The column of uncertainty - James Anderson

[msb1991]

James Anderson is, without a doubt, one of the most talented bowlers in England. However, his modest Test record and inconsistencies in ODI cricket does not do justice to the talent. With an explosive side on action, Anderson extracts outswing at very good pace with an armoury containing a late swinging yorker, an inswinger and a (tooth) cracking bouncer. Run up Jimmy Anderson has a strong, quick run up. Powerful arm actions compliment an explosive, yet balanced approach to the wicket. The sharp sprint to the wicket does Anderson many favours in generating the 90mph pace which he is occasionally able to tap into. Gather The gather is the moment prior to the jump in which the upper body takes control over the bowling action. For Anderson, the bowling arm tucks in next to the neck and the non bowling arm bends at an acute angle to tuck in just under the chin. Jimmy subsequently leaps high and far in a textbook utilisation of the jump as a final acceleration of the run up into the delivery stride. Powerful jump with solid load up Back-foot landing The front arm extends in a strong position to aim toward the target. However, it poses minimal effect, as it does not connect through to the bowling arm in a single stretched, pendulum motion. Instead, the bowling arm bounces in front of his body, which reduces the effect of the front arm to vaguely lining up the body. Compare this to Brett Lee, who has his bowling arm much closer his hip. James Anderson compared to Brett Lee This bowling arm position also causes the weight of the body to lean forward fractionally early. This means that Anderson is unable to bring his front knee high. Bringing the front knee high engages the hips and allows for a more powerful front foot impact. Again, compare to Brett Lee, who has an extremely high front knee due to keeping the weight back during the jump. Consequently, the front arm drops early. This compromises his accuracy as well as sending his weight into the floor early. This is the causation of his quick bouncers, but often (but not always, due to his pace gathered from other parts of the action) expensive spells brought about from an excess of full, harmless deliveries. The front arm shown to drop early Preceding to release Anderson keeps the back foot on the ground, which empowers the hip drive, creating a more powerful base to release from. The back foot also drags along the ground to create a spring for the bowling arm to ‘snap’. Back foot kept along the floor Release Anderson releases the ball with a high front arm, giving him the potential to swing the ball both ways without excess stress on the body as well as giving potential for a sharp bouncer. He releases the ball in a position in front of 12 o’clock and this means that the ball does not float, but is powered directly to the target. Anderson's powerful release position After release Anderson utilises a full shoulder rotation to complete the action. This adds pace and allows the backspin needed for the latest of late swing - as shown in his six wicket spell against New Zealand in the recent Test series. However, this sends his head down toward the floor. This means that he does not look at the target and loses accuracy. This being said, it would be nigh-on-impossible to correct this and any attempt would likely result in injury, as he would have to repel a reflex of his body, which takes potential strain off the body. Looking in a positive light, this head position allows for his bouncer to have concentrated momentum into the ground and consequently causes it to rise sharply, as Daniel Flynn and Sachin Tendulkar know. This ‘snap’ and the aforementioned hip drive brings the back foot through the action so powerfully, that the next step throws Anderson into the air as he admires his work, apprehensively. "I can fly" 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]

I just love Anderson's action. Does anybody bowl the outswinger better than him today? He whips the ball with his fingers towards the leg stump, yet the wrist breaks the other way, resulting in an almost unplayable delivery if on target. And msb, did you notice how muscular his neck is, for one so wiry? He generates a lot of power with those neck muscles.

[msb1991]

Probably muscular through bowling and throwing it down into an action. He must have bowled 1000s of deliveries in his career and each one has a violent neck snap into the ground.

[The Outsider]

I've always considered him a pretty dangerous proposition despite his mediocre record - he is the kind of bowler who can hit the straps all of a sudden and produce those dreaded spells in test matches where the opposition loses the match in a space of 10 overs - a genuine wicket taker and as part of an attack where Sidebottom and Broad provide the stable, orthodox performances he is finally becoming a consistent threat.

[Holysmoke]

Brilliant, brilliant article. You can quote that. :D

[Dhondy]

msb vindicated. Smith done in by the bounce. England need another Anderson, preferably Flintoff to come back. Sidebottom has no pace to speak of, and is very one dimensional.

[The Outsider]

^Dhondy, Anderson needs control at the other end to blossom, IMO, which Sidebottom provides. Don't think Flintoff will be able to put in 10 over spells with accuracy on a regular basis.

[Cricketics]

England need another Anderson, preferably Flintoff to come back. Sidebottom has no pace to speak of, and is very one dimensional.

how about Simon Jones?? natural swinger with good pace? i think he can be handy and produce bounce too when needed, he also hahppens to have a good tricky action regardless of how it might have kept him away from cricket

[Indian cricket fan in CA]

Great article as usual. However, Anderson can deadly only in very helpful conditions. There are couple of things I love about this article, apart from the article itself. 1) This quote "James Anderson is, without a doubt, one of the most talented bowlers in England. However, his modest Test record and inconsistencies in ODI cricket does not do justice to the talent. With an explosive side on action, Anderson extracts outswing at very good pace with an armoury containing a late swinging yorker, an inswinger and a (tooth) cracking bouncer" (tooth) cracking bouncer is funny :haha:. I know that may sound weird, but I am dentist by profession 2) Even funnier is msb1991 avatar/picture. Ponting the fifth umpire :hysterical:

[Ian Pont]

Interesting review of Jimmy Anderson's action (and 100% accurate too). What fast bowling methodology do you subscribe to?

[msb1991]

Mainly yours but I feel that traditional values such as those of a fast run up, long high jump and the massive the importance of the front arm have become neglected in modern times. Moreover, there is a lack of studies into fast bowling such as this which substantiates coaching claims for improvement. Also, there is a lack of looking into why someone has action based problems. For example, people may not have the backfoot on the ground because they are merely too tall and the legs are forced up too high. There is no coincidence that Ishant, Morkel and Harmison all raise the backfoot on front foot impact.

[Ian Pont]

A fast run up is necessary for front on bowlers who don't need time to turn their back foot sideways, and therefore also lack height in their jump (hang time). Harmison doesn't jump at all really. For a man of his height he tries to jump with his arms rather than his legs. But he doesn't raise his back leg prior to ball release I'm afraid, as you have stated. He does keep it down all the way to delivery by dragging. I don't think height is a factor in back foot drag to be honest but it's an interesting theory. It's rather a lack of understanding of the hip drive as well as the fact a front on bowler is ALREADY front on and finds it harder to drive the hips. However Flintoff manages it well and he's 6' 4''. I agree that speed is useful for both height and distance but be careful as it's long jump rather than high jump we're looking for.

[bharat297]

I just love Anderson's action. Does anybody bowl the outswinger better than him today?

Dale Steyn?

[bharat297]

Hey msb ... these articles are great ... can you please do one of Dale Steyn's action. My action is very similar to his.

[Cricketics]

Bump for the new folks. Another great effort from MSB. :hatsoff:

[The Outsider]

I just love Anderson's action. Does anybody bowl the outswinger better than him today? He whips the ball with his fingers towards the leg stump, yet the wrist breaks the other way, resulting in an almost unplayable delivery if on target.

Well. the article is 3 years old, but I feel P Kumar bowls the outswinger better than Anderson - yeah, lacks the pace, but if we are talking about purely technical action without speed.

[Chandan]

Wish msb could do one article on Ishant too. I'd love to know why he lost his way in last two years and I still don't buy that he was trying tring to copy Zaheer's action. An article on Dale Styne would be wonderful too.

[rkt.india]

Wish msb could do one article on Ishant too. I'd love to know why he lost his way in last two years and I still don't buy that he was trying tring to copy Zaheer's action. An article on Dale Styne would be wonderful too.

This is right. I had already mentioned these things about Ishant many a times here. Ishant was trying different things which lead to his downfall. I had made a thread about Ishant and his bowling action change with videos. on this page. http://indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=268170&highlight=subtle+changes&page=2

[rkt.india]

Well. the article is 3 years old' date=' but I feel P Kumar bowls the outswinger better than Anderson - yeah, lacks the pace, but if we are talking about purely technical action without speed.[/quote'] bowling out swing on PK's pace is not tough. Many bowlers in county cricket do it...One is Callum Thorpe..Swing at a decent pace is harder to achieve and is all the more dangerous and still PK does not the out swing the ball from middle or leg stumps like Styen or Anderson do.

[DeepFineLeg]

bowling out swing on PK's pace is not tough. Many bowlers in county cricket do it...One is Callum Thorpe..Swing at a decent pace is harder to achieve and is all the more dangerous and still PK does not the out swing the ball from middle or leg stumps like Styen or Anderson do.

I doubt if anyone has better shape of the seam than PK in WC. So much so that windies thought his 'flick of the wrist' was akin to chucking. That said, how we handle Anderson will decide the series - He's the best strike bowler in the world ATM.