The ball is held quite loosely so that it leaves the hand easily. The first two fingers and the thumb should hold the ball forward of the rest of the hand, and the other two fingers should be tucked into the palm. The image on the top shows the correct grip. The basic fast bowling grip to achieve maximum speed is to hold the ball with the seam upright and to place the index and middle fingers close together at the top of the seam with the thumb gripping the ball at the bottom of the seam. The first thing a fast bowler needs to do is to grip the ball correctly.
īowlers may be categorised according to their use of swing bowling or seam bowling techniques, although the term "seamer" is also commonly used to refer to pace bowlers in general. ESPNcricinfo, a popular cricket news website, uses both "medium fast" and "fast medium" in addition to "medium" and "fast". Terms used in different classifications include "slow medium", "medium", "fast medium", "fast" and "express". However, there is no universally accepted set of definitions and the categorization of bowlers according to speed may take into account competition level and gender. Pace bowlers may be classified based on quantitative or qualitative attributes.Ī widespread method of classification is based on average ball release speed.
Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as fast bowlers, quicks, or pacemen. Pace bowling (also referred to as fast bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling.