Fast bowling

Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling. Practitioners are usually known as fast bowlers or pace bowlers although sometimes the label used refers to the specific fast bowling technique that bowler prefers, such as swing bowler, seam bowler or strike bowler.

Categorisation of fast bowling

It is possible for a bowler to concentrate solely on speed, especially when young, but as fast bowlers mature they pick up new skills and tend to rely more on swing bowling or seam bowling techniques. Most fast bowlers will specialise in one of these two areas and will sometimes be catergoried as strike, swing or seam bowler. However, this classification is not satisifactory because the categories are not mutually exclusive and a skilled bowler will usually bowl a mixture of fast, swinging and seaming balls even if he prefers one style to the others.

Related Topics:
Swing bowling - Seam bowling

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Instead it is more common to subdivide fast bowlers according to the average speed of their delivery as follows.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For comparison, most spin bowlers in professional cricket bowl at average speeds of 40 to 55 mph (64 to 90 km/h). Confusingly, spin bowlers are sometimes referred to as "slow" bowlers, even though they bowl slightly faster than the official "slow" category of fast bowlers!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The slower the fast bowler, the more they have to rely on the variation techniques listed below to get wickets while fast and to a lesser extent fast-medium bowlers can often get batsmen out through sheer speed and aggression. In practice, very few bowlers fall into the medium-fast and medium categories and they are mostly batsmen who can bowl a few part-time overs on occasion. These bowlers are collectively known as medium pacers. The medium-slow, slow-medium and slow categories are non-existent in professional cricket as they are simply too easy for a good batsman to play.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~