Although Hirst was a right-handed batsman, he bowled with his left arm at medium-fast pace. He was one of the first bowlers to make the ball swerve through the air in a controlled fashion. According to A. A. Thomson, Hirst's development of swing bowling was almost as revolutionary as Bernard Bosanquet's invention of the googly. His bowling partnership with Rhodes was particularly effective, and established a formidable reputation. Hirst could not make the ball swing in every match, nor could he maintain it through a long innings. However, when he could achieve swerve, even the best batsmen found it almost impossible to bat against him. His success was dependent on atmospheric conditions; for example, he could not swing the ball much in Australia. He was particularly effective when bowling into the wind. Sammy Woods described facing Hirst when the ball was moving in the air: "How the devil can you play a ball that comes in at you like a hard throw-in from cover-point?" Hirst was not an especially quick bowler, a little faster than medium pace, with a long run-up and a relaxed action. He usually bowled over the wicket, meaning he bowled from the right hand side of the wickets and therefore angled the ball across the pitch. After delivery, the ball swung through the air at the last minute and hurried through after pitching, appearing to get faster. A very accurate bowler, he was difficult to score against unless a batsman was prepared to hit him in the air over mid on. The main dangers to the batsmen were the risk of being bowled or hitting the ball with a defensive shot and being caught by specially-placed fielders on the leg side. His ability to make the ball swing made him effective on a variety of pitches. Before Hirst developed his technique, bowlers often rubbed the ball in the dirt to remove the shiny layer of the ball, unaware that this layer helped the ball to swing. Hirst's "Wisden" obituary records: "Hirst, in fact, has been described as the father of all modern seam and swing bowling."