Top 101 Bowler Quotes

One of my aims is to be the fastest and regarded as the best fast bowler in the world.

When you play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, you face the same bowler next year. But when you play in IPL, you face bowlers of different calibre.

In limited-overs, leg-spinners are often rewarded as batsmen go for big shots. In Tests, they don’t go after a bowler aggressively.

It is one thing being scrutinised for playing a bad shot as a batsman or bowling a bad spell as a bowler, but the captaincy adds an extra dimension. The criticism is slightly harder to take.

In Ranji cricket, I am used heavily as a bowler, but in international cricket I hardly get four overs, and sometimes I never even get to bowl and bat at number eight.

As a bowler, you want to go and bowl in helpful conditions in South Africa, England, and Australia. But it is also important to bowl in the right areas, and they differ from bowler to bowler, depending on conditions and the opposition.

With the new ball, against any bowler, it’s important to see off the first few overs.

I’m a great bowler. I was in a couple of leagues as a kid.

Shaun Pollock is actually the best role model for me as a very good attritional bowler.

As a batter, I would want to see that the best bowler is in my side so I don’t have to face him.

I feel I can channelise my aggression to the right thing and be a good bowler, a world class bowler.

It is impossible to run in the whole day bowling at 90mph. If you can show me someone who does it then fair play. But I’ve not seen any bowler who bowls 90mph do it for a whole day.

I didn’t wear a helmet because I wanted to show that the bowler wasn’t intimidating me, and also that’s just the way I liked to bat.

When people say ‘Charlie Chaplin‘ I still think now of the guy in the moustache and bowler hat and funny walk – I don’t think of an old man who was my grandfather.

I mean everyone‘s always spoken about fast bowlers and especially myself as a strike bowler, but I look at myself as somebody who could hold down the runs, you know, over 200 games, I’ve taken a lot of wickets but I’ve got a pretty decent economy rate.

To play 100 Tests is a lot of miles in the legs and just thinking about that many as a fast bowler hurts my back!

I would love to do a biopic on a bowler like Zaheer Khan or Harbhajan Singh. I would love to see their struggles on screen.

As an athlete there are times in your career where, during a game, any decision you make seems to be the right one. The bowler bowls where you want, you don’t have to think and you are so ‘in the zone‘ that you are not aware of anything else around you.

I’ve never been bothered about being the highest wicket-taker in the world or the best South African bowler in the world.

Once I step over that white line I become The Bowler.

I have been saying for a long time that bowlers come in packs. When you have a senior bowler in the pack, he can guide the young bowlers in pressure situations by talking with them.

I was scared of facing only one bowler – that was Muttiah Muralitharan.

I won‘t say I am a premier bowler or anything, because we are all trying to work hard, and whoever gets the opportunity wants to do well.

Shoaib Akhtar has been playing for 5, 6 years and is an experienced bowler.

As a new ball bowler, it’s my job to stick to the basics.

In fact, as a spin bowler, you have to work on the batsman over after over.

As a bowler our job is to create doubts in the minds of the batsmen.

When a bowler comes on you want to put him under pressure. He might not allow you to do that but find a way.

I’ll tell you something about Glenn McGrath – he was a much better bowler than me. This is not false modesty.

I would love to bowl 160 km/h. Any fast bowler would love to do that. But for me that is almost impossible.

Whether you’re a batsman, bowler, or an all-rounder, fitness is tough if you follow your regimen religiously.

Jimmy Anderson deserves everything he gets, and even though he is an Englishman I will be delighted for him when he goes past my record and becomes the most prolific fast bowler in Test history.

To escape jury duty in England, wear a bowler hat and carry a copy of the Daily telegraph.

Generally I don’t say too much on the field. However, I am a fast bowler and with that comes the responsibility of saying a word or two and getting in a guy’s face.

Like the periwig and the bowler hat, the plus-four and the bow-tie, the blazer is on the way out, and those who persist in wearing it do so with a smattering of self-consciousness, a touch of obstinacy, even a pinch of camp.

Unless you are a good bowler, you won’t be in the India A side.

When I had a senior bowler guiding me as a young bowler, I had Imran bhai and I would ask him before every ball. It gives you that added confidence when a senior bowler tells you to do something.

As a bowler I think I am more wicket-based than some.

If there is nothing happening on the wicket, the bowler always thinks that he should not go for a boundary.

I know I’m a better bowler and create more chances if I get a batsman indecisive in defence.

From a spinner’s perspective, in India it was never easy for me to judge where to stand: how far forward, how far back, because on Indian wickets the ball does not carry as much as abroad. That is true of slip fielding in general. I wouldn’t say only for spinner – even for a fast bowler, that holds true.

Usually a captain will allow his bowler to set the field, while exercising overall control and maintaining the authority to step in if he sees fit.

In the IPL, I learnt from Dale Steyn. Our bowling styles are quite different, but he is a great bowler, and you can always pick something from the way he bowls. He has given me a lot of tips during matches, which I have tried in my bowling.

I want to be the best cricketer I can be for my country. If I work hard, the main aim for me is to be the world’s best bowler.

Each bowler has his own pride when bowling in the nets but it’s vital that you get ball on bat and then you are ready to use the opportunity when you are out in the middle.

While the liberal media elite depict the bowler as a chubby guy with a comb-over and polyester pants, the reality is that bowling is one of the most tech-heavy sports today. Robotic pinsetters and computerized scoring were just the beginning.

It is a bowler’s skill that gets him wickets in Tests.

It doesn’t matter which era you play in. Wickets are the only way you can contain. Restricting the batsmen to six runs in the first over may look okay but in the next over they will hammer the other bowler. Giving ten runs and taking a wicket – I’ll take that any day.

Now I do bowling, golf, and tennis. I want to be a good bowler.

There’s little that’s subtle about Hardus Viljoen – he’s a broad-chested, broad-shouldered fast bowler, who simply trundles up to the wicket and hurls it down as fast as possible.

I was a really avid bowler when I was a teenager. I had about a 210-220 average. I had blisters on my fingers.

When I started playing cricket, I knew that my physique is not at all like a typical fast bowler. My body language is also different, and I am not aggressive by nature; thus, my focus was always on my skills.

I imagine that I’m less famous than the 15th ranked bowler in the world.

Almost every bowler bowls a slower ball, but not many can be deceptive. A slower ball can only be deceptive if it is different, if it is floating, swinging.

I am the sort of a bowler who keeps things simple.

I won the glare with the bowler every time, because I knew that at some time he was going to have to turn around and go back to his mark.

I feel England is the most difficult place for a bowler.

I’m about a 160, 170 bowler so I feel like I’m pretty good – I’m average, but I don’t stink, you know?

A bowler can make or break a chap.

I love winning, I love playing to win. You need some of that to be a bowler. You need to have a hatred for the batsman to make sure you have that real fire to perform.

In India you pick teams based on pitches, so it’s the bowlers who get changed. if it is a turning pitch a fast bowler can’t play, and if it is a green pitch, a spinner can’t play.

A bowler will always say it’s a batsman’s game.

You get drafted, you perform like a Pro Bowler, then they pay you. But there’s certain teams in this league, that’s not what they’re trying to do.

I headed out to have a breather at the stage door, dressed in my tramp costume. I had my bowler hat between my feet and there were passers-by, and one of them turned back and said, ‘Do you need help, brother?’ And $1 fell into my hat!

When a bowler bowls with the crowd support behind him, it naturally raises one’s morale.

I was an all-rounder but more of a batsman, maybe second-choice bowler.

Before the Colts arrived in 1947, the best athlete in town was a woman duckpin bowler named Toots Barger. Football? The biggest games in Baltimore had been when Johns Hopkins took on Susquehanna or Franklin & Marshall at homecoming.

There is nothing worse for a bowler than knowing you cannot give your all. If you try to, you can mess yourself up for the future, so you are torn between that and protecting your body. You simply cannot do both.

Being a swing bowler, bowling at the death is just an added facet in my bowling.

I don’t think any bowler can trouble me much.

New Zealand‘s Daniel Vettori is a very good bowler.

As a bowler, I was not scared of any batsman. They are not supposed to scare you; you have to scare them.

The main thing for a bowler is his wrist position, and that, as I’ve said before, is something I’m working on.

Many England girls have grown up playing men’s cricket and trained in county men’s academies, so they’ve faced 70-80 mph bowling. So when it comes to the women‘s game you have a 75mph bowler who’s not as tall and not getting as much bounce, you feel more assured.

It’s fine for a bowler to have a plan but I feel as a batter you need to have another plan to counteract what they’re doing.

I think I chose wisely. When it came down to it, I knew I was a better goalkeeper than I was a bowler.

Mike Webster’s death was significant. Iron Mike. The best center in the NFL. Nine-time Pro Bowler. Hall of Famer. Four Super Bowl rings. He had played in more games – 220 of them – than any other player in Steelers history.

It’s going to get harder and harder to find guys who will play for ten years in all formats of the game, and whoever does it, good luck to him – he’ll be a great batsman or bowler.

If you ask me, a batsman has very few opportunities as compared to a bowler. A bowler knows, if he gets hit for a six or a boundary, he has another delivery left to get back and take a wicket. For a batsman, one loose shot, and you are out. A bowler will always have 24 opportunities.

I am not a big supporter of sledging or insults that are hurled at you. But I don’t mind if a bowler glares or stares at the batsmen. During my career, I have faced these situations numerous times.

Dead at 50. Mike Webster! Nine-time Pro Bowler. Hall of Famer. ‘Iron Mike,’ legendary Steelers center for fifteen seasons.

I merely dared to say Tebow could be a successful starting quarterback in the National Football League – not a Pro Bowler, mind you, just a guy who could win games his way. Which prompted relentless attacks from anti-Tebow analysts and journalists.

When I started out, I wasn’t a thinking bowler, but talking to seniors and coaches helped. They would always tell me that I ought to be clear about where I wanted to bowl before I ran in to bowl.

It is important as a bowler that you always need to have a presence. If you lose that you lose quite a bit, a big part of your armoury. It comes naturally with me, and at times it is a huge advantage. I don’t want to lose it. I want to keep getting wickets.

At one stage, I just wanted to play one Test for India. People used to say I was just a T20 bowler, a limited-overs bowler. All these tag lines were doing the rounds but I did want to make a difference.

I am here to play cricket. No preferences at all. T20, ODI, Test – I just want to perform on every stage and prove my worth as a good bowler.

The bowler wants to win the game. The batsman needs to bat well to get runs. No question about it.

When I began, I was more of a swing bowler with little pace, but I realized it will be difficult to sustain without the pace, so my fitness has now allowed me maybe an extra yard of pace. That has been the secret of my success.

As a bowler, there are times when you do not get wickets, and you don’t have the numbers to show against your name. But never has the thought crossed my mind that I am not a confident bowler and the wickets are not coming my way.

I have always been an attacking bowler. I am more than happy to go for a few runs and get a few wickets.

Have a little protection if that helps your bowler – Brett Lee always wanted a cover and a midwicket because they helped him bowl his natural length and made him more effective as a result.

You know, when a fast bowler comes back after a series of five Test matches and then straightaway has to go into a one-day series with a three-day break, a T20 series with a one-day break, it is tough.

I don’t want to lose any of that passion for the game; as a bowler I need to have that real desire to get the batsman out and be in their face and be aggressive.

I guess my game plan in ODI cricket is very set with the new ball and at the death. In Test cricket, you have to bowl longer and batsmen don’t have to score as quickly. But at the same time, as a bowler, you can bring in some aspects of one format to the other format.

During the peak of my career, I used to pick the ball as soon it was released from the bowler’s hands. And I hit the ball through the line.

I was inspired by the great West Indian fast bowler Joel Garner‘s action. I gained confidence knowing I was emulating his action and eventually perfected the Yorker.

It’s always frustrated me when I’ve seen other players able to smack balls over the bowler’s head and stuff like that. I can’t, though. When I’ve tried I’ve let myself down.

You have to have a part of you like that as a bowler – that fire in you to keep going.

Green wickets. That is why everybody wants to be a fast bowler instead of being a spinner or a batsman.

As a bowler it’s a strange feeling when you start running through a team. You get that one wicket under your belt and suddenly you start running in feeling loose, feeling relaxed and thinking about what you want to bowl rather than focusing on trying to force that wicket.

I have always been an attacking bowler, but I am trying my best to learn every day.