Seam bowling

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Seam bowling is a bowling technique in cricket whereby the ball is deliberately bowled to hit the ground on its seam, to cause a random deviation when the ball bounces.^[1][2] A bowler who uses this technique is called a seam bowler or seamer.

Seam bowling is a form of fast bowling, although the bowling speeds at which seam can be a factor include medium-pace bowling. Although there are specialist seamers that make deliberate use of off cutter and leg cutter at the expense of bowling slower than regular fast bowlers, most bowlers employ the seam to some effect and so the terms "seamer" and "fast bowler" are largely synonymous. This was far less the case in the past, even the recent past. Bowlers such as Tom Cartwright and Derek Shackleton bowled seamers at a pace in the low 70mphs and were very successful due to their mastery of control and variation.