Underarm bowling is not permitted by the Laws these days unless a special agreement has been concluded between the captains before the match starts. This change was introduced in 2000 in order to prevent a bowler from rolling the ball along the ground if the batting side need a boundary 6 to win from the last ball of the match.

Of course underarm used to be the only legal bowling action until the early part of the nineteenth century when it was augmented, in 1828, by round-arm and then, in 1864, by over-arm bowling. Nevertheless underarm bowlers - usually bowling what were called 'lobs' - were still to be seen regularly right up to the early 1900s. One of the best-known English exponents was Digby Jephson, captain of Surrey, who took 6 wickets for 21 runs for the Gentlemen against the Players in 1899. Although better known as a batter, Jephson had actually changed his action to underarm bowling, having started his career as an over-arm fast bowler!