Full Toss
Also known as: full toss, beamer (waist-high variant)
A full toss is a delivery that reaches the batter without pitching on the ground — arriving above waist height on the full. A deliberate waist-high full toss is called a beamer and is illegal.
Most full tosses are delivery errors — the bowler releases the ball too late and it travels the full distance in the air without bouncing. Because the batter can see the line clearly with no bounce variation, full tosses are easy to hit and result in boundaries more often than any other delivery type. Low full tosses (below waist height at point of impact) are legitimate, if inadvisable. A high full toss above waist height is called a beamer. This means in the laws of cricket, a deliberate beamer at the batter is dangerous play and can result in a no-ball call, a warning, and ultimately the bowler being banned from bowling in the match. Faster bowlers who over-pitch on a yorker attempt often produce a low full toss. Spinners sometimes use a high full toss deliberately in limited-overs cricket as a variation to disrupt the batter's footwork.
If you bowl a full toss during a match, accept it immediately, reset your mental image of your release point, and focus your next delivery on hitting a full good length rather than over-correcting to too short.
A deliberate slower-ball full toss can be effective in Twenty20 cricket if you have set it up with yorkers and bouncers. This means but disguise is everything. As a result, the batter must not pick the change of pace early.
Example
The yorker attempt goes wrong — the ball is over-pitched and arrives as a low full toss, which the batter swings to the boundary for six.
Why it matters
A full toss is a free hit for the batter. SwingVantage's cricket analysis (in development) will identify when bowlers are reliably over-pitching — a length calibration the platform will fix through targeted drill advice.
How it shows up on video
A full toss is plainly visible on video as a delivery that travels from the bowler's hand to the batter without bouncing, arriving at waist height or above. The batter gains maximum time to swing freely and the ball position is exactly where all batters want it. This means hip to waist height with no variability from pitch bounce. This means making it the easiest delivery to hit powerfully.
Common mistakes
- Attempting a slower-ball full toss at a predictable height that the batter can read from the hand and hit cleanly
- Inadvertently bowling a full toss when aiming for a yorker length and slightly misjudging the release point
- Repeating the full toss after being hit, instead of immediately returning to a controlled length
- Bowling high full tosses above waist height, which are called no-balls under the Laws of Cricket
In SwingVantage Motion Lab
SwingVantage cricket analysis (currently in development) will track ball trajectory from release to the batting crease to flag deliveries that arrive without bouncing and classify them as full tosses with estimated bat-height contact.
Related terms
- YorkerA yorker is a delivery bowled to pitch right at the batter's feet. This means under the swinging bat. This means one of the hardest balls to score off and a key death-overs weapon.
- Good LengthA good-length delivery is one that pitches at the spot that forces the batter to be uncertain whether to play off the front foot or the back foot. This means the most dangerous line for any bowler.
- No-BallA no-ball is an illegal delivery in cricket. This means most commonly when the bowler's front foot lands beyond the popping crease. This means resulting in one extra run and the delivery being re-bowled. The batter cannot be dismissed (except run out).
Put this into your swing
SwingVantage can spot this in your own swing — free to start.