Bowling (cricket)

In the game of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball. It is performed with a straight arm over the shoulder. At the point of releasing the ball from the hand, the elbow should remain rigid. Any bending or major flexing of the arm at the time of release would be determined by the umpire to be an illegal delivery.

In ancient cricketing history underarm bowling was the only method employed. Initially, all bowling was performed with an underarm action. Later, an English woman, who used to play cricket alongside the gentlemen and whom was attired in the dress of the day for a lady, a long, widely blousing dress, was having difficulty in bowling with an underarm action due to the blousing dress and to counter this, she began to bowl with an overarm delivery method.

Soon after, a gentleman who witnessed this action began to employ it in club cricket matches, however, the overarm method was quickly banned and determined to be illegal. It was not until many years later the method was finally accepted by cricketing authorities and grew rapidly in popularity amongst all players. By the 20th century, underarm bowling had disappeared from the game.

An infamous "underarm bowling" incident occurred during a one-day match between the Australia and New Zealand teams, in which the bowler took advantage of the fact that underarm bowling had not been officially banned by rolling ball along the ground. By doing so he avoided the (unlikely) possibility that the No. 11 New Zealand batsman would score 6 from the last ball to tie the match.

As a result of this incident, underarm bowling was subsequently banned and found not to be within the spirit of the game.

Some bowling techniques are: leg spin, off spin, googly.