B'desh to unleash 'Butterfly' in World Cup

PUNE (India) Bangladesh bowling coach Ian Pont has created a new slower ball that will revolutionise his pace bowlers armoury for the World Cup. The 'Butterfly as it is known because it 'flutters in its flight, is seen as the first delivery that behaves very differently to any other slower ball. The Bangladesh pace bowlers have been getting to grips with the delivery in Dhaka. I wanted to bring something new to our bowling attack that could have a devastating effect on opposition batsmen, said Pont. I sat down with fielding coach, Julien Fountain, and we both got our heads together. Since we both have baseball and pitching backgrounds, we tapped into what we knew about how a ball behaves in flight and the Butterfly is the result. I predict it could be as useful as the back of the hand slower ball was when that first came in. Pace bowlers, Mashrafe, Rubel, Shafiul, Rajib, Russel and Nazmul have been experimenting with the unusual grip in the nets. The ball, when bowled correctly, has zero rotation on it, something that makes the delivery completely unstable and changes the flight of the ball. The resulting outcome is a ball that can skip or hop in the air, drop out of the sky or simply dive down into the pitch when least expected, he said.

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