Line and length area two words that are often used together in cricket tournament describe the type of delivery bowled. This article focuses on the former term. To know more about length in cricket, hit the search bar to visit our explainer on the topic.
To understand line, imagine the trajectory of the ball from the time the bowler releases from the hand till it reaches the batter. Now consider each stump as a reference point. Based on this, bowlers can deliver the following types of lines – away from the off stump, on the off-stump, between the off and middle stump, on the middle stump, between the middle and the leg stump, on the leg stump, and away from the leg stump.
The line of the ball is also an important feature for making decisions in the game. Deliveries that are bowled away from the off stump or leg stump must be bowled within the wide lines to ensure a legal delivery. Failure to do so would result in the batting side get an extra run on a delivery that needs to be re-bowled.
The line of the ball also decides whether the batter should be deemed leg before wicket. If the ball is not pitching in line of the stumps, then in most cases the batter will be deemed not out. While there are situations where a batter can be deemed out even if the ball pitches outside the line of the stumps, this is a topic of discussion for another article.
The line that the bowler bowls decides how disciplined and consistent their skill is. A control over the line is not simply about bowling in reference to the stumps but also keeping in my the field position set.
