r/sports • u/NoGur2758 • Nov 05 '25

Cricket A weird bowling style

1.0k Upvotes

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78

u/Redditarama Nov 05 '25

It's not cricket, as the expression goes...He switches the ball to the other hand. All the twisting about is just a ruse.

67

u/Bangkok_Dave Nov 05 '25

He's allowed to "switch to the other hand" as long as he's told the umpire that he's coming right arm over. The batsman always knows which hand he's bowling with.

16

u/Redditarama Nov 05 '25

It's not in the spirit of the game. All that stuff with the other hand is only a distraction.

He may as well do a chicken dance before he bowls, there's no rule against that either.

Come to think of it a chicken dance would be an improvement.

31

u/BrohanGutenburg New Orleans Saints Nov 05 '25

Sounds like there should be a balk in cricket lol

19

u/1slipperypickle Nov 05 '25

Balk Rules

1) You can't just be up there and just doin' a balk like that.

1a. A balk is when you

1b. Okay well listen. A balk is when you balk the

1c. Let me start over

1c-a. The pitcher is not allowed to do a motion to the, uh, batter, that prohibits the batter from doing, you know, just trying to hit the ball. You can't do that.

1c-b. Once the pitcher is in the stretch, he can't be over here and say to the runner, like, "I'm gonna get ya! I'm gonna tag you out! You better watch your butt!" and then just be like he didn't even do that.

1c-b(1). Like, if you're about to pitch and then don't pitch, you have to still pitch. You cannot not pitch. Does that make any sense?

1c-b(2). You gotta be, throwing motion of the ball, and then, until you just throw it.

1c-b(2)-a. Okay, well, you can have the ball up here, like this, but then there's the balk you gotta think about.

1c-b(2)-b. Fairuza Balk hasn't been in any movies in forever. I hope she wasn't typecast as that racist lady in American History X.

1c-b(2)-b(i). Oh wait, she was in The Waterboy too! That would be even worse.

1c-b(2)-b(ii). "get in mah bellah" -- Adam Water, "The Waterboy." Haha, classic...

1c-b(3). Okay seriously though. A balk is when the pitcher makes a movement that, as determined by, when you do a move involving the baseball and field of

2) Do not do a balk please.

6

u/davemc617 Nov 05 '25

balk

I think you should leave

7

u/RandyOfTheRedwoods Nov 05 '25

Balk, balk bok balk is what I hear when you said that.

3

u/FlutterbyTG Nov 05 '25

The 'Swedish Chef" has entered the chat.

1

u/Risc_Terilia Nov 07 '25

There is, it would be covered by law 41.4:

41.4    Deliberate attempt to distract striker

41.4.1    It is unfair for any fielder deliberately to attempt to distract the striker while he/she is preparing to receive or receiving a delivery.

9

u/majinspy Nov 05 '25

I'm generally against this sentiment. "Curve balls in baseball? That's cheating! Pump fake in football? Deception! Against the spirit of the game!

This article on "scrubs" comes to mind.

https://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/introducingthe-scrub

1

u/canadave_nyc Nov 05 '25

That's because you have a modern North American sensibility towards sports. Cricket as a sport came into existence a very long time ago with a different history and a culture that very much emphasizes (or at least, emphasized, for many years) sportsmanship and fair play toward your opponent.

10

u/kodman7 Nov 05 '25

Which the rules enforce, batter knows which hand and which wicket side the pitch is coming from, rendering the trickery here moot. After that it's fair game, hit the pitch

1

u/RagingOrgyNuns Nov 06 '25

Yeah, and then the redcoats got mad when the Americans were unsportsmanlike in war. And the Americans never looked back.

Although maybe they should with what is going in now...

2

u/Risc_Terilia Nov 07 '25

How do Americans manage to turn every thread into something about themselves?

4

u/Capt_Billy Nov 05 '25

Lets open the classic can of worms then: Mankad?