The Art and Science of Swing Bowling
An introduction to the mysteries surrounding the greatest skill in cricket
*Clonk*
‘That. Is. Very. Good!
The swing works, the oracle again. Quite brilliant from Simon Jones’
The sound of Michael Clarke’s off-stump being removed by Simon Jones is one of the most iconic noises in cricket history. It has remained imprinted in my brain since 2005, when I sat inches from the television, experiencing Test cricket for the first time.
For those of you without frame-by-frame recall of that moment, it is a perfect example of the power of swing bowling and specifically reverse swing. Simon Jones releases a 75-over old ball wide of off-stump towards a set Michael Clarke, who is shepherding Australia towards a draw in the final session of Day 5. Seeing the line of the delivery, Clarke shoulders arms, anticipating a simple leave to the wicket keeper. Instead, the old ball arcs back towards him through the air, pitching just outside the line of the stumps, and cannoning into the wicket. The Australian stands motionless, frozen by the wizardry he has just witnessed, with the off stump cartwheeling away.
Michael Clarke’s bewilderment perfectly encapsulates the joy of swing bowling, with no other aspect of cricket able to create such a sense of shear wonder and disbelief. When a batter hits a ball out of the ground, it is understood that a combination of strength and timing allows them to do so. When a ball turns sharply off the pitch, the motion is explained through the visible spin imparted by the bowler. When a delivery swings through the air, it is as though an invisible hand is guiding the ball to its destination. The lack of an intuitive explanation for the flight path of the ball instills a sense of mystery to anyone watching, setting it apart from almost any other skill in sport.
Despite appearing almost supernatural, swing bowling is of course governed by the laws of physics in the same way as a Liam Livingstone 100 metre six, or a Rashid Khan googly. The swing of a cricket ball, however, is governed by aerodynamics, meaning that it isn’t possible to see the mechanism moving the ball through the air. At least, not with the human eye.
Our lack of intuition for cricket ball swing creates several problems. It allows theories and speculation around how swing works to dominate the discourse in both the amateur and professional game. With no accepted explanation, the experiences of players are used to form correlations between swing and various factors, without explicit measurement and analysis. Ask a club cricketer or an armchair fan why a ball swings and they will likely tell you something about the requirement for a rough side and shiny side, despite the fact that they have seen a brand new ball swing with ease. Professional pundits often discuss the nature of atmospheric conditions, and describe how a day being overcast is beneficial to swing bowlers, with no empirical evidence to support the claim. Confirmation bias is rife, where scenarios that don’t align with common thinking are attributed to the uncertainty in how swing works.
My issue with such comments is not a form of scientific elitism, rather I am concerned with the inefficiencies created when attempting to actually utilise swing in a match. Imagine trying to operate a form of complex machinery: you would rather read the instruction manual than simply push all of the buttons to see which one gives you the desired result. I am not suggesting that players don’t know how to swing a ball, simply that there are inefficiencies in the current best practices. Understanding these inefficiencies can afford you an advantage in how you coach swing bowling to young players, how you analyse the performance of swing bowlers and how you approach specific match situations from a tactical standpoint.
The Science of Swing fits into this niche, between current accepted best practice and optimising the ability to exploit swing. I am not a swing bowler, I have no First Class wickets or runs, but I have spent four years researching every aspect of the artform of swing bowling. And I do believe it is art, as once you take a peek under the hood and understand the multitude of moving parts required to flatten Michael Clarke’s off stump at 90 miles per hour, it is impossible to describe it as anything else. The skills and experiences of professional players are vital in the formation of scientific ideas, and should not be disparaged in any form. This does not mean, however, that their abilities cannot be improved by the application of scientific concepts from the aerodynamics of swing bowling.
My aim is to help people understand the nuances of swing, and inform the discourse and language used to describe it. This blog is a chance to share what I have learned with cricket fans, players and anyone else who is interested. Hopefully the content will be interesting and accessible, and I am always keen to discuss cricket in any context. Thank you for reading this short introduction, I hope you enjoy reading about the science of swing as much as I have enjoyed studying it.