Please help, my batting has gone to pot

[chyickenkeev]

u seem to have somehting called bopara syndrome, basicaly, ur neglecting technique.
seeing as your a number 11, u need to start at basics
forward defensive: wen the ball will hit your stumps, send your weight onto the fornt foot and jam your bat and pad together, wen u have mastered this, u can unlock loads more shots.
back foot defense: send your weight onto your back foot with your head forward, get your body behind the ball and make contact beneath the eyes

i dont care if you know it, but those shotsare the only shots you need.
to get runs, you need to develop a certain shot that will punish a bowler, kp has the leg glance, tim ambrose had the cut, but if you develop a certain area of your agressive batting u can punish a bowler whenever he bowls into your "optimum scoring area"

everyone should have one, mine is the sweep, sweep slog, reverse sweep, it punishes spin bowlers bowling down the leg side, and it punishes off spinners trying to ticle me into a cover drive and having me clean bowled.

check out these videos and master them at home, get a large room in your houyse and swing your bat down in correct fashion, i advice wearing your fornt pad as well so you can see any gaps that can be exploited.

http://www.videojug.com/tag/cricket?page=2

this video is the first of 8 in a series made by bob woolmer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktyP9QwCgFw

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by chyickenkeev

i dont care if you know it, but those shotsare the only shots you need.
to get runs, you need to develop a certain shot that will punish a bowler, kp has the leg glance, tim ambrose had the cut, but if you develop a certain area of your agressive batting u can punish a bowler whenever he bowls into your "optimum scoring area"

I don't think KP relies on the leg-glance to punish a bowler. If he did then it would be very easy to stop him scoring. His cover-drives on the up and his pullshots on the other hand are very handy. The reason KP punishes a bowler is because he has shots all around the ground.

I also doubt Ambrose relied solely on the cut to punish bowlers as that too is easy to avoid if you're a bowler.

If you're going to wait until a bowler bowls into your 'optimum scoring area' to score runs you're going to have to either hope you always play against players with no control over where they bowl it or assume all bowlers are idiots and won't pick up where you can and can't play shots after about an over (if that). Any bowler with a bit of control will give you practically nothing in the areas you want the ball pitched in to attack. Especially if you limit yourself to being either a front-foot or back-foot player.

As someone mentioned above (someone who has quite a few coaching credentials as far as I remember), the best thing to do is start working on the on-drive. I think it's a very difficult shot to play, but it's usually one of the things you can pick out that separates a good batsman from a club batsman with limitations.

And pack away the silly little shots you've seen on TV. The coach at my old club found this to be one of the most frustrating things with young players...trying things they've seen on TV but not having a firm grip on the basics (had young guys trying to play front foot pulls yet not being able to handle short stuff at their body). Once you understand that the guys you've seen on TV have spent years perfecting the basics BEFORE they improvised with certain shots you'll know it's time to give away 'paddle sweeps/, 'reverse cuts', 'front foot pulls' etc etc until you can play orthodox shots like the cut, cover drive, off drive, on drive, hit it through midwicket, pull, leg-glance. When you have those shots down then you can muck around with different things.

Trying to play shots you've seen on TV without the basic skills is a bit like me signing up for a Mozart piano concerto at the town hall after mastering the chopsticks. It's only going to be embarassing and you'll end up disappointed.

[vic_orthdox]

I'd say try and be supportive of your batting, and help it through this stage. After all, it is known a gateway drug...

[chyickenkeev]

ok ok, i admit kp doesnt ONLY punish bowlers off his pads, but he is very strong in that area. and in his final tour of new zealand, tim ambrose did perform poorly with the bat, because the bowlers stopped giving him wide deliveries to see if he would nic it to the slips.

so yeah, keep to the basics in defence....
you can also drop it at your feet and get a few quick singles

a good defence is vital, one of my first matches as captain...first ball was full at the stumps, "right il drive him" and it just got through the gap and hit the stumps...nothing can replace a solid defence.

[chyickenkeev]

Originally Posted by Son Of Coco

I don't think KP relies on the leg-glance to punish a bowler. If he did then it would be very easy to stop him scoring. His cover-drives on the up and his pullshots on the other hand are very handy. The reason KP punishes a bowler is because he has shots all around the ground.

I also doubt Ambrose relied solely on the cut to punish bowlers as that too is easy to avoid if you're a bowler.

If you're going to wait until a bowler bowls into your 'optimum scoring area' to score runs you're going to have to either hope you always play against players with no control over where they bowl it or assume all bowlers are idiots and won't pick up where you can and can't play shots after about an over (if that). Any bowler with a bit of control will give you practically nothing in the areas you want the ball pitched in to attack. Especially if you limit yourself to being either a front-foot or back-foot player.

As someone mentioned above (someone who has quite a few coaching credentials as far as I remember), the best thing to do is start working on the on-drive. I think it's a very difficult shot to play, but it's usually one of the things you can pick out that separates a good batsman from a club batsman with limitations.

And pack away the silly little shots you've seen on TV. The coach at my old club found this to be one of the most frustrating things with young players...trying things they've seen on TV but not having a firm grip on the basics (had young guys trying to play front foot pulls yet not being able to handle short stuff at their body). Once you understand that the guys you've seen on TV have spent years perfecting the basics BEFORE they improvised with certain shots you'll know it's time to give away 'paddle sweeps/, 'reverse cuts', 'front foot pulls' etc etc until you can play orthodox shots like the cut, cover drive, off drive, on drive, hit it through midwicket, pull, leg-glance. When you have those shots down then you can muck around with different things.

Trying to play shots you've seen on TV without the basic skills is a bit like me signing up for a Mozart piano concerto at the town hall after mastering the chopsticks. It's only going to be embarassing and you'll end up disappointed.

you do have to bare in mind he is a number 11, and look at monty poanesar at cardiff with his cutting and what not.

and im sorry about being picky, but its my pet hate when a person say off, straight, on or cover drive. because its one shot with 4 different names, if your at the crease thinking "do i send that to mid off or cover" then you are wasting prescious time.

im such a saddo rnt i

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by chyickenkeev

you do have to bare in mind he is a number 11, and look at monty poanesar at cardiff with his cutting and what not.

and im sorry about being picky, but its my pet hate when a person say off, straight, on or cover drive. because its one shot with 4 different names, if your at the crease thinking "do i send that to mid off or cover" then you are wasting prescious time.

im such a saddo rnt i

I think you'll find if you try to play an off drive in the same manner as an on drive then you'll have a few problems. You're not thinking 'will I send this to mid off or cover, you're playing each ball on its merits. You're probably going to struggle to hit a ball that is wide enough to cover drive to mid off for example.

The only reason he's number 11 this year is because he was batting poorly.

Speaking as someone who was a number 11 (but also batted from 3-9 in different grades) I found the best approach was to pick a couple of areas you could score in and do so when the chance presented itself. You'll find you score in other areas anyway.

And then work on strengthening the other areas in the nets.

Be patient enough to leave the stupid shots in the nets though.

[chyickenkeev]

that was practicaly wat i meant to say, even though i sed it poorly

the only difference between drives might i add is were your front foot is placed....fine nevermind, il hush up now.