Lesson 5: Refining Your Delivery

It can happen to anyone!  Even the seasoned professional may get it wrong some day!

 Bowl Speed

Beginner bowlers have busy minds. They think about things like arm elevation, timing, step length, trailing leg positioning, and follow-through posture as they deliver a bowl. These busy thoughts are an unavoidable phase in the process of learning delivery technique.

With regular practice, their movements become less awkward, more precise, and more consistent. Eventually their delivery technique becomes almost as automatic as blinking or breathing. Their minds are then clearer, and they can give full attention to judging the line and length required for each delivery.

Champion bowlers prepare for a delivery by confidently 'saying' to themselves that their bowl will run its course and stop precisely at the right spot. They use imagination to 'see' their bowl following the exact path to accomplish that result. They develop a'feei'for a good delivery from the weight of the bowl, their perceptions of the pace of green, and senses in their bowling arm and shoulder. Such rehearsal provides a mental pattern for their largely automatic delivery movement to produce the bowl speed required. They use hand and eye co-ordination for intuitively integrating gravity force with muscular force in executing the movement.

A corrective delivery for a bowl that stops a metre short requires only 2½ more revolutions. Bowlers should make such fine corrections by 'sensing' the extra bowl speed required to reach the objective. Conscious adjustment of arm elevation can easily cause over-correction. Undue conscious attention to limb movements during delivery can lead to a condition called 'paralysis by analysis'. Bowlers should condition themselves to trust their practised delivery technique to make appropriate adjustments subconsciously.

Many aspects of technique can cause inaccuracies in delivery speed. In the course of a game, a bowler should correct any tendency towards short deliveries by increasing bowl delivery speeds, and correct long deliveries by reducing bowl speeds.

Bowlers approach the mat with at least two bowls at their disposal. Some coaches over-emphasise the use of the second of those bowls to correct any error made with the first. However top bowlers concentrate on achieving the right result with the first of their deliveries. In that way their second bowl becomes a bonus delivery which they can then play under less pressure.


Understanding the Bias - Different types of bowls require different line (grass):

 Aiming Line

A cross-wind towards the biased side of a bowl in course will cause the bowl to turn less because the wind force partly offsets the force of bias. The hand on which the bowl is then running is the'narrow'hand. The opposite hand is the'wide'hand. The wind assists the bias of bowls delivered on the wide hand. Consequently, a bowler should allow for any cross-wind in choosing aiming line.

Some bowlers adopt landmarks, such as rink markers and boundary pegs, and some visualise the path of a bowl to determine a suitable aiming line. Beginners sometimes benefit from temporary use of a contrived aiming reference, such as a disc or a cotton wool tuft on the green, until they are able to adopt an aiming line without such assistance. The aiming line is the required delivery direction. Most bowlers then choose a convenient aiming point along that line towards which they direct their bowls.

Some bowlers choose an aiming point on the bank. A distant point facilitates fine control and adjustment of aiming line. However it requires a bowler to get the knee of the trailing leg down almost to the playing surface. This posture minimises sloping of the trunk and uncomfortable arching of the neck in directing attention well forward.

Some bowlers choose a jack high aiming point. Just as a skip's shoe guides required line and length for jack delivery, so a jack high aiming point guides both line and length for bowl delivery.

Some bowlers choose an aiming point short of jack high. Bowlers who position the knee of the trailing leg behind the calf of the leading leg, usually stoop in getting their shoulder down low enough to avoid dumping. From a stooped posture, use of a distant aiming point would cause too much neck discomfort for most bowlers.

Many aspects of technique can cause inaccuracies in delivery line. In the course of a game, a bowler should correct any tendency towards narrow deliveries by taking a wider aiming line, and correct wide deliveries by reducing the aiming angle. Bowlers should correct any technique problems during practice sessions. Should they encounter difficulty in diagnosing a problem, the best course of action is to go back to the basics and work forward from there. If no coach is available, bowlers can help one another with reciprocal observation and suggestion.