Former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond thinks that bowlers need to sweat more in nets to ace the yorker delivery.
"Each bowler has a different skill set, someone like Jasprit Bumrah is set up to bowl a yorker. For some of the others, trying to bowl yorkers can impact their ability to swing the ball. It's a very fine line in terms of how much work you put in on the yorker at nets because, at the most, you will only use it for two overs in a match situation. That's where the training plan comes into play." Â Bond said in a column for www.icc-cricket.com
He said that yorkers are difficult to hit, but also difficult to bowl consistently. "That's why you need to bowl at different lengths in the death so that yorker comes as a bit of a surprise."
Bond said that preparation is key in modern day cricket,
"Speaking from my experiences with Mumbai Indians, we do heaps of work on how to limit the damage, on how to get players out. Preparation has become a huge aspect of modern-day cricket, and the teams ought to have already done that sort of work in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy. If you have not prepared yourself before the start of the tournament, the damage has already been done."
Kiwi bowler also welcomed the changes in field restrictions but said that the game still predominantly favors batsman. "The change in fielding restrictions in the last 10 overs of a one-day international has eased the pressure on the bowlers a little bit, but only a little bit. Five men outside the 30-yard circle from overs 41 through 50 is a welcome development, and I say this purely from a bowler's perspective, but for the most part, the bowlers are pretty much second-class citizens in white-ball cricket."
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"The slow bowlers specifically are resorting to a more negative line of bowling, not because they want to but because they have to. In an era gone by, the pattern was to tee-off in the first 15 overs, build through the middle of the innings and then launch a final onslaught.That philosophy has now gone out the window."
"Batting line-ups are coming hard even outside the PowerPlays because the field restrictions allow them to hit over the top with the freedom which is why, increasingly, we have so many scores in the mid-300s."
He also said that wicket-taking ability becomes indispensable in limited-overs and is the difference between top teams and other teams, "If you look at the stronger teams in world cricket, they are the ones who have five genuine bowlers, guys that can take wickets. A majority of the top sides has, at least, one leg-spinner, an attacking spinner always on the lookout for wickets. If you can't take wickets in 50-over cricket, then you are in serious trouble."
