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Swing bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is made to curve through the air. This is in the hope that the change in the ball's flight path will deceive the batter and cause them to play the ball incorrectly. A bowler who uses this technique is called a swing bowler. Swing bowling is generally classed as a type of fast bowling.
A swing bowling delivery is either an inswinger, where the ball curves in towards the batter, or an outswinger, where the ball curves away from the batter. A swing bowler often bowls a mixture of inswingers and outswingers (as well as other non-swinging types of delivery), by changing how they hold the ball.
To make the ball swing, a bowling side continually polishes one side of the ball by applying sweat to it, as well as rubbing it against their clothing to shine it, while allowing the opposite side to become gradually more rough through the course of play. Conventional swing, also called orthodox swing, occurs when the ball is relatively new, before the shiny side becomes worn over the course of play. The airflow over the rough and shiny sides cause it to move in flight towards the rough side and away from the shiny side. Swing bowlers often use a subtly altered grip on the ball to accentuate this effect. Reverse swing is when it swings in the opposite direction - towards the shiny side. This occurs as the ball becomes more worn, and is rarer.
As swing bowling is heavily dependent on the condition of the ball, a number of ball tampering controversies have been related to it. This is where teams have allegedly tried to alter the wear of the ball illegally using materials such as sandpaper, to produce additional swing. Examples of such incidents are the 2006 ball-tampering controversy and the 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal.
Asymmetry of the ball is encouraged by the polishing of one side of the ball by members of the fielding team, while allowing the opposite side to deteriorate through wear and tear. With time, this produces a difference in the aerodynamic properties of the two sides.
Both turbulent and laminar airflow contribute to swing. Air in laminar flow separates from the surface of the ball earlier than air in turbulent flow, so that the separation point moves toward the front of the ball on the laminar side. On the turbulent flow side it remains attached longer, separating towards the rear and steering the wake to one side, generating a lift force.
The curvature of swing deliveries can make them difficult for a batter to hit with their cricket bat. Typically, bowlers more commonly bowl outswingers, as they tend to move away from the batter, meaning they have to "chase" the ball to hit it. Hitting away from the batter's body is dangerous, as it leaves a gap between the bat and body through which the ball may travel to hit the wicket. Also, if the batter misjudges the amount of swing, they can hit the ball with an edge of the bat. An inside edge can ricochet on to the wicket, resulting in them being out bowled, while an outside edge can fly to the wicket-keeper or slip fielders for a catch.
There has been a distinct lack of left-arm swing bowlers in the game. Some of the most famous left-arm bowlers were Pakistan's Wasim Akram, Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Afridi, India's Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan, Australia's Alan Davidson, Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc, Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas and New Zealand's Trent Boult.
When the ball is new the seam is angled to one side, Backspin the ball with the fingers for stability in flight. This causes the boundary layer on the side of the seam to become turbulent and separate later than the laminar flow on the other side, making the ball swerve.
Reverse swing tends to be stronger than normal swing, and to occur late in the ball's trajectory. This gives it a very different character from normal swing, and because batters experience it less often, they generally find it much more difficult to defend against. It is also possible for a ball to swing normally in its early flight, and then to alter its swing as it approaches the batter. This can be done in two ways one for the ball to reverse its direction of swing, giving it an 'S' trajectory: the other is for it to adopt a more pronounced swing in the same direction in which the swing is already curving; either alteration can be devastating for the batter. In the first instance, they are already committed to playing the swing one way, which will be the wrong way to address swing which is suddenly coming from the opposite direction: in the second instance, their stance will be one which is appropriate for the degree, or extent, of the expected swing, and which could suddenly leave them vulnerable to LBW, being caught behind, or bowled. Two consecutive deliveries from Wasim Akram, one of each type, were considered to be the turning point of the 1992 World Cup Final.
Pioneers and notable practitioners of reverse swing have mostly been Pakistani fast bowlers. In the early days of reverse swing, Pakistani bowlers were accused of ball tampering to achieve the conditions of the ball that allow reverse swing. According to the ex-chairman of the Pakistan cricket board, Shahryar Khan, reverse swing was invented by Saleem Mir, who played for the Punjab Cricket Club in Lahore during the late 1960s and taught it to his team-mate Sarfraz Nawaz.Shahryar Khan and Ali Khan, Cricket Cauldron, I.B. Tauris, London, 2013, p. 180. Sarfraz Nawaz introduced reverse swing into international cricket during the late 1970s, and passed their knowledge on to their team-mate Imran Khan, BBC SPORT – Cricket – England – What is reverse swing? who in turn taught the duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. The English pair of Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones, having been taught by Troy Cooley and the Indian bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, were also well known for the ability to reverse swing, among many others. Forgotten Hero Bowlers try to disguise the direction of reverse swing by running up starting with the opposite hand before switching hands and covering the ball for as long as possible before release. Neil Wagner utilizes this to show the ball is reversing, but disguises the direction of swing.
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