Bowl me over...

[Sean]

Anyway, the bowlers are not allowed to use the same action as pitchers. In short, they are not allowed to throw the ball.

[Lord Jim]

they are not allowed to throw the ball.

They aren't?

Sure looks like throwing to me....(in a girlish sort of way...)

They're obviously not kicking it, so how are they getting it to move through the air?

Mental powers of levitation?

Would the best cricket pitchers be Indian Shamans?

[Gob]

By bowling it of course Jim....

[Lord Jim]

That's like saying that quarterbacks don't throw, they "pass"...

Or that pitchers don't "throw" they "pitch"....

"Pitching" "passing" and "bowling" (at least as you lot mean "bowling"...) are sport specific terms of art that all describe the same thing...

"Throwing"....

[Gob]

I hasten to disagree Jim.

Bowling the ball is distinguished from simply throwing the ball by a strictly specified biomechanical definition.

Originally, this definition said that the elbow joint must not straighten out during the bowling action. Bowlers generally hold their elbows fully extended and rotate the arm vertically about the shoulder joint to impart velocity to the ball, releasing it near the top of the arc. Flexion at the elbow was allowed, but any extension of the elbow was deemed to be a throw and would be liable to be called a no ball. This was thought to be possible only if the bowler's elbow was originally held in a slightly flexed position.

In 2005, this definition was deemed to be physically impossible by a scientific investigative commission. Biomechanical studies that showed that almost all bowlers extend their elbows somewhat throughout the bowling action, because the stress of swinging the arm around hyperextends the elbow joint. A guideline was introduced to allow extensions or hyperextensions of angles up to 15 degrees before deeming the ball illegally thrown.

Throwing is what less sophisticated sports do.

[Sean]

You left out the "Nery nery" at the end of that post Strop.

[Rick]

I guess less "Tommy Johns" is required...