Pace bowling: run-up and action

Setup

1. Stumps at both ends of a pitch or net. Put a cone at the start of each bowler's run-up and a second cone where the gather begins.
2. Mark a good-length zone with two cones a few metres in front of the batting stumps.
3. A keeper or catcher stands well back behind the far stumps to collect.
4. Warm up fully first. Plan the number of balls before the session using your association's age-based fast bowling guidelines.

How it runs

1. Each bowler measures a run-up they can repeat, starting short, and marks it with a cone.
2. Bowl one ball at a time: approach, gather, back-foot contact, front-foot contact, release and follow-through.
3. After each ball, walk back to the mark and note where the front foot landed and where the ball pitched.
4. Bowl in short sets with rest between. The coach watches one phase per set (for example the gather, then the front arm).
5. Anyone with back or side pain stops bowling straight away and tells the coach.

Coaching points

• Run in smoothly and build speed gradually; the fastest point is just before the gather, not the first stride.
• Gather: a controlled jump with the bowling arm and front arm coming up together, eyes on the target.
• Back foot lands close to parallel with the crease (side-on) or pointing down the pitch (front-on); shoulders and hips stay matched to the foot.
• Front foot lands with some part of it behind the popping crease, or it is a no-ball; the back foot lands inside the return crease.
• Front arm pulls down towards the hip as the bowling arm comes over close to the head; the arm stays straight through release with no straightening at the elbow.
• Follow through towards the target, then move off the pitch so you don't damage it.

Common mistakes

• Hips and shoulders pointing in different directions at back-foot contact (a mixed action), which loads the lower back.
• Sprinting the whole run-up and losing control at the crease.
• Overstriding to find the crease, often causing front-foot no-balls.
• Front arm falling away early, so the ball drifts down the leg side.
• Bowling too many balls after a break instead of building up gradually.