With time everything changes and improves. This is the law of life, the game of cricket is no exception. With time players have added new skills to their repertoire, to make themselves more and more effective. At times adding new skills has been a necessity for success. Reverse swing, the skill that has changed the art of fast bowling is one of them.
The art of reverse swing was invented by Pakistani fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz. He shared the secret with captain Imran Khan. They worked on it and became better at bowling reverse swing. The next generation of bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Yunus, Aquib Javed, Sohaib Akhtar etc were brilliant at bowling reverse swing.
Wasim and Waqar had pace and they formed one of the best fast bowling pairs in the history of the game. All Pakistani bowlers were more lethal with the ball when it was around 30 overs old. That was the time when reverse swing started. The skill of reverse swing played a vital role in Pakistan winning many matches.
Now what is reverse swing and how it is bowled. When the game starts the red cricket ball is new the ball would swing towards the side where the seam of the ball is pointed. But as the game progresses the ball gets older and the swing of the ball reduces.
Swing also depends on weather. In cloudy and cold weather the ball swings more. When there is slight grass on the pitch the ball swings more. However in Pakistan the weather is mostly dry, the outfields were rough. The ball used to get scuffed up early. So the fast bowlers got very little traditional swing.
However it was observed that if one of the side of the ball was kept shiny and if you let the other side become rough naturally, after 30 overs or so. The ball would start deviating towards the shiny side of the ball, when it is bowled with good pace. This swing was very dangerous since it was late swing. It was exactly opposite to traditional swing since in case of traditional swing, the ball swings away from the shiny side, when it is bowled.
Reverse swing stayed for a long period of time as compared to traditional swing. Pakistan's victory in 1992 World Cup can be attributed to reverse swing, at one point of time England were cruising towards the Pakistani total. Wasim Akram came to bowl the ball was a little old and started reverse swinging, one ball swung in and Allan Lamb was clean bowled, the next ball swing the other way and Chris Lewis was clean bowled. England fell short of Pakistani total by 22 runs.
Later on other players from other countries got to know about the secret of reverse swing bowling and they started implementing it as well. India, Sri Lanka have similar conditions as Pakistan. The fast bowlers of this two countries and now excellent at reverse swing bowling.
Today fast bowlers of all countries are able to ball reverse swing and it has become a major weapon of fast bowlers. The innovation of reverse swing went a long way in developing fast bowling in the Indian sub-continent. Without reverse swing fast bowling would have been played easily by the batsmen, considering the kind of pitches that we have in the subcontinent.
Many such innovations have happened in the game of cricket. I will write about them in my future posts.
The art of reverse swing was invented by Pakistani fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz. He shared the secret with captain Imran Khan. They worked on it and became better at bowling reverse swing. The next generation of bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Yunus, Aquib Javed, Sohaib Akhtar etc were brilliant at bowling reverse swing.
Wasim and Waqar had pace and they formed one of the best fast bowling pairs in the history of the game. All Pakistani bowlers were more lethal with the ball when it was around 30 overs old. That was the time when reverse swing started. The skill of reverse swing played a vital role in Pakistan winning many matches.
Now what is reverse swing and how it is bowled. When the game starts the red cricket ball is new the ball would swing towards the side where the seam of the ball is pointed. But as the game progresses the ball gets older and the swing of the ball reduces.
Swing also depends on weather. In cloudy and cold weather the ball swings more. When there is slight grass on the pitch the ball swings more. However in Pakistan the weather is mostly dry, the outfields were rough. The ball used to get scuffed up early. So the fast bowlers got very little traditional swing.
However it was observed that if one of the side of the ball was kept shiny and if you let the other side become rough naturally, after 30 overs or so. The ball would start deviating towards the shiny side of the ball, when it is bowled with good pace. This swing was very dangerous since it was late swing. It was exactly opposite to traditional swing since in case of traditional swing, the ball swings away from the shiny side, when it is bowled.
Reverse swing stayed for a long period of time as compared to traditional swing. Pakistan's victory in 1992 World Cup can be attributed to reverse swing, at one point of time England were cruising towards the Pakistani total. Wasim Akram came to bowl the ball was a little old and started reverse swinging, one ball swung in and Allan Lamb was clean bowled, the next ball swing the other way and Chris Lewis was clean bowled. England fell short of Pakistani total by 22 runs.
Later on other players from other countries got to know about the secret of reverse swing bowling and they started implementing it as well. India, Sri Lanka have similar conditions as Pakistan. The fast bowlers of this two countries and now excellent at reverse swing bowling.
Today fast bowlers of all countries are able to ball reverse swing and it has become a major weapon of fast bowlers. The innovation of reverse swing went a long way in developing fast bowling in the Indian sub-continent. Without reverse swing fast bowling would have been played easily by the batsmen, considering the kind of pitches that we have in the subcontinent.
Many such innovations have happened in the game of cricket. I will write about them in my future posts.
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