Quote:
Originally Posted by GingerFurball
Incidentally, could you expand a bit on the "Myth of Walking In"?
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One of the things that pisses me off the most when my teams are in the field is when players are not in a position to react to the ball when it gets hit towards them.
Too many children, with the best of intentions, listen to what coaches and/or senior players say about walking in, and interpret it as starting to walk in as the bowler begins his run up, walking several paces in, and then standing stock still as the bowler lets go of the ball. This then leaves them with their weight on their heels to watch the ball down the wicket, into the bat, past their heels and on to the boundary, before turning round to retrieve it from the nearby boundary/stream/picnic.
What I want to see is short, low, aggressive strides in the final couple of yards of the bowler's run-up, ensuring the fielder has a strong and stable base, with his weight moving forward and on the balls of his feet, at the moment the ball reaches the batsman. Unless of course he's fielding at short cover, in which case he really shouldn't be walking in but staying in a solid base, or out on the boundary, when he needs to start behind the ropes and take a couple of steps onfield in preparation, not ten paces in to watch the ball go over his head...