Cricket Technique: The Shots: Forward Defensive
The forward defensive is the most important shot in cricket and only comes in second to the leave for the most useful tool in batting. The Forward defensive enables you to negotiate tough batting conditions, the start of your innings and also the new and swinging ball effectively. Once mastered, the forward defensive becomes capable of scoring many a single and enabling an effective innings to be built. How do we play the shot?
Step one: Footwork
You need to get your foot as close to the line of the ball as possible. If the ball is pitching just out side of off and coming in to off, you need to step so you are in a position to have your pad just far enough inside the line of the ball so that there is no gap between the bat and the pad at the completion of the shot.
Step two: Body Weight
You need to get your head over the ball as much as possible. That means holding your front shoulder side on and keeping your front elbow in control of the bat. You will also need to bend your front knee so that your shoulder and head are moved towards the foot and your body weight is pushing through the ball.
Step three: The Shot
Make sure you lead in with the front elbow so it is pointing as high as you can get it. You want to snap your wrists down into the ball but control the shot so that the bat comes to rest next to the pad.
Step Four: Ball contact
Hold the side on position as much as possible (for most techniques a bit of hip rotation is impossible to prevent), let the bat come to rest next to the pad and relax the hands so that the ball has a “dead bat” to bounce off. This last step will enable you to drop the ball at your feet or if you get the line wrong and get an edge, the edge will drop short of the keeper or slips.
Step Five: Advancing the shot
A good batsmen that has worked hard on the front foot defensive is able to time the shot so that the bat comes to rest next to the pad at just the right moment. This gives them the ability to ‘push’ the ball into a gap for a quick single. Batsmen like Hussey have become masters at this strategy. Opening batsmen should work hard at developing this skill as it becomes incredibly important in tough times to be able to rotate the strike.
Coaching Cues:
- Foot to the ball
- Shoulder over the foot
- Head over the ball
- Weight through the front foot
- Stay side on
- Bat and pad close together
- Soft hands
The most important reason for learning that front foot defensive is that it enables you to drive the ball a lot more easily. As in reality the only major difference between the two shots is the drive has a follow through whereas the forward defensive is played with a dead bat.
When to play the forward defensive:
The Forward defensive is played when the ball is bowled on a good length and ‘just short of a good length’. It is the shot of choice when you are enable to drive the ball and a the ball is not short enough to easily get onto the back foot.
If you have any specific questions or need some advice, please leave a comment.