Fast Bowling Action Types

Plenty of fast bowling questions come through, one is “Am I bowling with the correct action?”. When bowling pace there are three MAIN types of bowling actions and others, the 3 main ones are:
1. Side-On Bowler – Backfoot lands parallel to the bowling & popping creases – It can be a few degrees off.
2. Semi-Open Bowler – Backfoot would point to Square leg (If it’s a right hand bowler to a right hand batter).
3. Chest-On bowler – Backfoot points down the pitch to your target.
Others – Some bowlers like say Wasim Akram would get their back foot pointing slightly backwards, Shaun Tait springs to mind.
Ideally we want the non-bowling arm to be positioned at an angle that suits the type of bowling action but that is another discussion.
We have been doing things with our bowlers to get their action to suit their movement types, every human being has their own way of moving, you can teach them to learn a movement pattern that does not suit their preferences and the outcomes will vary.
Some players rely on the front muscle chains in the upper body – Hips to shoulder. They rely upon the rear muscle chains on the legs.
Other players rely on the back muscle chains in the upper body – Hips to shoulder. They rely on the front muscle chains on the legs.
As an example I am the latter, when I dig out videos of me trying to bowl pace and charging in to run I landed side on and could not pre-turn my back foot to get my hips to point forward when the front foot landed, my pace significantly dropped when this happened.
When I landed chest on (Trying to mimic Mohammed Zahids action) it was easy going as was jogging in and landing semi open.
Our bowlers who show signs of having similar motor profiles to myself when they bowl side on have been stuck and could not pre-turn, it is something you CAN learn as a movement but these types of player use their quadriceps femoris, more than their hamstrings. I like to use cycling machines, when I go for a sprint I keep popping my hamstring like Michael Owen.
A) That is down to how we run, our mechanics and post one pop our conscious mindset to avoid it happening again
B) Our hamstrings are not as developed as the Quads, we move in a different way to the opposite types of mover.
Changing the bowlers bowling action has had significant impacts upon their speed and how well they use their entire body to then bowl.
This use of muscle chains also affects how we bat, our weight distribution, how we move to get into position etc
There are a fair few frustrated people who can not get their pre-turn nailed and that might be down to your motor preferences or just not knowing how to do it.
You then need to consider whether the bowler can separate the hips from the shoulders but that’s another discussion altogether