The term “fast bowling” typically refers to methods of fast (quick) ball delivery that rely heavily on speed. These include leg breaks, off-breaks, swing balls, and straight ones. As you can probably imagine, this is not a very descriptive name.
What does it mean when someone says, for example, they want to learn how to bowl like a fast bowler? I will assume that by “bowler” they mean something along the lines of what we refer to as a “leg” spinner or a “swingy” slow left arm orthodox.
I will also assume that if they mentioned wanting to know his or her fast bowling style, they meant either a leg break or an off-break. This article will focus only on helping you develop your fast bowling skills as a leg spinner or off-breaker.
If all of these assumptions are correct then you have picked out the right type of bowling! We will be talking about them in more detail soon but first let us talk about some important terms.
Control your temper
Anger is one of the biggest performance killers you can have in bowling. When you get irate, nervous people around you feel it and it impacts how well you perform.
When you’re too angry, your body gets more tense and that doesn’t help when you want to relax and focus. If you keep picking fights, you will lose the desire to play because there are always going to be things that upset you.
Avoid getting into arguments or throwing tantrums if you need to stay focused on your game. Check out our article about why being patient with each other is important for relationships to work!
If you must say something, choose your words wisely and do not take anything someone says seriously until they have shown them by their actions. You would never let a word hurt you, so why should you allow it to hurt you as well?
Give yourself time to cool off and reevaluate what happened before trying to repeat what made you annoyed in the first place. Don’t make an excuse and don’t try to forget about the argument but simply put your attention elsewhere and ignore the person completely.
Be consistent
Consistency is one of the biggest factors in maximizing bowling performance. The more you do something, the better you will get at it! When you are not sure what your goal should be, just practice it constantly.
That means practicing your roll every time you bowl, working on your technique during each throw, how to position yourself for the next ball, and knowing the rules and tips for all the different types of shots.
You can start by trying out some easy tricks first like using less wrist flexion with your front foot or rolling with your feet instead of stepping forward.
After that, it’s moving onto doing slightly harder ones such as practicing your drop step or standing up faster after setting down your initial ball. Only once these basics have been mastered should you move onto higher level techniques.
Your consistency will continue to improve as you keep learning and practicing new skills. Also, try to make the game situation as natural as possible by figuring out how to manage your emotions and distractions before going into a match.
Warm up properly
Before you take your first swing, you need to make sure that your body is warm! This will help ensure proper muscle relaxation and function, as well as increase your blood flow.
Start by walking around or doing some light exercises for five minutes. Then, once you are completely warmed up, you can start swinging a baseball bat, field hockey stick, or even just a regular old club.
If using a lighter weight object like a wooden golf club, then there is no need to fully heatup before practicing, but it is good to be familiar with the shape and feel of the weapon before hitting harder ones.
Practice makes perfect
The best way to learn how to bowl is by practicing, practice, practice! There are many ways to improve your bowling performance, but most important is to just keep going at it until you feel like you’re totally mastered the game.
Throwing the ball as hard and fast as possible will only get you so far. You have to understand what muscles of yours are used for throwing the ball and when.
You can use your body weight or hands as the force behind your throw. This article has some tips about different styles of bowling that may help you find your groove.
There are also strategies such as using more fingers or keeping your hand closer to your face when rolling the ball. All of these can be done in any style you want to develop, so try experimenting with them.
Focus on your form
When it comes to performance bowling, speed is always going to play a big part in how well you are doing. However, while most people focus too much attention on trying to be as fast as possible, very few actually spend time focusing on good form.
Form is one of the key components of strong throwing. By paying close attention to the way your arm moves through the ball’s trajectory, your wrist position, how quickly your hand closes around the ball, and how tightly you squeeze the handle all contribute to the perfect throw.
Throwing with great form will take practice, but don’t worry – you can start today! Start by practicing your basic rollers (see our article here) and then work your way up from there.
Once you have mastered that, move onto some easy hooks and drops (see our article here). Once you feel more comfortable, try some heavier balls like skimmers or drivers.
Slow down and make eye contact
The second is to slow down your arm and hand speed. This happens when you reduce your stride length or increase your step time. By doing this, you’re giving yourself more time to think about each ball before throwing it, which helps prevent you from reacting quickly and subconsciously.
By thinking about the throw longer, you can also improve your accuracy as there is more time to work with the ball. More time means better quality of throws as well!
There are many different styles that fast bowlers have, so it will vary for each person what changes they need to make to optimize their game. For some people, reducing leg swing may be the most effective way to become faster.
For others, reducing wrist spin may help them get even quicker. Different bowling shapes require changing other parts of your style to match. It really does depend on who you are as an individual athlete and how much performance you want to achieve.
Always carry water and snacks
While most people believe that eating before a game is a good idea, drinking more than one hour prior to competition can be problematic. When you play a sport like football or basketball, it is very difficult to watch your own team while you are doing something else!
Therefore, unless you have an event where they provide free refreshments, it is better to eat and drink later so you do not need to worry about time constraints. Also, many sports require enough energy for players to perform their best, so make sure to eat enough food so you have enough fuel.
Some other things you can do to help with this is carrying some extra snacks in case you run out or get hungry during the game. You also should never underestimate the importance of a good night’s sleep before the game.
Not only does sleep give you mental rest, but it helps repair muscle tissue as well. Therefore, try to schedule sleep at least six hours earlier than normal so those muscles can recover properly.
Rhythm is important
When you are bowling, your rhythm can make or break how well you perform. You have a lot of control over your speed when your feet move quickly in a pattern called the rhythm.
Your feet should be moving at a steady pace to achieve this perfect rhythm. If your feet are too slow, then you will lose momentum and that does not work for you. If your feet are rushing around like a rabbit, then you do not have the balance or precision needed to succeed.
You want to make sure that your feet sync up with each other as well as your hands and body. All these parts should be moving together as one! If there is an area that looks shaky, you may need to practice more on that so it feels better.
