A Comparison of Inswing and Outswing Bowling Arm Kinematics of Pathway and Elite Male Fast Bowlers

Cricket fast bowlers can increase the difficulty for batters to accurately intercept their deliveries by swinging the ball. To generate swing, bowlers must use a technique that creates an angled and upright ball seam when it is released from the hand and projected towards the batter. The ability to create both inswing and outswing can provide bowlers with an advantage over opposition batters and requires a high level of skill, but little is known about the bowling actions to achieve this. This exploratory investigation aimed to compare the ball grip angle, bowling arm joint angles during the delivery stride and bowling arm segment orientations at the point of ball release of conventional new ball inswing and outswing deliveries. A three-dimensional motion analysis system captured a group of 10 pathway and elite Australian fast bowlers delivering inswing and outswing. Statistical differences were observed in ball grip (p = 0.041), elbow pronation–supination (p = 0.050), shoulder adduction–abduction (p = 0.002), forearm lateral (p = 0.009) and hand lateral (p = 0.002) angles. These differences in bowling mechanics may assist bowlers in achieving the desired ball release positions and seam angles required to swing the ball in both directions. The findings of this study provide initial insight into the biomechanics of swing bowling, allowing for hypotheses that are generated from the data to be tested in future research and offering athletes and coaches strategies that can be employed to enhance performance.