What is Swing Bowling?
Swing Bowling is the fascinating part of cricket. Who doesn’t love to see the ball travel towards the batsman and suddenly tail away from him, or vice-versa, in mid-air? Except for batsmen of course!
Swing bowling is a subtype of fast bowling which basically involves causing the ball to move in the air. The reason behind its effectiveness is that the change in the ball’s trajectory usually deceives the batsmen and causes them to play a false shot unmerited to the delivery.
Swing bowling can be categorized into two types, i.e. Conventional swing and Reverse swing. Conventional swing bowling involves the use of a newer ball whereas the older and more worn ball is useful for Reverse swing.
The two primary forms of conventional swing bowling are Inswing and Outswing. Inswing cites to a delivery where the ball begins wider of the batsman and angles towards the batsman and stumps. Meanwhile, the delivery where the ball begins in line with the stumps but moves away such that it finishes wide of the stumps when it reaches the batsman.
Introduction of Swing Bowling In Cricket
Although cricket was originated in England, the initial practices of swing bowling is considered to have started from a country which isn’t popular for cricket, America.
During the late 19th and early 20th century, Philadelphian all-rounder Bart King used to dismissed batsmen with his unique delivery, which he called the “angler” which is supposed to be the first occurrence of anything related to swing bowling in cricket. Sir Don Bran once quoted him as “America’s greatest cricketing son” for injecting a brilliant craft into the sport.
10 Best Swing Bowlers
Since we’re all now familiar with swing bowling and the things around it, let’s jump into a list of 10 bowlers that I consider to be the best exponents of it, the swing kings.
#10 Ray Lindwall (Australia)
Ray Lindwall was one of the most complete fast bowlers to have ever graced the sport. His uncommon pace always gave him an advantage over anyone, but he never discounted the batsmen on superb control of length and direction either. Plus, his ability to move the ball in the air made him the finest of his era.
Playing 61 Test matches, Lindwall picked up 218 wickets at an impeccable bowling average of 23.03.
#9 Colin Croft (West Indies)
There was such a cutthroat competition among the fast bowlers during his days that despite having every trait of a great fast bowler in his arsenal, Colin Croft could only play 27 Test matches. But, Colin left no stones unturned proving his potential even in such limited chances. He took 125 wickets for West Indies at an average of 23.3.
His action looked a bit awkward but could move the ball off the seam prodigiously.
#8 Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka)
Unlike most of the other bowlers in this list, the pace wasn’t a weapon for Vaas. All he had was the great ability to swing the ball and guess what, he finished as the most successful Sri Lankan fast bowler in the longest format.
With 12 5-wicket hauls and 2 10-wicket hauls, Chaminda picked up 355 wickets in 111 matches.
#7 Terry Alderman (Australia)
Terry Alderman is the most debatable name in the list, but there are very few bowlers who could bowl out-swingers and off-cutters as good as his.
The Australian made most out of the English pitches that ed his swing bowling as he picked up more than 40 wickets in 1981 and 1989 Ashes.
Injuries and suspensions limited his career, but 170 wickets in just 40 matches earned him the tag of ‘Swing Genius.’
#6 Zaheer Khan (India)
Zaheer is quite inarguably the greatest Indian swing bowler. He had all the traits of a top-notch swing bowler and could swing the new ball whereas reverse the old one. What’s even more emphatical is that he did it on flat subcontinent pitches where fast bowlers get no help whatsoever.
He continually kept beating the batsmen throughout his career, resulting in 311 wickets in 92 Tests.
#5 Imran Khan (Pakistan)
Imran Khan was one of the reasons why bowlers gained more interest in swing and reverse swing because he used to make them look easy.
