page_title: Comparison of baseball and cricket
section_title: Bowling/pitching
hierarchical_section_title: Comparison of baseball and cricket / Play / Bowling/pitching
caption_attribution_description: Three Burst Mode photos of Brett Lee bowling at the WACA vs South Africa in 2005. Note the ball is in the middle frame, just above the "U", after being released by Lee.
context_page_description: Baseball and cricket are the best-known members of a family of related bat-and-ball games.
  Despite their similarities, the two sports also have many differences in play and in strategy. A comparison between baseball and cricket can be instructive to followers of either sport, since the similarities help to highlight nuances particular to each game.
context_section_description: The ball may be thrown within a given area to get a batter out if the batter fails to hit the ball (In baseball, the strike zone if the ball is unhit a maximum of 3 times, and in cricket, the wickets).
  Cricket bowlers, since they are not restricted to a small strike zone as their target, also use a wide variety of approaches which are not available to baseball pitchers. These involve varying the line and length of deliveries and using unpredictable movement caused by the ball bouncing on the pitch before it reaches the batsman. Baseball pitchers, by contrast, must use changes in ball speed and movement (in cricket bowlers also vary ball speed) caused only by air friction and spin to deceive batters, as most pitches which come near touching the ground are ineffectively allowed to pass as balls. The raised undulating stitching on a baseball allows an accomplished pitcher to create a huge variety of motions in the air; even fastballs are thrown in such a way as to create certain kinds of movement. The cricket ball also moves in the air, to a lesser degree than the baseball, but it achieves its most pronounced movement on the bounce, with seamers landing the ball on the seam to create slight but unpredictable turn, and spinners using spin to create significant turn and bounce variation. Furthermore, pitchers must begin their throw from a stationary position, while bowlers may run up to their delivery. (In the early days of baseball, the pitcher pitched from anywhere within a "box" and so had more flexibility as to where to stand when releasing the ball, before the 1880s.) Baseball pitchers also throw from an elevated mound (10 in or 25 cm above the level of home plate), while cricket bowlers are at the same height as the batsman (because every 6 deliveries which end of the pitch is used for bowling and batting switches) and must bowl with an overarm (or roundarm, a style rarely seen today) rotation of the arm during which the arm must not straighten by more than 15 degrees. (This was also a restriction on pitchers in the early days of baseball, abolished in the 1880s; today, baseball pitchers use a variety of delivery motions discussed below.) Despite the differences in delivery action, the delivery speeds are similar for both sports with the fastest bowlers and pitchers propelling the ball in the region of 95–100 mph (150–160 km/h): the fastest recorded cricket delivery is 100.2 mph (161.26 km/h) with baseball's record quicker at 105 mph (169.0 km/h). It is the case, however, that baseball pitches near or at 100 mph are considerably more common than bowled balls of comparable velocity in cricket. The bowler in cricket is much more restricted with respect to how much he can straighten his arm in delivering the ball, and this is one very significant reason why baseball pitchers can deliver the ball faster with more frequency.
  One main difference, however, is that the ball in cricket is harder and heavier in weight. The legal weight for the ball in baseball is from 5 to 5.25 ounces (142 to 149 g); whereas the ball in cricket must weigh between 5.5 and 5.8 ounces (156 and 164 g).
  Cricket's bowlers are grouped into different categories based on their bowling style—pacemen, seamers, off-spinners (or finger-spinners), leg-spinners (or wrist-spinners)—though a bowler may fall into more than one category (pace and seam bowling, for instance, largely overlap). The faster bowlers usually open the bowling, when the ball is at its hardest and smoothest. Spin bowlers generally bowl later, when the ball has begun to deteriorate and become rough.
  Baseball's pitchers are classified primarily by their throwing hand (left or right, with left-handed pitchers often called "southpaws") and their usual role in games. A starting pitcher begins games, typically not more than one game in five, in a rotation with four teammates who are also starters who will start games in a sequential cycle, and usually pitch five or more innings. Starters rarely appear as substitutes in games started by others. A relief pitcher enters games later, sometimes on shor
caption: Australian Fast bowler Brett Lee's follow through
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