it’s hard to pick up and generally swings very late and a long way.

You will notice teams trying to purposely rough up one side to achieve reverse swing by throwing the ball in to the keeper on the bounce. Remember this has to be done within the rules.

Basic Swing Drill: Wrist position The ﬁrst and most basic drill I like to use to practice swing bowling is the wrist position drill. This is a good warm up drill to work on getting your wrist and the seam in the right position.

Grab a partner and stand about 5 meters apart to start off. With ball in hand, rest your bowling arm elbow on your non bowing hand. See the photo below.

To do this drill throw the ball to your partner and try to use just your wrist as much as possible. Practice releasing the ball for an out swinger and an inswinger and see if you can keep the seam upright.

www.australiancricketinstitute.comwww.clt20academy.com Challenge: Have a competition with your partner to see who can release the ball correctly with the seam upright the most times in a row or ﬁrst to 10.

Advanced Swing Drill An advanced drill I like to use to practice my swing bowling is swinging the ball around a stump. Set one stump up or something similar on about off stump line on a good length. See the picture below.

This drill is great for practicing both inswing and outswing bowling. The aim of the drill is to swing the ball around the stump. If you’re bowling an outswinger the aim is to get the ball to pass the right hand side of the stump and miss off stump. If you are bowling an inswinger the aim is to get the ball to pass the left hand side of the stump and hit off stump or middle stump.

I know there’s a lot to take in there on swing bowling. It’s one of the most effective weapons a bowler has against batsmen. Every bowler will have a way their natural action allows them to swing the ball. Once you have ﬁgured out your action and how to consistently swing the ball your natural way, work on swinging the ball the other way. Bowlers who can swing the ball both ways are very dangerous and hard to play!