Are short soft serves better than long hard serves

Paul Davenport Asked 12 years ago

Hi Alex,

Judging from the 'success' of my various serves, I'm beginning to get the feeling that short, soft serves are more effective than the longer, harder ones.

Can you confirm this?

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi Paul,

The short serve is more effective as you play better players.  The long serves, no matter where they go will be able to be attacked by the better players.  By serving short you will stop them from attacking and set up an attack for yourself.

In the middle grades long spin serves can be effective if they don't have a strong attack because the spin is hitting their bats faster and is therefore harder to control.

Short serves are highly recommended here.