Off cutter

For an off cutter, a right-handed bowler pulls his fingers down the right side of the ball (from his viewpoint), in an action similar to bowling an off break, only at higher speed.

What differentiates a genuine off cutter from a delivery that simply nips back off the seam is that it is deliberately bowled.

A fast bowler will typically use the off cutter as a variation ball, as it is most effective when it surprises the batsman.

Waqar Younis, Mustafizur Rahman, Glenn McGrath, Richard Hadlee, and Fred Trueman managed a bagful of wickets with this delivery because of the accurate lengths at which they operated, between fuller and good lengths (ball landing 2 to 3 steps in front of the batsman) at close to the off stump line.

Such surfaces grip the seam and stop the reverse rotation, leading to considerable deviation as well as causing the ball to keep low after pitching.