Cricket Coaching: Fast Bowling Tips/ Bowling Injury Free

by Yaswanth
(Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India)

Sir, I’m a 22 year old. I love bowling fast and everything I’ve learnt about bowling is almost exclusively from youtube. I watch videos of the best fast bowlers in the world and copy them, it has taught me to bowl fast.
The problem is that whenever everything in my body seems to be clicking, I pick up injuries to my back or to my front knee. Is there anyway that I could avoid those injuries and still bowl fast?

Hi Yaswanth, well done on using your initiative and finding the best fast bowling role models to copy.

If you are picking up injuries to your back and front knee, see if there is a fast bowling coach at the local first class side who can have a look at your bowling action and see if it is coming from your bowling mechanics or because of poor conditioning.

Very simply, try to copy one of the two basic actions, side on like Dale Steyn or front on like Malcolm Marshall.

Take a guide from how your back foot lands. If it points down the wicket when you land in the crease then you are a front on bowler
like Marshall. Check the Video and see how the great West Indian lands and accelerates through the crease when he bowls.

If it lands side ways on then you are a side on bowler. See Dale Steyn here as an example.

One of the keys to staying injury free as a fast bowler is to be strong enough to carry the workload that training and playing puts on your body.

The best time to get strong for fast bowling is during the off season when you have the time to get in the gym and work on your conditioning.

There are different types of strength work, the foundation of them is functional strength work which allows your body to get a solid fitness base.

The stronger you are the more injury resistant you become. These aren’t body building muscles for show, these are from cricket fitness training to get you strong for the specific patterns of movement involved in cricket.

This form of training is like saving for a rainy day, the more credit you put in the bank the more time you’ll spend on the field.

So many injuries come from not being well enough conditioned to deal with the stress of fast bowling.

A general guide line for young bowlers is not to bowl two days in a row where possible, this allows the body to recover properly and rebuild itself in the next 48 hours.

Look at limiting your bowling in nets to 30 – 40 minutes at a time and not two days in a row. Two net sessions per week and a game on the weekend is a reasonable workload whilst you get stronger.

You can begin by working with Greg King’s conditioning program in Cricket Fitness, this will get you started, the key is to be patient and keep putting credit in the bank.

It would help to find a local strength and conditioning coach who can help you and give you a periodised programme.

Best Wishes and Good Luck. Coach

About Richard Pybus

I'm Richard Pybus, I've coached Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middlesex, Titans and the Cape Cobras in South Africa and the goal of this site is to help you to play winning cricket.