It seems an emerging trend these days, that when a fast bowler suffers an injury, the “human movement specialists” take over and decide that a change in the bowlers action is required to limit the likelihood of successive damage.

Jacob Oram, the New Zealand all-rounder is set to make a comeback against Australia next week, after having just such a change encouraged. He is not alone in a growing band of players to have their bowling rhythm’s tinkered with.

Shane Bond has had his whippy action altered following his back injury, Jason Gillespie received a major technical overhaul in an effort to keep upright at the point of delivery, and it seems that coaches at more junior levels are trying to correct what they deem to be flawed actions in young players, often even before an injury occurs, as preventative measures.

By the time a fast bowler reaches international level, they have potentially bowled somewhere in the region of 200,000 deliveries with their natural action, by which point the mechanical motion of the delivery is being performed at a subconscious level.

The changes to these natural bowling styles, that evolved in back yards and parks, are often implemented in comparatively short timeframes and I wonder at what cost these changes come.

Whilst the medical and coaching staff must be convinced of the merits of change, it would seem that forcing the body to perform an action contrary to one that it has become so routinely accustomed to, must cause some physical conflict with the muscles and tendons of the player, who often confess (as Oram did yesterday) to the action feeling “unnatural”.

If a player has to consciously think about his (or her) action at the point of delivery, surely that is a distraction from thinking about how to get the batsman out.

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