Stand behind the nets at any junior session and watch where the adults are looking. Almost everyone is watching the ball. Did it hit the stumps? Did it beat the bat? How quick was that one?

Hardly anyone is watching the bowler. And even the people who are watching can’t actually see what’s going on.

That isn’t an insult. It’s just how quick a bowling action is. From the moment the back foot lands to the follow-through, the whole delivery takes roughly half a second. On normal phone video that’s only a dozen or so frames. Back foot, front foot, release, follow-through: four positions that decide how fast your child bowls, and whether their back stays healthy, all crammed into a moment that is over before you have properly registered it.

No coach can read that in real time. They take a guess based on where the ball ended up. That’s why so much junior coaching is about results (“bowl straighter”, “hit the top of off”) and so little is about cause.

The speed gun tells you the score. The phone tells you why.

Why the ball lies to you

The ball is the very last thing to happen in a delivery. By the time it leaves the hand, every important decision has already been made: how the back foot landed, whether the front leg braced, whether the hips drove through before the chest, whether the arm waited its turn.

A bowler can get several of those wrong and still bowl a decent ball. Young bowlers are brilliant at making up for faults. They muscle it with the shoulder, fling it with the arm, or bend sideways to get it down the line. The ball looks fine. The action underneath is leaking pace, and sometimes building up an injury.

So when you judge a young bowler by the ball, you’re marking the answer without reading the working out. Video lets you read the working out.

Two angles, and only two

You don’t need a tripod, a drone or an app subscription. You need two camera positions.

From behind. Stand in line with the stumps behind the bowler, roughly where a deep umpire would be, far enough back that the whole body fits in the frame from run-up to follow-through. Stay behind the net and keep yourself safe. This is the angle that shows alignment. Are the feet landing hip-width apart on two separate lines, or is the front foot crossing over onto the same line as the back foot? Where is the bowling hand pointing as the front foot lands: back towards the sightscreen, or out to the side? Which way are the front foot’s toes pointing when it lands? And, most importantly, does the head and upper body stay tall, or does it tip over to one side?

Side-on. Stand level with the crease, off to the side, again with the whole body in frame. This angle shows the stretch position and the front leg. Is the front leg braced straight as the ball is released, or is the knee buckling? Does the back foot stay in contact with the ground and drag through, or does it lift off early? Is there a clear stretch, with the front arm reaching forward and the bowling arm still delayed behind?

Front-on footage from the batter’s end looks dramatic, but it’s the hardest angle to learn from and it puts someone in the line of fire. Behind and side-on tell you far more.

How to film so it’s actually useful

• Film at normal speed, then pause. Full-speed footage, with no slow motion, is what we ask for in a video trial, so get into the habit now. Record normally, then scrub through it frame by frame on your phone. That way you can actually find the moment the front foot lands instead of jumping straight past it.
• Get the whole body in, feet included. Half of what matters happens at ground level. Footage cut off at the knees is footage you can’t use.
• Keep the phone still. Lean it against a bag or hold it with both elbows tucked in. Don’t follow the ball. Let the bowler run through the frame.
• Film real bowling, at real pace. A gentle loosener in the garden is a different action. Film them in the nets, off their full run-up, once they’re properly warm.
• Film six or eight balls, not one. One odd delivery is just a bad ball. The same thing on six balls is the action.
• Ask first. If you’re filming at a club or school session, check with the coach, and make sure you’re only filming your own child.

Three things you can check tonight

You don’t need to be a coach to spot the big things. Scroll through frame by frame and look for three moments.

1. The front leg at release (side-on). In our Four Tent Pegs, front foot contact is the most important position in fast bowling. The front foot should block in heel first, then the whole foot, and the front leg should be braced straight, like a ram rod, all the way through release. That brace is the brick wall the whole body bowls against. If the knee folds as the ball is released, the energy soaks into the ground instead of going into the ball. This doesn’t sort itself out. It has to be coached directly.

2. The head and trunk just after the front foot lands (behind). Compare the upper body as the front foot hits with how it looks two or three frames later. A little natural lean is one thing. If the head and shoulders fall dramatically away to one side and the trunk bends sideways, that’s lateral flexion. It’s the fault we take most seriously, because it loads the lower back at the worst possible moment. A follow-through that falls away is just the receipt. The damage happens in those few frames between the front foot landing and the release.

3. The feet (behind). Look for railway tracks, not a tightrope. The back foot and front foot should land roughly hip-width apart, each on its own line. If the front foot steps across onto the same line, the body has to twist and lean to get the ball back on target, and that’s often where the sideways bend in point 2 comes from.

If you find something, don’t panic and don’t start rebuilding the action in the back garden. One clip is a starting point for a conversation, not a diagnosis. And if your child has any pain when bowling, especially in the lower back, stop and see a doctor or physiotherapist before you worry about technique.

The most underused coaching tool in cricket

Most parents already own a camera that can capture half a second of movement and play it back frame by frame. Most of them only point it at their child to film a wicket.

Turn it round. Film the bowler, not the ball. Then go through it frame by frame. You’ll see more in ten minutes than most junior bowlers get told in a season, and you’ll be able to ask much better questions of anyone coaching them.

That’s also how we start. Before we can help a young fast bowler, boy or girl, we need to see the action properly, and good phone footage is where that begins. Our video trial page explains exactly what to send. If you’ve filmed your child and you’re not sure what you’re seeing, that’s what the trial is for.

Ian Pont is Director of Cricket at the National Fast Bowling Academy and has coached fast bowlers at international level. This article is general coaching guidance and not medical advice — if your child has pain when bowling, see a doctor or physiotherapist.