There has been conjecture over what the best death bowling tactic is. My preference would always be to bowl full and straight whilst mixing the pace up.

Craig McDermott agrees in a CourierMail article:
http://http://www.foxsports.com.au/s...-23212,00.html

"It's not an easy thing to bowl at the death ... you really have to try to bowl as full as you can at the stumps and also mix your pace up," McDermott said. "I know batsmen go harder at the ball these days, but I don't think the game has changed that much where, if you bowl full and at the stumps, batsmen are so good they can just flick a yorker for four on the leg side. There are a lot more fours and sixes hit today which suggests they are bowling the wrong length. If you bowl a length where the batsmen can get under you, you are going to go for runs."

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Mark.

Watch Glenn McGrath bowl at the death and he will show how it is done, 5 out of 6 balls in the block hole whilst taking the pace off of the ball.

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

I think you cant really have a fixed plan for bowling at the death. A smart batsman will soon learn to score. Batsmen mostly imrpovise towards the end and play more slog shots than orthodox ones. It obviously takes a smarter bowler who can outthink the batsman.

Bowling in the block hole is definitely a good approach but you cant do it all the time. One has to mix some deliveries.

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My computer can beat me at chess.....but its no match for me at kick boxing.

Variety. Cleverly mixing full, straight deliveries with good slower balls I think is the best way to curb the heavy scoring down the order. Dwayne Bravo does a pretty good job at the death, from what ive seen.

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- VVVRulz..

I guess that just about sums it up. Any width might tempt the batsman - even a tailender - to throw his bat at it. Also, there is the question of wasted wide balls - always a possibility in tense situations.

But while bowling full at the 'death' is desirable, the bowler must be careful not to send down a juicy half-volley. In close matches, even the bowler would be tense and this might affect his control.

IMO, Glenn McGrath & Shaun Pollock are among the best death bowlers in ODIs, with the South African having a slight edge. Flintoff is probably third in the pecking order. The Windies use Chris Gayle sometimes and he seems to have gotten away with it on amazingly many occasions, but to my mind, using a spinner that way is always fraught with risk.

Full and at the stumps is the best option IMO. If you can't get it yorker length, make it a low full toss. It's much harder to hit a full toss into the stands than a half-volley.

Maybe Shaun Pollock was considered quite an effective death bowler...
But the justification of Hall and Langeveldt's inclusion into the WC squad is because they are much superior death bowlers to Ntini, Nel and Pollock...

I don't think you can make a blanket statement like that. While Hall and Langeveldt have certainly bowled well at the death on some occasions, they are some way from Pollock's long term reliability and consistency. Hall in particular gives that 'touch & go' impression about whether his bowling succeeds or otherwise.

I think Pollock used to be a good death bowler but has stopped doing it after being tonked around. Hall is the best of the South Africans. One of the five balls should be a bouncer. Another is a yorker bowled about 9 inches away from the stumps landing on the white line especially if the batsman is backing away to make room to swing his arms. It won't get a wicket but stops a run. What is maddening is when the ball is bowled within the white lines and is called a wide.

In the ICC Champions Trohpy,you can make out that the above statement is incorrect.Most of the bowlers bowled bouncers and and short deliveries not giving the batsmen anything to drive.

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Karthik Venkatesan