Ashes 2019

[capcom]

Don't take your eye off the ball, weave left or right, keep the guards and helmet between your face and the pill.

Never, ever, turn your back or head on the ball!

And your bat high as a last split second reflex line.

[LP]

And your bat high as a last split second reflex line.

I had a coach that taught me to remove the bottom hand and you could basically get the shoulder of the bat above your head and play the ball to ground one-handed. You could use your lower arm forearm as a brace behind the bat. That skill also helped greatly with back foot drives, see any Steve Waugh highlights when he is back-foot driving with the blade of the bat basically coming down past his lower hand elbow.

Not many test players do it, they are poorly coached in my opinion. It makes dealing with the short delivery so much easier because the risk of being hit in the face is greatly reduced and you stay in control.

Another strange thing some test players do is bat deep in the crease, straight away they can't move back freely and they get pinged by short deliveries.

[malo]

Helmets (& yes, I accept that they are a necessary part of the game now) have actually contributed to more & more batsmen getting hit in modern cricket.  Batting techniques are far too reliant on the safety net of the helmet & the first move is that push onto the front foot before the ball is even delivered......from that point...they are a sitting duck for the well directed short ball.

Batsmen in the pre-helmet days just didn't have that safety net & so their technique was far better developed to deal with short pitched bowling, their footwork was better, & they used the bat to repel the ball from a better defensive position going back to the short ball, not forwards.  There are at least 3 or 4 helmet hits per test it seems now, yet a batsman getting hit on the head pre-helmet days was a rarity & a shock when it did happen.

I certainly don't have a problem with bowlers bowling short at times (not the only method of attack mind you), they need to have some comeback against the ridiculous power in modern bats, roped in boundaries & batsmen who happily prop on the front foot safe in the knowledge that if they stuff up, they're not (usually) going to injured anyway.

[LP]

Helmets (& yes, I accept that they are a necessary part of the game now) have actually contributed to more & more batsmen getting hit in modern cricket.  Batting techniques are far too reliant on the safety net of the helmet & the first move is that push onto the front foot before the ball is even delivered......from that point...they are a sitting duck for the well directed short ball.

Batsmen in the pre-helmet days just didn't have that safety net & so their technique was far better developed to deal with short pitched bowling, their footwork was better, & they used the bat to repel the ball from a better defensive position going back to the short ball, not forwards.  There are at least 3 or 4 helmet hits per test it seems now, yet a batsman getting hit on the head pre-helmet days was a rarity & a shock when it did happen.

I certainly don't have a problem with bowlers bowling short at times (not the only method of attack mind you), they need to have some comeback against the ridiculous power in modern bats, roped in boundaries & batsmen who happily prop on the front foot safe in the knowledge that if they stuff up, they're not (usually) going to injured anyway.

I agree with Malo, helmets have enabled poor techniques, but they shouldn't be an excuse for poor techniques!

[capcom]

I had a coach that taught me to remove the bottom hand and you could basically get the shoulder of the bat above your head and play the ball to ground one-handed. You could use your lower arm forearm as a brace behind the bat. That skill also helped greatly with back foot drives, see any Steve Waugh highlights when he is back-foot driving with the blade of the bat basically coming down past his lower hand elbow.

Not many test players do it, they are poorly coached in my opinion. It makes dealing with the short delivery so much easier because the risk of being hit in the face is greatly reduced and you stay in control.

Another strange thing some test players do is bat deep in the crease, straight away they can't move back freely and they get pinged by short deliveries.

Had a very quick one at my throat once and did EXACTLY as you described but jumped as well to fend off the ball.

[laj]

I agree with Malo, helmets have enabled poor techniques, but they shouldn't be an excuse for poor techniques!

Yes and yes.

[malo]

I agree with Malo, helmets have enabled poor techniques, but they shouldn't be an excuse for poor techniques!

I was lucky enough to be involved in a coaching course many years ago...during which we had a guest talk from Sir Garfield Sobers.  I don't think even then that I appreciated how special that was !  Anyway, his thoughts on technique were very interesting at the time , particularly regarding playing short balls.  The traditional theory is that Cricket is a side on game....particularly batting.  His thoughts were that a batsman trying to stay side on to a short ball limits the height that their front arm can be raised & also limits the options & range of movement of an attacking (pull/hook) shot (Try it yourself).
If a batsmen moves across & back with a more front on (2 eyes towards the ball) stance, the front arm can reach far higher for a defensive shot, your range of options for an attacking shot become far greater, you have a far better view of the ball, you can quite easily just duck under a ball that is too good.

Even with my limited batting ability I could see the sense of what he was saying....and any advice from a  bloke who (up until recently) was the greatest batsman outside of Bradman should be taken extremely seriously !

cheers

[LP]

I was lucky enough to be involved in a coaching course many years ago...during which we had a guest talk from Sir Garfield Sobers.  I don't think even then that I appreciated how special that was !  Anyway, his thoughts on technique were very interesting at the time , particularly regarding playing short balls.  The traditional theory is that Cricket is a side on game....particularly batting.  His thoughts were that a batsman trying to stay side on to a short ball limits the height that their front arm can be raised & also limits the options & range of movement of an attacking (pull/hook) shot (Try it yourself).
If a batsmen moves across & back with a more front on (2 eyes towards the ball) stance, the front arm can reach far higher for a defensive shot, your range of options for an attacking shot become far greater, you have a far better view of the ball, you can quite easily just duck under a ball that is too good.

Even with my limited batting ability I could see the sense of what he was saying....and any advice from a  bloke who (up until recently) was the greatest batsman outside of Bradman should be taken extremely seriously !

cheers

Well bugger me Malo, guess who one of my junior coaches was? The same person I was talking about when I discussed being coached to get one arm high and get my other elbow behind the bat, Sir Gary! (He hated being called Sir, if you called him Sir..... he'd reply "Call me Gary" in that gruff voice! ;D )

I can tell you it works a treat? ;D

[malo]

Well bugger me Malo, guess who one of my junior coaches was? The same person I was talking about when I discussed being coached to get one arm high and get my other elbow behind the bat, Sir Gary! (He hated being called Sir, if you called him Sir..... he'd reply "Call me Gary" in that gruff voice! ;D )

I can tell you it works a treat? ;D

Unbelieveable !...yeah, you sort of have to pinch yourself when you look back & think about the calibre of player/gentleman who was involved ! Earlier on in that decade, he actually came up to our local high school (little school in Hobart !!) and gave a talk to our cricket side in 1984 !  How he was there & who organised it, I still have no idea, but for the whole time he was there talking, you could hear a pin drop among a bunch of usually rowdy grade 10s !

[LP]

Unbelieveable !...yeah, you sort of have to pinch yourself when you look back & think about the calibre of player/gentleman who was involved ! Earlier on in that decade, he actually came up to our local high school (little school in Hobart !!) and gave a talk to our cricket side in 1984 !  How he was there & who organised it, I still have no idea, but for the whole time he was there talking, you could hear a pin drop among a bunch of usually rowdy grade 10s !

You know what made him a great coach, he didn't try to remodel every kid into a classic batsmen, he'd see what worked for them and tune it up to work against top quality bowlers.