Name: Richard Witherington Candidate Number: 1304

Activity: Cricket Role: Perfromer

A2 Observation / Analysis

Area of Assessment 3:
Weakness 6: A poorly executed slower ball against Hamworthy Cricket Club on the 21st June 2014

B2 – The Elite performer

B1 – Slower ball was my weakness vs Hamworthy.
Introduction:
Jimmy Anderson, who has played in over 150 test matches for England and also has played in over 200 One Day Internationals. Anderson has also represented Essex Country Cricket club on over 200 times taking over 400 wickets.

Anderson performed a slower ball in the match against India, in the ODI series back on 25th July 2014.

When performer the slower ball Anderson made sure that he bowled the ball the same as he normally does, just bowled the ball with his index finger and middle finger further apart causing him to bowl a slower ball. A slower ball is tactical skill that causes the ball to be bowled slower than the ball is normally delivered at.

During the match against India Anderson was bowling well, with great speed and this was making it difficult for the Indian team to score runs of his bowling.

Anderson had now progressed to his best figures of the summer of four wickets for just 25 runs and this helped put England on top in the match as India were now on 132 for 7. This meant Anderson was now bowling to the lower order batsmen’s and this meant he had more chances of getting five wickets in the match.
Preparation Phase:

During the preparation phase of the match against India on the 25th July, Anderson placed his first two fingers either side of the seam, further away as normal, see figure 1.

Anderson also held the ball deeper in his fingers, whereas when bowling a normal fast delivery he holds it at the edge of his fingertips. By holding it deeper in his fingers it is meant that the ball had a slower release, but also meant MS Dhoni didn’t notice that the ball had been bowled at a slower speed. By covering up the grip it meant that Dhoni couldn’t see that he was bowling a slower ball and therefore had less time to react when the ball was bowled.

Also in the preparation phase Anderson demonstrated supination at his right hand and pronation at his left hand as you can see in figure 3. This helped Anderson have a good grip on the ball and made it easier to release the ball when executing the slower ball in the match against India.

When at the end of his run up in the match against India Anderson showed extension at both his left knee and also his knee, with a 180 degree angle created, as shown in figure 4.

Also in the preparation phase Bell shows flexion at both of his elbows. At his left elbow there was approximately a 90 degree angle, whereas at his right angle there was a 130 degree angle, as shown in figure 6.

Also in the preparation phase Anderson demonstrates plantar flexion at both of ankles with his ankles approximately three cm of the ground, which helped keep him balanced before running into bowl, as shown in figure 5.

As soon as the Indian batsmen was ready to face the delivery, Anderson started to run in to bowl the ball at this point he would have known that he was going to bowl they slower ball as he already prepared the grip. This known created a running motion with flexion being created at both knees.

When running into bowl, Anderson made sure that his head was always facing forwards and his eyes were always focusing on the batsmen. By watching the batsmen it meant Anderson noticed if the batsmen moved from his based position, which meant Anderson could change where he wanted to bowl the slower ball and therefore deceive the batsmen.
Execution phase
When approaching the crease Anderson jumped into the air, which resulted in him becoming side on, as shown in figure5. This created flexion at both of his knees, with approximately a 90 degree angle at his left knee, whereas there was an 80 degree at his right knee. This meant he was always balanced and could easily