Right-handed and Left-handed Batsmen

There are Right-handed and Left-handed Batsmen. Is there any advantage or disadvantage for Right-handed and Left-handed Batsmen?
In Baseball, Left-handed Batters have clear advantage. So there are many Left-handed Batters who throw balls by right hand.
And in Baseball there are "switch-hitters", who does Left-handed batting when pitchers are right-handed and Right-handed batting when pitchers are left-handed. This comes from the myth that Right-handed batting is strong against Left-handed pitchers and vice versa.

Thanks Loko - I always wondered where the expression "switch-hitter" came from - had assumed it was something to do with transsexuals so its good to know I was wrong

Dude lives in Scotland (soon to be named Independent Scotland), has a Russian profile name, and talks like an American. Think we may found the grandson of Sidney Reilly here.

So are there Right-handed bowling Left-handed Batsmen or vice versa in Cricket?
In Bowling, changing handedness is extremely difficult, but it is possible in Batting.

harsh.ag said:

Dude lives in Scotland (soon to be named Independent Scotland), has a Russian profile name, and talks like an American. Think we may found the grandson of Sidney Reilly here.

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After Scottish independence, what will be the new name for Scotland Yard?

fredfertang said:

Thanks Loko - I always wondered where the expression "switch-hitter" came from - had assumed it was something to do with transsexuals so its good to know I was wrong

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Yeah, also there was a very small number of "switch-pitchers", who do right-handed pitching against right-handed batters and left-handed pitching against left-handed batters. But no one has ever been successful, unlike switch-hitters.
And in the Baseball history there has been a number of right-handed batters who were called "left killers", strong against left-handed pitchers.

Lokomotiv said:

After Scottish independence, what will be the new name for Scotland Yard?

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It will remain the same - a more interesting question is what language the Scots will speak, as it follows from the fact that we won't allow them to use the Pound that they won't be able to use our language either - I reckon that anyone who can speak Gaelic is going to do very well in Salmondland

You can't not allow them to use the Pound, you English pie-chucker. But yeah, your central bank can screw them over whenever you please if they stay on the Pound

Plus, anybody who's ever interacted with a Scot knows they speak a language quite alien to the one in London.

Exempli gratia:


As for the Yard, I vote for India to replace Scotland. Will also help in recruiting British-Indians

Lokomotiv said:

So are there Right-handed bowling Left-handed Batsmen or vice versa in Cricket?
In Bowling, changing handedness is extremely difficult, but it is possible in Batting.

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So why none answer this question?
Since in Basegall there are many good Left-handed Batters whose handedness is right, there is no need for Cricket Batsmen to bat normally. Batting hands can be changed.

Lokomotiv said:

Since in Basegall there are many good Left-handed Batters whose handedness is right, there is no need for Cricket Batsmen to bat normally.

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I enjoyed this sentence.

In answer to your question, yes, there have been right handed batsmen who are generally dominant with their left hand, and vice versa. Mike Hussey is an example of the latter, a left handed batsman and right handed thrower/bowler.

The most famous example of this is probably Hadlee of course.

Frank Foster bowled left arm and batted right handed.

Thank you.
And another question. Do you know any Both-handed Batsman? (Batsman who changes right-handed and left-handed in accordance to Bowler)

Lokomotiv said:

Thank you.
And another question. Do you know any Both-handed Batsman? (Batsman who changes right-handed and left-handed in accordance to Bowler)

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Not legal in cricket.

harsh.ag said:

Not legal in cricket.

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Can't see why not...

Lokomotiv said:

So are there Right-handed bowling Left-handed Batsmen or vice versa in Cricket?

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There's a very long list, which includes many of the greatest players of all time. There is a discussion on it in this thread.

zaremba said:

There's a very long list, which includes many of the greatest players of all time. There is a discussion on it in this thread.

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Thank you very much.

Average of top 50 (test agg runs) right handed batsman 47.22
Average of top 50 (test agg runs) left handed batsman 42.96

I am not very good with stats guru - someone to calculate it for all batsman. The top 50 will always favour right handers as there are more of them to choose a top 50 from.

Lokomotiv said:

Thank you.
And another question. Do you know any Both-handed Batsman? (Batsman who changes right-handed and left-handed in accordance to Bowler)

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harsh.ag said:

Not legal in cricket.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esOry38d4H4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPWPN27JXM8


As you can see, it has been attempted several times. Many batsmen began playing it in ODI cricket, and even more so since T20 became established.

The problem with a batsman switching hands properly, and not mid-shot, is that cricket batting is extremely difficult compared to baseball hitting. In baseball you are basically swinging the bat through one arc - in cricket you have a very wide range of shots. Your foot movement is also a lot more important. It's very, very difficult to be a competent batsmen with both hands.

Also, the way the rules of cricket works, if you take your stance as a right hander when the bowler runs in, the wide lines will be enforced as such. Therefore if you switch hands as the bowler runs in, and the bowler now bowls to your new off-side (which, as a right hander, would have been your leg-side), and you just let the ball go without trying to hit it, it is called a wide, since you started batting as a right hander and that ball would be considered wide to a right hander, regardless of how your feet and bat are positioned now. Atleast, that is my understanding of the rule.

Therefore, by changing stance after the ball has been bowled, you can be assured that the ball will land in a certain hitting zone - in this case around about the left-handers legstump. Thus you only really need to master hitting the ball through the legside, and not worry about the offside.

Instead, if you attempt to learn how to take your stance as a lefty against some bowlers and righty against others, you will need to develop an all-round game on both sides of the wicket for both hands, and that is just too difficult. You might get some batsmen who can do it at lower levels, but it's highly unlikely at international level.

Same with bowling. It's such a complex action, learning how to bowl accurately and with good speed/spin/movement with both hands is near impossible.

tl;dr