Swing bowling

Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers.

Reverse swing

Normal swing occurs mostly when the ball is fairly new. As it wears more, the aerodynamics of the asymmetry change and it is more difficult to extract a large amount of swing.

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When the ball becomes very old—around 40 or more overs old (although Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones have produced reverse swing in balls as few as 15 overs old http://sport.guardian.co.uk/ashes2005/story/0,15993,1551367,00.html) —it can begin to swing towards the polished side rather than the rough side. This is known as reverse swing. In essence, both sides have turbulent flow, but here the seam causes the airflow to separate earlier on one side. The result is always a swing to the side with the later separation, so the swing is away from the seam. See External Links

Related Topics:
Over - Andrew Flintoff - Simon Jones - External Links

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Reverse swing is difficult to achieve consistently, as it relies on uneven wear of the ball, tends to occur mostly in hot, dry weather conditions, and requires bowling at high speed. Normal swing can be achieved at relatively moderate bowling speeds, but only the fastest bowlers can regularly produce reverse swing.

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Reverse swing tends to be stronger than normal swing, and to occur late in the ball's trajectory. This gives it a very different character to normal swing, and because batsmen experience it less often they generally find it much more difficult to defend against. It is also possible for a ball to swing normally in its early flight, and then to reverse as it approaches the batsman, giving its trajectory an S-shape through the air.

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Notable practitioners of reverse swing have mostly been Pakistani fast bowlers. Sarfraz Nawaz and Imran Khan are often credited as the first bowlers to produce reverse swing, and they have been followed by bowlers such as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Chaminda Vaas, Irfan Pathan, Darren Gough, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones.

Related Topics:
Pakistani - Sarfraz Nawaz - Imran Khan - Wasim Akram - Waqar Younis - Shoaib Akhtar - Chaminda Vaas - Irfan Pathan - Darren Gough - Andrew Flintoff - Simon Jones

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