The column of uncertainty - Sreesanth

[msb1991]

In this series of threads, I hope to write articles quite often on the world of fast bowling in international and in some rare cases, domestic cricket. I take a look at the fast bowling action and note places of possible improvements and area where the bowler gains pace, accuracy or other ability. The first in this series is controversial medium fast bowler Sreesanth. Sreesanth, or Sree Santh or S Sreesanth or whatever you wish to call him has grabbed cricket headlines consistently ever since he announced himself on the international stage by dismissing Sachin Tendulkar in the 2005 Challenger Trophy and subsequently earning the Man of the Series award. The second Keralite to play for India since Tinu Yohannan, Sreesanth's bowling has taken a back seat as his childish antics - commencing with a booty dance after hitting Andre Nel for six, have grabbed newspaper back pages and website front pages all over the world. However, allow me for a moment to concentrate on the fiery youngster's bowling action for a moment. Sreesanth approaches the crease with a quick sprint. Gathering speed with every step and lengthening every stride with unnerving rhythm, Sreesanth's approach to the crease is reminiscent of a young Wes Hall and consequently generates him substantial pace in the early overs of an ODI or Twenty20. However, relying on a run up for your pace can, and does in Sreesanth's case, result in a drop in pace as the bowler tires throughout a spell or fatigues throughout a match, series or tournament. Sreesanth charging in With a large leap to the wicket, Sreesanth's arms flaw wildly, eventually gathering into a pleasantly side on action. Sreesanth loses pace with a poorly streamlined action, not only does this waste the momentum gathered in the run up, it also compromises his accuracy substantially. However, throughout all the chaos, Sreesanth gets his front leg very high, similar to Rodney Hogg or Imran Khan. This gives impact to his otherwise (as you will find out) unmomentum-ful (I just made that word up) action. Sreesanth getting his leg up Sreesanth releases the ball with a textbook seam position and consequently extracts substantial swing, both away and in to the right hander. However, his seemingly perfect release position indicates a larger problem. Sreesanth releases the ball with the fingers, rather than the wrist which can cause wild inconsistencies of accuracy. He also releases the ball fractionally early which causes the ball to 'float' out of his hand. This 'float' is the sole reason that his 145kph full deliveries are often treated as inconspicuous and driven away for four. Sreesanth loses further pace by not completing the bowling action with a full shoulder rotation. A full shoulder rotation evidently also aids late swing, as shown by the exponents of such: Dale Steyn, Jimmy Anderson, Brett Lee and Waqar Younis (below). Compare Waqar's full shoulder rotation(left) with the half rotation of Sreesanth(right). Sreesanth has potential for a powerful hip drive, as he keeps his back foot on the floor throughout the action. Sreesanth's promising hip drive However, his action fizzles out as he merely steps through the action with the back foot. Compare this with the explosive follow through of a young Shoaib Akhtar. Shoaib's explosive action Mental training may never be fruitful for the complex mind of Sreesanth. Whether he is attracting a slap from a 'mentor', dancing like an idiot or gritting his teeth, comically resembling a m*****, Sreesanth will never be a laid back, inconspicuous cricketer. However, hopefully, I have outlined for you that Sreesanth's bowling action has a lot of potential for improvement and he may be able to back up the words, gestures or actions which he so often entertains us with. Disclaimer: Please do not attack the contents of this thread. These are my opinions and I accept your right to dispute my deductions but please do so in a civil manner. I have no personal grudge against any of the bowlers in the thread nor do I refute that they are better bowlers than me and I do not have qualifications to back up my judgements.

[Dhondy]

Wow! msb, that is amazing work. You obviously have studied these things in great detail. This is priceless stuff indeed. Can we syndicate you?:--D I hope the mods make this into an article.

[flamy]

:hatsoff: What a fantastic thread!

[satishg]

MSB that is one heck of a thread..u have done some great analysis thr..great stuff mate :two_thumbs_up:.. i am not sure Venkatesh Prasad knows so much about Sreesanths action as u do..u have to pass on ur inputs to that guy maybe u wud get the assistant bowling coach position :D anyway awesome work MSB :hatsoff:

[fineleg]

msb :two_thumbs_up: Refreshing read!

[msb1991]

MSB that is one heck of a thread..u have done some great analysis thr..great stuff mate :two_thumbs_up:.. i am not sure Venkatesh Prasad knows so much about Sreesanths action as u do..u have to pass on ur inputs to that guy maybe u wud get the assistant bowling coach position :D anyway awesome work MSB :hatsoff:

I can't say that. I don't know if my theories are correct nor do I have the faintest clue how much Prasad does (or doesn't) know.

[msb1991]

Thanks all for the compliments.

[Cricketics]

MSB dude, half read this article of yours just now, and now time to go to regular thursday cricket practice, want to read it again. will come back and read this hope by the time i return, this will be converted into article by one of the modz. GREAT stuff MSB

[Dravid]

wow, very nice observations esp. one about him not completing the bowling action with a full shoulder rotation.. good work :D

[f.b.m]

I'm lost for words. Or even one word, for that matter. However, I just wanted to ask something thats relevant to Sreesanth aswell: Do you think that a regular changing of your bowling action can ever be a good thing for a fast bowler? Its one thing to see Kumble suddenly veer off to deliver the ball from wide of the crease, but ...

[msb1991]

I think it can be useful if it is occasional (once a spell or once an innings), but believe that it is far too frequent from Sreesanth and shows that he doesn't trust his current action nor know exactly what it is.

[Sachinism]

I should send you a video of my bowling action for analysis lol

[msb1991]

Nah, I'd recommend sending it to Ian Pont - I got about 1/2 of my information from his book and his analysis of my action (no matter how knowledgable you are, self analysis of one's action is the worst thing a bowler can do). I could probably give a few tips to you though.

[ludhianvi]

Looks great msb1991 Now I have a question: Should the last leap be a long one or hardly any leap? I may be wrong but I think I remember Michael Holding saying that the leap should be a long one to carry forward the momentum gained from the runup.

[Sachinism]

@msb hmm seems like he's done some or a lot of work at Essex CC, I know a few people who play for Essex or were looking to join, I'll ask them about him

[Lurker]

AWESOME thread msb!! :two_thumbs_up: One of the best I have read of its kind. Your comparison with Wes Hall is quite correct. The first time I saw Sreesanth bowling what stuck out for me was his unusually long arms. Maybe he is thin or whatever but he does give the impression of carrying arms like Albatross. And I often wondered if ever there was a bowler with that kind of built. Wes Hall indeed was all long limbed and so you made a very unusual, and at the same time extremely astute observation. Great read!

[msb1991]

Now I have a question: Should the last leap be a long one or hardly any leap? I may be wrong but I think I remember Michael Holding saying that the leap should be a long one to carry forward the momentum gained from the runup.

Both front on and side on should look to jump as far as possible but side on bowlers should look to jump high to get the time to turn side on whereas front on should not jump too high as to not compromise momentum.

[The Outsider]

What a brilliant write up! Till now msb had shown through his shorter posts that he knows a thing or two about fast bowling but here he has gone completely unbridled and written with so much freedom and lucidness, not to be confined by some subject under discussion. An extremely enlightening piece. Do you think Sreesanth will be more effective if he starts using the crease more effectively ie. develop some kind of an incoming delivery from wide of the crease a bit like Ntini or is his action and approach just not suited to that style? If it's okay with you maybe we can move this piece along with the Anderson one to the articles section after it has been discussed for a couple of days?

[Ram]

Outstanding! Thats one of the most informative pieces on fast bowling I have read till now. The piece about the shoulder rotation deserves special applause. I shall reserve my comments on the thoughts expressed later, but for now, its time to applaud a wonderful piece of cricket writing!

[chanakya]