Bowling (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball towards the batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler.

Goals of bowling

In terms of strategic importance in a game, the priorities of a bowler are, in order of importance:

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• Get batsmen out.
• Prevent batsmen from scoring runs.

Getting batsmen out is the primary goal because once out a batsman can no longer bat in the same innings, so the potential for scoring more runs is gone. Actually preventing the scoring of a run at any point is relatively unimportant, and bowlers will often deliberately bowl so as to make it easier for batsmen to score runs, in order to build overconfidence, tempt them into a miscalculated shot, and thus get them out.

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This contrasts with baseball, in which the primary goal of pitching is to prevent the other team from scoring runs. This is reflected in the difference in terminology of attack and defence between the sports. In baseball, pitching is considered the defensive role, whereas in cricket bowling is primarily an offensive role and is referred to as the attack.

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Bowling tactics

To achieve the goals of bowling, a variety of tactics have been developed. Naively, bowling directly at the batsman's wicket seems a good idea, as this provides chances to get the batsman out bowled or leg before wicket. However, most batsman are capable of defending against such deliveries, especially if they expect them. A more promising line of attack is to bowl away from the wicket, and entice the batsman to play a shot at the ball in the hope of scoring runs. A mistimed stroke or deviation of the ball in flight can result in the ball being hit in an unintended direction, either on to the wicket or - more likely - to a fielder for a catch.

Related Topics:
Wicket - Leg before wicket

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Some different types of bowling tactic:

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• Bodyline
• Leg theory
• Off theory