Bowling in cricket may seem to be an easy skill to understand, play and then take a wicket. However, there is so much more in the bowling of cricket. There are different types of bowlers but there are plenty of bowling variations and delivery types which bowlers use in the matches to get the wickets and restrict the scoreboard. Each of the deliveries used by different types of bowlers has its speciality that makes the batsmen score fewer runs and lose early wickets.
Bowlers are the ones who can win matches from the point you think you cannot. They are the underdogs of cricket and when they perform well there is a high chance of winning matches. Some of the deliveries used by bowlers are game-changers. Two of the main types of bowlers are fast bowlers and spin bowlers. Under this, there are various delivery types. So to understand more about the Different cricket ball bowling & delivery types, read the article below!
Deliveries Bowled By Fast Bowler
There are 13 types of deliveries bowled by fast bowlers in cricket, they are listed below:
1. Outswinger: This type of variation in bowling is bowled by fast bowlers. As the name suggests the outswinger delivery is the one in which the ball swings in the air when the bowler throws it. The ball in the outswinger delivery does not go straight to the batsmen rather it travels in a curved shape on the pitch to the batsmen. Moreover the outswinger delivery swings from right to left for right-arm bowlers and goes away to the right-handed batter. Likewise, the outswinger delivery swings from left to right for left-arm fast bowlers and goes away to the left-handed batter
2. Inswinger: This type of variation in bowling is bowled by fast bowlers. And with the name inswinger, you can take the clue that it’s the opposite of the outswinger delivery in cricket. The inswinger delivery swings from left to right for right-arm bowlers and goes to the right-handed batter. Likewise, the outswinger delivery swings from right to left for left-arm bowlers and goes to the left-handed batter or the stumps.
3. Reverse Swinging Delivery: Reverse swing is one of the difficult variations in bowling and very few fans can understand the reverse swing delivery. Here the stand-out difference in this delivery is the side of the ball whenever the bowler throws a reverse swing the ball swings from the shiny side of the ball. Whereas, in usual swing out or in swing the ball swings from the other side which is a dull one. Moreover, reverse wing delivery requires the usage of an old ball and it is mostly bowled by the fast bowler.
4. Bouncer: Every Batter is scared of bouncer as it is the most used delivery by bowlers to attack the batter dangerously. For bouncers, the bowler has to throw the ball in a way that balls get the bounce halfway off the pitch before reaching the batsmen. Due to the bounce, the ball reaches the batsmen with a great height and it confuses them on where to hit the shots and get caught. Also, bouncer deliveries are best used when the bowler examines the batter’s body. Once the bowler cracks the code, the bouncer is the best option to scare the batsmen.
5. Yorker: This is another famously used bowling delivery type used by fast bowlers in cricket. The yorker is the delivery where the bowler makes sure that the ball is thrown with full length on the pitch and it reaches mostly towards the popping crease or batsmen’s feet. So whenever the batsmen seem to be in attacking mode the bowler has a great chance to get their wickets by using yorker delivery in cricket.
6. Cross Seam Delivery: The Cross Seam Delivery is used when the fast bowlers are looking for extra and different bounce. This delivery makes the balls bounce in a very different way on the cricket pitches. It is due to the holding of the ball being quite different in cross-seam delivery than other deliveries. The fast bowlers use their fingers to create seaming between them by holding the ball around the hand.
7. Wobble Ball: The fast bowlers like Mohammed Asif, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad have made this Wobble ball delivery quite famous especially in test cricket. The Wobble ball is the delivery where the bowlers also have very little idea about the behaviour of the bowl. The Wobble ball creates a seam from each side after the ball is thrown towards the batter.
Below Are The Types of Slower Ball Deliveries Used By Fast Bowlers:
8. Off-cutter: Fast bowlers use off-cutter slower balls occasionally. The off-cutter delivery is thrown with a different grip and with rolling the fingers towards one side of the ball which makes them leave the hands and hold the ball through their fingers. The off-cutter delivery vokes towards the batter very slowly due to the less spin produced.
9. Leg Cutter: The leg cutter delivery of the slower balls is almost the opposite of the off-cutter delivery. The bowlers using leg cutter delivery makes the ball spin in the opposite direction and use a bit different grip.
10. Split Finger Delivery: Glenn McGrath is one of the first bowlers to use split finger delivery of slower balls. The bowler has to hold the ball in between the two fingers, splitting a distance between them with the support of the palm. However, the delivery is not a hard one or a simple one. It just requires the bowers to practise a lot.
11. Back-of-the-hand Ball: One of the most commonly used slower balls is back-of-the-hand ball delivery. It seems to be a simple one but there is an extra twist to throw this type of delivery. Usually, the bowlers use the front side of the hand to bowl the delivery. However, here they have to use the back of teh hand and it requires lots of practice to master this type of slower ball.
12. The Slower Obsolete Ball: This type of slower ball is not that difficult and very easy to adapt. The slower obsolete ball is almost the same as other deliveries but here you need to have that extra grip before throwing the ball towards the batter.
13. Knuckle Ball: This type of slower bowl is very good to use when any fast bowler is looking for a wicket. The knuckle ball travels in a bit of a floating direction to batters with a little dip in the last second which is quite difficult for any batter to play the shots. Jofra Archer uses a knuckleball in his bowling sometimes.
Deliveries Bowled By Spinners
There are 11 types of deliveries bowled by spin bowlers in cricket, they are listed below:
1.Leg Break Delivery: The leg break delivery is commonly used by spinners in cricket. One of India’s famous spinners is Yuzvendra Chahal. To understand the leg break delivery we have to focus more on the ball’s behaviour on the pitch. The leg break delivery is used by two types of spinners: right arm leg spin and left arm leg spin. For the right arm leg spinners, the leg break delivery will most spin from right to left thrown with full length.
2. Googly: This type of delivery is commonly used by the leg spinners and it is quite famous too. As the name suggests Googly, the delivery is something similar and makes the batsmen very confused. The googly is the opposite of the leg break delivery as it will spin in the opposite direction of the leg break delivery. However, since the way of throwing the ball is similar to leg break delivery the batter gets very confused whether it is a googly or any other delivery. This makes them lose their wickets faster.
3. Top Spinner: It is also one of the deliveries which is mostly used by the leg spinners. The top-spin bowling is the delivery where the bowler tries to make the ball spin towards the batter in a straight direction. Also, the ball gets a bounce which is a plus point of this delivery as the batter gets caught by getting confused over the delivery. Top spin bowling is very good and dangerous in cricket as it can get you crucial wickets.
4. Slider: Leg spinners use the slider delivery very often in cricket. The slider delivery is no different than a leg break delivery except for the fact that here the ball does not spin; rather upon hitting the pitch, the ball goes towards the batter in a straight direction. The slider delivery was best used by the popular bowler Shane Warne in cricket.
5. Flipper: One of the hardest deliveries used by leg spinners is flippers. Very rare leg spinners have mastered to throw this delivery perfectly. The flipper delivery consists of a similar grip for the ball as other leg spin deliveries. However, the ball releases very differently and goes towards the batter in a very low straight direction along with a unique trajectory.
6. The off-break: This off-break delivery is mostly used by off-spin bowlers. Some of the most famous off-spin bowlers are Ravichandran Ashwin, Jadeja and Moeen Ali. Any off-break delivery for right arm off spin bowlers will go left to right and towards the right-hand batsman’s body. Whereas the left arm off spin bowlers off break delivery will go right to left and away from the left-hand batsman’s body.
7. Top Spinner (Off-spin delivery): This is another variation used by off-spin bowlers in cricket. The top spinner in off-spin bowling is very similar to the top spinner delivery in leg-spin bowling. However, here the ball gets an extra bounce and dip going to the batter and it makes batsmen miss the shot or lose wicket on this delivery.
8. Arm Ball: The arm ball by the off-spinner is the bowl where its direction gets deviated from batsmen with decreased spin and bounce.
9. Doosra: This variation of off-spin bowling is no longer used by spinners. It is somewhere similar to the leg-spin variations googly. Whenever the bowler uses the Doosra variation in their bowling the ball gets deviated in the opposite direction for right-hand batsmen. It comes towards the left-hand batsman with extra bounce and dip.
10. Carrom Ball: This delivery is mostly used by the off-spin bowlers in cricket. The Carrom ball is mostly the opposite of off-spin delivery and it spins in its opposite direction when bowled to the batsmen. Also, the bowler needs to have strong control of their fingers to flick the ball and produce spin. Ravichandran Ashwin is famously known to bowl carrom ball delivery most often in Indian cricket.
11. Under Cutter: This Delivery is somewhere related to the slider delivery and spinners use this to trick the batsmen. The idea of this undercutter delivery is to bowl with no spin and a bit of slide in the direction of batsmen. It gets tricky for batsmen to hit this bowl and they are mostly caught and get out.
How Many Types of Bowling Are There?
There are mainly two types of bowling which are fast and spin bowling. There are various types of variations under these two categories in the bowling of cricket.
How Many Types of Deliveries Are There in Cricket?
There are more than 20 types of deliveries in cricket. Some of the deliveries fall under the category of fast bowling and some of the deliveries fall under spin bowling.
What is a Cricket Delivery Called?
The delivery in cricket is described as the bowl which is thrown to a batter to make him out, lose wickets or score runs.
What is a Mode of Delivery in Cricket?
The mode of delivery in cricket is when the bowler decides to bowl in the right hand or left hand, around or over the wicket or underarm direction. The bowler has to inform the umpire about his mode of delivery otherwise his bowl will be signalled as the no ball.
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