The art of bowling in cricket is such that players can swing or spin a cork ball that is heavily stitched in the centre. The ball is targeted towards the batter who is 22 yards away. It is pitched once before it reaches the batter and the ball is supposed to pitch once before reaching the batter.
The goal of the bowlers is to take the wickets of the batters or ensure that they score minimal or no runs per bowl bowled. In the latter, they do so with the assistance of other players who are called fielders.
To ensure the effectiveness of a bowled ball, the bowler has to release it at a release point from where the ball gets adequate bounce and also inculcates the movement that the bowler wishes to see both before and after the ball pitches. They do so by bowling with their dominant arm (right or left) and by releasing the ball from either right or left side of the pitch.
It is customary for the bowlers to tell the umpires from which arm and side would they be bowling. This information is further conveyed to the batter on strike. The side from which the bowler would bowl is called ‘over’ the wicket or ‘around’ the wicket. Here, wicket refers to the stumps of the non-striker or the bowler’s end. In a previous article, we discussed over the wicket release. We shall now see what around the wicket means.
An around the wicket delivery means that the ball will be released from the hand that is away from the stumps of the bowler’s end. For a right handed bowler, an around the wicket ball will be delivered from the right side of the pitch, whereas it will be from the left side for a left handed bowler.
An around the wicket ball creates a steeper angle and is often challenging for the batters to pick up as the ball is released at a wider angle and curves more than an over the wicket ball. When bowled to a right handed batter by a right handed bowler, the around the wicket might be considered as a negative tactic as it targets the batters legs more often. When a left handed bowler opts to bowl from around the wicket to a right handed batter, it hints towards a much more attacking tactic. It allows the bowler to create a range of variations as the natural angle of the release will be such that the ball would move towards the batter. In the death overs, this release can be particularly useful for southpaws as it allows them to bowl near the wide lines, thereby keeping the ball away from the batter.
To a left handed batter, the a left arm bowler’s around the wicket delivery will be considered a negative line and a right handed bowler’s angle will be an attacking one. Thus, opting for an around the wicket delivery will depend on the match situation and more importantly, the bowler’s natural release angle.
