Batting Tips.

[Dragz]

For me, I don't try and over-hit those balls. Keep your head still and concentrate on watching the ball onto the bat. Don't worry about missing out on "free" boundaries, just concentrate on getting bat on it.

Do you have a coach that can help you? A team I looked at playing with last year had a great coach, one session in the nets against bowlers and about 4 balls against a bowling machine, he's fixed a technique issue I've had for years.

As others have said, get someone to video you, in the nets and in a match if possible. You'll learn a lot from video of you batting. Even Indoor Cricket (Which isn't great for a lot of shots, but should be fine for defense and legside glances) is great for getting Video done.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I haven't seen a thread about tips so I am going to start one. Hopefully I get some feed back. Season starts in two weeks and we are up in A grade now and I have a serious problem playing the ball off my pads or anything full on my legs I either get bowled, hits me in the pads and probably 1-10 times I play a pathetic on drive. How can I fix this or any tips. I bat right hand and at number 5. Thanks lads.

Geez... a few tips in here! I'll give it my two cents.

There are two possibilities that could be causing your problems.

1) Your backlift comes on the 'inside' (ie it goes back towards leg stump / leg slip), sort of behind your body.

If this is the case you will hit your cover drives really well, as that is the natural direction for you to swing the bat. You find it hard to hit straight or through the leg side because the bat has to swing around your body.

Solution is to make sure you are picking the bat up straight. One bat drill I have seen is when you do your backlift, keep your hands in close to your thigh and just **** your wrists to do your backlift. The bat should come up to your right shoulder and basically be completely vertical.

Get someone to through straight balls at you and make sure they can see the stickers when you drive the ball back to them.



Or 2) Your balance is poor.

In cricket, so much bowling is directed at off stump or in the corridor outside off stump. As batters we get very used to moving across to the offside, as 90% of the bowling we face is in this area. That works fine when the ball is on off stump. However when the ball is speared in at leg stump we can't hit it, because our stupid front leg has already moved across and is between our bat and the ball.

Solution is to remain as still and neutral as possible in your stance. Make sure your movements (whether forward or back) are towards the line of the ball. Don't allow yourself to automatically move across to the offside or over balance.

Ideally you will play your front foot shots with your eyes over the line of the ball, whether it's on off stump, leg stump... wherever.

 

[jiphoc]

I haven't seen a thread about tips so I am going to start one. Hopefully I get some feed back. Season starts in two weeks and we are up in A grade now and I have a serious problem playing the ball off my pads or anything full on my legs I either get bowled, hits me in the pads and probably 1-10 times I play a pathetic on drive. How can I fix this or any tips. I bat right hand and at number 5. Thanks lads.

Classic problem and I know exactly what you are doing. Next time you are at training get your batting coach aside and ask him to tell you where you eyes are aligned when you pad up to bat. They should be aligned with your feet exactly. You will find yours will not be and subsequent straighter and balls on leg you will struggle with and you will not quit time your drive from time to time.

How do I know this? Well I had the exact same problem last year. Although I am a bowler so batting in not that important to me .

 

[Bucking Beads]

I'll tell ya one tip.. Don't get fat, I used to be quite good at cricket but have put on some weight and now I just can't bat. Got no confidence, I am late on everything and my feet feel like they are heavy.. Hopefully I can jag a few runs early in the season to give myself a boost. Need to watch the ball more as well I reckon..

 

[Ghostwriter]

Best advice I can give is watch the pros, Pontings pretty good off his pads so is Pietersen, watch their footwork just as the bowler releases the ball, watch the slo mo, always pick the best technically correct player to copy, ie don't copy Phil Hughes, but do copy Shane Watson.
Another thing, what are your defensive shots like?, when I was learning the caper it was all about, forward defense, back defense, ad nauseum.
Good thread topic.

 

[my_spleen]

Classic problem and I know exactly what you are doing. Next time you are at training get your batting coach aside and ask him to tell you where you eyes are aligned when you pad up to bat. They should be aligned with your feet exactly. You will find yours will not be and subsequent straighter and balls on leg you will struggle with and you will not quit time your drive from time to time.

How do I know this? Well I had the exact same problem last year. Although I am a bowler so batting in not that important to me .

Yeah i used to have this problem alot. My head was tilted a little over to the side, rather then being being upright and level. This made it very difficult to play leg side shots, especially those full ones on leg stump. But because of this problem i have become pretty strong through the offside .

 

[imadodgyumpire]

As Simple Jack said, you may be playing too far infront of your body. Get a ball on a string and practice playing just in front of your eyes.

Also, as you said you may be using too much bottom hand, so I suggest grabbing the bat with your top hand then using your bottom hand for support, instead of grabbing the bat with both hands at the same time.

When playing your shot, make sure your top elbow is high, as they always say.

Since then, I've spent some time, not a lot, with the ball on a string. On saturday, I was playing on a ground which which had soggy, rain soaked grass with sand underneath. I only made 18, but I hit more drives off the middle and drives that stayed low or lower in that innings than when I've even scored 50's! Just knowing that playing too far away is the problem helps a lot. Obviously, I haven't mastered it yet and there's still heaps of work to do, but it's encouraging...thanks a a lot.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

I got theory for anyone interested. What do you think, with some guys, little training or no training at all would actually help out? Pre season has started (1 indoor session a week for the last 3) and it's just the same **** over and over again. I have not bothered to bring my bat for any session so far and don't intend to for the short term. Batting at training has never correlated with similar from during the games, the WHOLE time I've ever played cricket.

I think it annoys some of the senior figures at the clubs, but some of these guys don't get and acknowledge, is that I was actually **** last season despite turning up to at least 95% of training. From my pov, at the low level that I play, cricket success is all in the head. Practice Schmactice!

 

[western royboy]

I got theory for anyone interested. What do you think, with some guys, little training or no training at all would actually help out? Pre season has started (1 indoor session a week for the last 3) and it's just the same **** over and over again. I have not bothered to bring my bat for any session so far and don't intend to for the short term. Batting at training has never correlated with similar from during the games, the WHOLE time I've ever played cricket.

I think it annoys some of the senior figures at the clubs, but some of these guys don't get and acknowledge, is that I was actually **** last season despite turning up to at least 95% of training. From my pov, at the low level that I play, cricket success is all in the head. Practice Schmactice!

Cricket is a mental game - make practice work for you. Practice des not make perfect, perfect practice does. You have to use each net to put yourself in the game sence, if you treat it as just a net then you will get nothing out of it.

I have a video that I used with players about Anna Meares pre the 2004 Olympics, that I think Bruce did. Her race back then was the 500m Time Trial - a pure race against the clock. All her training and scenarios had been done and they practiced with pressure the whole way. The doomsday scenario was that she would be the last one to ride and need to break the world record to win Gold.

Come race day and it came to pass - She had to break the world record to win Gold. Instead of packing it - she embraced it because she knew that she had done it - many times before and nailed it.

That's the power of positive practice - go to it and dominate this season!

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

Keep it real simple. Over complicating things might make it worse.

1. Stand up quite tall in batting stance. Gets you in the mentality of not falling over your bat.
2. Watch the ball at all times. From the moment the bowler starts his run up.
3. Play straight. Dont try the clip or glances for deliveries going towards your feet/legs. Instead play them defensively towards mid on. Once you got your eye in then you can look to work it round a little more.

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

I got theory for anyone interested. What do you think, with some guys, little training or no training at all would actually help out? Pre season has started (1 indoor session a week for the last 3) and it's just the same **** over and over again. I have not bothered to bring my bat for any session so far and don't intend to for the short term. Batting at training has never correlated with similar from during the games, the WHOLE time I've ever played cricket.

I think it annoys some of the senior figures at the clubs, but some of these guys don't get and acknowledge, is that I was actually **** last season despite turning up to at least 95% of training. From my pov, at the low level that I play, cricket success is all in the head. Practice Schmactice!

The whole thing about cricket training that did my head in over my career was the difference between practice and matches. Batting and bowling in the nets in absoultely nothing like playing in the middle. Just facing a few overs or bowling a few balls with no goals makes no real sense. As for smashing balls out and throwing them back in for fielding practice....erghhhhh. And it can completely screw with your confidence.

I could be bowling well in the nets then go to complete sh*t in the middle. Happened some many times. And often vice versa with batting. Often I didnt bother having a net during the week cos I never could bat properly in the nets. Out in the middle it all felt totally different and I could play ok.

Good sporting coaches need tp ensure that training is game based. I actually did a couple of units on this at uni - its really interesting.

Players should at least have goals when they practice. And simulate match conditions as best as they can.

Its like footy training, I HATE doing drills like just kicking to a bloke on a marker uncontested. It should be all about contests, defense and offence. Research shows skills develop better under pressure too.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Cricket is a mental game - make practice work for you. Practice des not make perfect, perfect practice does. You have to use each net to put yourself in the game sence, if you treat it as just a net then you will get nothing out of it.
That's the power of positive practice - go to it and dominate this season!

Yeah. I'm not in a position to apply myself as thoroughly as the Australian Cycling team. But i'm thinking with all the cricket that I've played, I know what works for me and what doesn't. I think I'm at a point where, unless there's something specific to work on, I don't need to sharpen my skills and am better off going in with a clear mind that hasn't been influenced with what has happenend in training during the week or pre-season.

The whole thing about cricket training that did my head in over my career was the difference between practice and matches. Batting and bowling in the nets in absoultely nothing like playing in the middle. Just facing a few overs or bowling a few balls with no goals makes no real sense. As for smashing balls out and throwing them back in for fielding practice....erghhhhh. And it can completely screw with your confidence.

Yeah! Spot on! What annoys me is that I've figured that out, yet there are all the veterans that have been playing for decades or used to play or are coaching and insisit on it.

I could be bowling well in the nets then go to complete sh*t in the middle. Happened some many times. And often vice versa with batting. Often I didnt bother having a net during the week cos I never could bat properly in the nets. Out in the middle it all felt totally different and I could play ok.

One time, a couple of years ago, I got bowled by the bowling machine SIX TIMES! 2 days later, I made my second highest score, 70!

Good sporting coaches need tp ensure that training is game based. I actually did a couple of units on this at uni - its really interesting.

We've never had match simulation at my club, the whole time I've been there.

 

[western royboy]

We've never had match simulation at my club, the whole time I've been there.

That's disappointing - the latest trend is game sense or match simulation as much as possible.

 

[ZAAHAARAKIS!!!!!]

I got theory for anyone interested. What do you think, with some guys, little training or no training at all would actually help out? Pre season has started (1 indoor session a week for the last 3) and it's just the same **** over and over again. I have not bothered to bring my bat for any session so far and don't intend to for the short term. Batting at training has never correlated with similar from during the games, the WHOLE time I've ever played cricket.

I think it annoys some of the senior figures at the clubs, but some of these guys don't get and acknowledge, is that I was actually **** last season despite turning up to at least 95% of training. From my pov, at the low level that I play, cricket success is all in the head. Practice Schmactice!

its different for everyone, for me I went in to last season on the back of absolutely no pre season (was overseas).
Came back, shredded a calf in the field on day 1 of the season and basically took me until christmas to find some touch with bat and ball.
So basically i've made a concerted effort to get to pre season and i feel much better about this season already, haven't done any center wicket work cos of the weather but i've already hit stacks of balls and feel oddly confident I can step up to play 1sts this season.

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

We've never had match simulation at my club, the whole time I've been there.

Wow thats crazy - switch clubs

 

[ZAAHAARAKIS!!!!!]

first net session of the season with the bat tomorrow night. Keep me in your prayers lads.

 

[Kyptastic]

first net session of the season with the bat tomorrow night. Keep me in your prayers lads.

Same for me. Can't imagine getting out less than 5 times at the moment.

 

[gbatman]

For now, I recommend defending and blocking out the ones on your legs until you get it right in the nets. Knowing what shots you can and cant play then looking for those shouts that you can play and score off and defending what you can't is important.

 

[MrNatural]

I find that the leg glance is my favourite shot to play.
But its all about timing. If your timing is off, its difficult to get bat on ball.
As a few have stated already, just focus on watching the ball, play straight early, and once your confidence is up, close the face a move the ball around through the gaps

 

[imadodgyumpire]

I find that the leg glance is my favourite shot to play.
But its all about timing. If your timing is off, its difficult to get bat on ball.
As a few have stated already, just focus on watching the ball, play straight early, and once your confidence is up, close the face a move the ball around through the gaps

Bowlers have to bowl rubbish as well.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Yep, playing my first game for the season on sunday. They first time I turned up for training and batted?...Yesterday! I had no freakin idea where I left my bat as well, had to borrow someone else's. I went ok, which means I won't make double figures in the game.

 

[Fitzey]

Got a game this Saturday! Went well in training. Last summer my highest score from 30 balls was 95!

 

[imadodgyumpire]

So we all know how much I trained. We were bowling last week, so I got to bat today, and I made 46. I wish my team mates would just tell me what I was on when I asked them, knowing I was that close to 50 would give me something to aim at, instead of feeling like I'm in no man's land. It took a while to make, a lot of mis-timed shots, but it was really, really medium pace, it's hard to get in the mind to play really, really late. Except for one shot, it was all controlled though, I knew the field, I knew what I could and couldn't do. Got some car race/rallies I'd like to attend in the following month, so that's it for the next two games.

 

[Fitzey]

Bloody spinner got me out on 49.

 

[BluesMan]

Cannot play a leg glance, back or front foot, to save me self. So many easy runs to be had by just turning it round the corner, or infront of square, but i cant cash in. Especially being a left hand bat, the bowler generally give you one an over on middle and leg, so its vital that i should be able to play it.