Daily Mail - 21.08.2019

Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 21, 2019

THE ASHES THIRD TEST 1 DAY TO GO 77

Bowling coach STEFFAN JONES did a forensic analysis of

Archer when they were at Rajasthan Royals this year.

Here, he reveals what makes the quick so special

I profile fast

bowlers.

I’ve tested

between

300 and 400

bowlers

globally

and Jofra

comes out

top of the lot of them.

And I’m including

some big names in

there.

JOFRA

THE BREAKDOWN

HIS approach speed is between 7.1 and 7.4 metres

per second (m/s). That’s high. You achieve 70 per

cent of your maximum running velocity in your

run-up, so Jofra would be able to run probably

between 9.5-10m/s as a sprinter. But you can’t hit

front foot contact faster than 70 per cent.

Physically, you can’t do it. To get to 70 per cent

takes seven strides. What makes Jofra stand

out is that he makes it look easy. It’s effortless

grace because his tendons are doing the work

for him. Playing on the soft ground and

beaches of the West Indies means he has a

stiffness in his achilles tendon — he’s like a

kangaroo. If you over-bowl on hard

surfaces, your tendons become soft, more

like pistons and that’s not conducive to

fast bowling. He’s like a triple-jump

athlete, he’s springy, so he’s maintaining

energy. There’s not a lot of movement in

his joints. His tendons do all the work.

Fast bowling happens so quickly and the

ground contact time is minimal, so it’s

not about muscle. Muscles are there to

stabilise joints, not work as a

performance enhancer.

THE SILKY SMOOTH RUN-UP

THE ‘IMPULSE STRIDE’ BEFORE DELIVERY

JOFRA is No 1 for maintaining speed into

his impulse stride — the penultimate stride

before landing. Fast bowlers have been

taught to jump, but it’s more of a sprint,

maintaining acceleration between every

stride on to front-foot contact. He

maintains his speed all the

way through the crease. In

fact, he increases his

running speed from 6.5 to

7.1m/s from back foot to

front. Not a lot of bowlers do that. He also

has more force and more power than

anyone else we have tested. His force in his

approach is 47 newtons and his

power is 360 watts, which are

the highest numbers we

have recorded.

He is a gifted, efficient running

machine. Every stride he runs,

he lands just under his central mass —

his belly — pulling himself forward with

every single one. Most bowlers don’t do

that. They run too far ahead of their central

mass, which means every stride they take,

they slow down. If they run in at 7 m/s, by

the time they hit front-foot contact they will

have slowed down to 5m/s.

2

1

3 THE ‘CATAPULT’ DELIVERY STRIDE

THE No 1 reason his bouncer is so

effective is that he has a braced front

leg on front-foot contact. I have not

seen that in any other bowler. That’s

the most effective, efficient and safe

way to bowl because the fulcrum is at

the hip, so there’s no loss of energy

anywhere else.

Twenty per cent of ball velocity comes

from the height and speed of the

central mass going into front-foot

contact. Jofra on front-foot contact

pulls himself through. It’s like a

claw-back. It’s called swing-leg

retraction — his leg comes down stiff

before contact and pulls him

forward like a catapult.

Then Jofra’s central mass rises by

about two or three inches

vertically, which means he

stretches up. When he delivers

he’s releasing the ball from

slightly higher than when he

landed, which is extraordinary.

It changes the trajectory,

so he can bowl a fuller

length and get the

bounce. It’s a gift,

and he’s an

awesome talent.

13

HEIGHT OF

DELIVERY

8ft

His arms are long

which help to

bowl quick and

his forearms are

longer than his

biceps, another

mechanical

advantage.

STEPS in his

unusually

short run-up,

completed

in 2.1 secs

His tibia (shin bone)

is longer than his

femur (thigh bone)

which gives him more

torque, or force, through

his delivery stride.

(including

a two-inch

boost from

his delivery

stride)

0.41

HIS

fastest

ball at

Lord’s

was

96.1mph to Steve Smith,

who had just 0.41sec

to react. The ball rapped

Smith on the glove and

dropped just in front of

Jos Buttler at short leg.

Steffan

Jones was

talking to

RICHARD

GIBSON

21

ASHES Tests in

which Australian

bowlers had

topped the

speed charts

until Jofra Archer’s debut at

Lord’s, where he averaged

87.6mph. The last English

speed king was Steven Finn in

the first Test in 2013.

n THE 24-year-old’s top

speed is 10m/s, according

to Jones. This equates to

22.4mph, faster than any

Premier League footballer

was recorded last season.

n ARCHER drew a false shot

every 3.1 deliveries at

Lord’s, the best rate by

any bowler in the Test.