The four performance pillars of bowling most people ignore

You need at least 2 of the 4 to perform at the highest level

People I speak to in my DMs and the comment section often ask how they can improve their bowling.

It's the number one question, but it starts by defining what good looks like.

I often see people trying to improve fragments of their game based on sound bites they've heard on TV or from other players after a match, but this is the catalyst that leads to inconsistency.

That's why I'm giving you a detailed blueprint to guide and improve your bowling consciously.

Buckle up, and let's get into it.

Performance Pillar 1: Pace

Getting the ball to do something quickly, whether through the air or off the pitch, is the key to putting pressure on batters.

The higher your level, the faster you need the ball to respond.

But there's one giant caveat: It has to be at your optimal pace based on your physical, technical and mental attributes.

Then, you dig down a little deeper.

How quick are your spells of bowling? Can you bowl at your optimum pace from over number 1 through to 5 in spell one?

Can you come back and hit your optimum pace as soon as possible in your second spell and even in your 3rd?

So, hitting the perfect speed is not only about regularity but also about recovery, nutrition, hydration, and the ability to repeatedly put your body and your mind through it.

I don't put a number on optimum pace because everyone has their own based on the work they've put into their game as well as their habits around preparation and recovery. You can only do your best with what you've got, ability-wise, in the moment in time.

The factors that move the dial and push you towards significantly improving pillar number one come down to how good you are with your physical and mobility habits.

Are you consistent with those habits? How fit are you? What's your fat percentage? Are you carrying around an element of dead weight, such as fat, that is not giving you any benefit whatsoever in performance?

The higher up you go, pace becomes vital because you want the ball to do something quickly.

Here's the thing: you need the intent to bowl quickly, which, if you play regularly, will be a constant mental battle because there are few days when a bowler doesn't hurt somewhere.

There are few days when bowling feels very good, or you're in a perfect rhythm.

You'll fight more mentally than physically to bowl at your optimal pace to put batters under pressure.

There were very few occasions in my own career when I was in a zone where it felt like I was gliding over the surface in my run-up. Somehow, I was exploding through the crease effortlessly and bowling a ball ripping through to the keeper or hitting the batter hard with seemingly no effort. Those days, I can count on one hand.

Extreme pace is the only category where you don't need the other three pillars because bowling fast does some funny things to a batter's psyche which can make them make poor decisions.

Performance Pillar 2: Bounce

This one is a biggie, mainly if there is no lateral moment or turn off the pitch.

You get bounce if you are delivering from a high release position. Are you bowling from a 12 o'clock release position, or are you a slinger?

So as you move around the clock 12, 11, 10 and 9, your release position drops, and you'll get less bounce.

Are you getting to a position where you move towards the target with energy from your run-up and at 'Jump gather?'

Do you get into a healthy position at backfoot contact, a healthy position from backfoot into front foot contact, and release in an upright position?

To achieve your optimum bounce level, you need to be as upright as possible. A bowlers posture is really important.

If you were to take a mind's eye photograph of your release point position, both your hips would be pointing down the wicket, and your chest would be pointing straight down the wicket.

You're as tall as you possibly can be. That's how you can get to your highest release point.

The other way to get bounce is to create backspin as you rip down and through the ball on release, a strategy often used by Stuart Broad when he employed the cross seam position during parts of his career.

The more backspin you generate as the ball gets into the surface of the pitch, the more that backspin reacts to the surface, and you get more bounce.

Performance Pillar 3: Accuracy.

The truism of "if he misses, you hit" in bowling is one you can take to the bank.

If there were any skill in bowling that you would want at the top of the totem pole, accuracy would be it. Accuracy is the first thing we teach when we coach kids from a young age.

It's as much a physical skill as a skill of patience, but knowing the formula for bowling with surgical precision will increase your chances of taking wickets. The data supports bowling straighter, and keeping all modes of dismissal in play for as many balls as possible leads to more dismissals.

Funny that.  

Accuracy requires you to be patient and have a consistent action, but more than anything, it needs a commitment to be boring for a sustained period.

You want to drag the batter forward to get them to play a defensive shot. So, the formula is bowling lots of balls in a good area and doing so as often as possible to create pressure.

Bowlers create pressure by piling up a bunch of non-scoring opportunities for the batter. So you give them nothing in the way of loose balls or easy scoring opportunities.

Accuracy is honed through consistent effort invested in perfecting your bowling technique, which allows for precise control and flawless delivery of certain balls, like the yorker.

My game significantly improved through hours of practice bowling at targets or batters in the nets. Before I bowled any balls in a game, I always put the work into executing them in the nets first.

Insatiable accuracy comes from being disciplined at every training opportunity because it takes time to become accurate.

I don't know how much patience there is in the world, but the best bowlers are relentless at practising accuracy.

They don't lose patience by choosing to practice deliveries at which they're not strong. That is a different kind of practice which while important it will take time away from potentially becoming a master at another aspect.

As a captain, you want to throw someone the ball and know exactly what that bowler will give you.

Performance Pillar 4: Lateral Movement.

The last performance pillar for seam bowlers is achieving lateral movement, particularly if you want to get good batters out.

It's the key to challenging the best players.

There is a process for moving the ball laterally, but first, you need to become a scholar at perfecting your seam presentation.

Lateral movement through the air is all about seam presentation with minimal wobble. You want the seam upright and, with the new ball, a slight canter of the seam.

So, right-hand bowler to the right-hand batter swinging away, the seam will be angled slightly towards the first or second slip. The seam to the new ball reacts to the airflow after release. It's the string of the seam that causes the turbulence. Therefore, you get swing.

The second way is the contrast between rough and smooth. It's not shining the ball as you're led to believe. It's the roughness or smoothness of the ball on either side. Ideally, you want the rough side to be as fluffy as possible within the game's laws.

So, no sandpaper. Lol

You don't look after the rough side, and you dry shine the other side so it is smooth as you get the ball in the airflow with the as little wobble of the seam. The rough and smooth contrast makes the ball swing.

Where you encounter tacky surfaces, cutters are very effective and another way of achieving lateral movement.

The ball's spin is another way to achieve lateral movement. This can be done through orthodox spin or leg spin bowling but can also be achieved as a seam bowler by dropping your release point.

The final movement you can get from the ball is lateral movement off the pitch, a slight grip change with your fingers ripping down the back of the ball.

You have a slight angle of the seam, so as you release the ball, it wobbles out of your hand. The smaller the wobble, the better because when it hits the surface, it could hit one side of the seam or the other.

This is a nightmare for batters to play because the movement happens off the pitch and closer to them, so they have far less time to react.  

Final thoughts.

Why are these four pillars important?

If you closely analyse the best bowlers in the world, like Mcgrath, Pat Cummins, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, you get a cross-section of different heights, speeds and skills.

Take Wasim and Waqar, Garner and Mike Holding. They all possess some of those four pillars: Pace, Bounce, Lateral Movement and Accuracy.

Those are the performance pillars that tell us what bowlers need to do to create and sustain pressure on the batter, leading to wickets.

Nobody I can think of currently playing has all four, maybe Jofra Archer or Jasprit Bumrah.

Bowlers need a minimum of two pillars for outsized results. You can get away with having one only if you possess extreme pace.

Some bowlers have out-and-out pace, so there is a point where if you're quick enough, like Brett Lee or Mark Wood, you don't need the other three. But those bowlers are few and far between.

For you as a club bowler, I’d recommend your point of difference is to become brilliant at accuracy and lateral movement.

Bowl at your optimum pace and obsess about an upright seam while working towards unshakable accuracy.

That means presenting an excellent seam to give you the best opportunity for movement in the air or pitch.

It will get you wickets, and your team will win matches.

Work with me.

I receive countless messages requesting bowling analysis and online coaching, which can be challenging around my first-class commitments.

I've decided to open 5 slots (only) on my website for the next two weeks for anyone serious about improving their bowling and working on these four pillars in a structured way.

A small fee applies for working with me on a 1-2-1 basis to manage high demand and ensure your commitment. Let's get to work on improving your bowling!

1-2-1 coaching here

Speak soon

Stuart