Cricket Technique: Batting – Forward Defensive

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:

1. Foot to the ball
2. Shoulder over the foot
   1. Head over the ball
   2. Weight through the front foot
3. Stay side on
4. Bat and pad close together
5. 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.

Cricket Technique: Batting – Building an Innings

Building an innings

 

Getting in, staying in and scoring runs are three things common to all of the best batsmen.  They are all highly skilled at what is called “building an innings”. The issue with building an innings is, everyone does it differently and there is not hard and fast rule.  Everyone’s heard the “play the ball in the V” and the “put your crossbat shots away”, or perhaps you’ve heard “Don’t go hard at the ball early in your innings”.  All of these statements are statements made by coaches that don’t really understand how much variation there is in batsmen building an innings.  Don’t get me wrong, I agree with trying to play in the V early and not going too hard too early but fundamentally these principles may not always apply to every batsmen.  As a result I’ve attempted to come up with a list of guidelines to help a batsmen develop a strategy unique to them on developing and building an innings.  Having an effective strategy will enable you to stay at the crease longer, more often and score a lot more runs.

 

1. Get your eye in: You will at some point in your career be dismissed by an unplayable delivery that would get you out every single time.  Don’t be put off in this situation.  However, you need to develop a strategy that enables you to get through the period where you are vulnerable because you can’t see the ball as effectively as possible.  My only tips for this are to leave the balls you don’t have to play, play as straight as you possible can and stick 100% to your strengths.  For me, I avoid playing any cover drives on the up, stick the pull shot deep into the quiver (unless the ball is going down leg) and work balls on middle and leg for singles rather then trying to punish them through or over midwicket for four.  I also leave the good line and length balls that I wouldn’t be able to score off and have a chance of getting me out.

 

1. Work you way in: At times, you are going to have periods where you will struggle to settle down and settle in.  Some batsmen (eg: Matt Hayden) choose to force the issue and use strategies such as walking down the pitch or slogging.  Whilst other batsmen (Eg: Clarke, Hussey) make every attempt to rotate the strike by nudging singles and attempting to turn ones into two’s.  This is a strategy you need to develop and continuously work on – be wary of the conditions and game scenario.

 

 

1. Play for the conditions: This takes practice in each situation as well, hot and humid, wet and cold, wet pitch, hard pitch, green pitch, cracked pitch, slow outfield, fast outfield – all of these have different strategies and you need to decide early in your career what your “strategy” is on these pitches. 

 

1. Play for the scenario: Whether it be a one day game, twenty20, two day game, four day or test match each game requires an adjustment to your normal strategy and also within each game will be a variety of game situations, lost heaps of early wickets, batting with the tail end or chasing 8 runs an over.  Each situation needs a level head and you can’t be spending time deciding how you are going to go about it whilst your out in the middle, you can easily decide you response before you walk out into the middle.

 

 

1. Battling through the tough periods: Very similar to working your way into the innings, there will be periods in your innings where you will begin to struggle and concentration will be lagging.  I recommend making a huge effort to rotate the strike in these situations, however, some batsmen use the slogging strategy to get an adrenaline rush.

 

1. Things to be wary of
   1. Over confidence: An over confident batsmen will often play a shot that they’ll regret, when you are in the form of your life, you may have a habit of relaxing and not concentrating 100%.  That’s why its important to have a practiced routine that switches you on and allows you to reconctrate.
   2. Fatigue: The biggest battle of a batsmen, how do you keep concentrating when you can’t think because of fatigue.  Much like the over confidence you need to be wary of the situation and have a routine that you can concentrate on and hopefully this will enable you to focus through the fatigue.  This is another area where practice makes perfect.
   3. Dehydration: Inevitable to occur but possible to avoid.  A hydration strategy is so important if you intend to spend a long time at the crease. Regular drinks breaks, having runners running drinks out to you at fall of wickets and having a drink with hydrating properties is a must to avoid this.  If it does occur, it will cause mental fatigue and a huge battle of concentration, use your routine and mental strength to overcome this situation.

 

1. Don’t over analyze: Let yourself be, play within yourself and stick to your strengths.  If you start treating a game like a training session and attempt to pick apart your technique you can almost guarantee that you won’t be able to fully concentrate on the delivery.  This also means being able to tune out of opposition pointing out your technique flaws.

 

And possible the most important thing is to prepare for all eventualities before you walk out.  This will mean taking the time to sit down and think about it, talking to individuals that have been there and done it, planning through your thought process and also, you will need to practice it, which means getting a lot of game practice in.

Cricket Technique: Batting – the Ball release

Batting – at the Ball release

 

This is the most important moment in the delivery of the ball.  It is when you decide which shot needs to be played, exactly where you are to play and how you need to move to achieve the goals you’ve decided on.  There is not a lot that can be done to improve this other then practice against real bowlers as much as possible.  Research has shown that the best batsmen pick up information about the delivery from the body position, speed, grip, height and style of the bowler.  In short, you don’t need to just be able to take in the ball, you must be able to observe the whole picture and this will take heaps of practice to make instinctive the moves you need to make to the massive amount of variation that cricket throws at you.  Below is a few tips in how to maximize your chances in choosing the right shot:

 

1. Watch a square above the bowler where the ball is to be released from.  This allows you to pick the ball up as early as possible.
2. Relax your body.  This enables maximum muscle response to happen in the shortest possible time.
3. Clear your mind.  Don’t think about the shot you want to play, just let the shot happen – practice will enable this to occur.
4. Watch the ball
5. Practice, practice, practice: To make this tip as effective as possible ensure there is a large variety of bowlers and deliveries that you are practicing against.  N.B: Practicing against a bowling machine will not improve this area of your game, nor will practicing against throw downs.

Cricket Technique: Batting – Shot Selection

Shot Selection:

 

This part of your game again needs to be as instinctive as possible.  You will know that after a few years of batting that the more you think about the shot you need to play to the delivery being bowled the less likely your at too hit it properly.  As with the ball release, this area really needs to be practiced against bowlers as much as possible and a variety of game situations need to be practiced in and around this.  You need to have instinctive aggressive, defensive and game specific shots to play in all conditions to be the best cricketer you can be. As always, below are a few tips:

 

1. Think forward: The majority of the best batsmen are always thinking forward and research has shown that elite batsmen tend to place more weight through their front foot then their back during quiet stance.  This does not mean you only move forward, it means you are quicker to move forward then your are backward – which makes sense considering you have more time to play a short ball then a full delivery.  N.B: International cricket recently has scene a shift to how short defensive shots are played, this will be discussed in due time.
2. Quick to defend and quicker to attack: Most dismissals are a result of playing the wrong shot at an even worse time.  The key to scoring runs is to occupy the crease – if you get out, you can’t score any more runs.  Therefore don’t forget to defend your wicket.
3. Soft hands when defending and don’t try to over hit the ball when attacking: Timing is more important then power.  Everyone can recall seeing a batsmen seemingly block a ball and watching it race away for four runs – this occurs through timing the ball.  The key to effective timing is to not try and over hit the ball but let the ball come on to you and the middle of the bat right in the middle of the hitting zone.

Cricket Technique: Batting, step 1 – Setting up

Cricket Technique: Batting – Setting up.

 

The set up to play your shots and face a bowler is possibly the most important part of the game of cricket.  Whilst there are some guidelines to what is best there is no real hard and fast rules to what should be done.  There is also a lot of room for variation.  Generally, however, there are things that have been shown to work time and time again.  In this article I’ll attempt to outline the bare essentials and point out the key factors that should not be neglected and also, show some areas that can be experimented with.

 

It is obvious from watching international cricket that there is a wide range of set up styles from the front on variation of Chanderpaul to the wide stance of some of the English Cricketers and then the majority of “text book” stances around the world as well.  Below is a simple guide to creating, coaching and developing an effective stance and progressing that stance to facing a bowler.

 

Stance:

1. Comfort: This is my first hard and fast rule.  A batsmen needs to be comfortable, if not the muscles will not be able to move as effectively as possible and the batter will not be able to completely focus on the delivery
2. Head forward and eyes level.  A batter needs to be able to see the delivery coming down at them, to make this as easy as possible you need to have your eyes level and looking as directly towards the bowler as possible.
3. Shoulders and hips aligned.  You want to avoid the hips and shoulder being aligned at different angles.  Making sure the two are square will minimize rotation and aide in body weight transfer and create a more stable base for movement to be initiated from. Generally this will be side on to the bowler, however, some instances of front on and mixed have proven to be effective.
4. Feet in a position where they are able to move forward as easily as they can move backwards.  This is probably where the most variation comes in, wide, narrow, shoulder-width and front on stances have all been proven to be relatively effective at the international level.  The key here is to ensure the feet can move quickly, consistently and in a way to cover all shots.  An example of a difficult stance is the front on stance, this stance generally makes it easy to play off the back foot aggressively but makes it extremely difficult to get the front foot far enough outside off to play the off drive or cover drive effectively.  Example: Chanderpaul bats front on but has a second movement early to attempt to move more side on with the bowler early.
   1. I recommend a side on stance with the feet at a comfortable distance a part (as close to shoulder width as possible).

 

You now have your stance sorted and need to know how to use the bat, the grip and backlift are the basis of effective shot control and will be explained below.

 

Grip:

1. Create two V’s with the thumb and index finger of each hand.  Place the top hand just above the middle of handle with the V travelling down towards the inside bottom edge of the bat.  The bottom hand goes on below the top hand with the V facing towards the outside bottom edge of the bat.  The Top hand should grip hard enough to life the bat and swing it around, whilst the bottom hand should really be only tight enough to guide the angle and face of the bat around.
   1. N.B: There has been a fair bit of discussion recently on the topic of grip strength with no consensus really decided upon. It is generally accepted that the above be true but some say you should grip with the top hand much tighter to have more control whilst others argue that this prevents the muscles from moving as freely.  My advice is to grip the bat in a way that feels comfortable.

Backlift:

There is an extremely large variety in backlifts, from the open face to closed and with the bottom of the bat angling from gully through to the keeper.  The following are my tips on having a good backlift.

 

1. Hands close to the body – if your hands are away from the body it is more likely that you will rotate across the line of the shot or push your hands through the line.  Some have their hands in line with their front leg and others the back leg, I recommend back leg as it forces the top hand to be a bit more dominant but comfort should dictate this decision.
2. Lift the bat up with the wrist of the top hand – this makes the bottom hand relax and ensure the top hand is in control
3. Angle the face of the bat in any way that allows the bat to naturally come down so that it is dead straight facing as close to middle stump at both ends when playing a front foot defensive.
4. Make sure you life the bat before the bowler reaches their delivery point.  This ensures you will start in the best position to play your shot.  Don’t let your hands get away from your body or lift the bat too high and make sure the top hand stays in control.

 

The Grip, Stance and Backlift are the three important technical parts of ensuring you are best in position to face a bowler, there is one more area that is almost always overlooked when coaching young athletes learning how to play cricket and that is the mental process.

 

The mental process teaches a batsmen what to do, when to do it and how to mentally prepare to execute the correct shot in the heat of the moment.  My mental tips are as follows:

 

Mental Preperation:

 

1. Find a routine that focuses, relaxes and switches you on: This can be anything from skipping to whistling or breathing to blinking. The routines are as varied as the individuals that play the game and the reason it is often overlooked is there is no rules governing what to do.  My personal rules are as follows
   1. Specific breathing
   2. Same stance routine (Eg: Two taps behind the toe, shift weight backwards then forwards, look up, tap bat again and then intitiate your backlift)
   3. Say a mantra to focus your self, can be as simple as watch the ball repeated to more complex as watch, move, play.  Don’t make this more complicated then it has to be, I recommend sticking to three words.
2. Make sure you are relaxed and not being disturbed by any fielders, bugs are distractions on the field or off the field, if you are walk away, switch off and refocus.
3. Clear your mind from all other distractions other then the bowler and the ball.  Trust your technique and your memory of where the field is placed.
4. Practice your mental rehearsal and make sure you do the same thing over and over again – eventually it becomes a habit that ensures you can concentrate through the hard times.

 

That’s it.  This is the start to being able to play some shots.  Next, is the technique associated with the bowler running in and the release of the ball!

Cricket Technique: Top ten batting tips

Cricket Technique: Top ten Batting tips

 

Batting in cricket is often the most discussed and controversial area of technique discussions and far too often it is over complicated.  My first recommendation to any coach and any developing player is to break down your technique into very simple steps and always attempt to keep it simple. My personal top ten batting rules are as follows (not in any particular order):

 

1. Watch the ball

This is the first step for any batting coach to focus on.  Everyone knows it but believe it or not, most batsmen do not watch the ball all the way from the release point, to the bat and off the bat into the field or through to the keeper.  The most common error is for batsmen to close their eyes just after the ball bounces or just before contact with the bat.  It is this short period of time that results in a lot of edges or miscues. Watching the ball closely allows the body to naturally adjust to variations in the pitch, the movement of the ball or errors in body position.  TIP: Watch the ball the whole way from the hand of the bowler to wherever it ends up in the field. 

            – To practice this start with multiple balls of different colors, hiding them behind your back, choose a ball and throw it towards the batsmen at roughly a half volley length.  The batsmen is to call out the color of the ball as early as possible.  Eventually move to balls with a sharp seem contrast and tell them to point out the direction of the seem, or a ball with a shiny side and to pick up the direction of the shiny side.

 

2. Keep your top hand in control

A lot of technique problems come from two things: The bottom hand pushing through and forcing the face of the bat across the line or the body twisting around (generally from the hips or back ankle twisting towards the on side).  Both of these technique problems can be alleviated (not always fixed) by the batsmen focusing on controlling the shot with the top hand.  This also aides in the batsmen staying more side on, swinging through with a full face and allowing the bottom hand to add slightly more power or directional control.  It can also help the body weight distribute through the shot and the head to get over the front foot (when playing forward).

            – To practice this simple take the bottom hand off the bat and player a variety of shots to a ball in a stocking hanging off a fixed structure (such as a tree or clothesline).  Make sure you try all shots, including the pull and the cut shots.

 3. Play your own game

An often overlooked part of coaching is the mental side of the batsmens innings.  Remember, that when you are batting regardless of the situation you are in you need to play your own game.  That means, if you score runs quickly that you still need to play your shots and if you traditionally score runs by nudging the ball around for an hour – do so.  How many times do we see someone getting out by not playing their normal game? This doesn’t mean that you don’t adapt to the situation at hand.  Someone who is a nudger of the ball and is coming out needing over 8 runs an over needs to adapt – but instead of slogging the bowler you make a huge effort to ensure you score at least one off each delivery by pushing the singles.  Andrew Symmonds, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer in my opinion are top class batsmen for their ability to adapt to conditions whilst still playing their own game.  The trick to playing your own game is knowing what it is.  To do this you will need game time and experience but also don’t forget the advice of your coach and your team mates in this issue.  Knowing your role and your strengths and weaknesses is a strong key to becoming the best cricketer you can be.

 

4. Be patient

All batsmen need to be patient. This doesn’t mean not being aggressive, it doesn’t mean not playing your shots and it certainly doesn’t mean going into your shell.  It means, making sure your wait for the right ball to play your scoring shots.  If a bowler balls you six perfect deliveries – he bowled you six perfect deliveries.  Playing a shot or more importantly the wrong shot to these deliveries means you will lose your wicket and not be able to affect the game any further.  This is why you need to be patient.  Remember: there are a variety of things a batsmen can do to put a bowler off his rhythm and even a good ball can be pushed around for a single.  Eventually, the bowler will need to do something different or bowl a bad ball – this is when you need to play your shots and capitalize on the situation.

 

5. Don’t go too hard too early

Learning how to work your way in to an innings is one of the most important areas of batting technique.  The rule, don’t go to hard too early is as important as playing your own game.  While you are not seeing the ball as well as you can, not sure what the pitch is doing and not quite freely moving your feet, you need to be careful not to go too hard at the ball.  At this stage of your innings trying to force shots or play the more difficult punches or aggressive shots can cause you to mis-time or push too hard and cause either a catch or a mis-hit to occur. 

 

6. Don’t over analyze

When you play a good shot, move on and re-focus, when you play a bad shot, move on and re-focus.  Whilst you are out in the middle in the heat of the battle is not the time to be thinking about technique or how to improve.  You need to let your reflexes and training take over to allow you to really focus on each delivery and the job at hand.  Many batsmen also have the habit of over analyzing the game situation.  A tip to overcome this is simply to break down the task into simple attainable tasks.  Remember: If you’ve put the work in at training, it will eventually show out in the middle, whilst you are out in the middle.

 

7. Relax

Relax, have fun and enjoy yourself.  If you start to get stressed, scared or concerned about the game situation you will tense up and your muscles will not work as effectively as they should.  This may mean you will go too hard at a delivery or even play a shot too late.  Make sure you take the time to take a couple of deep breaths and learn how to control the adrenalin rush.

 

8. Light feet – keep yourself balance and relaxed.

A bit similar to relaxing is ensuring you focus on keep your feet moving.  Fatigue, stress, fear, or even dwindling concentration results in you placing more weight on your feet or shifting your weight backwards (albeit very slightly), as a result it takes you longer to move and longer to play your shots.  The easiest way to attempt to stay light on your feet is to do a little jig, skip or move you body weight forward and backwards before each delivery (make sure you are still before the bowler releases the ball however)

 

9. Run between the wickets hard

Effective running between the wickets will result in extra runs you didn’t think you would get, better rotation of the strike, more pressure on the fielding team and less pressure on you.  The Australian team has become masters of the quick single and turning ones into twos and twos into threes.  The result is more runs, more strike rotation and an easier run chase or a larger total. Tip: The easiest way to improve your running is too learn how to get low, slide your bat and push off.  Also, do not wait until you have turned to decide whether there is a second or third run, decide as you are running, turn push off and then re-evaluate.  Loud and early calling is the key to ensuring your partner knows what is going on.

 

10. Watch the ball – yes, it is that important

I said it at number one but after years of coaching and playing I have realized that even some top level players do not watch the ball all that carefully.  Watching the ball closely gives you every chance to let your reflexes and training work in your favor.  It will also allow for you to better counteract the natural variations the game throws your way (Swing, seem, spin, pitch variations and even weather variations).

 

These top ten tips are not really a compensation for good technique but rather are a simple list of tips to ensure your technique will transfer from the practice nets to the centre wicket.  They are also not the be all and end all of rules, they may work for some and not others.  However, I feel all these tips are important for a player to work into their game and their habits.