Styles & Techniques

Each bowler adopt different style of delivery in bowling. We will not discuss about the straight ball delivery because it is the simplest among all. Aside from straight ball, there are 3 different styles which can be adopted by a bowler which are

Stroker

This style is the classic but smooth and elegant style in bowling. Most of the bowlers need to learn this style first before they adopt another style. A stroker emphasize on a perfect timing to produce an excellent delivery. A stroker has a normal backswing with a straight arm and his shoulders are square towards its target. The sliding foot stops just before the ball gets to the line. This creates a moderade leverage for a good and controllable reaction. In the long run of any tournaments, stroker's consistency will usually win out.

Cranker

Cranker style is the more modern bowling style. This style is used by bowlers which nature it is to open up their shoulders and use power and muscle to deliver the ball. They have a high backswing in order to produce high revs. They use 'late' timing, getting to the foul-line long before the ball, they 'plant-and-pull'; little or no slide and bend the elbow to keep the hand behind and under the ball. There is a lot of lower and upper body strength needed: notice how there is a strong push into the finish and the shoulders are still open to accomodate a high backswing. Those who like a high revs and maximum power would want to try this method. However, a cranker will be more vulnarable to injury compared to stroker.

Spinner

This is another style which is totally different from stroker and spinner. Helicopter/spinner style bowlers have developed a release which spins the ball on nearly vertical axis. This has two results, firstly friction is reduced so the bowlers can play both oily and dry lanes and, secondly, the spinning ball creates great mix so the bowler gets less splits and carries a higher percentage of strikes than a simple straight ball could. The spinner bowler is actually playing to use the deflection off the head pin, run the ball down the side of the deck so that the spin mixes up the pins to carry the strike.