Slower ball

Last updated May 18, 2021

In the sport of cricket, a slower ball is a slower-than-usual delivery from a fast bowler. The bowler's intention is to deceive the batsman into playing too early so that he either misses the ball completely or hits it high up in the air to offer an easy catch. It is analogous to a changeup in baseball.

The slower ball, also known as the 'Wandi ball' technique was popularised in response to the demands of limited-overs cricket, not only to get wickets but also to slow down the scoring rate, as a slower ball will not carry to the boundary as easily as a normal fast delivery if it is hit square or behind the wicket. It is especially used in the last ten or so overs as variation in speed, in addition to line and length, is the key to preventing a late flurry of runs from the batsmen.

To be effective, the slower ball must be directed at or near the stumps in order to force the batsman to play, and the bowler's action must appear entirely normal. There are various tricks that the bowler can employ to slow the ball down:

Bowling from the back of the hand, effectively a fast googly
Bowling with split fingers: the fingers are placed either side of the seam of the ball, and the ball is bowled full-length; when done correctly the delivery will appear to be a full toss until it suddenly drops. A similar technique is used to throw the split-finger fastball in baseball. Sri Lankan Dilhara Fernando holds the ball between the index and middle finger, and just fits it in the webbing between the two. ^{[ citation needed ]} This leads to the delivery of a slow loopy ball
Bowling a knuckleball , where the ball is held on the knuckles of the index and middle fingers. To a batsman, it resembles a stock ball due to it appearing as if the bowler was holding the ball in a regulation manner
Off cutter: instead of placing the index and middle fingers in the orthodox position together on the seam, the middle finger is moved round the ball slightly and then pulled down as the ball is released. The ball will tend to "break" or "cut in" from left to right as it pitches, as it does with off spin bowling. It can be effective to only bowl this ball with a single finger on top and it typically rests to the right hand side of the seam
Leg cutter: the same as an off cutter except that the fingers go the other way and the ball will tend to cut from right to left. Harder to keep straight than an off cutter
Palm ball: the ball is held in the palm instead of the fingers; this can be effective but is hard to disguise
Holding the ball deeper in the fingers. Typically, quick bowlers hold the ball at their fingertips. Holding the ball deeper within the fingers slows the release of the ball. Brett Lee is an exponent of this method
Reduction in the speed of the action: Can be quite effective as a "different" type of change of pace. Effectively you change only the rotation of your arm and retain your action
Cross-seam: This type of slower delivery is also popularly employed by medium pacers wherein the bowler holds the ball across the seam instead of holding it on the seam thereby the pace of delivery is reduced when the ball hits the ground. New Zealand medium pace bowler Gavin Larsen used this effectively in the 1999 Cricket World Cup. This can be coupled with a "split fingers" style release to result in a delivery which dips sharply at the end of its trajectory or spits from a pitched-up length
Zero rotation: Using a specific type of grip & release it is possible to impart little or no rotation on the ball. This lack of rotation causes an instability in air pressure, which makes the ball move erratically through the air
Single finger: Using a variation on the in-swinger grip where the index finger and thumb are both fully on the seam of the ball and the second finger barely touches it. Less force on the ball at the point of release results in reduced pace
Thumb ball: Bowled using the same grip as a stock delivery, barring the palm position, which is facing up instead of down, so that it looks like a back of the hand grip. This can be an effective delivery, but it is hard to produce

Faster ball

Although a slower ball is usually the result when a bowler tries a change of pace, some bowlers have a delivery which is even faster. Pakistani Imran Khan was one example: in his coaching book, he mentioned that it was far more effective to have a faster ball than a slower one.^[1]

Spinners and slow bowlers generally employ the faster ball more often than pacemen. Pakistan's Shahid Afridi has used this ball quite successfully over his career.

Related Research Articles

Leg spin Type of spin bowling in cricket

Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left in the cricket pitch when the ball bounces. For a right-handed batsman, that is away from the leg side, and this is where it gets the name leg break, meaning it breaks away from the leg. The turn is mostly when the ball pitches.

The flipper is the name of a particular bowling delivery used in cricket, generally by a leg spin bowler. In essence it is a back spin ball. Squeezed out of the front of the hand with the thumb and first and second fingers, it keeps deceptively low after pitching and can accordingly be very difficult to play. The flipper is comparable to a riseball in fast-pitch softball.

Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spins from left to right when the ball bounces on the pitch. For a right-handed batsman, this is from his off side to the leg side. The ball breaks away from the off side, hence the name 'off break'.

In the game of cricket, a googly refers to a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. The googly is a variation of the typical leg spin type of delivery, in that the cricket ball is presented from the bowler's hand in such a way that once the ball pitches, it deviates in the opposite direction of a leg spinning type of delivery. It has also been colloquially and affectionately referred to as the wrong'un, Bosie or Bosey, with those latter two eponyms referring to Bernard Bosanquet, the bowler who initially discovered and began using the googly.

Bowling, in cricket, is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batter. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batter is known as an all-rounder. Bowling the ball is distinguished from throwing the ball by a strictly specified biomechanical definition, which restricts the angle of extension of the elbow. A single act of bowling the ball towards the batsman is called a ball or a delivery. Bowlers bowl deliveries in sets of six, called an over. Once a bowler has bowled an over, a teammate will bowl an over from the other end of the pitch. The Laws of Cricket govern how a ball must be bowled. If a ball is bowled illegally, an umpire will rule it a no-ball. If a ball is bowled too wide of the striker for the batsman to be able to play at it with a proper cricket shot, the bowler's end umpire will rule it a wide.

This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cricket statistics and the naming of fielding positions is explained at fielding (cricket).

Pace bowling is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as fast bowlers, quicks, or pacemen. They can also be referred to as a seam bowler, a swing bowler or a fast bowler who can swing it to reflect the predominant characteristic of their deliveries. Strictly speaking, a pure swing bowler does not need to have a high degree of pace, though dedicated medium-pace swing bowlers are rarely seen at Test level these days.

Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.

Seam bowling is a bowling technique in cricket whereby the ball is deliberately bowled on to its seam, to cause a random deviation when the ball bounces. Practitioners are known as seam bowlers or seamers.

Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered slowly but with the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing, and the bowler is referred to as a spinner.

An outswinger is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by swing bowlers.

An inswinger is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by swing bowlers.

A leg cutter is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by fast bowlers.

An off cutter is a type of delivery in the game of cricket. It is bowled by fast bowlers.

In the sport of cricket there are two broad categories of bowlers: pace and spin. Pace bowlers rely mostly on the speed of the ball to dismiss batsmen, whereas spin bowlers rely on the rotation of the ball.

A delivery or ball in cricket is a single action of bowling a cricket ball toward the batsman. These terms can also refer to the events that occur after the ball is bowled while the ball is not dead.

Wrist spin Type of spin bowling in cricket

Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball. The other spinning technique, usually used to spin the ball in the opposite direction, is finger spin. Wrist spin is bowled by releasing the ball from the back of the hand, so that it passes over the little finger. Done by a right-handed bowler, this imparts an anticlockwise rotation to the ball, as seen from the bowler's perspective; a left-handed wrist spinner rotates the ball clockwise.

Finger spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball. The other spinning technique, generally used to spin the ball in the opposite direction, is wrist spin. Although there are exceptions, finger spinners generally turn the ball less than wrist spinners. However, because the technique is simpler and easier to master, finger spinners tend to be more accurate.

One of the key factors in cricket bowling is the grip. Variation in grip has a major influence on the outcome of a delivery. Below is the grip for an inswing delivery. To produce the grip for an outswinging delivery, you simply have place your fingers on the other side of the seam. For a right hander you would slightly angle the seam so that it is faced towards first slip.

In ball sports, topspin is a property of a ball that rotates forwards as it is moving. Topspin on a ball propelled through the air imparts a downward force that causes the ball to drop, due to its interaction with the air. Topspin is the opposite of backspin.

References

↑ Imran Khan's Cricket Skills; ISBN 0-86363-029-4

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Imran Khan's Cricket Skills; ISBN 0-86363-029-4

[1]