Conventional swing

A conventional swing is one of the specific pitches in cricket. It refers to the fast-falling deliveries of the ball. To deliver the ball to the batsman under an unexpected trajectory, you need to have some skills, which we will discuss in this article.

Conventional swing – theory

A swing bowling is a sports technique for cricket serve. Generally, the swing bowling is a subtype of quick throw. The purpose of this technique is to make the ball constantly swing in the air. Because of this rolling, the ball picks up great speed, and the batsman may not guess the ball’s trajectory.

Important note! Do not confuse swing bowling with spin bowling. Naturally, they have the same goal – to confuse the batsman, but the two techniques are performed completely differently.

For the ball to deflect to the side during the throw, the bowler needs to know six basic rules:

1. The ball in hand is positioned so that its seam is visible;
2. The angle of inclination of the seam is directed towards the movement (feed);
3. Ball wear. The ball must be new or slightly worn;
4. Constantly wet the balls (with saliva or sweat);
5. The feed must be fast;
6. The batsman himself must be active.

The swing bowling is divided into three types: conventional swing, reverse swing and contrast swing. In this article, we will take a look at what conventional swing is.

Conventional swing is achieved in two ways:

• With the help of outswinger. The outswinger is called one of the bowler’s actions. He holds the side of the ball with the seam at an angle, with his index and middle fingers on either side of the seam. The ball must be released from the hand at 12 o’clock. To achieve the swing, the bowler needs to rotate the wrist towards the smooth side of the ball (more on that later), that is, to the right. If done correctly, such a throw leads to the ball quickly changing its direction for the batsman. Because of this, it will be difficult for him to adjust to the blow. The outswinger is considered one of the toughest quick serves for right-handed batsmen;
• With the help of inswinger. With this throw, the bowler holds the ball vertically with the seam, and the first two fingers (index and middle) lightly cross the seam at an angle so that he and the rough side of the ball are on the right side (seam only slightly). To get a good throw, the bowler can rotate his wrist in the direction of the foot movement. For a batsman, flying this way results in the ball flying directly towards his feet or body.

Let’s talk a little about the ball. Firstly, as noted above, the ball should be new or slightly worn out with these serves. When serving, the bowler constantly polishes one side of the ball. To do this, he applies saliva or sweat to it and then rubs the side with his clothes. He does not touch the other side of the ball. Compared to the first, it will be unprotected and wear out more. Due to this, the roughness will appear on one side. This is considered an important point in the conventional swing. With a good throw, the ball will tend to move towards the roughness (this is how it picks up speed and simultaneously changes direction). The seam of the ball also plays an important role in the serve. We have already noted that with different actions, the side of the seam will be located in its own way.

Also, note that with these pitches, batsmen are very wary. Usually, the blow falls on the very edge of the bat. Because of this, the bat can strongly deviate back and touch the wicket, which means that the batsman will leave the field. However, there are some tips for batsmen that they often use:

• First, the cricketer must have a good reaction;
• Second, the batsman can try to anticipate the flight of the ball in advance. To do this, you need to observe the grip of the bowler’s hand in which he is holding the ball;
• Another effective way is to get out of the folds. Due to this, the ball will not have time to spin up to the end and change its trajectory. In addition, at an approximate distance, you can also see the flight of the ball along its seam.

The conventional swing is typical for right-handed bowlers and batsmen. Therefore, for batsmen, where the left hand is the working one, these serves can sometimes be invisible. Today, there are not enough left-handed bowlers in the competition. Some of the most famous left-handed bowlers are: player from Pakistan – Wasim Akram, player from India – Zaheer Khan, player from Australia – Alan Davidson and player from Sri Lanka – Chaminda Vaas.

Interesting fact. Cool and wet weather is believed to enhance the conventional swing. Colder air has a greater effect on the flight of the ball. And if you look at the humidity, then at 50 percent or more, the speed of the ball will also increase.