A yorker is undoubtedly the ultimate weapon in a bowler’s arsenal to keep a batter quiet. It is a restriction-free delivery that is delivered directly at the base of the stumps.
Moreover, if the batter is somewhat late to time their stroke, then an injury will be the only outcome. The power of a yorker can be so great.
For this reason, a yorker is considered a weapon for the bowlers. They have also invented different variations of this killer delivery.
What? Variations in the yorkers? Indeed, and they can be quite destructive too.
Let’s take a look at the various kinds of yorkers one after the other.
Conventional Yorker
This is a very common yorker indeed. You will frequently see bowlers bowling a conventional yorker, particularly in the final overs.
The yorker is still very quick and falls just at the bottom of the stumps. If batters mistime it, it’s all over. The ball either crashes into the stumps or the batter finds himself getting trapped LBW.
Lasith Malinga to conventional yorker. He could hit those even in his sleep!
Slower Yorker
It’s a bit of a mellowed version of the conventional one. It is mellowed regarding speed.
However, batters will not be troubled less by the slower pace and may even get killed by the weak shot. Actually, the slow pace could be the reason for them getting entangled in the shot too early. That would indeed allow a bowled or LBW dismissal.
Bowlers commonly play a slow yorker with a back-of-the-hand delivery. The back-of-the-hand variation helps them to slow down the ball.
Dwayne Bravo would bowl slow yorkers in the death overs to stop runs from being scored.
Inswinging Yorker
Very few batters are able to deal with normal swing deliveries and those who can will have great difficulty with an inswinging yorker.
Bowlers get enough assistance to swing the new ball. Thus, they can, with a deadly inswinging yorker, try to limit the batters.
The ball goes to the side just before it bounces in front of the stumps. Batters are given very little time to react because of the late movement.
And Mitchell Starc has made a lot of batsmen go through the same thing. The Australian pacer has turned the inswinging yorkers into his lethal weapon. What about the time when Stokes got out off his inswinging yorker?
Outswinging Yorker
An outswinging yorker is the direct negation of an inswinging yorker. However, you will rarely find bowlers going for an outswinging yorker. The ball leaves the batsman’s area and goes veers away in the air before it crashes onto the wickets.
Reverse Swing Yorker
In case new ball swinging yorkers have already proved to be a headache for you, then a reverse swing yorker is the devil waiting. The only distinction is that the bowlers would have to wait till the ball becomes old.
The moment the ball has undergone enough wear and tear, its time for reverse swing. Depending on the bowler’s grip, a reverse swing yorker will either be the same as an inswinging or an outswinging yorker.
Since the batters anticipate the ball to swing in a particular direction according to the grip, a reverse swing yorker, however, travels in the opposite direction. This element of surprise along with higher speed can make the batters unprepared.
Toe-Crusher
A toe-crusher can be quite painful for batters. You just need to make sure to hit the yorker perfectly at any cost. Otherwise, your toes will be crying for help!
Jasprit Bumrah has delivered some lethal toe-crushing yorkers. He sends down the ball aimed directly at the toes of a batter. And he doesn’t bowl them slowly. There’s a lot of speed behind it.
