Bowlers in cricket are players who hurl the ball across a 22-yards by pitching it once towards a batter who is tasked with scoring runs for his or her side. The bowlers bowl with the aim of dismissing the batter, thereby claiming their wicket. When ten wickets of the batting side falls, their innings comes to a close.
There are many ways in which bowlers can take wickets. In professional cricket, they can bowl between speeds that usually range from 80 km/hr to 150 km/hr which is either spun or swung by the bowler towards the batter.
Bowlers can bowl with either arm and from any side of the pitch (right or left of the umpire). Before the bowler bowls, it is their duty to inform the umpires with which arm and from which side they would bowl. The umpire further conveys this information to the batter on-strike. A bowler mentions the side from which they are going to bowl by saying whether they would bowl from ‘over’ the wicket or ‘around’ the wicket. The word wicket here refers to the stumps on the non-striker’s end. Here, we shall understand what over the wicket means.
An over the wicket ball is one wherein the bowler releases the ball from over the stumps of the non-striker’s end. A left arm bowler will bowl from the right side of the pitch to execute an over the wicket delivery. A right arm bowler would bowl from left side of the pitch for an over the wicket ball.There are three primary reasons why bowlers would opt for the over the wicket delivery. Firstly, bowlers might prioritize their run-up and hence decide accordingly which release angle comes to them naturally. Secondly, a right handed bowler can bowl from over the wicket to a right handed batter to increase the chances of a leg before wicket dismissal. Consequently, a left arm bowler will bowl over the wicket to a southpaw batter for bringing in the leg before wicket dismissal. Finally, to maintain a length consistently in the corridor of uncertainty, right arm and left arm bowlers will bowl over the wicket to their counterpart batters.Should a right arm bowler bowl over the wicket to a left handed batter, then it is usually to create an angle wherein the ball moves away from the batter. This is usually seen in the initial overs of the match when the ball tends to swing and there is a greater chance of the ball going to the slip cordon. The same reasoning can be stated for when a left arm bowler bowls to a right handed batter.
Thus, an over the wicket approach is favoured by bowlers depending on their skill, style of bowling, and preferred release angle.
