BOWLING BASICS

In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman.
 A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler.
 Bowling the ball is distinguished from simply throwing the ball by a strictly 
specified biomechanical definition which restricts the angle of extension of the elbow.

There are different types of bowlers ranging from fast bowlers, whose primary weapon is pace,
 through swing and seam bowlers who try to make the ball deviate in its course through the air or 

when it bounces, to slow bowlers, who will attempt to deceive the batsmen with a variety of flight and spin. 
A single act of bowling the ball towards the batsman is called a ball or a delivery. 


Every bowler has his own individual style of bowling and it should not be changed if it is within 
the basics of bowling. There are some basic points in bowling which implies for
 both fast bowlers and the slow bowlers. 
To know the basics of bowling, first we need to break down the bowling action into various parts and then
 look at it closely. 






Before knowing bowling basics, as a cricket player you have to have some key points, to keep it in mind. 
They are
1.Fitness.
2.Commitment.
3.Temperament.
4.Approach.
5.Patience.
6.Discipline.
7.Enjoying Cricket rather than thinking of losing or winning.
8.Concentration.
9.Keep it Simple.
These points are extremely important especially for bowlers because as we know, 
today the Cricket is not a balanced game between the ball and a bat, 
it has become batsman dominated game and most of the pitches in this part of the world are now
 batsman favored. Not much is left for bowlers



1.FITNESS

Fitness was commonly defined as the capacity to carry out the day’s activities
without undue fatigue.
However, as automation increased leisure time, changes in lifestyles following
the industrial revolution rendered this definition insufficient

fitness comprises two related concepts: 
general fitness (a state of health and well-being) and
specific fitness (a task-oriented definition based on the ability to perform specific aspects of sports or occupations). 
 fitness is generally achieved through correct nutrition exercise , and enough rest.

It is the fast bowlers who often get injured in modern Cricket than compared to batsman.
He needs to concentrate and work hard more on his fitness than any other player in Cricket.

He always has to keep his legs fit and strong which is Crucial in run up. 

To happen this, running is the best evergreen exercise.
The shoulders and arm has to be strong and fit enough,
which is Crucial in bowling action.
Here strong and fit doesn't mean to have the heavy body with great muscles.
By naturally you have to become strong and fit. By artificially
i.e by going to gyms you can also become strong and fit, but running is always the best natural
 exercise for fast bowlers. You know its not like the batsman who always stands in crease for
whatever time he wants, its you the bowler who should always run for every ball
to bowl from a long distance.

our club level players are not having enough time for excise so instead of that they play more matches....
Playing lots of cricket is important to success.
 The more you bat or bowl under serious competitive elements the better you get at it.
But cricket also causes imbalances in our muscles that without fitness training can
lead to increased chance of injury.
The right fitness work can correct those errors before they become injuries,
particularly with bowlers.

For example, in a close game where sides are roughly equal .

 It would take a very unlucky or mentally unprepared team to lose if they are physically capable
of playing hard to the last ball:

Faster batsmen can steal more runs.
More powerful players can hit more boundaries.

Fitter bowlers can maintain pace and accuracy even at the death.
Less tired fielders have better concentration and reactions.

All the technique in the world is no good if you can't maintain it under fatigue.
That's why, even as club cricketers, we should look at our diet and fitness plan on the same level as
 our technique practice.

A fit cricketer needs to develop a lot of areas to be at the peak of their performance:
strength, power, speed, work capacity, agility, balance and technical skills are all part of the equation.

It's impossible to train all these at the same time and make progress on them all.

That means you need to take a 'concentrated' approach to your training:
 Focus on improving 2-3 key areas at any one time while only maintaining the others
(with less sessions per week).

Rotate the areas you focus on regularly to get the best results, but never leave any aspect out.
Unless you want your body to forget that is.

However, some things are universal to almost any sport: sprinting, jumping,
 changing direction quickly and
striking are far more similar than different. After all, if you can run fast you can run fast playing cricket,

 hockey, football or chasing the bus.
In short, the difference between the gym and matches is
 the former gets you fit to play, the latter makes you play to get fit.

What is  stamina? '

Stamina' in bowling terms is really a your ability to repeat your bowling action many times
without loss of technique, speed or accuracy. In short the more stamina you have the longer
it takes to get tired and the less effect that tiredness has on your bowling speed and accuracy.

Here are 4 ways you can develop this.

1.Bowl as much as you can.
There is nothing more specific to cricket than playing cricket.
 Whenever you get the chance then bowl. You can head down the nets on your own with
 some old balls and something to use as a target if there is noone around to train with you.
Bowl in overs with a few minutes rest between if you can to make things more realistic
or play as many games as possible. Every time you hit the nets try and bowl a few more
overs before you have a rest. Always bowl at top speed too, a shorter intensive burst is more
beneficial than going through the motions for longer.
2.Train while you are tired.
Every now and again, do some bowling when you are physically tired,
perhaps at the end of a training session or workout. This will teach you to bowl with intensity
even when you feel the tiredness coming on. It's important not to do this too often or on your own.
 Train with another bowler or batter who can watch your technique and let you know when it starts to go.
As soon as your action fails you, stop for the day.
3.Run to build work capacity.
Running is the next best thing to bowling for increasing your stamina.
I'm not averse to rowing either but running should be your number one method. Use interval training
to build up your lung capacity and ability to hold off the build up of lactic acid. Intervals are also better
 for reducing your body fat without causing loss of strength. Long, slow runs are not only a bit boring
for most cricketers, but they reduce your ability to bowl quickly by turning fast powerful muscle
fibres into slow fibres for, you guessed it, slow jogging.
4.Strength train.
Combine your running and cricket sessions with strength training of
some kind at least twice a week. This will keep your strength and power levels high and make
sure you only lose fat, not muscle while building endurance. Lift with heavy weight and low reps
if you can to counter balance the endurance training. Avoid high reps and low weights but
 bodyweight training is a good compromise if you are not keen on going to the gym.

What is cramp?

Cramp is the pain you feel when a specific muscle unconsciously contracts.
You have no control over when it happens but it always happens during or just after
 playing cricket (or other exercise).

While you are cramping you can barely use that muscle,
f at all. Even after the cramp has gone (and sometimes they can last for several minutes)
the muscle can feel sore.

Some people cramp more than others.

What causes cramp?
Traditionally, cramp has been thought to be caused by loss of salt and/or potassium through sweating.
hile you do lose electrolytes when you sweat, there is a debate among scientists as to whether this is
enough to cause the problem.
Nobody knows for sure.
There is one other theory. It's a complex one that says the when the nervous system that controls
 a particular muscle gets tired it also gets confused and contracts more than it should.

This second theory explains why cramp is more common in certain muscles.
 Muscles that span 2 joints spend too much time contracted (for example gripping the bat).
 They get fatigued which kicks off the reflex of cramping.
But again, it's never been proven beyond doubt.

Preventing cramp..?

Nobody knows enough about cramp to give an absolute answer to preventing them.
 Here a few things you could try:

Drink water at about 500ml per hour.
Drink a sports drink at the same rate to replace lost electrolytes.
Avoid drinking too much of anything to prevent diluting your electrolyte levels.
Eat a banana for the potassium.

Stretch every day and certainly after exercise or playing.

Cramp varies from person to person. Some things work for some people and not for others.
 Experiment with how much you drink (don't overdo it as this can be highly dangerous) and what you eat.

Performance - 

Fitness improves bowling speed, hitting power, reaction times and running speed.
It does this for everyone without fail (no matter how old). What's more,
even highly trained elite players suffer no loss of performance through bulking up -
they are not training for huge bodybuilder muscles and neither should you
(for more on the science of fitness of performance see Further Reading).

Injury Prevention -
Stronger bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons reduce the risk of injury.
Teamwork -
Training in pairs or in a team is great for building camaraderie between teammates. Making training competitive also makes it more fun.
Variation -
 Playing cricket is the best way to get fit for cricket. That said, the body likes variation. Different activities cross train your body and keep your mind alert.
Health -
 General fitness makes you feel and look better in the rest of your life too.
So while fitness should not overtake skills or actually playing cricket there really
is only one way - from serious player to the park on a Sunday - an organised,
specific training programme.

the below chart is used by international players for fitness

2.COMMITMENT.

The 4C's
Concentration, confidence, control and commitment (the 4C's) are generally considered the main
 mental qualities that are important for successful performance in Any  sports . 
when your commitment level is very  high the other 3 c’s are within your reach
•Concentration - ability to maintain focus
•Confidence - believe in one's abilities
•Control - ability to maintain emotional control regardless of distraction
•Commitment - ability to continue working to agreed goals
The techniques of relaxation, centering and mental imagery can assist an athlete to achieve the 4C's.
Concentration

This is the mental quality to focus on the task in hand. If the cricketer  lacks concentration then 
their criketing abilities will not be effectively or efficiently applied to the task. Research has
 identified the following types of attention focus:
•Broad Narrow continuum - the player focuses on a large or small number of stimuli
•Internal External continuum - the player focuses on internal stimuli (feelings) or external stimuli (ball)
The demand for concentration varies with the sport to sport :
•Sustained concentration - distance running, cycling, tennis, squash
•Short bursts of concentration - cricket, golf, shooting, athletic field events
•Intense concentration - sprinting events, bobsleigh, skiing
Common distractions are: anxiety, mistakes, fatigue, weather, public announcements, coach, manager, opponent, negative thoughts etc.

Strategies to improve concentration are very personal. One way to maintain focus is to set process goals for each session or competition. The athlete will have an overall goal for which the cricketer will identify a number of process goals that help focus on specific aspects of the task. For each of these goals the cricketer can use a trigger word (a word which instantly refocuses the cricketer’s concentration to the goal will develop a routine for competition that may include the night before, the morning, pre competition, competition and post competition routines. If these routines are appropriately structured then they can prove a useful aid to concentration.


Confidence


Confidence results from the comparison an cricketer makes between the goal and their ability. 
The cricketer will have self-confidence if they believe they can achieve their goal. 
(Comes back to a quote of mine - "You only achieve what you believe").
When an cricketer has self confidence they will tend to: persevere even when things are not going to plan,
 show enthusiasm, be positive in their approach and take their share of the responsibility 
in success and fail.

To improve their self confidence, a  cricketer can use mental imagery to:
•visualise previous good performance to remind them of the look and feel
•imagine various scenarios and how they will cope with them
Good goal setting (challenging yet realistic) can bring feelings of success. If cricketer can 
see that they are achieving their short term goals and moving towards their long term goals
 then confidence grows.
Confidence is a positive state of mind and a belief that you can meet the challenge ahead 
- a feeling of being in control. It is not the situation that directly affects confidence; 
thoughts, assumptions and expectations can build or destroy confidence.
High self confidence
•Thoughts - positive thoughts of success
•Feelings - excited, anticipation, calm, elation, prepared
•Focus - on self, on the task
•Behaviour - give maximum effort and commitment, willing to take chances, 
positive reaction to set backs, open to learning, take responsibility for outcomes
Low self confidence

•Thoughts - negative, defeat or failure, doubt
•Feelings - tense, dread, fear. not wanting to take part
•Focus - on others, on less relevant factors (coach, umpire, conditions)
•Behaviour - lack of effort, likely to give up, unwilling to take risks (rather play safe),
 blame others or conditions for outcome


Control


Identifying when an feels a cricketer particular emotion and understanding the reason for the 
feelings is an important stage of helping an cricketer gain emotional control. 

(Tendulkar's father, died in the middle of the 1999 Cricket World Cup. 
Tendulkar flew back to India to attend the final rituals of his father, 
missing the match against Zimbabwe. However, he returned with a bang to the World cup
 scoring a century (unbeaten 140 off 101 balls) in his very next match against Kenya in Bristol.
 He dedicated this century to his father.)

(Against west indies anil kumble broke his jaw while batting
When it was India's turn to bowl, Anil Kumble appeared from Pavilion with broken jaw and bandage 
over his head. ... The sight of Anil ready taking part in the match with injury showed his urge towards 
commitment in his profession. ... and stated that he wanted to undergo after 
he tries his best for the victory of the country)





A cricketer’s     ability to maintain control of their emotions in the face of adversity and remain positive is essential to successful performance. Two emotions that are often associated with poor performance are anxiety and anger.
Anxiety comes in two forms - Physical (butterflies, sweating, nausea, needing the toilet) 
and Mental (worry, negative thoughts, confusion, lack of concentration). Relaxation is a 
technique that can be used to reduce anxiety.


When a   cricketer    becomes angry, the cause of the anger often becomes the focus of attention. This then leads to a lack of concentration on the task, performance deteriorates and confidence in ability is lost which fuels the anger - a slippery slope to failure.
Commitment
games performance depends on the cricketer being fully committed to numerous goals over many years.
 In competition with these goals the cricketer will have many aspects of daily life to manage. 
The many competing interests and commitments include work, studies, family/partner, friends, 
social life and other hobbies/sports
Within the cricketer 's sport, commitment can be undermined by:
•a perceived lack of progress or improvement
•not being sufficiently involved in developing the training program
•not understanding the objectives of the training program
•injury
•lack of enjoyment
•anxiety about performance - competition
•becoming bored
•cricketer’s coach not working as a team
•lack of commitment by other cricketer 
•Setting goals with the cricketer will raise their feelings of value, 
give them joint ownership of the goals and therefore become more committed to achieving them. 
All goals should beSMARTER.
Many people (coach, medical support team, manager, friends, etc) 
can contribute to a cricketer’s levels of commitment with appropriate levels of support and positive
 feedback, especially during times of injury, illness and poor performance.

So Just having the talent is not enough, as a player you have to have commitment and temperament. Lets say on a pitch you are not getting swing, bounce and nothing from hit. And only choice for you is to bowl straight wicket to wicket in line and length. Here comes the word 'commitment', now it tests your commitment, that is how much you are committed to bowl in line and length consistently. We can have other example, if a batsman sledges you in many ways you can loose your patience, then now it tests your commitment towards your patience and discipline


3.TEMPERAMENT

It is already said earlier the talent along with temperament is Crucial. 
Lets a new bowler in a Test Match is bowling to a good batsman. 
We know a good batsman always attack debut ant bowlers, so whatever the bowler bowls,
 he is been hit every where on the ground, he was unable to stop him from hitting, 
he is trying too many things i.e experimenting too many variations, 

he was unable to stick on one variation or one plan or one strategy which simply implies he was unable to maintain his tempo.
Even though he has the talent i.e has bowled so many variations, but didn't controlled his temperament i.e by not sticking to the one strategy or one plan
Getting to big match temperament
How many times in your matches have you played a rash stroke and regretted it later?
It’s all down to temperament.
In our early days as cricketers our flamboyant side will have the better of us. It’s no surprise because fast paced games have encouraged youngsters to be glitzy.
But even in Twenty20, if you want to become a serious cricketer, temperament is a must-have.
Temperament makes you a rock in the middle order. You will become the Sachin Tendulkar or Jacques Kallis of your team.

 Here are few things you should keep in mind when going out to bat &bowl
Focus on the task at hand
In cricket matches, especially big ones, it’s normal to feel adrenaline soaring. 
Even international players feel that way. If you hit a boundary, you feel you are on fire.
Yet how many batsmen lose their wickets after hitting few boundaries?
The emotions, thrill and excitement have got the better of them.


To avoid this fate, plan your innings as you go along; play according to the situation, 
not how you feel. Players may lose their wickets around you or you may be in a big, 
aggressive stand. Either way, just keep going and thinking about the next ball.
Good cricket players don’t come in to bat with a hot head. As you must have noticed, 
nothing seems to bother them. They are immune to rants, sledging, crowd and all the 
excitement. They just want to bat.
That’s what you should look to do: score runs and put your team in a winning position 
whatever the situation.
Stay calculating under pressure
Imagine you are batting and you have to chase a high total.
Are you calculating how to stay close to the rate without losing your wicket?
 It’s surprising how many batsmen feel they have to hit a lot of boundaries. 
They go for the big hit and get out.
Dependable players know better. A few dot deliveries are not a cause for panic.
 They still wait for the bad balls but they also look at how to exploit gaps in the field 
to rotate the strike.
You don’t have to be a blocker to have a good temperament. Every team needs 
dependable batsman but dependable means being able to stay focused and calculating 
depending on the situation. That’s just as true in short format cricket as it is in longer games. 
(I don't have temperament to play Test cricket: Afridi )

(My decision was absolutely the right one. I don't think I am a Test-temperament player, 
hence it's best that instead of me, players more suited to Test cricket are selected," Afridi said.
Afridi had quit the five-day format after Pakistan lost to Australia at Lord's, last year.)

("The Wall" for his solid defence and unflappable temperament, Dravid)


(Set for his big break at the international stage after being selected for India's Test series against the  West Indies next month, 

Tamil Nadu batsman Abhinav Mukund says his temperament will be his 
biggest strength during the tour.) 

To be continue......