by Visveswaran.k
(Chennai)
Glenn McGrath: The Complete Fast Bowler
Hello Coach,
This is Visvses, I am a 16 yr old Fast Bowler.
I am a great fan of Glenn McGrath, I would like to be able to bowl like him.
Please offer me fast bowling tips to help me take wickets.
Thank you Visvses
Hi Visvses,
Glenn McGrath, now there’s a fast bowler ! What a great choice of a bowler to emulate, he is one of my favourites too.
I was on the receiving end of some great bowling from Glenn when I was Pakistan coach. We weren’t often the ones doing the dominating either.
Lets look at what made Glenn McGrath a great bowler and you can find some tips to help you take wickets from this analysis.
McGrath was able to exert incredible pressure on batters with his fantastic control. He would literally sit on a length on off stump and just outside and suffocate the batter, waiting for the batter to commit an error of judgement.
The line that he bowled from wicket to wicket would demand the most intense focus from the batter, he would get very close to the stumps at the bowlers end and the batter would be forced to play at virtually every ball.
McGrath’s height was also critical to his success, his ability to extract bounce from his clean, economical action would often find him taking the edge. Tall fast bowlers have this advantage and it is an underestimated weapon for a bowler, but they have to have the patience to maintain their length.
His action was supreme, biomechanically efficient, an economical run-up, high front arm, still head and easy action allowed him to bowl long spells.
In combination with Warne, Gillespie and Lee, they made up an almost perfect bowling line up.
Great mental skills: The ability to hypnotise the opposition batters with his predictions and targeting of key batters.
Confident, aggressive and with a wonderful ability to maintain focus and manage his spells.
All the hallmarks of the elite performer.
Now I challenge you to summarise that and extract the key themes that I have written about and incorporate them into your own bowling.
Happy Fast Bowling … Coach
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About Richard Pybus
I'm Richard Pybus, I've coached Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middlesex, Titans and the Cape Cobras in South Africa and the goal of this site is to help you to play winning cricket.