Almost every cricket player, especially batsmen, with a little experience would have faced a bowler who bowls unplayable yorkers. Why does the batsman fall for the same trick every ‘damn’ time?
Most of the time, even when the batsman is expecting a yorker he/ she is tricked. But, is it so difficult for batsmen to handle a yorker?
What happens when a bowler bowls a yorker?
It all depends on how much time the ball spends in the air, after the bowler releases the ball.
Wait… what? I know I gotta expand the statement which is made, so follow along.
It is to say that, closer the ball pitches to the batsman greater the pace on the delivery. Again, what…?
To justify these statements let me take an example.
When a bowler bowls, as the ball travels, there are two suppressors which reduce the speed of the ball .
The first reason for the loss of ball’s speed is due to air drag. That is to say, air resists the speed of the ball, cutting almost 10% off it’s pace. Second reason is due to the resistance faced by the ball after it pitches. As in, when the ball pitches it further losses additional speed due to resistance/ friction from the ground.
You might want to understand “How do fast bowlers generate pace?“
So now the ball has less pace as compared to when the ball is released.
Again there are 2 scenario’s,
- One, when the ball pitches away from the batsman. Sort of like a, good length ball.
- Two, when the ball pitches closer to the batsman. Sort of like a, yorker.
What happens when a batsman faces a yorker?
Lets assume that the bowler bowling a yorker length to the batsman.
Here, the ball losses it’s speed mostly/ only due to air drag. Because with a yorker length delivery, the batsman is left with no time to experience loss of the ball’s speed after pitching. But when the ball pitches away from the batsman, the batsman has time to experience both i.e. loss of the ball’s speed due to air drag and due to the pitch’s resistance.
Additional point to add on, the effectiveness of the yorker increases when the bowler bowls with a flatter the trajectory. This is because the flatter trajectory destabilises the head position of the batter.
But now, every batsman has his/ her own range of cricket shots to counter these unplayable yorkers. Can you name them?