I was lucky enough to be able to ask Maverick Cricket founder and fast bowling guru Ian Pont a few questions about, well, fast bowling of course (and a little bit about cricket in general)!

Here is what he had to say:

Looking at the forums it seems that the first thing people ask is the old favourite - 'how do I increase my pace?’  What do you feel is the best way for the average club player to do this?

The great news is that everyone has the ability to bowl faster! The secret is understanding what parts of the action work in which way.

As an overview, the hips (core area) of the body generate a power blast to the action. This is in the same way as a boxer throws a punch. It can be accelerated by driving the bowling hip towards the target.  In my experience, the common areas for improvement are:

• Line up of the feet so everything goes at the target
• Driving towards the target with the top half (chest drive) and not leaning back too far
• Full shoulder rotation (finish off the action)

Also ensure that you keep moving through the crease from back foot to front foot (momentum) and pull the ball like a javelin thrower would. Arm pull is created by imagining a bow and arrow, and the further apart your hands, the greater the arm pull will be.

The LAST thing you do is bowl a cricket ball, so hang on to it, let your body get ahead of your bowling hand and then accelerate the ball to the target hard.

What is the best drill/practice for improving accuracy?  Also, what do you think is more important, line or length?

If you run up straight, go through the crease straight, and then follow through straight, there's a high chance the ball will go straight. So I always do bowling drills that encourage a bowler to focus on lining up to the target and driving down a 'railway track' so everything stays at target. It's a simple thing to think about and helps with delivering a consistent line, which is far more important than length.

Length is simply a result of when you let the ball go and if you bowl an excellent line, you can really eliminate scoring opportunities for batsman. For a good bowler, leg stump and middle stump shouldn't exist. The focus is top of off stump and the 3-4 inches just outside. I use a foam channel target placed on the top of the stump to bowl at. It concentrates the mind and creates a zeroing-in effect to the delivery.

We get a lot of members asking about the importance of a good follow through and I know that it is something which you talk upon in your book (The Fast Bowler's Bible).  What are your thoughts on what makes an effective follow through?
 
Follow through is the result of the bowling action and momentum.  If you have a small follow though chances are you haven't driven out of your action to the target. If you follow through towards the offside or gulley, then that's where your momentum is also going. A poor follow through would usually be caused by either the top half pulling away to the offside, or the legs not powering through down the railway track to the target.

A follow through is not something artificial therefore, it's an indicator or where your power goes as you release the ball. So a good follow though is important because it reflects how well you have used what you've got and how well you have carried your momentum through your action. As a rule of thumb, it should be about 50% of the distance of your run up.

Again in your book you touch upon left arm bowlers being unable to bowl as fast as right arm bowlers, due to feet set-up and shutting off their actions.  What (if any) is the best way to overcome this and give them the same chance of reaching top pace?

Left arm bowlers seem to bowl across themselves as they set up to a right hand batsman. But they don't have to do that. It would be better and more efficient to run straighter (rather than at some weird angle) so the feet can stay down this railway track.

Practicing feet line up is important for left arm bowlers, who are mistakenly told by poor coaches that by shutting off their feet they will swing the ball more.  Swing is created by the WRIST position and release, not the feet, which is why Andre Nel can have an open feet position yet bowl outswing. 

Left arm bowlers are IDENTICAL to right arm bowlers, so there's no reason why there can't be a left arm Brett Lee, Dale Steyn or Shoaib Akthar.

Moving to the final few questions, what techniques can be applied to help players approach practice sessions in the correct way?  Also, how would you go about structuring practice to enable a club side to get the most out of the session?

Most club nets can tend to be 'having a hit' or 'bowling a few' and then degenerate into a frustrating session of no balls, wides and slogging. There's no point go to nets if you are not practicing something worthwhile. Practice is all about acquiring skill. Matches are all about applying that skill. So think about what skill you are trying to learn.

Sometimes it's better to have throw downs as a batsman, or bowling to a set of stumps rather than full on nets. It's really hard as a bowler to change anything under pressure (ball in hand, bowling to a batter) so get smarter with your practice sessions. Spend some times doing drills, work on changes you are trying to make, practice the very things you want to use in a match situation.

If you cannot do that, structure nets to be meaningful with 'scenarios' where you try to bowl yorkers at the death or tell the batsman you are trying to get him out but he has to stay in, or it's the first 5 overs of a match and they should bat accordingly. Practice what you need, and do it properly. If you raise the intensity of your practice sessions the matches become easier!

Two from me now, can I mentally make myself a better bowler?  What would be the top 3 tips for doing so?

1. Believe you are really good and back yourself even when things go wrong. Most people have the devil on their shoulder when things aren't good. Lose him!

2. Keep what you do simple and bowl to your strengths. Don't try to do what you can't do, so fill yourself with confidence by being really good at what you can.

3. Start thinking about the outcome in your mind and nail it in place. Visualising or 'seeing' in your mind the outcome before you bowl can help deliver it. Shane Warne doesn't look at where he wants to bowl; he simply imagines the shot he wants the batter to play.

Try that yourself.

I see that you offer a coaching course (ABSAT), could you tell me a little more about it and who it might benefit?

It's open to all levels of coach (even beginners) and players too, who simply want to discover the skill drills that go with pace & accuracy. At the end of the 3 hour tuition there's a written paper (just so I know you've remembered what we've covered!) and those passing get an ABSAT Coach certificate. I mark the papers the following week and take into account the way people interact, do the demos and general demeanour as well as the answers on the paper.

More than 200 people have passed and it's really popular as those coming on the course end up knowing more about fast bowling than other coaches/players who haven't been on it.

Finally, with the constant reporting that England go into overseas series under prepared (especially the pace attack), what is more important to your performance, playing or training?
 
Playing gives you experience, training gives you skill. That's the simplest way I can put it really.

You cannot improve your technical skill quickly by playing. All you can do is learn from your experience that way.  So if you want to get more skill, be a better player technically, produce better outcomes etc, you can only do this by practicing it so you are allowed to get it wrong!

You cannot make mistakes at Test level so therefore what do you learn? Just by playing against the best in the world doesn't make you as good as them. In the same way that a coach who has played the highest level cannot pass on his own experiences to you, as they are his own. You don't learn skill from experience, you only learn experience.

The problem we have is that England players have little time to practice skills these days due to their schedule. But this is where individuals can help themselves. Bowlers rely far too heavily on coaches rather than take responsibility themselves. And you can prepare yourself, without waiting for the 'team' to tell you. So training is far more important than playing to acquire skill. Playing is all about applying that skill.

Thank you for your time and for some fantastic answers!

If you would like more information about Ian and his approach to pace bowling then check out his site at Mavericks Cricket.  There are also details with regards to the ABSAT coaching course and Ian’s book (The Fast Bowler’s Bible (which I highly recommend) on there as well.

Ian works with individuals and groups of any skill level from under 11 age range upwards, so if you would like to enquire further or would like to have Ian come in and work with you, check out his site for contact details. 

Ian has also been a great contributor to my site over the last couple of years.

He is certainly a good coach with some fascinating views. I read his Fast Bowlers Bible and I feel that some of the stuff is eons ahead of his time but that perhaps more pages could have been spent on the methods used to implement some features of the bowling action.

Top interview, I especially liked the latter set of questions. Any chance getting him on sC?

I've completed the ABSAT course and I have produced excellent results with the bowlers I've coached 1 to 1.  It certainly tops up your ECB coaching courses.

Interesting. Could you expand on some of the successes you have had? Nothing gives a coaching style more credibility than past successes.

Great interview, sounds like a great coach too. I'm considering getting the book, I'll have a look round the internet.

He has, indeed, seeing some of your past chats with him inspired me to get in contact with him.

The link for the book is in the interview, on Harrowdrive or from Amazon if that helps.

Hi A_A,

Great Interview and really good point with reference to left arm fast bowler.
Similarly; Can we get a spinner specialist involved in the forum.Would be helpful to us.

nice piece but yeah, a spinner would be great though.

I am working on this one, so watch this space. If there is anything else you'd like to see on the site then please say and we'll see what we can do.

Whie i enjoyed his book and respect what he is trying to achieve i do think this modern obsession of biomechanics and science are overated. Cricket will always be an art over a science and one of the games greats strength is its variety: bowling and batting styles - different players interpretations of batting and bowling - e.g look at cook at hayden- both left handers both 6'2 yet they have there own distinct styles , same with say gough and marshall both right arm and 5'11.

If we keep overemphasising biomechanics we are gonna have pace bowlers and batters who all look the same.

Dont get me wrong his book has got great info in it but to say that some of the stuff is "eons ahead of his time" is pretty foolish.

At the end of the day is not how its how many- the bowling action is just a means to an end not an end in itself.

Someone here did a post analysing curtley ambroses action saying he does this that or the other wrong- and yet he took 400 test wickets at 21.

Swinger - Ian read your comments and asked me to reply to your post:


The ART of bowling is how you apply what you've got. The SCIENCE is how you learn it. Biomechanics just means 'movement of the body' and there are some non-negotiables. The great bowlers do  many of the 10 key points correctly and the more they do the faster and  straighter they bowl. Just because they do 6 rather than all 10 doesn't make them a lesser bowler.

So biomechanics is not about cloning bowlers. It's about  being more efficient, faster, straighter and less injury prone. You cannot overrate science! But you can misunderstand how important it is. The action should be your servant. Most players and coaches sadly never understand that, which is why Harmison and Gillespie both former world number ones in recent years, are where they are now - out of international cricket.



At the end of the day is not how its how many- the  bowling action is just a means to an end not an end in itself.  I agree with the sentiment, but if you run up straight, go through the crease straight and follow through straight, the ball is likely to go straight.  So your action dictates what happens to the ball speed wise and accuracy wise. It sounds like you are in the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' camp, rather than the 'don't let success stop you from improving' camp. 

Ultimately it is all about outcomes which is where I agree with you. Being consistent though gives you a career in the game and not just the odd few wickets when it's 'your day'.



Most people who  don't understand how to bowl fast and straight always say things like this.  Ambrose did many of the key points brilliantly - including hip drip and arm pull. He could have done other things FAR better and yet his record is one of the best.

I shudder to think how amazing he could have been if he'd got everything right!

Are you referring to me or him?