Swing bowling
Encyclopedia
Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling
in the sport
of cricket
. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling
.
The essence of swing bowling is to get the cricket ball
to deviate sideways as it moves through the air towards or away from the batsman. In order to do this, the bowler makes use of five factors:
The asymmetry of the ball is encouraged by the constant polishing of one side of the ball by members of the fielding team, while allowing the opposite side to deteriorate through wear and tear. Over time, this produces a marked difference in the aerodynamic properties of the two sides.
The main theory of swing bowling surrounded turbulent and laminar airflow. Turbulent air separates from the surface of the ball earlier than laminar flow air, so that the separation point moves toward the front of the ball on the turbulent side. On the laminar flow side it remains towards the back; inducing a greater lift
force on the laminar airflow side of the ball. When calculated the net lift force doesn't provide enough to force for the amount of swing observed, the additional force is provided by the pressure-gradient force.
To induce the pressure-gradient force the bowler must create regions of high and low static pressure
on opposing sides of the ball. The ball is then "sucked" from the region of high static pressure towards the region of low static pressure. The Magnus effect
utilises the same force but by manipulating spin across the direction of motion. A layer of fluid, in this case air, will have a greater velocity when moving over another layer of fluid than a solid, in this case the surface of the ball, and the greater the velocity of the fluid, the lower its static pressure. When the ball is new the seam is used to create a layer of turbulent air on one side of the ball - by angling it to one side and spinning the ball along the seam. This changes the separation points of the air with the ball, this turbulent air creates a greater coverage of air; providing lift. The next layer of air will have a greater velocity over the side with the turbulent air due to the greater air coverage and as there is a difference in air velocity, the static pressure of both sides of the ball are different and the ball is both 'lifted' and 'sucked' towards the turbulent airflow side of the ball.
When the ball is older and there is an asymmetry in roughness the seam no longer causes the pressure difference, and can actually reduce the swing of the ball. Air turbulence is no longer used to create separation point differences and therefore the lift and pressure differences. The rough side of the ball is a collection of tears from the surface of the ball, these tears act in the same manner as the dimples of a golf ball. The tears hold the air, creating a layer of air over the rough side of the ball, the shiny side doesn't have the tears and therefore no layer of air, thereby providing net lift force. The next air layer will have a greater velocity over the rough side, due to the layer of air, thereby having a lower static pressure than the shiny side, swinging the ball. If the tears cover the rough side of the ball, the separation point on the rough side will move to the back of the ball, further than that of the turbulent air, thereby creating more lift and faster air flow. This is why a slightly older ball will swing more than a new ball. If the seam is used to create the turbulent air on the rough side, the tears won't fill as quickly as they would with laminar flow, dampening the lift and pressure differences.
Reverse swing occurs in exactly the same manner as conventional swing, despite popular misconception. Over time the rough side becomes too rough and the tears become too deep - this is why golf ball dimples are never below a certain depth, and so "conventional" swing weakens over time; the separation point moves toward the front of the ball on the rough side. When polishing the shiny side of the ball, numerous liquids are used; sweat, saliva, sunscreen, hair gel (which is why bowlers may do their hair before a game) and other illegal substances like Vaseline (applied to the clothing where the ball is polished). This doesn't disappear; it penetrates the porous surface of the leather ball. Over time this expands and stretches the surface of the ball (which increases the surface area meaning more lift) and creates raised bumps on the polished side, due to the non-uniform nature of the expansion. These raised bumps invariably creates valleys, which hold the air in the same manner as the tears on the rough side. Thereby creating a layer of air over the shiny side, moving the separation point towards the back of the ball on the shiny side. The greater air coverage is now on the shiny side meaning more lift and faster secondary airflow, and therefore lower static pressure on the shiny side - swinging the ball towards it instead.
The rough side tears hold the air more easily than the shiny side valleys and so to maintain the air within the valleys the initial air layer must have a very high velocity, which is why 'reverse' swing is primarily, but not necessarily, achieved by fast bowlers. Due to the less static nature of the initial air layer it takes longer for the swing to occur, which is why it occurs later in the delivery, this is also why conventional and reverse swing can occur in the same delivery.
All other things being equal, cold and humid weather enhances swing, due to the lift force increasing with the density of the air. Colder air is more dense than warm air. The humidity is a measure of the water content in the air, and although water vapour does not increase the mean density of the air since water molecules weigh less than nitrogen or oxygen molecules, tiny suspended droplets of condensed liquid water will certainly do so since water is a fluid one-thousand times more dense than air.
Typically, a swing bowler aligns the seam and the sides of the ball to reinforce the swing effect. This can be done in two ways:
The curvature of swing deliveries can make them difficult for a batsman to hit with his bat
. Typically, bowlers more commonly bowl outswingers, as they tend to move away from the batsman, meaning he has to "chase" the ball in order to hit it. Hitting away from the batsman's body is dangerous, as it leaves a gap between the bat and body through which the ball may travel to hit the wicket
. Also, if the batsman misjudges the amount of swing, he can hit the ball with an edge of the bat. An inside edge can ricochet on to the wicket, resulting in him being out bowled, while an outside edge can fly to the wicket-keeper
or slip
fielders for a catch.
An inswinger presents relatively fewer dangers to the batsman, but can result in bowled or leg before wicket
dismissals if the batsman misjudges the swing on the ball.
An inswinger combined with a yorker
can be especially difficult for the batsman to defend against, especially if used as a surprise delivery after a sequence of outswingers.
There has been a distinct lack of left-arm swing bowlers in the game. Four of the most famous left-arm bowlers were Pakistan's Wasim Akram
, Australia's Alan Davidson
, Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas
and India's Zaheer Khan
.
to achieve the conditions of the ball that allow reverse swing, and today, it has been unproven so far. Former Pakistan international Sarfraz Nawaz
and Sikander Bakht
were the founders of reverse swing during the late 1970s, and they passed the knowledge on to former team-mate Imran Khan
, who in turn taught the duo of Wasim Akram
and Waqar Younis
. The English pair of Andrew Flintoff
and Simon Jones
are also well known for the ability to reverse swing the ball having been taught by Troy Cooley
. More recently, a destructive display of swing bowling was demonstrated by Dale Steyn
and Zaheer Khan
during the test match between India
and South Africa
at Nagpur
.
Normal swing occurs mostly when the ball is fairly new. As it wears more, the aerodynamics of the asymmetry change and it is more difficult to extract a large amount of swing. When the ball becomes very old—around 40 or more overs old—it begins to swing towards the shine. This is known as reverse swing—meaning a natural outswinger will become an inswinger and vice versa. In essence, both sides have turbulent flow, but here the seam causes the airflow to separate earlier on one side. The result is always a swing to the side with the later separation, so the swing is away from the seam.
Reverse swing tends to be stronger than normal swing, and to occur late in the ball's trajectory. This gives it a very different character from normal swing, and because batsmen experience it less often, they generally find it much more difficult to defend against. It is also possible for a ball to swing normally in its early flight, and then to reverse as it approaches the batsman. This can be done in two ways one for the ball to reverse in the opposite direction to the original swing, giving it an "S" trajectory; and the other for it to reverse in the same direction making the swing even more pronounced. Either way it can be devastating for the batsman: in the first instance, he is already committed to playing one way, which is often the wrong way to play swing in the opposite direction; and in the second instance, his stance will have conformed to dealing with the degree of expected swing and could leave him vulnerable to being caught behind, LBW
or bowled. Two back to back deliveries from Wasim Akram, one of each type, were considered to be the turning point of the 1992 World Cup
Final.
A batsman often needs to anticipate beforehand what the ball will do and adjust accordingly to play swing bowling. This can be done by observing the bowler's grip and action (which may have a marked difference depending on which type of swinger is to be delivered), by observing the field set, which may depend on the types of deliveries expected (as a rule outswingers will have more slips assigned) or by means of prior knowledge of the bowler; many can bowl or are proficient in only one type of swing. Traditional methods include the batsmen playing the ball as late as possible, and not playing away from the body.
Since reverse occurs at faster speeds, later in the trajectory of the ball and with no real obvious change in action and grip (Waqar Younis from Pakistan for example had the same action and grip for nearly all his deliveries), batsmen with a quick eye and reflexes will do well. In his autobiography Wasim Akram
mentions four batsmen— Rahul Dravid
, Brian Lara
, Aravinda De Silva
, and Martin Crowe
—who had such reflexes and who were exceedingly difficult to bowl to.
Controversy regarding reverse swing has never left modern cricket, as the Pakistani team was accused of ball tampering
by the controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair
during the fourth test against England in 2006 when the ball began to reverse swing after the 50th over. His co-umpire Billy Doctrove fully supported him in this action. A hearing subsequently found that there was insufficient evidence to convict anyone of ball tampering.
Bowling (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder...
in the sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
of cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
.
Physics of swing bowling
Cricket ball
A cricket ball is a hard, solid leather ball used to play cricket. Constructed of cork and leather, a cricket ball is heavily regulated by cricket law at first class level...
to deviate sideways as it moves through the air towards or away from the batsman. In order to do this, the bowler makes use of five factors:
- The raised seam of the cricket ball
- The wear and tear on the ball
- The polishing liquid used on the ball
- The speed of the delivery
- The bowler's action
The asymmetry of the ball is encouraged by the constant polishing of one side of the ball by members of the fielding team, while allowing the opposite side to deteriorate through wear and tear. Over time, this produces a marked difference in the aerodynamic properties of the two sides.
The main theory of swing bowling surrounded turbulent and laminar airflow. Turbulent air separates from the surface of the ball earlier than laminar flow air, so that the separation point moves toward the front of the ball on the turbulent side. On the laminar flow side it remains towards the back; inducing a greater lift
Lift (force)
A fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a surface force on it. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the surface force parallel to the flow direction...
force on the laminar airflow side of the ball. When calculated the net lift force doesn't provide enough to force for the amount of swing observed, the additional force is provided by the pressure-gradient force.
To induce the pressure-gradient force the bowler must create regions of high and low static pressure
Static pressure
In fluid mechanics the term static pressure has several uses:* In the design and operation of aircraft, static pressure is the air pressure in the aircraft’s static pressure system....
on opposing sides of the ball. The ball is then "sucked" from the region of high static pressure towards the region of low static pressure. The Magnus effect
Magnus effect
The Magnus effect is the phenomenon whereby a spinning object flying in a fluid creates a whirlpool of fluid around itself, and experiences a force perpendicular to the line of motion...
utilises the same force but by manipulating spin across the direction of motion. A layer of fluid, in this case air, will have a greater velocity when moving over another layer of fluid than a solid, in this case the surface of the ball, and the greater the velocity of the fluid, the lower its static pressure. When the ball is new the seam is used to create a layer of turbulent air on one side of the ball - by angling it to one side and spinning the ball along the seam. This changes the separation points of the air with the ball, this turbulent air creates a greater coverage of air; providing lift. The next layer of air will have a greater velocity over the side with the turbulent air due to the greater air coverage and as there is a difference in air velocity, the static pressure of both sides of the ball are different and the ball is both 'lifted' and 'sucked' towards the turbulent airflow side of the ball.
When the ball is older and there is an asymmetry in roughness the seam no longer causes the pressure difference, and can actually reduce the swing of the ball. Air turbulence is no longer used to create separation point differences and therefore the lift and pressure differences. The rough side of the ball is a collection of tears from the surface of the ball, these tears act in the same manner as the dimples of a golf ball. The tears hold the air, creating a layer of air over the rough side of the ball, the shiny side doesn't have the tears and therefore no layer of air, thereby providing net lift force. The next air layer will have a greater velocity over the rough side, due to the layer of air, thereby having a lower static pressure than the shiny side, swinging the ball. If the tears cover the rough side of the ball, the separation point on the rough side will move to the back of the ball, further than that of the turbulent air, thereby creating more lift and faster air flow. This is why a slightly older ball will swing more than a new ball. If the seam is used to create the turbulent air on the rough side, the tears won't fill as quickly as they would with laminar flow, dampening the lift and pressure differences.
Reverse swing occurs in exactly the same manner as conventional swing, despite popular misconception. Over time the rough side becomes too rough and the tears become too deep - this is why golf ball dimples are never below a certain depth, and so "conventional" swing weakens over time; the separation point moves toward the front of the ball on the rough side. When polishing the shiny side of the ball, numerous liquids are used; sweat, saliva, sunscreen, hair gel (which is why bowlers may do their hair before a game) and other illegal substances like Vaseline (applied to the clothing where the ball is polished). This doesn't disappear; it penetrates the porous surface of the leather ball. Over time this expands and stretches the surface of the ball (which increases the surface area meaning more lift) and creates raised bumps on the polished side, due to the non-uniform nature of the expansion. These raised bumps invariably creates valleys, which hold the air in the same manner as the tears on the rough side. Thereby creating a layer of air over the shiny side, moving the separation point towards the back of the ball on the shiny side. The greater air coverage is now on the shiny side meaning more lift and faster secondary airflow, and therefore lower static pressure on the shiny side - swinging the ball towards it instead.
The rough side tears hold the air more easily than the shiny side valleys and so to maintain the air within the valleys the initial air layer must have a very high velocity, which is why 'reverse' swing is primarily, but not necessarily, achieved by fast bowlers. Due to the less static nature of the initial air layer it takes longer for the swing to occur, which is why it occurs later in the delivery, this is also why conventional and reverse swing can occur in the same delivery.
All other things being equal, cold and humid weather enhances swing, due to the lift force increasing with the density of the air. Colder air is more dense than warm air. The humidity is a measure of the water content in the air, and although water vapour does not increase the mean density of the air since water molecules weigh less than nitrogen or oxygen molecules, tiny suspended droplets of condensed liquid water will certainly do so since water is a fluid one-thousand times more dense than air.
Conventional swing
- OutswingerOutswingerAn outswinger is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by swing bowlers.An outswinger is bowled by holding the cricket ball with the seam at an angle and the first two fingers running along either side of the seam...
: An outswinger to a right-handed batsman can be bowled by aligning the seam slightly to the left towards the slips and placing the roughened side of the ball on the left. To extract consistent swing, a bowler can also rotate his wrist toward the slips while keeping his arm straight. To a right-handed batsman, this results in the ball moving away to the off side while in flight, usually outwards from his body. - InswingerInswingerAn inswinger is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by swing bowlers.-Grip:An inswinger is bowled by holding the cricket ball with the seam vertical and the first two fingers slightly across the seam so that it is angled a little to the leg side...
: An inswinger to a right-handed batsman can be bowled by aligning the seam slightly to the right and placing the roughened side of the ball on the right and towards leg slip. To extract consistent swing, a bowler can also rotate or "open up" his wrist towards leg slip. To a right-handed batsman, this results in the ball moving in to the leg sideLeg sideThe leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the sport of cricket.From the point of view of a right-handed batsman facing the bowler, it is the left hand side of the cricket field...
while in flight, usually inwards towards his body. Also, Waqar YounisWaqar YounisWaqar Younis Maitla is a former Pakistani right arm fast bowler in cricket and widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time...
employed the technique of covering the ball with his hands during his run up to hide the grip.
The curvature of swing deliveries can make them difficult for a batsman to hit with his bat
Cricket bat
A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batsmen in the sport of cricket to hit the ball. It is usually made of willow wood. Its use is first mentioned in 1624....
. Typically, bowlers more commonly bowl outswingers, as they tend to move away from the batsman, meaning he has to "chase" the ball in order to hit it. Hitting away from the batsman's body is dangerous, as it leaves a gap between the bat and body through which the ball may travel to hit the wicket
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
. Also, if the batsman misjudges the amount of swing, he can hit the ball with an edge of the bat. An inside edge can ricochet on to the wicket, resulting in him being out bowled, while an outside edge can fly to the wicket-keeper
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
or slip
Slip (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a slip fielder is placed behind the batsman on the off side of the field. They are placed with the aim of catching an edged ball which is beyond the wicket-keeper's reach. Many teams employ two or three slips...
fielders for a catch.
An inswinger presents relatively fewer dangers to the batsman, but can result in bowled or leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
dismissals if the batsman misjudges the swing on the ball.
An inswinger combined with a yorker
Yorker
Yorker is a term used in cricket that describes a ball bowled which hits the cricket pitch around the batsman's feet. When a batsman assumes a normal stance this generally means that the cricket ball bounces on the cricket pitch on or near the batsman's popping crease...
can be especially difficult for the batsman to defend against, especially if used as a surprise delivery after a sequence of outswingers.
There has been a distinct lack of left-arm swing bowlers in the game. Four of the most famous left-arm bowlers were Pakistan's Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram is a former Pakistani left arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman in cricketer and model. who represented the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches....
, Australia's Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
, Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas
Chaminda Vaas
Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas , usually known as Chaminda Vaas, is a Sri Lankan cricketer is regarded as the best fast bowler to have come out of the country - he has been described as the 'most penetrative and successful new-ball bowler Sri Lanka have had'...
and India's Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000. A left arm fast bowler considered as the best of the Indian fast bowling attack, Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, and as a batsman also holds the record for the highest Test...
.
Reverse swing
Pioneers and notable practitioners of reverse swing have mostly been Pakistani fast bowlers. In the early days of reverse swing, Pakistani bowlers were suspected of ball tamperingBall tampering
In the sport of cricket, ball tampering is an action in which a fielder illegally alters the condition of the ball. Under Law 42, subsection 3 of the Laws of Cricket, the ball may be polished without the use of an artificial substance, may be dried with a towel if it is wet, and have mud removed...
to achieve the conditions of the ball that allow reverse swing, and today, it has been unproven so far. Former Pakistan international Sarfraz Nawaz
Sarfraz Nawaz
Sarfraz Nawaz Malik is a former Pakistani Test cricketer and politician who discovered reverse swing and was instrumental in Pakistan's first Test series victories over India and England. Between 1969 and 1984 he played 55 Tests and 45 One Day Internationals and was Imran Khan's regular new ball...
and Sikander Bakht
Sikander Bakht (cricketer)
Sikander Bakht is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in 26 Tests and 27 ODIs from 1976 to 1989. He is remembered for demolishing the Indian team for just 126 runs taking 8 wickets in the innings in the 2nd Test match of the 1979 tour of Pakistan to India.He was included in the team in place...
were the founders of reverse swing during the late 1970s, and they passed the knowledge on to former team-mate Imran Khan
Imran Khan
Imran Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics...
, who in turn taught the duo of Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram is a former Pakistani left arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman in cricketer and model. who represented the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches....
and Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis Maitla is a former Pakistani right arm fast bowler in cricket and widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time...
. The English pair of Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top...
and Simon Jones
Simon Jones (cricketer)
Simon Philip Jones MBE is a Welsh cricketer, who played internationally for England. Formerly playing his county cricket for Glamorgan County Cricket Club and then Worcestershire before moving in September 2009 to Hampshire. He is currently on a month's loan with his first county, Glamorgan...
are also well known for the ability to reverse swing the ball having been taught by Troy Cooley
Troy Cooley
Troy James Cooley is a former first-class cricketer for the Tasmanian Tigers, and was bowling coach for the England cricket team for several years before returning to Australia in 2006.-Career:...
. More recently, a destructive display of swing bowling was demonstrated by Dale Steyn
Dale Steyn
Dale Willem Steyn is a South African cricketer who plays in Test and One Day International cricket for South Africa. He is currently the number one ranked Test bowler in the world and achieved the 900+ points benchmark on 13th Nov 2011. Steyn plays domestic cricket in South Africa for Cape Cobras...
and Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000. A left arm fast bowler considered as the best of the Indian fast bowling attack, Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, and as a batsman also holds the record for the highest Test...
during the test match between India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
at Nagpur
Nagpur
Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...
.
Normal swing occurs mostly when the ball is fairly new. As it wears more, the aerodynamics of the asymmetry change and it is more difficult to extract a large amount of swing. When the ball becomes very old—around 40 or more overs old—it begins to swing towards the shine. This is known as reverse swing—meaning a natural outswinger will become an inswinger and vice versa. In essence, both sides have turbulent flow, but here the seam causes the airflow to separate earlier on one side. The result is always a swing to the side with the later separation, so the swing is away from the seam.
Reverse swing tends to be stronger than normal swing, and to occur late in the ball's trajectory. This gives it a very different character from normal swing, and because batsmen experience it less often, they generally find it much more difficult to defend against. It is also possible for a ball to swing normally in its early flight, and then to reverse as it approaches the batsman. This can be done in two ways one for the ball to reverse in the opposite direction to the original swing, giving it an "S" trajectory; and the other for it to reverse in the same direction making the swing even more pronounced. Either way it can be devastating for the batsman: in the first instance, he is already committed to playing one way, which is often the wrong way to play swing in the opposite direction; and in the second instance, his stance will have conformed to dealing with the degree of expected swing and could leave him vulnerable to being caught behind, LBW
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
or bowled. Two back to back deliveries from Wasim Akram, one of each type, were considered to be the turning point of the 1992 World Cup
Cricket World Cup
The ICC Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of men's One Day International cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council , with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament which is held every four years...
Final.
Playing swing bowling
Playing swing bowling is considered to be a hallmark of a batsman's skill. While often a batsman will be encouraged to play defensively, in many instances he may be skilled enough to attack.A batsman often needs to anticipate beforehand what the ball will do and adjust accordingly to play swing bowling. This can be done by observing the bowler's grip and action (which may have a marked difference depending on which type of swinger is to be delivered), by observing the field set, which may depend on the types of deliveries expected (as a rule outswingers will have more slips assigned) or by means of prior knowledge of the bowler; many can bowl or are proficient in only one type of swing. Traditional methods include the batsmen playing the ball as late as possible, and not playing away from the body.
Since reverse occurs at faster speeds, later in the trajectory of the ball and with no real obvious change in action and grip (Waqar Younis from Pakistan for example had the same action and grip for nearly all his deliveries), batsmen with a quick eye and reflexes will do well. In his autobiography Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram is a former Pakistani left arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman in cricketer and model. who represented the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches....
mentions four batsmen— Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...
, Brian Lara
Brian Lara
Brian Charles Lara, TC, OCC, AM is a former West Indian international cricket player. Lara is generally regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time...
, Aravinda De Silva
Aravinda de Silva
Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who is considered one of the finest batsmen produced by the country.He is also regarded as one of the most elegant batsman in his generation, and to date is the only player to make a hundred and take 3 or more wickets in a world cup...
, and Martin Crowe
Martin Crowe
Martin David Crowe is a former New Zealand cricketer. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1985, and was credited as one of the "best young batsmen in the world". Crowe represented New Zealand from the early 1980s until his retirement in 1996 as a right-handed batsman...
—who had such reflexes and who were exceedingly difficult to bowl to.
Controversy regarding reverse swing has never left modern cricket, as the Pakistani team was accused of ball tampering
Ball tampering
In the sport of cricket, ball tampering is an action in which a fielder illegally alters the condition of the ball. Under Law 42, subsection 3 of the Laws of Cricket, the ball may be polished without the use of an artificial substance, may be dried with a towel if it is wet, and have mud removed...
by the controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair
Darrell Hair
Darrell Bruce Hair is an Australian former Test match cricket umpire, from New South Wales. He stood on the Emirates International panel of umpires from 2002 to 2003, before he, along with fellow Australian Simon Taufel, and New Zealander Billy Bowden, was appointed to the ICC Elite umpire panel...
during the fourth test against England in 2006 when the ball began to reverse swing after the 50th over. His co-umpire Billy Doctrove fully supported him in this action. A hearing subsequently found that there was insufficient evidence to convict anyone of ball tampering.