Cricket Drills - Grips

Bowling is the most important fundamental of cricket. But it isn't that straight forward, there are a lot of things that are behind the scenes. Very often you see replays of bowlers bowling balls over and over again. What you don't see however is the way bowlers have their grips. These grips might be complicated, but we've tried to make their tutorials amazingly simple, so that even kids and beginners can master these properly.

Away Swing Bowlers Grip

This is a grip for right handed people, who throw the ball outwards and the ball curves in air, away from the body of a right handed bowler. To preform this powerful technique you need to know how to grip the ball. The process is simple but requires a few tweaks, which vary from individual to individual.

The first thing you need is to place your index and middle fingers on either side of the seam on the cricket ball. Your thumb lies at the bottom, in the middle and the remaining fingers (ring and pinky), need to fold in the palm of your hand. It is also very important to have a distance of a finger between the ball and your palm.

You need to hold the ball just right, this can be the trickiest bit, and where you need to tweak to your personal style. You don't want to hold the ball too loosely or tightly, as you won't be able to have control of the ball's projection and, or the ball won't roll out of your fingers as easily. 

Fast Bowl Grip

This is a grip for those who want to be able to throw the ball at a fast pace to try and trick the batter. This is actually very similar too the away swing bowlers grip. You hold the ball by placing your index and middle fingers on either side of the seam on the cricket ball. Your thumb lies at the bottom, in the middle and the remaining fingers(ring and pinky), need to fold in the palm of your hand.

You will also need to have a finger's distance between your palm and the ball. This is important as if you hold the ball too loosely, you will lose all of the control in the ball. Alternatively, if you hold the ball too tightly then the ball won't roll out of your fingers the way it's supposed to.

This is where the difference comes in between this and the above grip. As you are about to throw the ball, make sure that your wrist is cocked back and locked in place. This is so that when you let go of the ball, it will have a backspin in it, which can cause batsman problems and help you win the game.

Bowl Leg Spin Grip

Leg Spin might be one of the hardest drills to master compared to others, but a good leg spin has the ability to get plenty of wickets. This involves turning the ball off the pitch from the leg side of the right handed batsman to the offsite from right to left.

You need to grip the ball very differently for this. The index, middle and ring fingers need to be well spread out across the seam, not on the sides of the seam as in the above grips. Your pinky and thumb are not involved at all in this grip

You need to flip your wrist, so the palm is facing upwards just before releasing. This will allow the ball to have a spin, so it can turn. Your aim should be towards the outer most stump. Your arm as you are sniping it before releasing should be completely straight, if it's bent, then there will be a fault and your throw won't be counted