Have young bowlers got physique and ability to bowl fast?
By A.C. De Silva
PACE BOWLING: Before a budding pace bowler can even think about
mastering techniques and developing skills, he's got to consider one
vital question: can he bowl fast?
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Graham McKenzie shows the huge, explosive final stride
that’s so important if you want to generate real pace. The
right wrist is cocked, the weight about to be transferred
swiftly from right to left, the eyes are locked on the
target. |
There are some bowlers who think they are quick when in fact they are
not much more than medium pace.
It is potential that has to be considered - forget the smooth,
integrated finished product for the time being, what is important at
this stage is whether he has got the basic physique and ability for the
task?
Fast bowler's physiques, of course, vary: there were the smallish men
(for example Lindwall, Larwood, Trueman) and tall ones (Holding, Hall
and Willis and the ones in between (like Snow, Thomson or Roberts).
And the speed comes from different areas for different bowlers - a
man like Lillee or Willis will get it from a long, fast run-up, while a
muscular fellow like Thomson gets it from the chest and shoulders.
But irrespective of physique, the potential fast bowler should be
well coordinated and athletic. He must be able to more smoothly; it does
not matter, if for the moment, his action is awkward, but if he can run
of turn easily and swiftly, he has the basics right.
The place to judge him is out in the middle, not in the nets, where
you can't get a true picture of him. Normally there isn't room for a
proper fast bowler's run-up there, and if they are indoors he would be
silly to go flat-out because the concrete floor puts a great strain on
ankles and legs.
When someone with potential is bowling in the middle, it is nice to
wander round the ground and view him from all angles. From behind his
arm anyone should be able to see if he can use the crease to vary the
angle, and from side-on, the person watching should be able tell if he
can use his arm movement us swift enough, if that final exciting
explosiveness is there. From side on you too can tell if he's following
through properly or just stopping at the crease when betting the ball
go.
Stamina the key
The promising young quickie must also be lucky - lucky with injuries,
lucky with his school or club and lucky with the coach who tries to
shape him. Bob Willies says that he was noticed because he was
uncomplicated, confident and bowled fast.
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Michael Holding – all liquid and grace and athleticism, a
bowler who gets his tremendous pace from the momentum he
builds up off a 40-yard runup. |
He says that his head wasn't crammed with theories, and he was able
to make the ball fizz through the air.
A fast bowler is an athlete, he has got to be trained almost like a
racehorse, and his coach must nearly be a physiotherapist as well as a
psychologist.
He must try to assess whether the boy fast bowler will grow any more.
Bob Willis says that he shot up from 5'6' at fourteen to 6'4' at
sixteen. He was this as a matchstick, but for his luck nobody stopped
him from trying to bowl fast.
Thinking of fast bowlers, I think most coaches don't realise how much
stamina is needed to manage the huge leap from school or club cricket to
country second eleven standard.
A club cricketer playing just weekends has to change from bowling two
hours on Saturday or Sunday to perhaps four hours a day with a country -
and it's even more demanding for a 16 year-old lad still at school.
Most of the coaches aren't up to dealing with fast bowlers - one good
reason being that the majority of them were all - rounders and batsmen
in their time, not fast men.
At times some boys make it difficult for a coach trying to guide them
on something as specialised as fast bowling. How many times have you
heard a coach tell a young quickie, "Slow down, you're bowling far too
fast," the coach should give the boy a short lecture on the value of
line and length and then discourage him from trying to build up his pace
again?
Old is Gold
Fast bowling is such a delicately poised art that you can lose
something vital from it at any time.
That's when you must rely on your own memory of watching others and
also seek advice from people you respect.
There are many tips that come from non-players, but when they are for
fast bowling, it is always better to listen to those with first-hand
experience of top-class cricket.
A coach, mentor or guide must-always be approachable, and one man
with quality in the past was Alec Bedser for so long the Chairman of
England selectors. He has been a real stickler for the old fashioned
ideals and techniques - hard work in practice, chopping down trees to
build up the muscles, bowling at one stump for hour after hour, running
round fields with heavy army boots on to build up fitness. Bedser has
given very good advice to the past great cricketers.
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