Bowling Tips

[warriorsrule]

I have posed this question on the Big Ant forums but would like to ask here as well:
I have read a lot of posts here of people saying they get lots of wickets in first class matches in career mode. I am lucky if I get 1 wicket per match. Can those who get lots of wickets give some tips / pointers on what type of deliveries / field placements / bowling plans you employ to successfully take wickets?

[lunarvision3]

Click the right stick to analyse the batsman's technique, then set a field and bowl according to his weaknesses. There's no one-size-fits-all bowling plan particularly (though "hit the top of off stump plus the occasional bouncer" will rarely send you far wrong.)

[warriorsrule]

What difficulty levels are you guys playing at with these bowling plans? Unfortunately, I am having difficulty getting wickets on PRO mode. I have tried some of the suggestions and still do not get many wickets.

- I have tried to bowl yorkers just outside the leg stump and have it swing back to get an LBW but get driven for a boundary through the leg side all the time;

- I have bowled on the stumps many times nice in swinging yorkers but the batsman plays a late cut off the front foot right off middle stump down to third man. So many times I think it is going to bowl him but he players a miraculous shot right off the stumps. The AI just does not miss any balls on the stumps for me. They play some ridiculous shots but never miss the ball;

-I have bowled line and length using the leg cutter / off cutter just outside the off stump and have beaten the batsman but they usually play and miss it by miles. Anything on the stumps and full they drive down the ground easily. Anything full on middle / leg stump gets flicked to mid on or long on;

-Bowling short is really useless for me. I am a fast medium pacer and get it around 136kmph. When I bowl a short ball it doesn't go over waist height to the batsman. When I charge in and bowl a faster ball at 142kmph, either short or full it makes zero difference. So many times I have gone around the wicket and employed the England Plunkett plan - short into the ribs with leg side fielders at leg gully and short leg but the batsman pull it away easily;

-I keep seeing a + inswing / outswing / seam skill after I bowl a tight over but never have seen any benefits from gaining the skill. They don't really seem matter at all. Does not seem to make me beat the batsman more often. I have bowled 42 overs straight now in my career without a single wicket.

[[VOID] MG]

One thing that I do when I'm having a long stretch of no wickets, is start sending the odd ball quite wide of off stump, encouraging the batsman to have a stab at it. It doesn't always work, but the fact that you're getting the batsman to play to the off side, into point and covers etc, sometimes yields a catch.

[TeePee]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von warriorsrule:

-I have bowled line and length using the leg cutter / off cutter just outside the off stump and have beaten the batsman but they usually play and miss it by miles. Anything on the stumps and full they drive down the ground easily. Anything full on middle / leg stump gets flicked to mid on or long on;


-I keep seeing a + inswing / outswing / seam skill after I bowl a tight over but never have seen any benefits from gaining the skill. They don't really seem matter at all. Does not seem to make me beat the batsman more often. I have bowled 42 overs straight now in my career without a single wicket.

It sounds like you might be getting a little impatient. 42 overs isn't an abhorrently long time to be without a wicket, particularly depending on what kind of pitch you're bowling on, not to mention if you're constantly changing your bowling plan from short-pitched rib-ticklers to inswinging yorkers and everything in between.

You've said bowling outside the off stump is causing them to play and miss, so why not stick with that? If you're not getting wickets, the next best thing is to not go for any runs - often times, that lack of runs will bring a wicket in itself, as batsmen start to get anxious and play shots that they wouldn't normally play in order to try and force some runs.

[[VOID] MG]

That's a great point TeePee, and I often find that if I'm only giving the batsman 1 run an over, over after over, suddeny the other bowlers start to pick up wickets, as the batsman try and make up the run rate with the other end.
I don't think I'm imagining that......
But 4 day matches are very difficult to pick up wickets, as the batsmen are always overly cautious.

[Soup]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von MG:

That's a great point TeePee, and I often find that if I'm only giving the batsman 1 run an over, over after over, suddeny the other bowlers start to pick up wickets, as the batsman try and make up the run rate with the other end.
I don't think I'm imagining that......
But 4 day matches are very difficult to pick up wickets, as the batsmen are always overly cautious.

Too right mate, This has happened in my career matches thus far. Even though I bowl line and length (My RPO is under 2), the other bowlers seem to fly through the batsman, or the batsman try hitting me out of the park, which either results in a 4 or wicket.

Either way, it's a result! Cricket is a team sport, just remember that. You build pressure as a team, you succeed as a team. The results will finally turn in your favour.

[Dr. Dee]

The other thing to remember in Career Mode is that it takes time to build up skill. Those +1's and +3's (and even on occasion +4's) that you get from bowling tidily or getting wickes take a while to have a nonticeable effect. I'm in year two of my career as a leg spinner and only yesterday (in a Indian T20 League match) did I get my first genuine classic wrist spin wicket. I've taken a lot of wickets but most of the batsmen that I've previously bowled out have played down completely the wrong line rather than anything brilliant in my bowling. Yesterday, however, I managed to turn one off the pitch to a left-hander that did just enough to squeeze through a tiny gap he'd left between bat and pad to take the top of off-stump. It was fantastic and had me punching the air in celebration. It wasn't turning square but did just enough to find that gap. The fact that the batsman had seemed to do everything right in terms of getting his feet in the right place made it all the better...he left shaking his head at how the ball had managed to get through him. Great stuff...and felt, once again, like real cricket.

[warriorsrule]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von TeePee:

You've said bowling outside the off stump is causing them to play and miss, so why not stick with that? If you're not getting wickets, the next best thing is to not go for any runs - often times, that lack of runs will bring a wicket in itself, as batsmen start to get anxious and play shots that they wouldn't normally play in order to try and force some runs.

Because if you read my post carefully, I said that the batsman miss it by a long way. There is absolutely no chance of them edging it when they play outside the line by miles. I have not seen one shot where the ball goes past the bat like in real life. The plays and misses are usually when they completely get the line wrong. I recently played a match where I got given 21 overs to bowl on what looked like a greenish pitch, out of them I bowled 12 overs of maidens with some good field placements blocking off the cover region. My economy rate was around 1.5 which is probably why I got more overs than normal. But I did not see any difference in the mindset of the batsman.

Also, no where in my post did I say that I have tried all the bullet points I listed in an over, or over a spell of bowling - to construe that from my post would be a bit premature. I have tried each of the plans I implemented for more than 10 overs at a time, before I made the post and after. It does not make a difference.

Maybe in lower difficulties it would be easy to play a shot that they would normally not play, but it does not seem to be the case in PRO mode or above. Fair enough if there isn't wickets but there isn't any chances either. In real test / domestic cricket you get a handful of chances when you bowl, beating the bat, LBW shouts that are denied, edges through the slips or gully, in this game sadly you do not get that. I wish the game had more chances. The opening overs should create chances with the ball as the batsman get set on a new pitch, it may not bring wickets but you should prima facie see the odd ball go past the edge of the bat, the odd ball hit the pads for an LBW, the odd inside edge to the boundary. As the pitch gets better bowling will obviously become harder. Then towards the end of the match you exploit conditions and create more chances as the pitch becomes difficult to bat on. In my experience, the batting for the AI seems to be constant from Day 1 to Day 4 unless anyone can elaborate on their experiences?

[TeePee]

Easy there tiger, I wasn't having a pop at you, I'm simply trying to help.

From what I can tell in your post, you said you'd bowled 43 overs total without a wicket - now, you listed three or four different sets of things you'd tried, that's a total of ten or so overs maximum of each different method (and that's assuming you're not just bowling any spells of regular line and length). I would be hesitant to make too many judgements about what does or doesn't work based on such a small sample size.

I'm also guessing that if you're talking about 4-day games, that's equivalent of one, maybe two games assuming a standard workload of 20 or so overs perbowler per innings. It's certainly not unreasonable to suggest that those games were played either on pitches with little to offer bowlers, or that you came across good, well-set batsmen. Possibly both. In either case, even the very best bowling is going to struggle to take wickets.

As for the point about batsmen missing the ball when you bowl on a good length on off stump, I never suggested anything about taking an edge, my point was that if you're not getting wickets, at least you can dry up the runs - if the ball misses the bat, it doesn't matter if it misses by two inches or two feet, the end result is the same - no run. Use that to build pressure over a longer spell of bowling and see if they start making mistakes.

[moosc]

I bowl just 'Medium" which maxes out at about 100 KPH. Usually my delieveries range from about 80 - 95kph. This puts me at around a spinners speed.

I am fortunate in that I have been able to develope my action so that I bowl about the same speed and can land the ball in about the same spot each time. Often my pitch map looks like there is only 4 ball marks and not the six.

Do I get hit around the park... ofcourse! It sometimes happens, depending on the player. Do I get 5 fors! Yes and everything in between.

My 'secret' if there is one is that I don't expect anything more than bowling my overs for as little as possible. I vary my delieveries, but usually use the same two types but mix them up so that the batsman can never be sure which one he is going to get. I never bowl around the wicket and always take great care when setting my field. I often don't care if I concede 1 run to the deepest part of the field. My main rule is "You miss I hit"

Keeping the runs down in T20 and ODI is far more important than wickets and will get you selected into the higher types of games if you are good enough. The longer form of the game needs more patience and a bit more varience of delivery.

Neil W

[♥♥♥♥]

The way i take a lot of wickets is by searching for catches the way i do that is u make ur strength leg cutters and just use leg cutters varying the pace. You bowl the leg cutters around off stump and if u have the right field the batsman get annoyed and try and hit out.
The field i use is medium pace: attacking 5 i dont stick the exact way the field set i change slip to extra cover and short cover to cover and leave everything else the same. If you stick to it you will either get a nick to ur keeper or one to the inner field. keep the deep fine leg because u some times get catches in the shorter forms for example one guy played a ramp shot and it went straight to him.
Good Luck

[jaydee]

Great tips everyone!

This is surely going to help my game.

[Clementine]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Indian11 (prefer test match):

stick to your field. Do not over try otherwise batsmen will not be set up. I normally use three outswingers and then and inswinger or straight seam ball. Sometimes i get lbw o edge to keeper. In IPL though I am getting 3-5 wickets every match :P.

This seems to be about the best strategy, add in some yorkers and shorter inswingers to square them up and your good!

[Clementine]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von rckstr@PM:

mate i m asking a to get to close to wicket and far frm wicket when bolwing

Either you need a new keyboard or a new English teachers, because THAT is not legible