Beamer (cricket)

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Bowling Techniques ^{[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ]}
Bowling strategy Fast bowling Seam bowling Swing bowling Spin bowling Left-arm orthodox Left-arm unorthodox Leg spin Off spin Finger spin Wrist spin
Deliveries
Full toss/Beamer Fast bowling Bouncer Indipper Inswinger Leg cutter Outswinger Off cutter Outdipper Reverse Slower ball Yorker Spin bowling Arm ball Doosra Flipper Googly Leg break Off break Slider Topspinner
Historical Styles
underarm roundarm overarm lob

In the terminology of the game of cricket, a beamer (less commonly beam ball) is a type of delivery in which the ball, without bouncing, passes dangerously close to the batsman's head. This type of delivery can result in injuries to the batsman, and the penalty for this type of delivery is an immediate no-ball signal given by the umpire. The use of beamers is governed under Law 42.6. The bowler is then given a warning by the umpire for dangerous bowling. Repeated or deliberate cases may result in the bowler being disqualified and not permitted to bowl again for the remainder of the match, as happened with Waqar Younis in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Bowlers that are commonly known to bowl such deliveries, whether deliberately or accidentally, include Brett Lee and Wasim Akram.

Some cricket boards are considering introducing additional penalties in the form of monetary fines for the bowler if any batsman is injured as a result of this delivery.

It remains legal for the bowler to target the batsman with a ball aimed at his head that bounces, called a bouncer, and these are easier to play or avoid.

Typically a beamer is quite hard to bowl because the ball is usually released very early on in the action. Some excuses given have been that it was an attempted yorker that slipped but this is generally not the case as a yorker is delivered much later in the action.

Initially a beamer was an extreme form of bouncer. During the 70s-80s the West Indian Fast Bowlers used to bowl it regularly. It was type of an extreme bouncer that would pass across the nost of the batsman. That was how the term beamer was formed. But the term lost relevance after the definition of bouncer was standardized. In modern day cricket, the extreme full toss bowled is termed as beamer.

The beamer as bowled by the West Indian bowlers during 70s-80s (which used to go past the nose of the batsman) was bouncer that was unplayable. So in modern day cricket, it is all coined under one term 'Bouncer' i.e playable limit is called bouncer and extreme full toss is called beamer

Beamer (cricket)

See also