How does it feel to face a 150 kph bowler in cricket | thecricketips

 How does it feel to face a 150 kph bowler in cricket

I recently faced 144-145 km/hr balls via bowling machine.The first ball I faced was a full yorker on leg stump.I just managed to keep it down.

Then I realized that I have to increase my bat speed.I took a stance similar to Brendon Mccullum,as he has a terrific bat speed.Then the next 23 balls I faced,I was able to hit 70% deliveries.

There are 3 main things to consider
1)the ball comes within 0.4 seconds.
2)It is not at all easy to move your feet,as the reaction time is meagre.
3)Hand-eye coordination is very necessary.

I used to play club and college cricket quite regularly.  And I would agree that speeds up to 135kph are manageable as you can actually follow the ball after it has been released from the bowlers hand.  For deliveries which are fast (140+), you can't really follow the ball.  In that situation your skill and practice makes a difference.  You must anticipate correctly.  One of the ways is to observe the bowlers hands at the point of release and anticipate the curve that ball may follow and prepare to play your shot.

In general any batsman facing a fast bowler will have atleast one weak line or length spot where he cannot manage if the ball comes in very fast. He will be prepared for that in his stance while facing up to the bowler.  If the ball appears to land in that blind spot he will do his best to not get beaten,  and if the ball appears to be landing in the batsman's area of strength,  he will start preparing to play his shot.  This happens in micro seconds. 

I was a pace bowler in my college days with that extra bit of pace and bounce.  And the delivery which got me most wickets was always an inviting outswinger. 

When a batsman knows that he is facing a fast bowler,  he prepares for it.  His self confidence in preparation,  skill and experience in the form of practice makes him better.

Sticking to your basics will help in an unknown situation,  but it needs great skills to stick to basics.

Sachin Tendulkar has always stuck to his basics.  He just played without fear and with a very high self confidence.  And that is what is needed to face a fast bowler. 

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As a professional cricketer I would say it's not that much easy to face 150 k/hr bowler.

If you are a national player in india then its quite tough to face a bowler with the speed of 150km/hr. You need very fast reaction time to respond the delivery of that much speed.

But on a higher level say international cricket there are a lot of bowlers who bowled at a speed of 150+ say malinga , Brett Lee, morne morkel, shaun tait, shoaib akhtar and many more …So at that level you are facing that much speed of bowlers frequently. So when a batsman regularly plays a bolwer with 150+ then he gets idea how to manage and he doesn't face that much difficulty.

Also one of my friend who is an international cricketer told me that it's quite easy to hit fast bowlers because you don't have to use power to hit the ball out of the ground …you just need to give direction and rest is done by pace of that ball to hit out of the ground. That means batsman wants fast bowlers to make runs and he enjoys playing in front of fast bowlers.

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Playing pace in nets is different from playing in a match, normally even a bowler bowling  130 kmph in nets   would seem very fast because of the close environment, in a match the same bowler at that pace would seem easy. I always felt, there is not much difference in pace when the bowler is bowling between the range of 115- 130 kmphs, a seasoned player should play those rather easily, things change when the bowler bowls between 130- 145  kmphs but if your a batsman your expected to play that ( may not be easily) being on your toes. The actual test is anything beyond 145 kmphs , in that pace you don't see a thing, you just go by instance that's where practice,reflexes, hand- eye coordination and all the other big words we hear from the commentators, actually come to play. Saying that, what troubles the batsman is not the total pace but from where the pace is actually generated . I had a chance to speak to a team mate and friend of mine who played in the IPL also did very well in few matches ( he was drafted into the India A squad ,as well), and he told me a very interesting thing about two very fast bowlers  " though Shaun Tait seems to be quicker but I felt Dale Steyn  much quicker and tougher to play because Tait is quick in the air but after pitching the pace would remain the same and you can predict and pick his delivery but Steyn was not that quick in the air but after pitching the ball would nip and it would seem much quicker" these where his words.

And there is another fact, pace of a bowler would not affect a batsman in a flat wicket, even 140 would not be a problem , but in a green top even 130 would seem hell.
  So the bottom line is .. Is 150 kmph difficult to play? Yes it is , but is that the only factor that troubles the batsman? Not at all. It depends upon so many other things. In today's world with all the bowling machine , gunsetc..batsmens don't find only pace, really surprising or tough to tackle but the other factors along with pace is what that create's trouble.

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This go-pro video should give a perspective of the reaction time where Adam Gilchrist faces Shaun Tait, Brett Lee and Saeed Ajmal.