Black Cap Blair Tickner has given his top tips for budding fast bowlers over the New Zealand summer.
The paceman – currently sidelined with a shoulder injury – is part of a “Coach Squad” programme training cricketers of a variety of ages.
Tickner told the Herald his top five pieces of advice for budding Black Caps.
Run-up and bowling action
“It’s sort of a domino from the run-up all the way until the bowling action and to the follow-through. So I start them from the run-up, work on their alignment, their run-up speeds, and then go from there, really. It’s funny how when you get a cricket ball, you all of a sudden run a little bit differently. Everyone can see with my run-up, it’s a little bit different from my normal running technique.
“You want to make it as rhythmical and normal as your normal running style. I know sometimes with the cricket ball, you do cross over like I do a little bit. All you’re doing is preventing that crossover in your action. So the straighter you can run with your arms, the straighter your action can be at delivery. I’m just trying to make sure it’s nice and safe, and also pushing them to bowl as fast as they can with their run-up.”
Nutrition and fitness
“We do circuits. We don’t do a lot of long-distance running. We do more short, sharp, interval training. If it’s on the bike or off feet, if you’re injured like me now, or even doing interval running. It might be 30 seconds off, just getting used to that run-up, going again, because you are running at about 24km/h for 20 metres every time, then bowling it as hard as you can, walking back, doing that over and over again. You saw [Jacob] Duffy bowl 60 overs in a game, that’s 360 balls going hard out, so, yeah, it’s quite hard.
“I mostly tell them if they really want to be a fast bowler, they just have to desire it and actually go out and get it and make sure that they’re getting strong enough and also wanting to bowl fast.”
Training loads
“Different age groups have different bowling loads. Obviously, that’s all on New Zealand Cricket’s website about how many they can bowl. What I would say is with the training, making sure that if you’re looking to bowl fast, just having one session a week that you go all out trying to bowl as quickly as you can. Sometimes you don’t know where it’s going, but just doing that so your body’s well-tuned for match competition, because if you dial it back and you’re not used to that match intensity going into a game, it’s always a lot harder.
“As long as they’re getting a little bit older, at least two S&C sessions a week and just making sure there’s a stable base to bowl fast.”
Wrist position
“It depends what level they are at. I start always start off with wrist position. I actually got a lot of wrist position and finger placement from the now coach of the Black Caps, Rob Walter. So I sort of put that onto the kids at a younger age, so they understand that a little bit better than I did. And then just work on their core to warm up and make sure that we’re doing all that before getting into bowling.”
Injury prevention
“I’m trying to safeguard a lot of young bowlers with stress fractures, making sure that they don’t put themselves in a bad position biomechanically with their bowling action. There are so many stress fractures, as you can see in New Zealand professional cricket, but the age group system as well. Obviously, New Zealand Cricket work a lot with bowling loads, but it comes down to the action and getting strong for the younger kids as well.
“You just don’t want a lot of crossing over in your action. You want to keep straight lines where you can. There’s a lot of mixed actions, but you want to keep straight lines and also build up your strength with your core stability and your leg strength. Even if you’re not old enough to go to the gym, just getting a bit of core strength so you protect your lower back.”
More expertise...
Coach Squad gives budding athletes access to more than 95 professional athletes and coaches from across New Zealand.
It includes Silver Ferns legend Casey Kopua, sprint coach James Mortimer and Olympian Zoe Hobbs.
Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.