Underarm bowling

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Template:Bowling Techniques In cricket, underarm bowling is as old as the sport itself.

Until the appearance of the roundarm style in the first half of the 19th Century, bowling was performed in the same way as in bowls, the ball being delivered with the hand below the waist. Bowls may well be an older game than cricket and it is possible that cricket was derived from bowls by the intervention of a batsman trying to stop the ball reaching its target by hitting it away, though bowling per se continued as in bowls.

For centuries, bowling was performed exactly as in bowls because the ball was rolled or skimmed along the ground. The bowlers must have used variations in pace but the basic action was essentially the same. There are surviving illustrations from the first half of the 18th Century which depict the bowler with one knee bent forward and his bowling hand close to the ground, while the ball trundles (if slow) or skims (if quick) towards a batsman armed with a bat shaped like a modern hockey stick and guarding a two-stump wicket.

Cricket's first great bowling revolution occurred probably in the 1760s when bowlers started to pitch the ball instead of rolling it. We know the pitched delivery was established by 1772 when detailed scorecards became commonplace and we know that the straight bat replaced the curved one at about that time. There is no doubt that the straight bat was introduced to contest the pitched delivery and it is possible that the inventor of the straight bat was the famous John Small senior of Hambledon.

The 1760s are one of cricket's "dark ages" and it is a fact that we know a good deal more about the decades 1731-1750 than we do of 1751-1770. This has largely to do with the impact of the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 which not only claimed the sport's manpower but also its patronage. It seems that pitching began during that period but we know very little about it for it seems to have been introduced and widely accepted without the huge controversies that surrounded the later implementations of roundarm and overarm.

It is interesting that the first known codification of the Laws of Cricket, created by the London Cricket Club in 1744, makes no mention of prescribed bowling action and does not say the ball must be delivered at ground level, which suggests a pitched delivery would not be illegal. The rules for bowlers in the 1744 Laws focus on the position of the hind foot during delivery (i.e., it had to be behind the bowling crease) and overstepping is the only specified cause for calling a no ball. The umpires were granted "discretion" and so presumably would call no ball if, say, a ball was thrown by the bowler.

One of the first great bowlers to employ the pitched delivery to good effect was Edward "Lumpy" Stevens of Chertsey and Surrey. There is a surviving rhyme about him to the effect that "honest Lumpy did allow he ne'er would pitch but o'er a brow". In those days, the leading bowler on each side had choice of precisely where the wickets would be placed and Lumpy was adept at finding a spot where the turf was uneven on a good length so that he could use his repertoire of shooters, twisters and risers. Lumpy was a true professional who studied the arts and crafts of the game to seek continuous improvement as a bowler. He is known to have observed the flight of the ball and experimented for long hours with variations of line, length and speed of delivery until he had mastered the art of pitching.

Other great bowlers of the late 18th Century were Thomas Brett and David Harris, both of Hambledon. They were fast bowlers whereas Lumpy relied on variety of pace. An interesting bowler of the time was William Lamborn who spun the ball in an unorthodox fashion and may have been the "original leg spinner".

Underarm bowling was effective while pitch conditions were difficult for batsmen due to being uneven and uncovered. In time, especially after the opening of Lord's and the development of groundsmanship, pitches began to improve and batsmen were able to play longer innings than formerly. In the 1780s and 1790s, one of the best batsmen around was Tom Walker, who was also a very useful slow bowler. Walker was another improvisor like Lumpy and he began to experiment by bowling with his hand away from his body. It is not clear how high he raised his hand but it could have been waist height. He was accused of "jerking" the ball and so delivering it in an unfair and improper manner. He was suitably censured for his trouble and was forced to return to his normal underarm lobs, but he had sown the seeds of bowling's next revolution.

This was roundarm, so-called because the hand is held out from the body (i.e., between waist and shoulder height) at the point of delivery. The roundarm style was promoted successively by John Willes, William Lillywhite and Jem Broadbridge until it was finally legalised, amid furious controversy, in 1835 with an amendment to the rule in 1845.

Roundarm did not mean the end of underarm, which continued well into the overarm era that began in 1864. William Clarke, founder of the All England Eleven in 1845, remained a highly effective underarm bowler long after roundarm began. Others who sometimes bowled underarm into the overarm era were Jem Grundy and James Southerton.

By the beginning of the 20th Century, underarm had moreorless disappeared and was rarely seen thereafter, although exceptions did occur. There were cases where a bowler had been injured and so completed his over with underarms. In more controversial circumstances, there were instances of bowlers who had been no-balled for throwing who decided to bowl underarm in order to get through the over!

Underarm in the modern game

Technically speaking, an underarm delivery is one in which the bowler's hand does not rise above the level of the waist. The Laws of Cricket now declare that an underarm delivery is illegal unless otherwise agreed before the match.

A delivery is a no ball if it bounces more than twice before passing the popping crease: an underarm delivery cannot be performed rolling along the ground. A pitched underarm delivery is a good ball, providing it only pitches once, and providing the opposing captain has agreed beforehand that the style may be used. It is unlikely that any bowler would reintroduce the style, given modern pitch conditions.

1981 Incident

An infamous incident involving an underarm delivery occurred on February 1, 1981 when Australia were playing New Zealand in a One-day International, the third of five matches in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup.

New Zealand required a six to tie the match from the final ball, with eight wickets down. The Australian captain (Greg Chappell) ordered the bowler (his brother, Trevor Chappell) to bowl underarm to avoid the possibility that the No. 10 New Zealand batsman (Brian McKechnie) would score a six from the last ball to tie the match.

Australia won the game but the New Zealand batsmen marched off in disgust and since that day the underarm bowling incident has been a source of discussion, both heated and jocular, between Australians and New Zealanders.

It was described as "the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket" by the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rob Muldoon, who also observed that "It was an act of cowardice and I consider it appropriate that the Australian team were wearing yellow". Even the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, called the act "contrary to the traditions of the game".

Brian McKechnie bears no ill-will over the incident but both Chappell brothers have publicly stated their embarrassment over the incident and, over 20 years later, are still reluctant to discuss it.

As a direct result of the incident, underarm bowling was banned in limited overs cricket by the International Cricket Council as not within the spirit of the game.

New Zealand cricketer Warren Lees recounted the underarm incident on New Zealand's 20/20 current affairs show, on Thursday 17 February, 2005. He said for long after the affair there was silence in the dressing room, which was broken suddenly and unexpectedly by fellow player Mark Burgess smashing a tea cup.

On February 17, 2005 - 24 years after the original underarm delivery - Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath light-heartedly revisited the incident in the first ever Twenty20 international, played between Australia and New Zealand. In the last over of the match, a grinning McGrath pretended to bowl an underarm delivery to Kyle Mills which prompted New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden to produce a mock red card. This drew a large reception from the crowd, which was mostly made up of New Zealand fans, and echoed the good spirits in which the whole game had been played.

Trivia

• In the February 1981 underarm delivery incident, the batsman at the non-striker's end, Bruce Edgar, was on 102 not out at the time and his innings has been called "the most overlooked century of all time".
• The match had earlier controversy: in the Australian innings, Martin Snedden took a spectacular low outfield catch off the batting of Greg Chappell. It was disallowed by the umpires, although TV replays clearly showed it was a clean catch. Some commentators believed Chappell should have taken Snedden's word that the catch was good.
• The underarm ball was technically a no-ball, because Australia had one too many fielders outside the field restriction line.