Help Jakester improve his batting

[Jakester1288]

I am only averaging 6.75 for my under 15's club side in the regular season. I have felt in good nick during a couple of innings, but last week in particular, I didn't feel good at all. I have batted at 3 for 3 innings, and scored 8, 1 and 2. I batted at 7, and got 16, but we were slogging by that stage. I just went with the flow.

I need to flick, capitalise on the bad balls, score more singles and get my bat and pad closer together. With these qualities I think I could average 20 for the rest of the season, which is an outstanding return really. I know I have it in me, I just need some tips.

Help me CricketWebbers.

 

[luffy]

Several things.

I am only averaging 6.75 for my under 15's club side in the regular season.

Bat at 9.

I have batted at 3 for 3 innings

Time to have a word with your coach, methinks. Cut the oranges or be a leg spinner.

I need to flick, capitalise on the bad balls, score more singles and get my bat and pad closer together.

Go to training, and don't turn up to the games drunk.

Help me CricketWebbers.

No, help me.

 

[Jakester1288]

Bat at 9.

I can't, we only have 8 in our team. :o

Time to have a word with your coach, methinks. Cut the oranges or be a leg spinner.

I am going to stay at 3 if he wants me to, it's where I feel most comfortable but have not scored big there though.

Go to training, and don't turn up to the games drunk.

I go to training, and don't drink.

 

[James90]

Would love to help, but need to improve my own batting first.

78 runs @ 8.66

Not the best season. At least I'm keeping a clean sheet with the gloves more often than not.

 

[NUFAN]

Just watch the ball, don't leave a gap between bat and pad and play straight early on...

Do you consider yourself a nervous starter? Maybe when you walk out to bat pretend you are already on 10 or 20 [a reasonable start, whatever that is for you] just so you don't feel the pressure of being on 0.

I also don't think you should think about your goal of averaging 20 while you are batting, it just puts a bit of pressure, just bat and think that you should try and bat for as long as possible, cause I'm assuming with just 8 in your side, you guys rarely bat the full overs, do ya?

 

[Uppercut]

I am only averaging 6.75 for my under 15's club side in the regular season. I have felt in good nick during a couple of innings, but last week in particular, I didn't feel good at all. I have batted at 3 for 3 innings, and scored 8, 1 and 2. I batted at 7, and got 16, but we were slogging by that stage. I just went with the flow.

I need to flick, capitalise on the bad balls, score more singles and get my bat and pad closer together. With these qualities I think I could average 20 for the rest of the season, which is an outstanding return really. I know I have it in me, I just need some tips.

Help me CricketWebbers.

Why do you need to flick?

 

[micoach]

I know it sounds glib but it is true. Play each ball on it's merits as a single ball. Don't think forward or back or what your score is or what technique you need to change or how good the bowler is or anything else. Just play the ball.

Work on technical stuff in the nets but when you are in the middle it's you vs. the ball.

 

[Jakester1288]

Just watch the ball, don't leave a gap between bat and pad and play straight early on...

Do you consider yourself a nervous starter? Maybe when you walk out to bat pretend you are already on 10 or 20 [a reasonable start, whatever that is for you] just so you don't feel the pressure of being on 0.

I also don't think you should think about your goal of averaging 20 while you are batting, it just puts a bit of pressure, just bat and think that you should try and bat for as long as possible, cause I'm assuming with just 8 in your side, you guys rarely bat the full overs, do ya?

I am very nervous when I am next in, but when I walk onto the ground, the nerves just go. Nah, we don't bat out the 50 overs much. We aren't a spastic club for only having 8 players or anything, it's just we have 19 players in 15's, so we formed 2 teams. We are left short.

Thanks for the tips.

Why do you need to flick?

Because it's a run scoring shot?

What else do you do when you get balls on leg stump and sometimes a bit wider, that are to low to pull, and to fast to sweep?

 

[NUFAN]

That's a shame that you have to field only 8 players while the other team has 11, you should try and get a few mates into your side, to fill in the numbers, having a few extra people in the field and batting for longer will help out your team heaps.

 

[Jakester1288]

That's a shame that you have to field only 8 players while the other team has 11, you should try and get a few mates into your side, to fill in the numbers, having a few extra people in the field and batting for longer will help out your team heaps.

Yeah I know. The president of the club coaches a team, and his team gets all 11 players. Dire as.

We borrow a couple of players in the field, but they don't make much effort, cause they don't want to run out or catch their team mates. They often let through a few runs, which our fielders could have stopped.

 

[Uppercut]

Because it's a run scoring shot?

What else do you do when you get balls on leg stump and sometimes a bit wider, that are to low to pull, and to fast to sweep?

Are you getting caught down the leg side a lot? If it's hitting the stumps, play to midwicket. If you're missing balls that are going down leg that's not a remote concern if you're averaging 6.75.

Anyway, said this before but if your leg-side play sucks take an off-stump guard in the nets. Usually once it clicks it'll overtake your off-side play pretty quickly.

 

[Jakester1288]

Are you getting caught down the leg side a lot? If it's hitting the stumps, play to midwicket. If you're missing balls that are going down leg that's not a remote concern if you're averaging 6.75.

Anyway, said this before but if your leg-side play sucks take an off-stump guard in the nets. Usually once it clicks it'll overtake your off-side play pretty quickly.

Nah, I'm not getting caught down there. I have been out 3 times trying to flick this season. 1 front foot LBW, 1 back foot LBW and a backfoot one, which swung a mile and hit the back of my bat, and went to gully.

Thanks for the tips about taking off in the nets, if only we had stumps!

 

[Neil Pickup]

Stop trying to flick, then. Play straight bat to straight balls - there's no way you should be leg-before trying to play a straight ball onto the leg side.

Any chance of a photo of your grip on the bat? It reads as if you have a hand-dominance issue.

 

[Easto241091]

I would suggest the same thing. Play with a straight bat and look to play straight. Are you getting out to the pitch of the ball or are you being caught out on the crease? It may be down to your footwork. Is you weight coming over the front foot or are you leaning back. If your not getting over the front leg when playing your shots, this can cause you to edge the balls or get stuck on the crease.

Try this website and see if it gives you any help. www.testcricket.com.au/articles/index.html

Good luck.

 

[Jakester1288]

Stop trying to flick, then. Play straight bat to straight balls - there's no way you should be leg-before trying to play a straight ball onto the leg side.

Any chance of a photo of your grip on the bat? It reads as if you have a hand-dominance issue.

Sure.



Me in a batting stance.

 

[Uppercut]

Stop trying to flick, then. Play straight bat to straight balls - there's no way you should be leg-before trying to play a straight ball onto the leg side.

Any chance of a photo of your grip on the bat? It reads as if you have a hand-dominance issue.

What he said. The only cricketer i can think of who regularly aims to play straight balls to square leg is Graeme Smith, and if it swings in even slightly he's usually ****ed too. Play straight or play to midwicket.

 

[Prince EWS]

Nah, I'm not getting caught down there. I have been out 3 times trying to flick this season. 1 front foot LBW, 1 back foot LBW and a backfoot one, which swung a mile and hit the back of my bat, and went to gully.

Thanks for the tips about taking off in the nets, if only we had stumps!

I think the issue here is that you're trying to play the shot too much, particularly when you're not set. Instead of trying to whip your hands through the ball square all the time, play down the ground towards mid-on when it's on middle and leg. It might not be as productive run-wise, but you won't keep getting out lbw so much and you can score your runs in other areas.

 

[Jakester1288]

Thanks for all your help guys. I will work on it in the nets, but in match situations I will try to avoid it if I can. By the way, was there anything wrong with my grip?

 

[NUFAN]

It's hard to say if there is anything wrong with your grip IMO.

It might appear that your grip looks like you favour the leg side, but this could be the angle of the photo, I don't think your grip is really an issue, it's more your shot selection, however experts might disagree.

I used to love hitting the ball straight in the nets, meant I didn't have to fetch the ball and if you are aiming straight and stuff up a little, your still likely to hit the ball, it's all about angles, look at how much bat has a chance of hitting the ball when you do your "flick" and then compare it when you are playing straight, the difference is huge, especially early on in an innings.

 

[Simon]

Jake imo you are putting too much pressure on yourself to get a set ammount of runs or average a certain ammount. I think you should just aim to enjoy yourself when you are at the crease and play each ball as it comes to you.

From the coaching of juniors I've done generally Ive noticed they generally dont hit a lot of boundaries and as a result scores a lower than what they would be at a higher level and age group, so theres every chance you are actually doing better than you think you are.

Also I think your club should be doing everything they can to get an extra three players so you guys have eleven. You wont win too many games with eight players and noone enjoys losing, I'd think if your team wins a lot of games you'd be a lot happier on the field and personal performances would improve as a result.

Overall I think at your age you shouldnt be over complicating your batting, just play each ball as it comes to you and try and keep the ball on the ground. You will get good balls that get you out sometimes, thats just cricket, if you are hitting the ball on the ground as much as possible you are almost taking a mode of dismissal out of the frame.