Everything you need to know about the Yorker

New Zealand’s Lou Vincent Chops At A Yorker

It is one of the best balls a bowler can bowl in any format, especially if he executes it right. Yes, I am talking about the yorker.

In this article, I will unravel everything regarding yorkers: on how to bowl one, how to play one, what happens if you do not execute one, when you should use one and how yorkers are used today in cricket.

What is a Yorker?

A yorker is a type of delivery that a bowler bowls to a batsman. The yorker is executed accurately when it is bowled at a full length at the batsman’s feet, usually bowled late.

The delivery must be aimed at the batters feet and must bounce at his feet; this traps the batsman and makes it an unplayable delivery. A yorker, if implemented correctly, is hard to score from and is prominently used in the shorter formats. It takes an amount of practice to deliver a yorker to achieve substantial success.

How to bowl a yorker

The target area for a Yorker is small; the best way is to aim at a batsman’s feet. Deliver the ball very late, but not too late, with the hand almost pointing directly vertical. The initial plan is to try and get more pace and to deliver it late in order to deceive the batsman in flight.

Bowling with some inswing is also effective. A good way to practice is also to drive your bowling shoulder to the target and if you do it right, the ball will be faster and fuller. Unfortunately, it cannot happen overnight, we were not all born with yorker bowling capabilities like Waqar Younis or Lasith Malinga. Bowling yorkers takes an incredible amount of practice, patience and experience.

Attempted Yorker

You have probably heard commentators say, ‘… bowled an attempted yorker’. An attempted yorker is when a bowler misses the length and does not ‘york’ the batsman.

A slight error makes the delivery an easy full-toss or half-volley, which can be smashed around the park for boundaries. A yorker is one of the most difficult deliveries to master and may also be the reason why many bowlers in the shorter formats fail to execute them, because they result into full-tosses and half-volleys.

When to bowl a yorker

T20 cricket is where yorkers are delivered more frequently and are more useful especially in the death overs, where batsmen are looking to either post or chase a competitive total. The yorker can be quite successful, as it has the ability to deceive batsman by not only producing a dot ball, but might consequently be used to pick up wickets. It limits the amount of runs the batting team can score, because the yorker provides no useful bounce and the batsman cannot get under the ball. This also builds pressure and can result in many losses due to good death bowling and all thanks to the yorker.

A yorker in cricket today

The Yorker has been the go-to-ball in any bowler’s arsenal, however, recently these deliveries are becoming rare. With T20 cricket played more regularly than ever, yorkers should be used more frequently. However, most times it is not the case; some bowlers can execute the yorker whenever they need to but many fail to stick to their basics.

“I do believe that the yorker should be your go-to ball at the death, but I think because most captains these days are batsmen, they think too much like the batsman at the crease and they try too much to block off one part of the field completely.” – Vincent Barnes, former South African bowling coach.

Yorkers have such a powerful effect as it is the only delivery you can bowl to even one of the best batsman in the world and yet it can still be unplayable. A yorker must be taught and it is not a delivery that comes naturally. We have seen on countless occasions where a bowling unit has failed to bowl good at the death, which often leads to the batting team winning the game.

Bowlers have lost their ability to bowl those toe-crushing missiles, which has been evident recently resulting in the big limited overs totals. Perhaps that’s why it is said today that it is a batsman’s game.