I just try and earn my right to get on top of the bowlers, and that is how I play every game.
AB de Villiers
My mindset in all three formats, in any situation, is exactly the same. I just want to get myself in, get myself a nice foundation to hopefully attack and dominate the bowlers.
I love the individual sport stuff but the experiences I've had with some great people over 12 or 15 years are what makes is special. That individual thing: me versus the bowler is great but you get that team feeling as well and that's why it suits me so well.
Alastair Cook
Yes, there are absolutely moments when you're running out of ideas, and you do genuinely feel sorry for the bowlers when you keep asking them to run in again on a flat wicket, when partnerships get away from you, especially at the tail, which is one of the big differences in the modern game.
You have to be very pragmatic, because you walk out to bat at the best time to bowl, with a brand new ball, against the best bowlers, who are fresh. And their job is to get you out, so when you fail there's no point beating yourself up.
If I get runs in an entertaining fashion, then great. I like to get on top of bowlers and be aggressive. I don't want to be dominated by them. Hopefully people enjoy the way I play.
Andrew Flintoff
It is one thing being scrutinised for playing a bad shot as a batsman or bowling a bad spell as a bowler, but the captaincy adds an extra dimension. The criticism is slightly harder to take.
Cricket is not rocket science. Bowlers often get wickets through perseverance, accuracy and being patient rather than trying to blast opposition teams out.
Andrew Strauss
It's always frustrated me when I've seen other players able to smack balls over the bowler's head and stuff like that. I can't, though. When I've tried I've let myself down.
Now I do bowling, golf, and tennis. I want to be a good bowler.
Andy Lau
I would love to do a biopic on a bowler like Zaheer Khan or Harbhajan Singh. I would love to see their struggles on screen.
Angad Bedi
I was an all-rounder but more of a batsman, maybe second-choice bowler.
Ben Chilwell
I don't need to be going out reverse-sweeping for six and four straightaway. Singles can be just as important as boundaries, rotating the strike and not letting the bowlers settle.
Ben Stokes
Jofra makes any team better. He is the most naturally gifted bowler I've seen and I don't think he realises how good he is. Some of the things he can do at the click of a finger are just 'wow.' It's pretty special to watch.
It's fine for a bowler to have a plan but I feel as a batter you need to have another plan to counteract what they're doing.
When I started out, I wasn't a thinking bowler, but talking to seniors and coaches helped. They would always tell me that I ought to be clear about where I wanted to bowl before I ran in to bowl.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Being a swing bowler, bowling at the death is just an added facet in my bowling.
When you are playing Under-17 or U-19, the captain is of the same age as the rest of us. His knowledge was also as limited as the other players, so there was greater responsibility on the bowlers to understand themselves and their bowling, read the pitch, and set fields accordingly.
I am here to play cricket. No preferences at all. T20, ODI, Test - I just want to perform on every stage and prove my worth as a good bowler.
As a bowler, there are times when you do not get wickets, and you don't have the numbers to show against your name. But never has the thought crossed my mind that I am not a confident bowler and the wickets are not coming my way.
When I began, I was more of a swing bowler with little pace, but I realized it will be difficult to sustain without the pace, so my fitness has now allowed me maybe an extra yard of pace. That has been the secret of my success.
As a new ball bowler, it's my job to stick to the basics.
All bowlers depend on movement, and I am no exception.
MS has always been a bowler's captain.
I won't say I am a premier bowler or anything, because we are all trying to work hard, and whoever gets the opportunity wants to do well.
T20 is such a format that finishes quickly, and you only have four overs. If there are three bad balls in one over, you will go for runs, and your whole analysis suffers. The team is on back foot because of three balls. So each and every ball becomes very important. It makes the bowler think.
As bowlers, we don't worry about the wickets, whether they are flat or not.
If there is someone who is able to swing the ball, I believe I have it in me to swing it a bit more than the other bowlers.
In the IPL, I learnt from Dale Steyn. Our bowling styles are quite different, but he is a great bowler, and you can always pick something from the way he bowls. He has given me a lot of tips during matches, which I have tried in my bowling.
As a bowler, you want to go and bowl in helpful conditions in South Africa, England, and Australia. But it is also important to bowl in the right areas, and they differ from bowler to bowler, depending on conditions and the opposition.
We all know England conditions help fast bowlers.
The Oval has always been a good batting track, and there's not much for the bowlers.
When I started playing cricket, I knew that my physique is not at all like a typical fast bowler. My body language is also different, and I am not aggressive by nature; thus, my focus was always on my skills.
Almost every bowler bowls a slower ball, but not many can be deceptive. A slower ball can only be deceptive if it is different, if it is floating, swinging.
You see teams buy a lot of batsmen for a lot of money because they are good batsmen. But you also need good bowlers to get them out or contain the runs.
When I was a youngster, Praveen Kumar was in the same club as me, and because we are similar bowlers, I learnt a lot from him. We used to have conversations, but not a lot. What was very helpful was observing what he was bowling, the kind of fields he had, and what his thinking was.
Whether you're a batsman, bowler, or an all-rounder, fitness is tough if you follow your regimen religiously.
My father was a coal hewer from Goldthorpe, a coal-mining village in South Yorkshire. He played for the Yorkshire second team as an opening fast bowler - to me he was a gorgeously heroic man. He helped form a union and closed down the Barnsley seam because it was seeping gas, and saved many, many lives.
I played a couple first-class matches at Carlton and Guaracara Park and it was a real burial ground for the fast bowlers.
I think for a lot of people, bowling is sort of a joke. But I love it, and it means a lot to me, so any chance to help promote it or celebrate it or not make the hackiest jokes - 'Bowlers are like plumbers and they wear the craziest shirts!' - I'm way into.
My father was one of the greatest professional bowlers of all time. Seriously. Billy Hardwick: PBA Hall of Fame, Player of the Year in '63 and '69, and the first winner of the triple crown of bowling, among other things.
While the liberal media elite depict the bowler as a chubby guy with a comb-over and polyester pants, the reality is that bowling is one of the most tech-heavy sports today. Robotic pinsetters and computerized scoring were just the beginning.
At cricket, I was mainly a bowler and tried to bat. I hit the odd four or six and then got out! In athletics, I was mainly triple jump and 200m.
Like the periwig and the bowler hat, the plus-four and the bow-tie, the blazer is on the way out, and those who persist in wearing it do so with a smattering of self-consciousness, a touch of obstinacy, even a pinch of camp.
You get drafted, you perform like a Pro Bowler, then they pay you. But there's certain teams in this league, that's not what they're trying to do.
Once I step over that white line I become The Bowler.
I mean everyone's always spoken about fast bowlers and especially myself as a strike bowler, but I look at myself as somebody who could hold down the runs, you know, over 200 games, I've taken a lot of wickets but I've got a pretty decent economy rate.
Great fast bowlers don't have to worry about whether the track is flat or green. They'll find a way to get wickets.
I would love to bowl 160 km/h. Any fast bowler would love to do that. But for me that is almost impossible.
I've never been bothered about being the highest wicket-taker in the world or the best South African bowler in the world.
