In cricket, the role of the players tagged as “bowlers” is to take the wickets of the batsmen of the opposition and restrict them from scoring runs. In order to do so, the bowlers can bowl in different ways to the batsman. Each bowler has a type of bowling action and a bowling type that suits him or her.
Broadly, there are two types of bowlers in cricket: Pace bowlers and Spin bowlers. Let us have a look at how each of these three bowling types differ from each other.
Pace bowlers
These are the types of bowlers that can bowl regularly at a high speed ranging from 130 km/he to as high as 150 km/hr. The fastest recorded bowl in the history of cricket is 161.3 km/hr. These types of bowlers often bowl at the start of the match as the new ball can swing effectively. The pace bowlers can bowl an in swing delivery, which means that the bowl swings in the air following a left to right arc for a right-handed batsman. They can also bowl an out swing delivery which takes an arc from right to left mid-air for a right-handed batsman. Both these scenarios are opposite for the left-handed batsman.
Pace bowlers can also bowl a reverse swing as well. This happens when a ball that has become older is made to shine on one side while keeping another side rough. In reverse swing, the ball swngs towards the shinier side as opposed to the traditional swing bowl which deviates towards the rough side.
Based on the pace with which they bowl, these bowlers can be classified as fast bowlers, medium fast bowlers, medium pace bowlers, medium slow bowlers, slow medium bowlers and slow bowlers.
Spin bowlers
There are a wide variety of bowlers when it comes to spin bowling. Unlike pace bowlers, spin bowlers tend to bowl at a slower pace and the main effect of the spin occurs after the ball has bounced. One of the most important aspects in order to understand the types of spin bowlers is to know with which hand the bowler is bowling. Let us understand each of these with respect to a right-handed batsman(viz for left-handed batsman).
Off spin: This type of delivery is often bowled by a right handed bowlers. The ball tends to deviate from the left to the right of the batsman. If a left handed bowler is to bowl in this fashion, his bowling type is called “left arm unorthodox” which was previously known as “chinaman.” Left handed bowlers bowling this trajectory utilize their wrists in order to bowl such a delivery.
Leg spin: This type of delivery sees the ball move from right to left after bouncing. In case a right handed bowler balls this, he is likely to utilize a lot of wrist action. In case a left handed bowler bowls this, he will utilize his fingers more often. These bowlers are also called “left arm orthodox” spin bowlers.
Spin bowlers can produce a wide variety of deliveries which can be extremely tricky for the batsman to face. These will be discussed in later sections.
