TalentSpotterPk
Test Debutant
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Assalamoalaikum Warehmarullah e Wa Barakatohoo. May Allah almighty's Peace & Blessings be on All of You.
Few months ago A friend of mine here at PP asked me about some technical points about Wrist Position and Ability to Seam & Swing the cricket Ball.
Since a very challenging series is about to start in the Home of Cricket which is probably the 2nd best place for pacers after South Africa wrt Test Cricket so I want to share my analysis with you people at the right time. This analysis was sleeping in an irrelevent thread
Swing and Seam depends upon the atmosphere/pitch aswell as skill of a fast bowler.
In (wet) cold condition the ball will swing the most.
In grounds which are closer to sea maximum reverse swing will happen provided the square is rough and dry.
Wrt bowlers skill level the closer a left arm balls near the stumps the more inswing he will get against a right hand batsman. Vice versa for Waqar, Steyn & Anderson getting outswing against right hand batsman.
Similarly for a left arm baller the more upright his arm during delivery stride is , the more he will get in swing against RHB.
For a left arm baller when he releases the ball his wrist should be facing leg slip for it to come back into RHB. Now how much swing he will get will depend firstly on weather. In gloomy weather it will swing more.
Another main main factor is the ball release. The more the upright seam the more the ball will swing. But the more there are reverse (opposite) revolutions/ anti clockwise revolutions the more the more the ball will swing and will swing more aswell as will swing late at the very last moment.
Now I tell you an exceptional case.
Mohammad Asif.
His arm is very straight which he delivers the ball. But he balls different variations.
He would ball a ball to RHB where seam would be upright (not as upright as Anderson or steyn) but facing slip. This ball will out swing ( it won't swing as much as Anderson or Steyn do).
Now he has a variation which many here call wobbly seam delivery. Anderson also bowls it. McGrath also bowled it (unintensionally) when the seam wasn't completely upright.
But Asif has a distinct Ability. He puts more opposite revolutions on this delivery and he does two tricks.
Once he would have his wrist facing first slip while delivering the ball and by the use of hand he would bowl this delivery which won't be as upright as his other delivery but would slightly wobble. Note if it wobbles more than neither it would swing nor it seam and would remain straight and your coach will tell you since your seam isn't upright hence it's not swinging nor seaming for you. Now the ball in the air slightly gets curved towards slip (outswing) and the bats is playing outswing but it pitches on the seam and seam is facing leg slip and it jags back and batsman gets wrapped on the pad or gets bowled or gets an inside edge.
Than Asif would bowl a similar bowl to left hander whereas now his wrist is pointed towards first slip for LHB Seam is slightly wobbly and more opposite revs on the ball. It cuts the air and slightly curves away in the air batsman and when it lands the seam faces leg slip and it jags back Into left hander and again chances of Lbw and bowled come into play.
Now what is not in control of Asif is that in what position the seam will land.
Imagine Sangakara facing Asif in Kandy. Now Asif is bowling an outswinger to him (with a wobbly seam). Now on instance where the ball pitches on Sean facing slip it will further seam away. While if it pitches facing leg slip it will jag back. Neither Sangakara nor Asif knows what it will do.
The quality and skill in hand of Asif is the ability to release the ball facing first slip or leg slip (wrist aids it) and the ability to wobble the Seam slightly.
(use of hand)
Now he is so accurate that he would bowl in good length plus he is tall so would get bounce too and batsman cannot leave his deliveries with surety that look it's outswing. So he plays with the mind of batsman.
This is why he used to laugh while beating batsman. A cunning laugh. Because he knew they were dancing to his tunes.
Now Sehwag, Tendulkar, Cameron White, Laxman, Dravid deliveries were special. Because they were attempted inswingers with seam marginally facing leg slip while ball was being released but the wobbly seam pitched with seam facing wide leg slip. And with so much opposite revolutions first it swing in air very late and than when it pitched it seamed back. And since it was pitched on a length where batsman isn't sure whether to play on the front foot or backfoot so it became doubly difficult to play it.
Being the Fan of magician I won't be elaborating how he used his hand such that not only the ball wobbles slightly but it also has more opposite revolutions.
Me knowing it doesn't make me Mohammad Asif or being able to compete with him because how will I be able to copy that action which allows me easy means of adjusting two ways wrt wrist position plus the straight arm and ability to bowl bowls after bowls in same good length spots.
It's his natural God given ability.
When he first toured Australia he did not impress much but his line and length were fine. But than he increased his opposite revs so swing aswell as late swing increased and than this wobbly seam delivery which happened in a domestic game with a random experiment and that experiment resulted in strange behaviour of the ball.
He will again be effective at this age provided his shoulders allow him to generate equal revs on the ball as in past. (Not talking about force to generate pace)
Lastly regarding swing what differentiates worldclass bowlers. You may ask that there are 4 left arm bowlers who have similar upright actions and same height and all can alter there wrist positions both ways but why A has got better SR than B, C, D ? Now comes the natural ability. Now a more talented fast bowler will amongst them will have more flexible and athletic physique aswell action which is biomechanics wise more efficient. His more biomechanically efficient action will help him lose lesser energy aswell make him more able than others to execute his planned line and lengths more often than others. He will be more accurate in his targets. If he is mentally more astute than it will further add to his ability. Because plans are made by brain and action will execute the plan. The more fit the more better execution.
Nobody would have taught 6 years Wasim Akram, Waqar, McGrath, Steyn, Anderson, Shane Bond, Hadlee, Ambrose etc to rotate their arms in a certain way to mimic the action they are taught but you are just told your left arm will be raised and right arm will come from bottom to top in a rotational movement of arm and you will deliver the ball.
So those who say Talent is over rated are wrong. Talent is the main thing which makes great batsman or great bowlers along with many other factors. But if you don't have high class talent than you cannot become Great player.
I wish & pray that We do not miss Mohammad Asif and Sohail or Imran Step Up or we call Hassan Ali immediately to Pakistan Squad.
My Well Wishes & Prayers with Pakistan Team. Come on Pakistan make it happen this time.
Few months ago A friend of mine here at PP asked me about some technical points about Wrist Position and Ability to Seam & Swing the cricket Ball.
Since a very challenging series is about to start in the Home of Cricket which is probably the 2nd best place for pacers after South Africa wrt Test Cricket so I want to share my analysis with you people at the right time. This analysis was sleeping in an irrelevent thread
Swing and Seam depends upon the atmosphere/pitch aswell as skill of a fast bowler.
In (wet) cold condition the ball will swing the most.
In grounds which are closer to sea maximum reverse swing will happen provided the square is rough and dry.
Wrt bowlers skill level the closer a left arm balls near the stumps the more inswing he will get against a right hand batsman. Vice versa for Waqar, Steyn & Anderson getting outswing against right hand batsman.
Similarly for a left arm baller the more upright his arm during delivery stride is , the more he will get in swing against RHB.
For a left arm baller when he releases the ball his wrist should be facing leg slip for it to come back into RHB. Now how much swing he will get will depend firstly on weather. In gloomy weather it will swing more.
Another main main factor is the ball release. The more the upright seam the more the ball will swing. But the more there are reverse (opposite) revolutions/ anti clockwise revolutions the more the more the ball will swing and will swing more aswell as will swing late at the very last moment.
Now I tell you an exceptional case.
Mohammad Asif.
His arm is very straight which he delivers the ball. But he balls different variations.
He would ball a ball to RHB where seam would be upright (not as upright as Anderson or steyn) but facing slip. This ball will out swing ( it won't swing as much as Anderson or Steyn do).
Now he has a variation which many here call wobbly seam delivery. Anderson also bowls it. McGrath also bowled it (unintensionally) when the seam wasn't completely upright.
But Asif has a distinct Ability. He puts more opposite revolutions on this delivery and he does two tricks.
Once he would have his wrist facing first slip while delivering the ball and by the use of hand he would bowl this delivery which won't be as upright as his other delivery but would slightly wobble. Note if it wobbles more than neither it would swing nor it seam and would remain straight and your coach will tell you since your seam isn't upright hence it's not swinging nor seaming for you. Now the ball in the air slightly gets curved towards slip (outswing) and the bats is playing outswing but it pitches on the seam and seam is facing leg slip and it jags back and batsman gets wrapped on the pad or gets bowled or gets an inside edge.
Than Asif would bowl a similar bowl to left hander whereas now his wrist is pointed towards first slip for LHB Seam is slightly wobbly and more opposite revs on the ball. It cuts the air and slightly curves away in the air batsman and when it lands the seam faces leg slip and it jags back Into left hander and again chances of Lbw and bowled come into play.
Now what is not in control of Asif is that in what position the seam will land.
Imagine Sangakara facing Asif in Kandy. Now Asif is bowling an outswinger to him (with a wobbly seam). Now on instance where the ball pitches on Sean facing slip it will further seam away. While if it pitches facing leg slip it will jag back. Neither Sangakara nor Asif knows what it will do.
The quality and skill in hand of Asif is the ability to release the ball facing first slip or leg slip (wrist aids it) and the ability to wobble the Seam slightly.
(use of hand)
Now he is so accurate that he would bowl in good length plus he is tall so would get bounce too and batsman cannot leave his deliveries with surety that look it's outswing. So he plays with the mind of batsman.
This is why he used to laugh while beating batsman. A cunning laugh. Because he knew they were dancing to his tunes.
Now Sehwag, Tendulkar, Cameron White, Laxman, Dravid deliveries were special. Because they were attempted inswingers with seam marginally facing leg slip while ball was being released but the wobbly seam pitched with seam facing wide leg slip. And with so much opposite revolutions first it swing in air very late and than when it pitched it seamed back. And since it was pitched on a length where batsman isn't sure whether to play on the front foot or backfoot so it became doubly difficult to play it.
Being the Fan of magician I won't be elaborating how he used his hand such that not only the ball wobbles slightly but it also has more opposite revolutions.
Me knowing it doesn't make me Mohammad Asif or being able to compete with him because how will I be able to copy that action which allows me easy means of adjusting two ways wrt wrist position plus the straight arm and ability to bowl bowls after bowls in same good length spots.
It's his natural God given ability.
When he first toured Australia he did not impress much but his line and length were fine. But than he increased his opposite revs so swing aswell as late swing increased and than this wobbly seam delivery which happened in a domestic game with a random experiment and that experiment resulted in strange behaviour of the ball.
He will again be effective at this age provided his shoulders allow him to generate equal revs on the ball as in past. (Not talking about force to generate pace)
Lastly regarding swing what differentiates worldclass bowlers. You may ask that there are 4 left arm bowlers who have similar upright actions and same height and all can alter there wrist positions both ways but why A has got better SR than B, C, D ? Now comes the natural ability. Now a more talented fast bowler will amongst them will have more flexible and athletic physique aswell action which is biomechanics wise more efficient. His more biomechanically efficient action will help him lose lesser energy aswell make him more able than others to execute his planned line and lengths more often than others. He will be more accurate in his targets. If he is mentally more astute than it will further add to his ability. Because plans are made by brain and action will execute the plan. The more fit the more better execution.
Nobody would have taught 6 years Wasim Akram, Waqar, McGrath, Steyn, Anderson, Shane Bond, Hadlee, Ambrose etc to rotate their arms in a certain way to mimic the action they are taught but you are just told your left arm will be raised and right arm will come from bottom to top in a rotational movement of arm and you will deliver the ball.
So those who say Talent is over rated are wrong. Talent is the main thing which makes great batsman or great bowlers along with many other factors. But if you don't have high class talent than you cannot become Great player.
I wish & pray that We do not miss Mohammad Asif and Sohail or Imran Step Up or we call Hassan Ali immediately to Pakistan Squad.
My Well Wishes & Prayers with Pakistan Team. Come on Pakistan make it happen this time.
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