NEW DELHI: mohamed siraj recently made headlines for his highly disciplined and highly precise style of bowling which is helping him reap rich dividends. In the recently concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka, Siraj was the highest wicket-taker overall with 9 wickets in 3 games. Four of those wickets were taken in the third and final ODI itself, in which he recorded his career-best ODI figures of 4/32.
After the match, Siraj explained how to bowl oscillating seam delivery really helped him, saying – “It’s always tough for hitters in any format if you throw the right line. I started playing with a swing seam in the nets to develop the in- swinger. The swinging seam allows hitters to guess where the ball will go.”
So what is swing seam delivery?
Here is a short explanation in 6 points:
– When a fast bowler throws such a delivery, the seam wobbles slightly from side to side, unlike a conventional pacer delivery in which the seam remains straight.
– If the bowler bends their back and hits the deck hard, the swing seam delivery will unpredictably deviate from the pitch.
– England pacer James Anderson is credited with inventing the delivery, which he says he developed after watching Mohammad Asif closely during Pakistan’s 2010 England tour.
– The delivery is usually thrown holding the ball as one would a regular seamer’s delivery, with the ring finger and middle finger on either side of the seam, but much further apart so the seam is more visible.
– The trick is in the way the ball is released, with the wrist “locked” so the ball is not “pushed” out of the hand like a usual delivery, giving it a chance to wobble.
– Many top international bowlers, like Siraj, now have their own version of the swing-seam delivery.
