Sport

The art of reverse swing

S. Dinakar

Chennai: The batsman departs with shattered stumps and dreams, undone by a swinging delivery of pace and venom. The ball is old, but it still does the damage. Reverse swing can sting.

If the Pakistani pacemen can lay rightful claims to inventing reverse swing about 20 years ago, it is an art that has spread to the other corners of the cricketing world.

These are times when the captains think twice before claiming the second new ball in Tests. In the ODIs, reverse swinging yorkers are often a paceman's most trusted weapon.

From the days when whispers about using illegal methods to pick the seam or roughen up one side of the ball were doing the rounds, reverse swing has become a science. The bowlers have to be careful too these days, before the prying eyes of the cameras.

For delivering a conventional outswinger, the rough side of the ball should be on the left side with the seam angling towards the second slip. The rough side is on the right and the seam faces the leg-slip for the inswinger.

Once the ball becomes older and one side gets sufficiently rougher, it can be swung into the batsman with an outswinger's grip and vice versa. In this territory, the principles of aerodynamics rule.

Teams have learnt to work on the ball. One side retains its shine, while the other gradually turns rough as the innings wears on. If the sphere is delivered with a straighter seam, it tends to swing more.

Tough for the batsmen

Former India paceman and now the head coach of the MRF Pace Foundation, T.A. Sekar, says, "A batsman can judge conventional swing by looking at the seam position. But a reverse swinging delivery is difficult to pick. If the length is close to the batsman, he has less time to react as the ball rockets in."

Pacemen with an action that is slightly roundarmish have generally been the more successful exponents of reverse swing. "You look at a Waqar Younis or a Darren Gough, they released the ball from the 10 or the 11 O' clock position (position of the bowling arm in relation to the hands in a clock)," points out Sekar.

Though it is possible to reverse the ball away from the right-hander — the paceman keeps the shiny side on the left to achieve this — bowlers prefer to bring the ball in because they can either win a leg-before decision or breach the defence.

For reversing the sphere out, a paceman will, ideally, have to deliver from a high-arm action. Sekar says, "Wasim Akram was so great because he could, both, bowl from the top, or do so away from his body. He could, thus, reverse it both ways, and was deadly against, both, the right and left-handers."

The speeds at which the ball is delivered also impact reverse swing. "Greater the pace, bigger the turbulence in the air since one side of the ball is so rough," says Sekar. Consequently, the ball bends more.

Importance of the ball

The Kookaburra balls, normally, assist early conventional swing, while those of the Duke and SG make aid reverse swing. "The Kookaburra ball is machine made, has a less pronounced seam, and is more balanced. It also feels lighter. The SG and the Duke balls seem heavier," says Sekar. The red ball, which absorbs moisture faster and is made with a different leather than a white one, encourages reverse swing more.

The pitch and the ground conditions also play their part. On harder grounds and dry pitches, the ball tends to get rougher faster. In other conditions, such as in England, the bowlers have used innovative tactics. During England's triumphant campaign in the last Ashes series, Steve Harmison, deliberately, did not hit the seam in the early overs. Instead, he landed the cherry on one chosen side consistently. This meant one side of the ball became rough by the 15th over. Reverse swing came into the picture sooner than expected. Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones hummed.

India's swing bowler from the 80s, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, says "You need to pitch the ball up to achieve swing. At the moment we are following the Australian method of `hitting the deck.' You can do that if you consistently operate at speeds above 140 kmph. The length of our bowlers has gradually become shorter. If you bowl at around 135, you have to rely more on the movement in the air. "

Sandhu believes that the bowlers relying on reverse swing "will have to use the crease cleverly to create the deception in the air.''

In the days ahead, the Indian pacemen will have to bowl reverse swing with greater precision. They do need to sting.

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