Swing Bowling, James Anderson
England's James Anderson is know for his swing bowling. Photo Credit: Getty.

Swing bowling without a doubt is one of the most beautiful assets of the gentleman’s game cricket. The art of swing bowling has evolved over a period. According to science, there are three types of swing deliveries. Conventional swing, Reverse Swing and contrast swing.

Wel, these are the three different kinds of swing bowling as stated by owing to the scientific methods. However, over the years, bowlers have different descriptions of deviating the ball in the air.

However, it hardly matters that what a particular type of swing bowling is referred to. It matters as far as science is concerned and how it dictates terms.

But, bowlers don’t need to know the science behind the swing deliveries. Over the years they have evolved the art of swing bowling effectively. The direction of the swing of the delivery is dependant on many aspects.

It must be noted that the asymmetry of the ball is encouraged by the constant polishing of the ball. It is done on one side by most of the members of the fielding team. They allow the opposite side of the ball to wear and tear while they keep shining the other side of the ball. When done over a considerable amount of time it produces a significant difference in the aerodynamic properties of two sides of the cricket ball.

The laminar airflow of the ball contributes

The laminar airflow of the ball largely adds to swing bowling. Air movement in laminar flow separates from the ball in the turbulent air. The change of the direction of the delivery moves towards the front of the ball on the laminar side. An excellent lift force gets created on the turbulent side of the ball. The pressure is further generated from the different kinds of wrist position of the fast bowler.

The low and high static pressure goes on to press the force on the ball on two different sides. A layer of fluid like spit or sweat is applied to the delivery to imply a greater velocity on the movement of the ball.

Spit or sweat in this case will have a greater velocity which in turn will make the ball move in the direction of the surface which is being taken care of. The greater the velocity of the fluid, lower will be the static pressure.

Conventional Swing bowling:

What is Swing Bowling and the Nuances of Different Types of Swing?
Image Courtesy: ESPN Cricinfo

For a bowler, there are only two different kinds of swing. The contrast swing can only be studied by the ones who have scientific knowledge in this particular manner.

In addition, the conventional swing is generally carried out by a swing or a fast bowler with a new or a semi-new ball. It is actually a general phenomenon which is largely possible due to the even surface of both sides of the ball. The swing is extracted by keeping the wrist position and the seam in a particular direction. Conventional swing can be extracted in the form of an inswinger and an outswinger.

Outswinger:

An outswinger to a right-hander is generally bowled by placing the seam on the left towards the slips. It is generally placed on the roughened side of the ball on the left.

To generate more amount of swing on a consistent basis, a bowler can also move his wrist in the direction of the slip cordon. However, he must be aware of keeping his arm straight. It also makes the delivery go away from the right-hander after pitching.

Inswinger:

An inswinger to a right-hander can be bowled by aligning the seam towards the right and placing it on the rough side of the ball. Consistent swing can only be extracted when the wrist position opens up and is directed towards the leg slip.

The wrist position makes the ball move into the right-handed batsman after pitching. It moves towards the leg side when in the air.

A batsman is set up by a bowler especially in Test cricket by both kinds of deliveries. On several occasions, we have witnessed how bowlers have set up batsmen with two three inswingers and then getting their wicket with a big outswinger.

In Test cricket, it is all about setting up a batsman. The wrist position is quite important in the case of conventional swing. Both the deliveries possess several challengers to the batsmen.

An inswing delivery often tends to get a right-hander LBW, while an outswinger more often than not gets caught behind the wicket. However, it is more prevalent in Test cricket. The red-ball tends to generate more amount of swing than the white-ball.

Hence, Test cricket is more challenging than the shorter format; the bowlers always tend to get help atleast in the initial stages with the new ball.

An inswinger bowled by a left-arm seamer seems more lethal on occasions. Bowlers like Wasim Akram, Zaheer Khan, Chaminda Vaas, Alan Davidson has been some of the standout left-arm pacers of all time.

Reverse Swing

What is Swing Bowling and the Nuances of Different Types of Swing?
Image Courtesy: ESPN Cricinfo

Unlike conventional swing, reverse swing only comes into effect when the ball has gone through the wear and tear. The asymmetry change makes it more challenging to extract swing from the ball. When the ball becomes old around 40 overs or more, it begins to swing towards the shine of the ball.

The fielders maintain the ball by applying spit or sweat in one side of the ball. The other side is allowed to wear and tear to make the uneven surface of the ball. Subsequently, it makes reverse swing come into effect.

Reverse swing is a greater art than the regular swing. However, it is an art which must be learnt quite thoroughly. Great exponents of reverse swing have never come in significant numbers. The batsmen tend to find the reverse swing more difficult to defend. Some of the great exponents of reverse swing has been Wasim Akram, Zaheer Khan, James Anderson, Waqar Younis and many more.

Tactics used against Reverse swing:

At times it is pretty difficult to pick which side of the ball is shiny and which one is the rough side. In a show, great batsman Sachin Tendulkar had revealed that how he and Rahul Dravid chalked out a plan to counter the reverse swing of Chris Cairns.

Tendulkar recalled that he went up to Dravid and asked him to follow the shine of the ball from the non-striker’s end.

So, it was decided that Dravid would keep the bat on the left if the ball is moving away from the batsman. If it was coming in, then Dravid would hold the bat on the right. The New Zealand players understood that something was fishy. Hence Cairns lost his momentum and got smashed for boundaries quite often.

Hence he bowled a cross seam delivery and enquired to Sachin that what he had in store this time around. He didn’t know that Tendulkar had told Dravid that if they couldn’t understand which way the ball was swinging, then they would keep the bat in the middle. It is one of those funny incidents of how top batsman has negotiated reverse swing.

Some best modern day swing bowlers:

Dinesh karthik, James Anderson
James Anderson. (PC – DNA India)

Over the years swing bowlers have been a treat to watch for the eyes. Richard Hadlee of New Zealand was an example of a perfect swing bowler. He was not expressed under any stress of imagination. However, he is one of the most successful bowlers of all time and is considered among the all-time greats.

Glenn McGrath was one such bowler in the modern generation who troubled his opposition batters with subtle swing. He had the ability to move the ball both ways and the control made him one of the finest fast bowlers of all time.

The pioneer of reverse swing has been none other than Wasim Akram. It was the legendary Pakistan bowling line-up which started the reverse swing back in the 1992 World Cup. Akram came from around the wicket and moved the ball away from the right-handers. It was an unknown commodity until that time.

However many great bowlers have gone on to master the art. Some of the finest modern-day exponents of reverse swing are James Anderson, Dale Steyn and Mitchell Starc. Zaheer Khan, the former Indian left-arm pacer was also one of the finest reverse swing exponents.

A Cricket Expert who loves revolving his life around the game. An extremely passionate music lover who loves singing and listening to Arijit Singh songs.