Some help

[Bilal388]

Heres a vid of me batting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU09arQF4ao

I have basically built up my batting from scratch. Im pretty much comfortable on the front foot defense. Im having some problem driving though. When i do it, it goes in the air mostly unless i go all the way down on one knee(7:55 of the video below) but someone told me if your backleg bends then ur most likely to loft the ball. I think the problem is that im coming early on the ball that that i meet the ball when my bat is in the upswing and infront of the pad.

Any tips

Thanks in adv

[benchmark00]

Why are you walking across so much? It's ok, and at times encouraged to have trigger movements, but the head still needs to remain as still as possible. When your head is in motion you are less likely to maintain balance when striking the ball, often leading to balls being erroneously lifted.

If you look at one of the great walkers in Simon Katich, you'll notice that by the time the ball is to him his head is perfectly still, yours is still in motion.

As for the back leg thing, there's nothing wrong with collapsing the back leg to full balls, and it will assist you in being able to drive the ball squarer. It's only really a problem when you go on one leg to balls which aren't full enough, or if you're trying to play the shot too straight when on bended knee.

I had a look at your hands position, which can sometimes be a problem when people hit the ball in the air (often people have them too low), but they look pretty ok.

If I were you I'd focus on remaining more still and not walking through your shots first, then look at other areas of concern.

[Bilal388]

Thanks alot for the advice. Im going to have another session tomorrow . Ill keep the things in mind and go from there and post a followup video

[benchmark00]

If you could get some of your attractive female friends to also stand in shot that may also assist me in helping you.

[pitchvision]

Benchmark00 is right, it's not the knee that causes the problem.

You are not getting your weight into the shot because your head is behind your front foot. Get it a lot further forward and control the shot with the top hand. This takes practice but if you can do that your back knee ceases to be a concern.

I also agree about the trigger move. You are risking being in the wrong position by walking across the crease like that. The back and across back foot movement is alright but that front leg going too; that's asking for trouble.

[Dan]

I agree with Benchy and Pitchvision - the back leg 'collapsing' is not a technical issue at all - in fact many elite players do this when driving the ball square:

Virat Kohli
Andrew Strauss
Imran Nazir

The two glaring problems I picked up have already been touched on - a lack of balance at the crease, caused by walking across the stumps; and your head position.

In this picture, you can see that Jonathan Trott's head is right over the ball as he strikes it, meaning he has control of his shot and can thus maintain the strength in his top hand to keep the ball down. This then transfers just as easily to a drive.

Your trigger movement appears to leave you unbalanced; and your movement results in you getting in to the wrong positions - to balls on leg, especially early on in the video (1:42), you can't adjust, and it overall seems like you just place your foot on the line of off-stump and play from there. The movement of the front foot prior to delivery makes it harder to get yourself into the correct positions, leaves you unbalanced, and leaves you more likely to miss balls.

[Bilal388]

So wat would you guys suggest ? Should i just completely eliminate the shuffle ? Or should i shuffle a lesser amount which doesn't leave my body unbalanced? I tried eliminating the shuffle but i just get stuck on the crease against fast pace bowling. Also when i don't shuffle, it just feels awkward because i have been doing it consistently for about a year now.

[pitchvision]

I would work on just going back and across, eliminate the front foot movement in the trigger. This will keep your head still.

Have a look at this: http://www.pitchvision.com/files/gar...ve/player.html

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Bilal388

So wat would you guys suggest ? Should i just completely eliminate the shuffle ? Or should i shuffle a lesser amount which doesn't leave my body unbalanced? I tried eliminating the shuffle but i just get stuck on the crease against fast pace bowling. Also when i don't shuffle, it just feels awkward because i have been doing it consistently for about a year now.

To me, head position is the most important factor in playing a shot, and the shuffle means you cannot get your head in the right position. I would be taking guard on around middle and leg (correct me if I'm wrong), and working to moving the back foot back and across to around middle and off stump as the bowler's about to bowl.

If you maintain your head position - keeping it stable - and then transfer your weight forward, you should be in a much more balanced position to play the ball, both from outside off and on the pads.

Would suggest taking a look at this link too, courtesy of Pitchvision.

[Hurricane]

Need to take steps back in order to move forward IMHO.

I think you were trying to drive some balls that were of a good length but not half volleys. I think you need to practice against full tosses and half volleys for now. When you have mastered them then go to shorter deliveries. Driving on the up is a harder thing to do. The best batsman in my old team would set the ball machine on half volleys when he practiced against it.

I also recommend that at home you find a mirror and practice cover drives in front of it for 10 minutes 3 times a week.

If you take these two steps you will get better.

Driving on the up requires a completely different skill of checking the bat and having a different follow through - and you can practice that in front of the mirror as well.

[eliteguru]

Consider this line of thought. Ideally we want to pick both line and length. The guys above have correctly said some of lengths are a bit iffy to drive. What is glaring is your shoulders are closed to the balls line so you play across the ball rather than through the line. To do that well you have to have magic timing. So the back foot trigger - back and across will square your shoulders to the incoming ball flight much better than front foot first.

The up is from a combo of playing a little early and the right HAND flattening which lifts the blade. You lose all lag and power as soon as the right hand gets floppy.

Originally Posted by Bilal388

So wat would you guys suggest ? Should i just completely eliminate the shuffle ? Or should i shuffle a lesser amount which doesn't leave my body unbalanced? I tried eliminating the shuffle but i just get stuck on the crease against fast pace bowling. Also when i don't shuffle, it just feels awkward because i have been doing it consistently for about a year now.

[Bilal388]

So im gonna give the b and across a shot tomorrow but just wanted to clarify something on how its done. This is in my terms

1.So from ready position step back and across using backfoot (so from middle-leg to middle-off).
2. Transfer weight onto front foot(dont take a stride though and bend the knees a little)
3. At this time ur waiting for the release of the ball
4. Once u have judged length, either push of the front foot and play a backfoot shot if the length is short or transfer weight onto backfoot and come to the front foot if its pitched up.

The 4th step is confusing me. If the ball is pitched up do i transfer weight to backfoot then come forward?

[Bilal388]

Also which current player or players use this trigger? Would be good to see a video fo it being used in a game

[eliteguru]

If you have ever done a 100m sprint the initial motion for a stand up start is to rock back a bit. This loads the back foot allowing the body to shift forward off its base.

Originally Posted by Bilal388

So im gonna give the b and across a shot tomorrow but just wanted to clarify something on how its done. This is in my terms

1.So from ready position step back and across using backfoot (so from middle-leg to middle-off).
2. Transfer weight onto front foot(dont take a stride though and bend the knees a little)
3. At this time ur waiting for the release of the ball
4. Once u have judged length, either push of the front foot and play a backfoot shot if the length is short or transfer weight onto backfoot and come to the front foot if its pitched up.

The 4th step is confusing me. If the ball is pitched up do i transfer weight to backfoot then come forward?

[benchmark00]

Originally Posted by Bilal388

Also which current player or players use this trigger? Would be good to see a video fo it being used in a game

Watch Cook from England.