Line and length

"The right art," cried the Master, "is purposeless, aimless!" - Zen Mystic

After painful years of waiting and hoping, it is heartening to see Indian Bowlers bowl fiery pace on decent line and length with reasonable consistency! And we could see what it has transpired into, in the first two games of this World Cup that India played. 

Let us not go too far with this two performances and just say "good" - all is well that has 'begun well'!

The problem with Indians; be it media or the fans, is that they reach the extremes fast, no middle-way....and this does not help our players.

The pitches down-under are conducive for fast bowling and our bowlers discovered this open secret! The bygone triangular series loss has not gone waste!

"The ball is allowed to swing isn't it!?"  Harsha Bhogle quoted Alan Border commenting on Tim Southee's bowling against England. Great men talk less, and when they do it will sound as the most powerful!  In fact, what Alan Border said encompasses the art of bowling (not only swing bowling) in a nutshell.

What is line & length?  What is good bowling? 

LINE, as we know, is the most important component, not only in Cricket but in most spheres of human life.  It is used to refer anything that is perpetual, continuous, sequential etc....line of thought, line of control, lifeline, drawing a line (euphemism) so on and so forth.  Why even a circle is a line in some sense - a circle of infinite radius is a line!  

So things do not come around....in circles....rather in lines!

It is no different in Cricket, where the line implies the imaginary trajectory in relation to a batsman's stance in congruence to the stumps: off-stump line; middle-stump line & leg-stump line.

Till the last two games, the Indian bowlers have been consistently bowling to the pads and the leg stump line, which is considered a cardinal sin!  

LENGTH corresponds to the pitching of the ball or the point where the ball lands after leaving the bowlers hand: 'short-pitch', 'good-length', 'fuller' or the 'yorker-length' etc and bowlers use these lengths with the corresponding right line, in consonance with the field setting provided, and in line with their plan of attack.

There are other aspects such as coming over the wickets, around the wickers, closer to the stumps, away from the stumps, using the popping crease fully, keeping the seam straight, bowling with cross seam, bowling through the fingers, bowling from back of the palm.... 

Also, a bowler needs to pitch the ball 'just outside the off-stick', not too far away, not too close either and occasionally vary the lengths according to the plan....either to bowl a bouncer, teaser etc

Apart from these, there is an optimum run-up length, stride and rhythm, high arm action, rolling over the ball, using the shoulders, wrist....

Now, how do you do all these, along with the thoughts about the particular phase in their career, doubts lingering on the selection process....oof!

Don't tell me you are going to teach me doing all those....would you!?

You cannot play any sport with all these going in your minds!

What is required is an unflinching consistency in keeping things simple and not think about any-other-thing! And to do this, one needs to do rigorous practice in a focused way - and above all, train their mind to remain unwavering, uncomplicated, stress free and steady at all times!

Just run in powerfully, and approach the stumps gracefully, unhurriedly, leap as you near the stumps, swing the arm full and high with the leap, shift the weight to the non bowling arm for the thrust, all the while just look at the batsman on his eyes and deliver the ball on the final stride with the heel of the front foot landing just inside the popping crease.....and...

....let the ball find the line, length, swing and do all the talking, let it kiss the grass and the wind and find its way to the stumps, or the outer edge of the bat!

When it comes to fast bowling amongst my many favourites, Michael Holding and Wasim Akram gets the top billing - for the sheer ease with which they showcase their art and the apprehension (at times bordering on fear) that they instill in the minds of the batsman!

(Michael Holding)

Dicky Bird had once said the following about Michael Holding; "....his bowling action was like a Rolls Royce, His run-up was so smooth the umpires couldn't hear him. And he used to run from miles away...!"

He was aptly referred to as "the whispering death"!

Michael Holding got most of his wickets by 'hitting the wickets' - clean bowled!  That shows for his consistency and accuracy. 

And this story, narrated by him, explains how he did that: "When I was a kid, we used to play this informal game in Jamaica called Catchy Shubby. You turned up in a park, all kids, you had no umpires, you had no gloves, no pads. Just a matter of who was batting. The only chance you get to bat was by getting that person out. And not by getting him caught, because the person who took the catch would get to bat! You had to hit the stumps. Because there were no umpires they could place their legs in front of the stumps. So we decided if we could hit them on their legs - and that hurts - they wouldn't put their legs in front. That's how I began to bowl fast!"  (Courtesy Crickinfo.com)

And then he reveals..."I was an off-spinner initially!!"

Many batsman in the world would have loved to have had him as an off-spinner - not that it is easy to play, but to have escaped what they had to endure!

Too much cricket, too much attention to minor details, too much coaching, too much focus on everything else other than keeping things simple and focus on the act persay, has rendered most of the modern day cricketers confused and stale - even the good ones get burnt down fast.

Rarely you find someone emerge unscathed from these and go on to become truly great.

All that the bowler needs to do is to 'think' - think not on what to do, but what they did!  When I know, sitting in my study, on what needs to be done to turn into a great bowler, surely the one who has spent major portion of his young years slogging on the field, instead of fiddling with the computers and video games, would know better on what to do.  Yet....

....it is the most difficult art....and hence I started with the Zen quote "The right art, is purposeless, aimless"! It essentially emphasises on the act of "let-go" - the oft repeated and most misunderstood phrase. 

By trying consciously, a bowler will fail surely! But by letting go his 'self' and allowing him to go with the flow, he would allow his instincts to take over and command every muscle in his body and orchestrate them to perfection and allow the ball to go and land on the desired place, pace and let the nature and physics do everything else!

A bowler need not be 'trying' anything consciously in those few moments that he gets, from the top of the bowling mark to the actual release of the ball.  He cannot hope to do anything consciously, and if he tries, he will only fail miserably.  Rather, a bowler needs to free his mind of all the shit and just bowl.  He can try things in the nets, not while the match is on!

  

You learn all the right technique, what to do and what not to do and how to do etc when you are young and learning the art of bowling.  And to do the same after reaching the international arena,...gosh, there is something seriously wrong.  

Yes you may have an expert coach for guidance, just to point out what one is doing and let the bowler to discover what he needs to do or what adjustments that he needs to do, both mentally and physically, off the field and in the nets.

In the same interview in Crickinfo, Mike and Wasim were asked this question on coaching and this is what they had to say:

Holding: "In our day we didn't have too many coaches, we had senior players and we learned from these guys. Just like today you have these computers telling you where this guy scores his runs, in our days we learned that from experience. We would remember that. It's all memory."

Akram: "Everything is handed on a plat now. There is so much technology. They say, this batsman plays 20% of his shots there, and 20% there... It gets too complicated for the bowler."

Good that our bowlers have realised what they did and have done well to correct their undoings, so far. It is not about winning, it is also not about taking wickets....it just about doing enough to lure the batsman 'do' or come at you.  

Wasim said that he hated short delivery that the batsmen could leave alone! He said, "....I am not going to do that. It has to make him uncomfortable. Let them wait. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming."  Not only the bouncer, Wasim kept the batsmen guessing on when he will bowl the yorker too!

Emmanuel Lasker the great Chess World Champion who lived in earlier part of 20th century said that the threat is better than its execution!  How true!

Herein lies the art....the results are what 'others' see.... an offshoot of the art...for those who are materialistic!  What is most satisfying to a true artist and art lover is The Art....in its pure manifestation....graceful....silent.....whispering....!

As I write this post, the West Indian 'Gale' decimated the Zimbabwe bowlers with the first ever World Cup double century! 

Hey Gayle Strom, stay away.....stay away....when you meet us on March 6th; our guys have just started believing in their abilities.....don't dampen their new found spirit! 

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