Well we all know what he did to Ricky Ponting in Perth by just swinging the ball...I have always been in awe with pure swing bowlers.. I get disappointed when bowlers compromise swing for speed. I prefer the vice versa.. In my opinion I find players at the International level often undermine the Art of Swing bowling and not much effort is put in learning it.. The world seems to suggest that bowling fast and being a tearaway quick is the only way to pick wickets.. But most batsmen at the International circuit can handle quick bowlers... Only tailenders are troubled by quick bowlers...None can handle genuine swing both ways....It is swing that will trouble the batsmen and get you the wickets... India won the 1983 world cup simply because we swung the ball.. and West Indies bowled Fast.. (Remember Balwinder Singh Sandhu's Inswinger to Gordon Greenidge...?).. James Anderson won the Ashes 2011 for England simply by swinging the ball.. Zaheer Khan's reverse swing won us the World cup.. Ashes 2005 was won only by Reverse Swing ( I will come to Ashes 2005 later).
I like Swing bowlers.. I simply love seeing the shape of the ball bamboozle the batsmen.. My favorite mode of dismissal of a batsman is an outswinger taking the edge of a forward defense / cover drive and caught at second slip..(Yes..Something about second slip..) My favorite swing bowler from India was Irfan Pathan(I hope he comes back well..).. He had the ability to do magic with the new ball..He was never express (much like what Praveen Kumar does now)..The amount of swing he could generate surprised me.. No Indian bowler had swung the ball like that before... I have heard people say of Manoj Prabhakar but I have never seen much of his bowling.. Irfan Pathan was special.. Even in non helpful conditions , he would curve the new ball.. You could be sure he would pick up two or three wickets upfront with the new ball.. He was the sole reason for India's victory against Pakistan in that historic series in 2004/05.
Here take a look at the Hat-trick he picked up at Karachi.. Just look at the beautiful swing..
Swing bowling is an art and also a science.. The ball swings more if there is dampness in the pitch.. It seams around more if the conditions are overcast.. There is work that is to be done on the ball.. The essence of swing bowling is to get the cricket ball to deviate sideways as it moves through the air towards or away from the batsman.Batsmen are used to facing orthodox swing - which happens when the ball is still relatively hard and new in the first 10 to 15 overs.
However, now fast bowlers have developed a new method of making the ball move in the air with the older ball called 'reverse swing' which is very potent.
But to obtain any sort of movement, there are a number of factors to consider.
--> The seam position of the cricket ball
--> The wear and tear on the ball
--> The polishing liquid (most often Saliva and Vaseline) used on the ball
--> The speed of the delivery
--> The bowler's action
--> The Weather Conditions
We often see fielders constantly shining one side of a ball by rubbing it on their trousers.The rubbing helps to maintain a smooth, shiny side while the opposite is left to deteriorate through normal wear and tear.Normally in any cricket team ,there is a 'specialist' ball polisher.. For eg: England's ball polisher is Alastair Cook.
The asymmetry of the ball is encouraged by the constant polishing of one side of the ball by members of the fielding team, while allowing the opposite side to deteriorate through wear and tear. Over time, this produces a marked difference in the aerodynamic properties of the two sides.To move the ball in an orthodox fashion away from a right-handed batsman, the rough side of the ball will be on the left side with the seam angling towards second slip. And it is the other way round for inswing - the rough side is on the right with the seam pointing towards an imaginary leg slip. Both deliveries also require a subtle change in seam grip too.This generally happens when the ball is relatively new but tends to stop after the ball has lost its shine and hardness.
Lets look at what James Anderson (My favourite Bowler in the world currently who can swing the ball both ways) is capable of doing with the New Ball.. Here is his spell that he bowled against India.. Take a look at the first three wickets.. (other two are short balls which Indians are generally not comfortable).My view is that Anderson and Praveen Kumar should stop playing ODI's to preserve themselves for the longer version of the game.
I am not sure whether Swann will cause lot of problems when India tour there this English Summer..Mark my words.. Whether India wins the Test Series will depend on how our batsmen play James Anderson..
In my opinon one of the most overrated bowler is Morne Morkel. Even I would not bother facing him.He does not swing.He does not cut. He bowls on a length. He does not even bowl in the corridor of uncertainty.(Bowlers at the backyard cricket where I play on Sunday's move the ball better..).. Then how come a bowler like Glenn Mcgrath with no swing or cutters succeed...? He kept the game simple. He always targeted the top of off stump and there were no loose balls. Out of frustration , eventually the batsmen would nick one and Mark Waugh was always there at the slips. Even his bouncers were well targeted. Not even one of his bouncers would go wasted (i.e above the keeper for four). Good batsmen have told in interviews that if Mcgrath was knocked of his length early , he was ordinary.
REVERSE SWING..
Once the ball becomes older and more worn, it will begin to move in the opposite direction to where it would usually swing with no great change in the bowling grip. For example, an outswinger's grip will move towards the batsman in the air while an inswinger will move away from the bat.People say the grip is all important bowling reverse swing . All this tends to happen very late on in the delivery, making it difficult for the batsman to pick up the changes in the air. Former Pakistan international Sarfraz Nawaz was the founder of reverse swing during the late 1970s, and he passed his knowledge on to former team-mate Imran Khan.
It was Imran who schooled bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who brought the art to the cricket world's attention during the late 1980s and 1990s.The dynamic duo managed to make the old ball swing a considerable distance at pace in both directions, a skill few bowlers can master. Wasim Akram was the greatest exponent of reverse swing.He would set up a batsmen with few inswingers and with the same seam position would make it hold its line. Look at this video were he sets up Dravid with inswingers and then bowls a outswinger to break his defense.
As my friend said recently , Dravid must be proud to get out to a ball like this.
Perhaps the series that revived Test Cricket was the Ashes 2005.My opinion is , it was fully won on Reverse Swing.It was reported that Flintoff could reverse the ball in 15 overs..!! How he did it no one knows.. He along with Simon Jones reversed the ball wonderfully well and that made Australian batsmen piss in their pants. You see a batsmen leaving a ball , hoping that it goes away , but as Reverse Swing would have it , they were bowled by leaving the balls.. Just take a look at this.. You will be stunned.
A Swinging ball is a poetry in motion.And those who swing it are Artists who terrorise batsmen. Long Live the art of swing.
