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[Twelfth Man]

I'm having some issues with my bowling at the moment,  where there's a distinct difference between how I will bowl in the nets as to how I do in games.

I'm a seamer and the reoccurring issue is that my pace (not express or anything but you know what I mean) will be slower in games and I just don't understand why. Could it be a mental thing and has anybody else had this problem? Hope that somebody could shed some light and help me out. Thanks!

[Vitas Cricket]

I'm having some issues with my bowling at the moment,  where there's a distinct difference between how I will bowl in the nets as to how I do in games.

I'm a seamer and the reoccurring issue is that my pace (not express or anything but you know what I mean) will be slower in games and I just don't understand why. Could it be a mental thing and has anybody else had this problem? Hope that somebody could shed some light and help me out. Thanks!

Are your nets fast and bouncy? Whereas the pitches you play on are puddings?

[Twelfth Man]

Our pitches are actually quite good for seamers. Others seem to be okay anyway! Haha. I'm fine when everything just 'clicks' but I think that my consistency isn't the best and struggling a little confidence wise at the moment probably doesn't help.

I've heard people mention about hitting the crease hard?

[Vitas Cricket]

Our pitches are actually quite good for seamers. Others seem to be okay anyway! Haha. I'm fine when everything just 'clicks' but I think that my consistency isn't the best and struggling a little confidence wise at the moment probably doesn't help.

I've heard people mention about hitting the crease hard?

I'm not a bowler, so i can only offering limited help from a coaching point of view. Momentum and your follow through are important in my book. Many bowlers follow through properly in nets as the netting limits your options in terms of where you can go after release (of course other bowlers don't follow through at all in nets as they don't want to get hit) but when you are out on the square, your follow through can tail off to the side. Subconsciously you will be commencing this movement before release, causing a loss in momentum.

[joeljonno]

Are you hitting the crease line and doing your proper run up etc?

I ask as our nets we have a number who dont and end up bowling off about 18 yards.  So they are bound to seem "quicker".

[Twelfth Man]

We make sure that we are bowling properly most of the time, we have stumps and a crease marked out. I know what you mean though as there's a few people at our club that consistently bowl no balls by miles and just short. Irritating isn't the word, but thats another story.

I think that could be an issue when it comes to the follow through, normally going to the side too quickly.

What is meant by "hitting the crease hard"?

[Gloves]

It might be a mental problem, in a game you want to bowl every ball where you need to however in the nets you don't have to worry about that as much so therefore can focus on bowling quicker.

[Twelfth Man]

It might be a mental problem, in a game you want to bowl every ball where you need to however in the nets you don't have to worry about that as much so therefore can focus on bowling quicker.

That is what my initial thought was! I've been trying to sort my bowling out recenty as well as I had issues with my run up and feet positioning to try and help prevent unnecessary injury.

I've thought about asking to practice bowling on an actual wicket at our ground to hopefully try and sort my problem out?

[tim2000s]

You've mentioned an interesting point. In nets you say you follow through whereas on the pitch you don't, which means two things.

a. You aren't practising what you bowl in the middle in nets.
b. You are thinking about your delivery and follow through too much as you bowl.

The principal of clearing the mind applies to both bowler and batsman. Decide on the ball you are going to bowl at the start of your run up, then run in and bowl it as though you are in the nets. Don't worry about where you put yourself, just focus on where you are going to pitch it throughout your run up and deliver the ball. That's all you can do. It's really hard to do but will benefit you.

The second point I'd make is that, coming off grass without netting, you will always tend to appear slower. There isn't the zoom effect of nets to help and the surface at this time of year is definitely slower, regardless of how good a track it is, especially if you hit the ground quite hard with the ball.

[ammo]

i thinkyour being too cautious in games, ie you don;t want to bown no balls. I'd practice your run up a lot, find out exactly how long it is, than add a margin for error when at games (shoe legnth)