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[mad_abt_cricket]

Thought to write a long email to my club mates after weekend defeat where we ended up bowling poorly. We are in semifinals of interclub tournament hence thinking to lift the morale up and bring some planning into team's preparation. Please provide your opinions and feedback on the bowling plan for a 20 - 20 game.

Following is the email:

Dear All,

As the play offs days are nearing, we will have to prepare ourselves to peak during the weekend of September 24th and 25th. We always have discussed the physical aspect of the game, to keep ourselves fit and raring to go for these play offs.

Though, equally important is the mental aspect of the game hence cannot be ignored. Since long I wanted to pen my thoughts on this as these kind of emails gives us a forum to discuss our thoughts and then practice and execute them during the practice sessions and the matches.

Bowling has always been UCC's strength. We pride ourselves to have 11 bowlers in the  team.
Most of us are the part of last year's team who restricted every opposition to a  below 100 score in the last year's tournament.
It was the biggest factor for us winning the  last year's tournament.

Unfortunately this year, for various reasons our bowling form has dipped alarmingly.
It is a serious problem which needs to be rectified before the playoffs.

We need to go back to basics and  bring a lot of thought into our bowling.

It should not be any more only instinctive.

In my opinion a bowler should always try to be one step ahead of a batsman's mind.

As an opening batsman, if I ask myself what kind of ball I would want to avoid first up ?

My answer would be a good length ball crashing into the stumps.

Any new batsman on the crease faces problems as his feet  are not moving, eyes not really following the ball and that is when any batsman is most vulnerable.

As a bowler it is a difficult job to serve such kind of a ball first up if there is not enough planning and preparation goes behind it.

A good example is  English bowler Jimmy Anderson's preparation against Indian side.
Before his first over, he spent fifteen minutes of bowling at the nets / ground so that he can bowl his first over at the full potential rather than serving up some looseners which are invaluable to any new batsman. That is the reason why he ended up taking so many wickets in his first over itself.

Back to the topic of delivering a good length first ball at the stumps.

In the recent matches while bowling medium pace, I have experienced myself that it is very difficult to control a bowl with the seam up.

When the ball is new, it swings predominantly and also gets a good bounce after pitching on the seam, which would mean most of the times it would go over the stumps rather than hitting it.

In my opinion it would be a good idea to bowl the first ball cross seam to any new batsman at the crease, specially when the ball is new. A cross seam ball, follows it's trajectory without swinging or seaming after pitching and more often than not, it skids of the surface.

A left handed bowler can go around the wicket to try to bowl at the stumps as more often than not the balls just angles across the batsman, while bowling over the wicket.

Another important aspect of a short format game is to create pressure by bowling number of consecutive dot balls.

In a test match, a batsman won't mind it, but for a format like twenty twenty, 3 or 4 consecutive dot balls immediately brings the pressure to the batsman and he starts to think differently.

As bowlers our aim should be to bring the batsman out of his comfort zone and force him to play shots which he would avoid in the normal circumstances.

Like batting, bowling is also done in partnerships. It is utmost important to maintain the pressure at both ends.

It is of no use if one bowler serves up a maiden and at the other end bowler end up serving loose balls to give the batsman an opportunity to hit boundaries.

It just takes the pressure off the batsman.

We desperately need to find ways to be aggressive (but not overly) during our bowling. Our aim definitely should be taking 10 wickets but not every ball should be an effort ball.
It is extremely difficult to deliver all 6 wicket taking effort balls at any level. Trying to over do results in serving up boundary balls( full tosses / short balls).

As bowlers we need to decide on which bowls should be a dot ball and which should be an effort wicket taking ball.

Every bowler should have a "GO TO" ball when he is under pressure. There are times when a good aggressive batsman hits even the good balls to score quick runs. In such situations each bowler should have a bowl which he should be confident to bowl at any stage of the match to bail himself out.

The aim of such a ball would be a dot or a single ball.

One such ball at every level is a "YORKER". A yorker at the stumps or just outside the off stump is a difficult ball to get hit.

A full pitch ball ( not an over pitch one) forces the batsman to play within the "V" of the field and it becomes easier to restrict the flow of runs. Any batsman who tries to hit across the line of a yorker length ball is creating a big opportunity for the bowler to take a wicket.

There is always a good chance of that ball missing the bat and crashing into the pads or stumps.

Even a very low full toss is difficult to hit as compared to a short of a length ball or an over pitch ball.

Any ball which gives batsman enough room to swing his bat or allow him to get underneath the ball is a boundary ball.

I, as a batsman always look forward to such balls .

As bowlers we always should try to read the batsman's mind and try to see batsman's movements/ intentions just before delivering the ball. It gives the bowler precious time to adjust his length / line, to a charging batsman or a batsman backing away from the crease.

Change of pace is another extremely important weapon which we bowlers should use frequently and accurately.

Any good batsman, after playing 3 -4 consecutive balls gets a hang of what the bowler is doing.

If the bowler keeps delivering the ball at the same pace, it gives batsman a chance to improvise himself and even hit a good ball out of the ground.

One word of caution though, change of pace should not be too evident.

If there is a big difference in the normal speed and slower ball or if there is a clear change in action, the surprise element is lost and the batsman would take full advantage of it.

A slower ball should be a full pitched ball and not a short one.


Whether its a fast or a spin bowler, the above mentioned applies to both.

In Nut shell...

1. We must think before delivering a ball !!!

Things to decide... where to pitch the ball, whether it would be a wicket taking ball or a dot ball etc.

2. Maintaining accuracy by bowling cross seam.

3. Reading the batsman's intentions and adjusting the line and the length accordingly.

4. To prepare a "GO TO" ball. It could be a Yorker, a slower ball , a full ball with a cross seam or any other ball which is difficult for the batsman to hit.

5. Mixing the pace without loosing accuracy. This can only be possible with lots and lots of practice.

6. Dot balls are equally important, so aim for at least 4 dot balls and 2 wicket balls in an over.

7. Create pressure by bowling consecutive dot balls.

If the batsman is not scoring, there is no need to experiment. As bowlers we should let the batsman take the risk.

Please provide your feedback and opinions on the above points.

[uknsaunders]

love your enthusiasm but I'd bin that after the first paragraph.

If you've lost a game because you bowled poorly, I'm afraid it happens. Writing chapter and verse isn't going to be as effective as a quick 60 second chat prior to the match. If the guys can do a job then just back them. The email looks like you are dwelling on it and over thinking it.

The email makes you look a bit of a dick, and respect for the captain is more important. Bin it and write 1 short paragraph if you really want to send it out.

[tim2000s]

I have to agree with Nick. If I as a bowler received this as an email, I'd tell you to go blow yourself. I know (and I expect that your bowlers do to) what are my strengths and weaknesses, and telling your opening bowlers to bowl cross seam with a new ball is the biggest pile of poo.

Your bowlers are supposed to be good enough to bowl accurately first ball. Warm up in the nets for fifteen minutes beforehand - absolutely, but as a batsman, if you received a ball that pitched on a good length and then seamed/swung away from/in to you first ball, you'd not have a clue what to do, and that creates more uncertainty than a straight yorker.

I think you are worrying overtly about what has happened, and if you really want to help the team out, arrange net sessions where the bowlers can practise what they do best, and you can help them by batting, then encourage them to have a plan in those nets sessions and to keep up their good level of performance. It worked well last season, so what's really changed?

Otherwise you run the risk of being ridiculed and told where to go very rapidly

[mad_abt_cricket]

Thank you for your forthright comments. It does give me an outsiders/ neutral point of view and will help me to formulate my plans.

Some of the points made in my email are based on some experiences from matches played on a particular type of track.

1. We play our matches on a flex pitch which has a bit of uneven bounce and the ball keeps low more often than not.
2. I took into account for the last 2 year's scorecards from all the teams and found that over 98% of the dismissals were LBW and Bold.
3. The conditions are not like UK where ball seams or swings predominantly and also the bowlers ( including myself) are relatively inexperienced to control a seaming and swinging ball. In the last match we served up 40 Wide balls in a 30 overs match.
4. Team's bowling performance has dropped since last season and we are repeating the same mistakes over a number of matches this season though we got away with some fine batting performances.

Agree completely on the view that it should not look like preaching and more of a pep talk or a formative plan.

Thanks again.

[Byo]

If I received that I would tell you to jog on!!!  I am a bowler and know what I should and should not be doing...

[tim2000s]

Thank you for your forthright comments. It does give me an outsiders/ neutral point of view and will help me to formulate my plans.

Some of the points made in my email are based on some experiences from matches played on a particular type of track.

1. We play our matches on a flex pitch which has a bit of uneven bounce and the ball keeps low more often than not.
2. I took into account for the last 2 year's scorecards from all the teams and found that over 98% of the dismissals were LBW and Bold.
3. The conditions are not like UK where ball seams or swings predominantly and also the bowlers ( including myself) are relatively inexperienced to control a seaming and swinging ball. In the last match we served up 40 Wide balls in a 30 overs match.

The only answer to this is to practice a lot.

4. Team's bowling performance has dropped since last season and we are repeating the same mistakes over a number of matches this season though we got away with some fine batting performances.

Agree completely on the view that it should not look like preaching and more of a pep talk or a formative plan.

Thanks again.

You need to look at what has changed from last season to this to cause the bowling performance to deteriorate so dramatically. Have you not practised enough? Have you been doing anything different? Do you have the same players doing the same things? Have the opposition improved and therefore your bowling attack isn't what it was last year due to that?

For me, that's where I would start. Do a bit of analysis as to why your bowling isn't as effective as it was. I'm sure your bowlers would be happy to join in as they will be smarting about being hit around, bowling wides and generally not getting wickets.

[OMF]

Reading that email took longer than most of my innings this year. I wouldn't really appreciate receiving an email like that as a bowler, or captain. Good enthusiasm tho.... But agree with the others - better to have those sorts of discussions all together as a team, face to face.

You also set yourself up for a massive fall if you personally end up bowling rubbish!

[mad_abt_cricket]

The only answer to this is to practice a lot.You need to look at what has changed from last season to this to cause the bowling performance to deteriorate so dramatically. Have you not practised enough? Have you been doing anything different? Do you have the same players doing the same things? Have the opposition improved and therefore your bowling attack isn't what it was last year due to that?

For me, that's where I would start. Do a bit of analysis as to why your bowling isn't as effective as it was. I'm sure your bowlers would be happy to join in as they will be smarting about being hit around, bowling wides and generally not getting wickets.

Yes, I admit some of these factors. Last year we were the winners of the tournament and this year we are struggling to have the same appetite to win the cup. Practice sessions were not as regular as compared to last year and that resulted in wayward bowling. Since we play weekend cricket, everyone has been busy through out the summer in some other personal activities. Yesterday we conducted a practice session and only 7 guys turned up.  The reason for writing the email was to share my thoughts to the whole team and get it up and running in the final 3 weeks.
Though I must admit that it can affect in the opposite way and the best way is to talk in person.

[haider-k]

I agree with everyone above. When i first saw that I was like woooahhh way too much. I attempted to have a read but just gave up half way (sorry if  I come across a bit rude :-D). Me as a bowler I would take some of these points on board but most of them I already knew/apply. So maybe you could remind the bowlers of these basic points at a training session or just before going out on the field in the changing rooms, because over email you could be misunderstood and you could come across abit of 'dick'. Anyways hope things will start to improve for you.

 Cricket is a team sport and communication is key. So it's really good that you are letting the bowlers know what you think. Good luck mate

[Nickauger]

Not only what the other boys have said, but you have to remember, bowlers are an inherently dense breed, not like us batters.