Bowler (cricket)

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The basics of bowling.
The basics of bowling.
One of the world's leading off-spin bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan sends down a delivery
One of the world's leading off-spin bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan sends down a delivery

A bowler in the sport of cricket is usually a player whose speciality is bowling, analogous to a pitcher in baseball. A bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder.

There are several types of bowlers and most teams will have a variety available in the team to take advantage of pitch or weather conditions or known weaknesses of the opposition.

A fast bowler is usually the mainstay of a team's attack. They will take a long run up before bowling each ball to build momentum and rhythm and can deliver the cricket ball at speeds up to 160 km/h (100 mph).

A medium pace bowler bowls somewhat more slowly and will often have some other weapon in their bowling arsenal rather than relying on speed. This might take the form of being able to swing the ball in the air or disguise the speed or length of his or her delivery to fool the batsman. Some medium pacers are simply accurate; they can repeatedly deliver the ball to a place which forces the batsman to defend rather than scoring runs.

A spin bowler usually bowls quite slowly and puts tremendous spin on the ball causing it to bounce at an angle off the pitch, forcing the batsman to treat each ball carefully. Generally spin bowlers give up the most runs but they all have "tricks" that they use to fool the batsman and get him or her out (such as the arm ball, googly, flipper, topspinner or doosra). Spin bowling is very much about deceit rather than speed.

Contents

[edit] Bowlers by Country (current)

[edit] Australia

Pace bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] Bangladesh

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

[edit] England

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] India

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] Ireland

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] New Zealand

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] Pakistan

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-rounders

[edit] South Africa

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] Sri Lanka

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] West Indies

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] Zimbabwe

Pace Bowlers

Spin Bowlers

Bowling All-Rounders

[edit] See also