How to bowl in NPL Cricket League: line, length and delivery

A good over in NPL Cricket League is planned, not thrown. You choose where each ball lands, what kind of ball it is, and how cleanly you release it. This guide walks through all three and then shows how to put an over together.

It describes the build we are testing now. Details can change before release; if they do, we'll update this page.

The three steps of every ball

When it is your turn to bowl, the camera sits behind the bowler's arm and a small panel appears at the bottom right. Every delivery is three choices:

1. Drag on the pitch to choose line and length. A marker shows where the ball will land.
2. Pick the delivery from the buttons in the panel.
3. Tap BOWL when the needle on the meter is in the green.

Then the bowler runs in and the ball is on its way.

Line and length: where the ball lands

Length is how far up the pitch the ball lands. The game names it for you after each ball:

• Yorker. Right at the batter's feet. Hard to hit for six, hard to bowl well.
• Full. Pitched up, inviting the drive.
• Good length. The spot where the batter is not sure whether to go forward or back. Your stock ball.
• Short. Lands in your half and climbs. A surprise, not a habit.

Line is the direction: at the stumps, outside off, or down the leg side. A ball on the stumps gets you bowled and beaten. A ball a little outside off can simply be left alone. Go too wide in an online match and it is called a wide: one run to the batting side, and you bowl it again.

Picking the delivery

What you can bowl depends on who is bowling.

• Pace bowlers choose between Pace and Swing. Pace is quick and straight. Swing moves in the air, either away from the batter (outswing) or into them (inswing).
• Spinners choose between Off-spin and Leg-spin. Both are slower and turn off the pitch, in opposite directions.

The speed of every ball appears in km/h at the bottom of the screen. A quick bowler will be well over 130; a spinner will be under 100. That gap matters, because the batter's timing is tuned to the last ball they faced.

The meter: hit the green

Under the delivery buttons is a meter with a moving needle and a green zone. Tap BOWL while the needle is inside the green and the ball goes where you aimed it. Miss the green and it drifts off target.

The game tells you how you did: Perfect timing, Good or Off target. An off-target ball is a gift to the batter, so it is worth waiting half a second for the needle to come round again.

Online, a really wild release is a no-ball. That costs a run, the ball is bowled again, and the next ball is a free hit: the batter can swing as hard as they like and cannot be bowled or caught off it.

A plan with a bad release is just a bad ball. Aim first, then wait for the green.

Building an over

Six good-length balls on the stumps is a fine over. A better one sets a trap.

• Change the pace. Follow two quick balls with a slower one. Batters who have found their timing swing early at the change.
• Change the length. Push the batter back with a short ball, then bowl the yorker.
• Move it both ways. If your swing has gone away from the bat twice, bring the next one in.
• Bowl to your field. If your fielders are on the leg side, don't feed the off side.

Watch the feedback on the batter too. If they have been early twice in a row, keep taking pace off. If they are late, keep it quick.

How wickets fall

• Bowled. The batter misses and the ball hits the stumps.
• Caught. The batter lofts it without the timing and a fielder gets under it. In an online match, if that fielder is a real player, a CATCH! ring appears on their screen and they have a moment to tap it.
• Beaten. Not a wicket, but the ball went past the bat. You are close.

Bowling online: the clock

In an online match the bowler gets a short window, 8 seconds, to aim and release. A countdown at the top of the screen shows it. Have your next ball in mind while the last one is still being replayed and the clock will never be a problem.

The fielding captain chooses who bowls each over. Nobody bowls two overs in a row (unless the side has only one player), and the overs are shared across the side, so every team needs more than one bowler it trusts. More on that in the captain's guide.

Cameras while you bowl

The CAM button gives you six views behind the bowler: Classic, Low, High, Umpire's view, TV wide and Mid-off. Choose the one where you can see the landing marker most clearly.

Keep learning

Try your plans in Practice mode first: you bowl a full innings at Lumi AI before you bat. Then read the other half of the game in the batting guide.

NPL Cricket League is still in development. Pre-register and we'll tell you when you can play.

NPL Cricket League is a game by Lacspace inspired by Nepal's T20 franchise cricket. Team names identify the franchises; crests, kits and players in the game are our own, and players are fictional. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by the Cricket Association of Nepal, the Nepal Premier League or its franchises.