We’ve just begun a new series relating to Bowling Tips and Techniques, and we began with How to Bowl Fast. We’re going to dive in to that subject a little deeper here, by looking at the Inswinger.
For a batter, the inswinger can be a very dangerous ball to face, particularly if the swing of the ball happens late during its flight. The batter, prepared for a ball arriving outside their stumps, suddenly finds that it is cannoning in towards the stumps, and can’t react in time.
This can lead to the ball hitting the pads and maybe being out leg-before wicket, or hitting the stumps instead.
For a bowler, it is a great additional weapon to hone and develop.
But, first we need to define what an inswinger is.
Technically, an inswinger is a ball that swings in from the off side towards the on side of the batter. But what this means is that an inswinger to a right hand batter goes in the opposite direction to an inswinger for a left hand batter.
And just to add an extra level of confusion and complexity on top, if you are a left handed bowler, your inswinger will be an outswinger to a right handed batter, but an inswinger to a left-hand batter.
So, let’s just say this: imagine you are standing at the bowling crease, with the hand you bowl with raised parallel to the ground and pointed away from your chest. With the help of this blog post, that is the direction the ball will swing.
But, for the sake of having a common language for this blog post, we’ll talk as if you are right hand bowler bowling to a right hand batter.
The Art of the Inswinger
One of the primary tactical advantages of the inswinger is its ability to catch batters off guard, making it a potent tool for claiming wickets. By swinging the ball into the batter, the inswinger targets the gap between bat and pad.
This delivery can be particularly devastating when the ball pitches on or outside the off-stump and then moves sharply into the batter, challenging both their technique and their ability to judge the line of the ball.
Moreover, the inswinger’s effectiveness is not confined to any single format of cricket; it plays a crucial role across Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty 20 games.
In Test cricket, the inswinger is best used as a shock weapon, bowled when most other deliveries have been straight or perhaps swinging in the other direction. In limited over games, where batters are looking to score aggressively, a well-timed inswinger can disrupt their rhythm and lead to early dismissals.
Grasping the Essentials of the Inswinger
As discussed, an inswinger moves from left to right for a right hand bowler, and from right to left for a left hand bowler. The movement of the ball in the air towards the batter is induced by a combination of the ball’s seam position, the bowler’s wrist position, and the condition of the ball itself.
The inward movement can be subtle or pronounced based on these factors, as well as atmospheric conditions such as humidity and wind.
Mastering the inswinger is another weapon in a bowler’s repertoire, but it is not something every bowler can do. But the presence of an inswinger in a bowler’s repertoire influence how the batter’s techniques and strategies.
Batters need to adapt their stance, footwork and playing style to counter the swing. They might opt for a more side-on stance or practice getting their front foot further across to cover the swing and mitigate the risk of gaps between bat and pad.
Moreover, the fear of the inswinger can lead batters to play more conservatively, especially in conditions favouring swing bowling, thereby indirectly controlling the flow of runs and influencing the overall game strategy.
And you don’t even need to bowl the inswinger often, either, or get it right every time. From the batter’s point of view, just knowing the bowler has the ability to swing the ball puts him in two minds. Even a bowler’s straight ball becomes a little more dangerous if the batter is thinking about the inswinger and has changed their game to counter it.
Before we get to the science of swing bowling, we’ll mention something else here. When cricketers talk about swing, whether it is away swing or in swing, there are two different types of swing; conventional, and reverse swing. Reverse swing occurs with an older ball, where the ball swings in the opposite direction than it would, were it a new ball.
It is a fascinating study, and one we’ll right up in a later blog post, but this post will deal with conventional swing.
The Science of the Inswinger: How Exactly Does A Ball Swing?
I know, you didn’t come to a blog post about cricket to learn about science, but how a ball swings is all about aerodynamics and physics.
1. Seam Orientation and Grip – We’ll talk more about this later in the post, but to bowl an inswinger, you need to hold the ball with the seam angled towards the leg-side for a right hand batter. This orientation is crucial as it directs the airflow across the seam in a specific way.
2. Difference in Airflow – As the ball travels through the air, the side of the ball with the seam angled towards the batter (the shiny side in the case of an inswinger) faces smoother airflow. In contrast, the rougher side (with the seam pointing away) encounters more turbulent airflow. This difference in airflow around the ball creates a pressure differential.
3. Bernoulli’s Principle and Pressure Differential: Bernoulli’s Principle states that an increase in the speed of the fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in the fluid’s potential energy. For an inswinger, the air moves faster over the shiny, smoother side, creating lower pressure compared to the rougher side. This pressure differential causes the ball to swing towards the batsman.
4. Magnus Effect: This is another critical aspect of the swinging motion. The spinning of the ball (caused by the way it is released) can also affect its path. As the ball spins and moves through the air, it drags air with it. For an inswinger, the seam and the rotation direct air from the off-side to the leg-side of a right-handed batsman, curving the ball inwards.
5. Environmental Factors: Conditions like humidity, wind, and the condition of the ball itself (how rough one side is compared to the other) significantly impact the amount of swing a bowler can generate. Typically, more humid conditions aid in greater swing as the air is denser, allowing for more pronounced air pressure differences around the ball.
Step-by-step Guide to Bowling the Inswinger
So now we know the science, let’s put together all the little things that make up an inswinger.
Grip
To bowl an inswinger, firstly, align your index and middle fingers on either side of the seam, with a little gap between your fingers.
Second, keeping your fingers as they are, rotate the ball in your hand so that the seam is still vertical, but is pointed towards leg slip.
This will now mean that your middle fingertip is on the middle of the seam, but the rest of the middle finger is at a slight angle to the seam. And your index finger is now on the off-side of the ball, also at a slight angle to the seam.
Third, rest your thumb lightly on the seam at the bottom of the ball. Don’t exert too much pressure. This will allow you to maintain balance and prevents the ball from slipping at the point of release.
Keep your ring and little finger tucked away, resting comfortably on the side. These fingers should not impact the ball’s trajectory.
With practice, you will not have to go through all these steps in turn to get your grip correct. You’ll be able to place your fingers in their correct positions straight away.
Seam Position
The position of the seam is hugely critical as this is what influences how the air flows over the ball during trajectory. The shiny side of the ball should be on the off-side. This allows the air to flow faster over the smoother surface, creating the pressure difference needed for the ball to swing into the batsman.
Thumb Position
The placement of the thumb can subtly alter the ball’s motion. For an inswinger, the thumb should just support the ball gently. A well-placed thumb helps stabilize the ball as it leaves the hand, ensuring that the seam maintains its intended angle as it travels through the air.
Small adjustments in thumb position can increase or decrease the swing, giving you fine control over how much the ball moves into the batsman.
Altering the swing of the ball using your thumb position is something you should practice in the nets. Bowling swing is difficult to do even at its most basic level; make sure you have that down pat first before trying to figure out ways to add variations.
Hand Position, Wrist Work and Seam Presentation
The moment of release is critical for an in swing bowler. Let’s first take the motion of the arm. We know that the seam needs to be pointed towards leg-slip, but the arm, as it’s delivery the ball, needs to also follow through on that arc.
And that can be difficult to do. At delivery, your arm needs to be high, near your ear, at 12 o’clock or even past the vertical, and then moving towards one o’clock. This can feel like an unnatural bowling action, and it is why it requires a lot of time in the nets to get right.
At the same time, at the moment of release, the wrist must be firm and cocked, angled towards leg slip. Snapping your wrist down behind the ball as it leaves your hand, causes the ball to spin back along the axis. A perfect inswinger will continue down the pitch, the seam continuing to be angled towards leg-stump, and the ball spinning backwards along the seam, aiding in the swing of the ball, caused by the Magnus Effect mentioned earlier.
Practice Drills and Tips for Inswinger Perfection
The inswinger is a difficult ball; there are many fast bowlers who don’t bowl the inswinger. To get it right requires practicing dedicated drills and ironing out common errors, and aiming for consistency.
One common pitfall for bowlers attempting the inswinger is losing their wrist position at the point of release, which can lead to the ball not swinging as intended, or even drifting towards the off-side.
Another issue is inconsistency in the run-up or jump at the delivery stride, which affects the balance and alignment needed for effective swing bowling.
To rectify these issues, you should practice your release with a focus on maintaining a firm wrist and using a mirror or video feedback to check body alignment and wrist position at the time of release.
Here are some key exercises for developing a consistent inswinging delivery:
Seam position drills: Use a single stump or a narrow target; practice bowling with the seam consistently angled towards leg slip. This will help in ingraining the seam orientation needed for inswing.
Wrist position exercises: Focus on strengthening your wrist and practicing the cocking and release motion. Using a soft ball or in a net session, repeatedly practice the wrist position at release to develop muscle memory.
Run up and delivery practice: Mark out your run-up and repeatedly practice it to ensure it is rhythmic and balanced. Use cones to guide the direction of the run-up and ensure that the final stride and jump are consistent, helping to maintain balance and power through the delivery.
Incorporating variety: Mixing inswingers with other deliveries
Once a batter knows you can bowl an inswinger, they will be on the lookout for it. A good batter will know all the tell tale signs of an inswinger. They’ll be looking for the seam position, the angle of your arm at the point of delivery; they’ll be trying to determine which side of the ball is the shiny side.
If you can bowl the inswinger without showing any of these tell-tale signs, you will have made a great weapon even greater.
This can be something you practice once you can have mastered the normal inswinger.
But even if you can hide the tell tale signs of an inswinger, you should not bowl an inswinger for every ball. It’s vital to mix inswingers with other types of deliveries, such as the outswinger, the bouncer, a slower ball, cross-seam deliveries, and even bowls that go straight on.
As much as possible, you want to bowl all your variations with as little obvious change in your action as possible.
This is not an easy thing to do, and requires you to practice in the nets or run these drills, so that you can fine-tune your technique.
Last Words on the Inswinger
The journey to perfecting the inswinger is both challenging and rewarding, offering profound tactical advantages in matches across all formats of cricket.
It is not a journey that is completed overnight, but requires relentless practice and patience. Each session at the nets, each game played, and each ball bowled contribute to honing this skill. The key is consistent practice, focusing on the nuances of grip, seam position, run-up, and delivery.
This repetitive practice helps in building muscle memory and refining the subtle aspects of bowling that lead to greater consistency and effectiveness on the field.
Not all bowlers can bowl inswing, but those that do have a very powerful weapon in their arsenal.
Who is your favourite inswing bowler? Leave your answer in the comments below.
And come back soon for the next in the series called How to Bowl an Outswinger.