One the big pluses for England this season has been the bowling of Chris Lewis and he was badly missed during the Lord's Test. He has returned to the side happy and in good spirit, partly I'm sure due to his move to Surrey where he now feels 'at home'.

But it's on the technical front that Chris has impressed and improved most. He now consistently delivers the ball from close to the stumps which makes him a more attacking and dangerous bowler.

More wicket-taking chances

By bowling from close to the stumps or delivering wicket to wicket (as bowlers like to say) you stand a far better chance of making the batsman play a shot and you only have to move the ball minimally to defeat that shot. In essence that is the key to good bowling. The chances of getting Ibws, bowling the batsman out and bringing the wicket-keeper and slips into play are therefore greatly enhanced.

Chris Lewis may have recently acquired these attributes but Dominic Cork has built his game on them. They are different bowlers working to the same theme. Cork, with his slightly curving run-up which helps him get close to the stumps, follows this with a late, swinging delivery, whilst Lewis, from a sprinting, straight approach, hits the seam and moves the ball both ways.

Get in the groove

Neal Radford, the former Worcestershire and England bowler, once used a spell of recuperation from injury to improve his bowling. Having previously swung the ball, but from wide of the crease, he began his rehabilitation by walking in to bowl, only a couple of steps, and then delivering the ball. He found that by doing this he could release the ball from a position much closer to the stumps than before and proceeded to build up speed in his run-up and delivery gradually, until he was able to bowl at full pace from his new, improved position.

To groove your new approach think: super slo-motion, slo-motion, and quicken to normal speed. But this practice must be performed in as near match conditions as possible, in a net situation.

Position an umpire, take particular note of the popping crease - no no-balls - and bowl with a batsman and wicket-keeper in position. The umpire and his position are most important to get used to because the major worry in the bowler's mind will be getting too close and running into the official - not advisable if you want favourable Ibws later in your spell!

Use the crease

To bowl from close and be comfortable in delivery make for a great stock ball, i.e. the ball bowled more regularly than any other. When things go right and wickets tumble there is no need for any variation at all, but invariably on slow, unresponsive pitches or when the ball fails to swing, or swings too much, then use of the bowling crease becomes an important weapon in the bowler's armoury. Needless to say, if you don't bowl from close you cannot get the variety of bowling from wide.

By bowling from wider but still aiming to hit off stump, uncertainty is created in the batsman's mind as to where his off stump actually is. The batsman will play at wider balls. Also if the ball is swinging too much when bowled from close, change the angle of attack by bowling from slightly wider, thus in effect reducing the amount of swing.

Chris Lewis used this technique to devastating effect in the Lord's Test against India when bowling from the Pavilion End to Sachin Tendulkar. The ball that dismissed him was a 'Jaffa' bowled from his stock position, close to the stumps and seaming just enough up the hill to clip the top of off stump. The use of the crease in the build-up to the dismissal and in the match as a whole made Chris an uncomfortable bowler for all the batsmen to face.

Beware the dangers

In trying to get close there can be a tendency to fall over in delivery and push the ball down the leg side. Coupled with this is the problem of asking the ball to do too much, i.e. to swing from outside leg stump back into the danger area of middle and off. At times Dominic Cork can fall into this trap of trying to bowl the magic ball too often, although 'Corky' is so up-beat and aggressive about his bowling that he tries to take a wicket every ball. It's difficult to discourage him from doing that!

To try to determine how much a ball will swing, practise with a new ball: it may help, but as we all know different balls have different properties and propensities to swing.

Worth a mention are those bowlers who have been extremely successful at Test level by bowling predominantly from wide: Colin Croft, Mike Procter, Bob Willis, Jeff Thomson and Courtney Walsh. For them the old adage 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' applies. But remember, the ball bowled from wide and angled in is the batsman's line - the ball will disappear through the leg side at a rate of knots.

Remember, wicket to wicket bowling is uncomfortable for batsmen and highly productive for bowlers.

Contrasting approaches to a common objective

Chris Lewis following a straight line to the stumps and Dominic Cork Approaching on the curve. The movement required by a ball bowled from wide of the crease to achieve the same result as a perfectly straight one bowled to the same length from close to the stumps. Without straightening effect the ball passess hamrlessly by the leg stump.