Different Types of Bowling in Cricket | Explained

Bowlers play a crucial role in a team’s success in cricket. They have the liberty to pick the type of bowling that suits them to make a mark in the game.

That’s why we have different types of bowlers — from pacers to spinners — who trouble batters with their craft. These bowlers have subtypes among them, each with their own unique traits.

Here, we’ll look at the different types of bowling in cricket.

Pace Bowling

There are some bowlers who have a long run-up and use pace to decimate batters. They have variations in their speed, along with swinging and seaming the ball.

Apart from that, pacers have plenty of variations in their deliveries, ranging from yorker, bouncer, leg cutter, off cutter, knuckle ball, and slow ball. They use them cleverly to catch the batters off guard.

Some bowlers rely on speed, while others mix it up with swing and seam movement to add a surprise element.

So let’s look at the subtypes of pace bowling.

Fast & Medium Pace Bowling

You must have seen a few bowlers touching 140+ kmph on the speedometer during a cricket match. Those kinds of bowlers come under the category of fast bowlers and use pure speed.

Some even go beyond the 150 mark, making them express pacers, which is rare in the sport. Shoaib Akhter, Shaun Tait, and Brett Lee were some of the fastest bowlers.

Medium pacers, on the other hand, clock between 120 and 135 and use variation in speed.

Swing Bowling

Some pacers use the new and old ball strategically, moving the ball in the air. These are the swing bowlers, who trouble batters with movement in the game.

A swing bowler can use the new ball to impart inswing and outswing, while they can extract reverse swing on the old ball.

The inswing moves towards the batter in the air, while the outswing moves away from them. The reverse swing is possible with an old ball, which is opposite to the conventional swing, often catching batters off guard.

Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and James Anderson were some of the finest swing bowlers.

Also Read | Who Invented Reverse Swing in Cricket?

Seam Bowling

When there’s no swing on offer or not much help for the bowlers, they use seam movement to wreak havoc.

They use the seam of the ball to move it off the pitch. When the seam hits the deck, it moves in unpredictable ways, leaving batters surprised.

Glenn McGrath and Kapil Dev used seam movement to a great extent. India’s Jasprit Bumrah is one of the best exponents of seam bowling in the current era.

Spin Bowling

Now there are bowlers who don’t have a lot of pace but can turn the ball sharply either with fingers or wrist. They are spinners with short run-ups of 5-6 steps.

The spinners put revolutions on the ball, give it a flight, and vary their speed and deliveries. Spinners also have subtypes in them.

Off Spin Bowling

Off spin bowling involves turning the ball using fingers. They have an off spin or off break as their stock delivery.

A right-hand off-spinners stock delivery turns the ball from left to right for a right-hand batter. A left-arm off-spinner, also known as a left-arm orthodox spinner, spins the ball from right to left.

These off-spinners have plenty of variations up their sleeves. Apart from the off break delivery, they can bowl top spinner, arm ball, doosra, and carrom ball.

Muthiah Muralidaran and Ravichandran Ashwin are among the best off-spinners.

Also Read | Ten Best Doosra Bowlers in Cricket

Leg Spin Bowling

Leg spinners use wrists to impart spin on the ball, giving them the tag of a wrist spinner. Their stock delivery, a leg spin or a leg break, spins in the opposite direction of an off spin.

A right-arm wrist spinner spins their stock delivery from right to left for a right-hand batter. A left-arm wrist spinner, known as a chinaman, turns the ball from the left to right.

You can find plenty of right-arm wrist spinners, but a handful of chinaman bowlers, making them rare in cricket.

These wrist spinners use several variations to surprise batters. They have googly, flipper, slider, and top spinner in their arsenal. 

Shane Warne and Anil Kumble were the legendary leg spinners in their playing days. Brad Hogg and Kuldeep Yadav are the finest examples of chinaman bowling.

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