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How to bowl faster? It's all about rhythm. And angles. And staying fit and getting your body to click. There are certain things that will come naturally - your general coordination, for instance, and snapping your wrist at the point of delivery - and there are other things you can learn about and change. But, deep down, I think bowling fast is something you have to want to do with a passion, because it's very hard work.
This, basically, is how I do it.
In the past couple of months, I've shortened my run-up. I suppose like most kids growing up, I thought you had to have a huge run-up to bowl quick. Most fast bowlers back in the glory days, the Sixties and Seventies, went back a long way, almost pushing off the fence to start their run. We used to mimic them. But my run up now is 21 metres and 30 centimetres. Exactly. And I know it is exact because we use a tape-measure to get it right. It's about 21 paces, as I try to do long strides when I'm stepping it out.
So, I'll put my marker down then walk back an extra four or five paces, so I'm starting from just inside the 30-metre circle. From this point on, it all comes down to one word: rhythm. I've done a lot of work with the great fast bowler Dennis Lillee, who has been a terrific help. To find what suits you best, you get a nice open field, with a stump down one end, you close your eyes and you push off and wait until it feels comfortable, and then run up and just bowl.
Someone will mark exactly where your front foot landed, and you don't worry about where the ball goes. Then you go back and do it again, pushing off the same mark, run and let it go while feeling comfortable, and hopefully you will release the ball at the same point.
You find after doing this about 10 times that you are releasing the ball at pretty much the same spot - perhaps a couple of millimetres out - and then you take the average of all of them and that's basically your best run-up, the one that allows you to best hit a rhythm.
I've found, after I went through that process, that it certainly helped my pace and made me more efficient, a more economical bowler in terms of body movement and energy. You don't want to waste energy in this job because you need it to keep concentration and, obviously, accuracy. And that's why you can bowl longer spells.
After a while, it's all about doing it without thinking. Bowling fast should come naturally if you are going to do it well. It's a very tough discipline, with a lot of stress on your lower body. There's about 15 times your whole body weight going through your knees and ankles and your back each time a fast bowler puts his front foot down at the crease. There is a lot of stress. They say that fast bowlers have to have good coordination. But I'm not a good dancer, so I wouldn't know about that. I do put the work in though. It all comes down to that in the end, practice.
Theories come and go in cricket. When I was growing up, I was told you had to try to get side-on as you got to the crease, to look through the window of the crook in your left arm, that sort of thing. They tried to make you side-on because they figured that was the way to bowl a lot faster, and that you wouldn't get injured because you'd be looking after your back, and you'd bowl massive outswingers. But I think that theory went out the window about the time Malcolm Marshall was bowling front-on and bowling massive outswingers at pretty good pace.
I used to be classed as a mixed-action bowler, which means the lower half of my body was predominantly front-on, with the top half side-on. This developed what they call counter-rotation and that is what basically causes a lot of back injuries among fast bowlers. If you can imagine getting a ruler and twisting it back and forth, at some stage the ruler is going to snap. It's the same with a person's spine.
The first thing I had to work out was whether to change the top half or the bottom half of my body action. After speaking to Dennis, I bowl the fastest ball in Test cricket
Australia's Brett Lee The secret of bowling fast? It's all about rhythm. And angles. And staying fit and getting your body to click. There are certain things that will come naturally - your general coordination, for instance, and snapping your wrist at the point of delivery - and there are other things you can learn about and change. But, deep down, I think bowling fast is something you have to want to do with a passion, because it's very hard work.
This, basically, is how I do it.
In the past couple of months, I've shortened my run-up. I suppose like most kids growing up, I thought you had to have a huge run-up to bowl quick. Most fast bowlers back in the glory days, the Sixties and Seventies, went back a long way, almost pushing off the fence to start their run. We used to mimic them. But my run up now is 21 metres and 30 centimetres. Exactly. And I know it is exact because we use a tape-measure to get it right. It's about 21 paces, as I try to do long strides when I'm stepping it out.
So, I'll put my marker down then walk back an extra four or five paces, so I'm starting from just inside the 30-metre circle. From this point on, it all comes down to one word: rhythm. I've done a lot of work with the great fast bowler Dennis Lillee, who has been a terrific help. To find what suits you best, you get a nice open field, with a stump down one end, you close your eyes and you push off and wait until it feels comfortable, and then run up and just bowl.
Someone will mark exactly where your front foot landed, and you don't worry about where the ball goes. Then you go back and do it again, pushing off the same mark, run and let it go while feeling comfortable, and hopefully you will release the ball at the same point.
You find after doing this about 10 times that you are releasing the ball at pretty much the same spot - perhaps a couple of millimetres out - and then you take the average of all of them and that's basically your best run-up, the one that allows you to best hit a rhythm.
I've found, after I went through that process, that it certainly helped my pace and made me more efficient, a more economical bowler in terms of body movement and energy. You don't want to waste energy in this job because you need it to keep concentration and, obviously, accuracy. And that's why you can bowl longer spells.
After a while, it's all about doing it without thinking. Bowling fast should come naturally if you are going to do it well. It's a very tough discipline, with a lot of stress on your lower body. There's about 15 times your whole body weight going through your knees and ankles and your back each time a fast bowler puts his front foot down at the crease. There is a lot of stress. They say that fast bowlers have to have good coordination. But I'm not a good dancer, so I wouldn't know about that. I do put the work in though. It all comes down to that in the end, practice.
Theories come and go in cricket. When I was growing up, I was told you had to try to get side-on as you got to the crease, to look through the window of the crook in your left arm, that sort of thing. They tried to make you side-on because they figured that was the way to bowl a lot faster, and that you wouldn't get injured because you'd be looking after your back, and you'd bowl massive outswingers. But I think that theory went out the window about the time Malcolm Marshall was bowling front-on and bowling massive outswingers at pretty good pace.
I used to be classed as a mixed-action bowler, which means the lower half of my body was predominantly front-on, with the top half side-on. This developed what they call counter-rotation and that is what basically causes a lot of back injuries among fast bowlers. If you can imagine getting a ruler and twisting it back and forth, at some stage the ruler is going to snap. It's the same with a person's spine.
The first thing I had to work out was whether to change the top half or the bottom half of my body action. After speaking to Dennis, I n bowling fast
This, basically, is how I do it.
In the past couple of months, I've shortened my run-up. I suppose like most kids growing up, I thought you had to have a huge run-up to bowl quick. Most fast bowlers back in the glory days, the Sixties and Seventies, went back a long way, almost pushing off the fence to start their run. We used to mimic them. But my run up now is 21 metres and 30 centimetres. Exactly. And I know it is exact because we use a tape-measure to get it right. It's about 21 paces, as I try to do long strides when I'm stepping it out.
So, I'll put my marker down then walk back an extra four or five paces, so I'm starting from just inside the 30-metre circle. From this point on, it all comes down to one word: rhythm. I've done a lot of work with the great fast bowler Dennis Lillee, who has been a terrific help. To find what suits you best, you get a nice open field, with a stump down one end, you close your eyes and you push off and wait until it feels comfortable, and then run up and just bowl.
Someone will mark exactly where your front foot landed, and you don't worry about where the ball goes. Then you go back and do it again, pushing off the same mark, run and let it go while feeling comfortable, and hopefully you will release the ball at the same point.
You find after doing this about 10 times that you are releasing the ball at pretty much the same spot - perhaps a couple of millimetres out - and then you take the average of all of them and that's basically your best run-up, the one that allows you to best hit a rhythm.
I've found, after I went through that process, that it certainly helped my pace and made me more efficient, a more economical bowler in terms of body movement and energy. You don't want to waste energy in this job because you need it to keep concentration and, obviously, accuracy. And that's why you can bowl longer spells.
After a while, it's all about doing it without thinking. Bowling fast should come naturally if you are going to do it well. It's a very tough discipline, with a lot of stress on your lower body. There's about 15 times your whole body weight going through your knees and ankles and your back each time a fast bowler puts his front foot down at the crease. There is a lot of stress. They say that fast bowlers have to have good coordination. But I'm not a good dancer, so I wouldn't know about that. I do put the work in though. It all comes down to that in the end, practice.
Theories come and go in cricket. When I was growing up, I was told you had to try to get side-on as you got to the crease, to look through the window of the crook in your left arm, that sort of thing. They tried to make you side-on because they figured that was the way to bowl a lot faster, and that you wouldn't get injured because you'd be looking after your back, and you'd bowl massive outswingers. But I think that theory went out the window about the time Malcolm Marshall was bowling front-on and bowling massive outswingers at pretty good pace.
I used to be classed as a mixed-action bowler, which means the lower half of my body was predominantly front-on, with the top half side-on. This developed what they call counter-rotation and that is what basically causes a lot of back injuries among fast bowlers. If you can imagine getting a ruler and twisting it back and forth, at some stage the ruler is going to snap. It's the same with a person's spine.
The first thing I had to work out was whether to change the top half or the bottom half of my body action. After speaking to Dennis, I bowl the fastest ball in Test cricket
Australia's Brett Lee The secret of bowling fast? It's all about rhythm. And angles. And staying fit and getting your body to click. There are certain things that will come naturally - your general coordination, for instance, and snapping your wrist at the point of delivery - and there are other things you can learn about and change. But, deep down, I think bowling fast is something you have to want to do with a passion, because it's very hard work.
This, basically, is how I do it.
In the past couple of months, I've shortened my run-up. I suppose like most kids growing up, I thought you had to have a huge run-up to bowl quick. Most fast bowlers back in the glory days, the Sixties and Seventies, went back a long way, almost pushing off the fence to start their run. We used to mimic them. But my run up now is 21 metres and 30 centimetres. Exactly. And I know it is exact because we use a tape-measure to get it right. It's about 21 paces, as I try to do long strides when I'm stepping it out.
So, I'll put my marker down then walk back an extra four or five paces, so I'm starting from just inside the 30-metre circle. From this point on, it all comes down to one word: rhythm. I've done a lot of work with the great fast bowler Dennis Lillee, who has been a terrific help. To find what suits you best, you get a nice open field, with a stump down one end, you close your eyes and you push off and wait until it feels comfortable, and then run up and just bowl.
Someone will mark exactly where your front foot landed, and you don't worry about where the ball goes. Then you go back and do it again, pushing off the same mark, run and let it go while feeling comfortable, and hopefully you will release the ball at the same point.
You find after doing this about 10 times that you are releasing the ball at pretty much the same spot - perhaps a couple of millimetres out - and then you take the average of all of them and that's basically your best run-up, the one that allows you to best hit a rhythm.
I've found, after I went through that process, that it certainly helped my pace and made me more efficient, a more economical bowler in terms of body movement and energy. You don't want to waste energy in this job because you need it to keep concentration and, obviously, accuracy. And that's why you can bowl longer spells.
After a while, it's all about doing it without thinking. Bowling fast should come naturally if you are going to do it well. It's a very tough discipline, with a lot of stress on your lower body. There's about 15 times your whole body weight going through your knees and ankles and your back each time a fast bowler puts his front foot down at the crease. There is a lot of stress. They say that fast bowlers have to have good coordination. But I'm not a good dancer, so I wouldn't know about that. I do put the work in though. It all comes down to that in the end, practice.
Theories come and go in cricket. When I was growing up, I was told you had to try to get side-on as you got to the crease, to look through the window of the crook in your left arm, that sort of thing. They tried to make you side-on because they figured that was the way to bowl a lot faster, and that you wouldn't get injured because you'd be looking after your back, and you'd bowl massive outswingers. But I think that theory went out the window about the time Malcolm Marshall was bowling front-on and bowling massive outswingers at pretty good pace.
I used to be classed as a mixed-action bowler, which means the lower half of my body was predominantly front-on, with the top half side-on. This developed what they call counter-rotation and that is what basically causes a lot of back injuries among fast bowlers. If you can imagine getting a ruler and twisting it back and forth, at some stage the ruler is going to snap. It's the same with a person's spine.
The first thing I had to work out was whether to change the top half or the bottom half of my body action. After speaking to Dennis, I n bowling fast
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