The best Batsmen

The best batsmen

The highest class of batsmen are often not the flashiest stroke makers; they are the ones who make the least mistakes. In other words, they are the best thinkers about their batting. They are well-organised, planning carefully for each innings. They analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition bowlers and are aware of where each fielder is placed. They play within their own limitations, eliminating high-risk strokes from their game. They have an unruffled temperament, never letting the bowler know that they have got them rattled. They hate getting out.

Acclimatising your eyes

While you are waiting for your turn to bat, make sure you sit in the same light as the players are experiencing on the ground. Do not be tempted to sit in the dark confines of the dressing room as you will struggle to pick up the path and bounce of the ball at the start of your innings.

Pass the outgoing batter

Help to keep the game moving by passing the dismissed or retired batter before he/she has left the ground. The time taken for batters to change places is dead time and should be reduced to a minimum. 

Taking guard

When taking guard, say please and thank you to the umpire. You never know……. The guard you take is up to you, but be aware that taking middle does bring your legs into line with the stumps and make you more vulnerable to lbw decisions. Taking guard on middle and leg is a common choice and takes the pads away from the line of the stumps. If you are tall for your age, a leg stump guard may be right for you. 

Starting your innings

Unless the game situation demands you attack from the first ball, you will have some time to play yourself in. This involves learning about the pace and bounce of the pitch, getting your feet moving, studying what the bowler is doing, focusing your eyes on the ball and so forth. Learn to leave deliveries that are not threatening your stumps and play in the “V” with a straight bat to cut down the risk factors. If, for the first few overs, you aim to play with a dead straight bat in front of the wicket, you will almost certainly still be batting and starting to find the ball becoming easier to see and judge.
It is important, however, not to allow yourself to get bogged down as this will give the bowler a psychological advantage over you. Start by looking for singles to get your run tally underway. If your batting partner has been at the wicket for some time, play a supporting role, remembering though that a bad ball is a bad ball whenever it is delivered and it should be despatched to the boundary if it can be done so with a straight bat, even if it is the first ball you have faced in your innings.

Memorize the gaps in the field. As you build your innings assess the wicket, the influence of the weather, the standard and types of bowling, and the standard of fielding.

A Batter is always on duty

A batter is always on duty

Most of the pleasure spectator’s gain from watching cricket is given by the batter, and the big difference between the batter and the rest of the players on the field is that the batter is always on duty. Nothing on the cricket field can give more satisfaction than a perfectly executed cover drive for four with the ball “kissing” the grass on the way to the boundary, or a lofted straight hit for six back over the bowler’s head. The batter sets the tone for the pace of the game and the enjoyment factor for spectators by the way they go about their task. Remember that full-tosses, half-volleys and long-hops are bad balls and should be hit to the boundary every time, no matter what the state of the game. 

Waiting for your turn

No matter what your number in the batting order, be ready for your turn. Have all your gear at hand, be an active watcher by studying the bowlers, fielders and tactics of the opposition. Be close to the captain or coach, so that last-minute instructions can easily be given. However, don’t be too early in getting ready. Two batsmen padded up is enough. If you get nervous, stand up and walk around. Be aware that having some nerves is natural; you need to learn to control them. 

Bats

Using the correct size bat is vital to your development as a young cricketer. A common error for young cricketers is to purchase a bat that is too heavy, which leads to technique and stroke play being negatively affected. The bat will be the right weight for you if you can play all the strokes with you in control, not the bat in control of you. You can try this simple test to check whether the bat is not too heavy for you: hold the bat out in front of you, parallel to the ground, by only your top hand. If you can do this for more than 30 seconds, the bat is not too heavy for you. This simple exercise can also be used as a method of strengthening your top-hand grip – a vital component of successful batting.

Carefully check the grain of the bat. Narrow grains are preferable to wide grains. Try and choose a bat with a minimum of twelve grains visible. If you are able, bounce a ball on the face of the bat. If the sound you hear is a hard sound, the bat will need more “knocking in” before it can be used. If the sound is softer, you will be able to use the bat more quickly, but it may be more likely to get small cracks or surface dents. 

Pads

It does not matter whether the buckles of your pads are on the outside or inside of your leg, as cricketers are divided on this issue. But make sure they are done up and the tabs are as hidden away as much as possible, as it is very annoying to be given out caught behind the wicket off one of them. Inexperienced umpires are often influenced into making “out” decisions based on noise, rather than what they have seen.

Your pads should fit in a way that you can run naturally.

Wearing a thigh pad is essential if you want to be confident in getting in to line with the ball. Taking a nasty, stinging blow to the unprotected thigh can often lead to lack of confidence and backing away to leg against quicker bowlers. 

Batting Gloves

Batting gloves should fit snugly, but allow you to open and close your hands in a normal fashion. Look for leather palms and full impact protection. Consider wearing batting inners to help soak up moisture and make sure you dry your gloves after play if they have become damp.

Mastering Batting

Mastering batting

You will probably agree that batting is the most enjoyable and exciting part of the game, but it is also the most difficult to master – especially as you probably have only one chance in each game. Successful batting involves not only knowing how to correctly play all the shots, but even more important, when to play them. This demands fine judgement of the flight of the ball.

You need to recognize very early the flight and line of the ball, and then where it will pitch and how high it will bounce. Only then can you choose which stroke to play and then go through with the stroke to bring bat and ball together through correct timing. This judgement will only come after years of regular practice.

Below are some general tips about batting:

• Batting is fundamentally about scoring runs. Practise safe scoring shots. Note that there is no such thing as a totally safe scoring shot – it’s all about minimising the risks. The safest attacking shot is the straight drive, as it is only an extension of the forward defensive shot.
• Defensive strokes are for keeping out straight deliveries that will hit the stumps. In effect, if the ball is not threatening the stumps, it should be left alone or scored off. Letting the ball go is a very safe shot. Never defend a wide delivery. Young players seem to think that every ball needs to be played at – it doesn’t!
• A good balanced stance will not guarantee success but it will help. The weight of the body should rest evenly and lightly on the balls of both feet, so that you can move quickly into line with the ball.
• It is difficult to achieve accurate timing when you have an incorrect grip. Make sure you have your bottom hand just touching your top hand, with both hands towards the top of the handle. Do not grip the bat too tightly with your bottom hand as you will find it difficult to play straight bat shots. Your top hand grip should be firm with your bottom hand loose when playing straight bat shots. You bottom hand should tighten only when playing cross-batted strokes.
• A faulty grip can often be traced to playing with too large or too heavy a bat.
• Most young cricketers tend to bowl short down the leg side, so learn to play the pull to help you score freely.
• If you want to consistently time the ball, don’t try and hit it too hard.
• Thoroughly learn the backward defensive stroke. This is the easiest stroke to master and makes it difficult for bowlers to get you out. If you are in difficulty, use this stroke until you have begun to sight the ball.
• In past years the forward defensive stroke was greatly over-emphasised. Players tended to play forward before correctly sighting the ball, which often got them into difficulties by being on the wrong foot. Don’t commit forward too soon! Let the ball hit the bat. Loosen the grip to “kill” the ball.
• If anticipated bounce is low, tend to play forward and play back if bounce is expected to be high.
• Bounce will tend to be higher when the ball is pitched shorter. Therefore look to play back to shorter deliveries and forward to fuller deliveries.
• To be a successful batter your head must be in line with the line of the ball. If your head is in the correct position, your feet will also be in the correct position. However the reverse is not necessarily true, so move your head before your feet.
• If you are having a bad patch with your batting, go back to basics. Have your coaching mentor check out your grip, stance and back lift.

Before the Match

Pre-match meals

You should eat at least two hours before the start of play. Make sure the meal consists mainly of carbohydrates, which are digested more easily than proteins. Wholemeal bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and salads are all good pre-match foods to feed your muscles with. Avoid fried foods, sugary cakes and drinks, desserts and biscuits. 

Fluid intake

When playing a summer game like cricket it is easy to become dehydrated. Drink plenty of water before play begins and at scheduled drinks breaks or lunch and tea intervals as the loss of body fluids can cause fatigue or muscle cramps and significantly decrease your performance. Do this even if you do not feel thirsty as thirst is a poor indicator of the need for fluid replacement. Water, or electrolyte replacement drinks are best. Avoid cordials, soft drinks or fruit juice. 

Be a willing helper

When you arrive at the ground you will want to catch up with the latest gossip with your mates. This is fine and natural, but a lot of valuable time is wasted with this idle “chit chat”. The first thing you should do is to offer to help with any pre-match tasks that need doing. These might include putting out boundary flags, setting up a portable scoreboard, helping to remove covers, helping to put up tents or sun shelters, setting out chairs and scorer’s tables, and so forth. 

Be a self-starter

The second thing to do is to get your pre-match warm-up routine underway before your coach has to remind you. This can take the common form of playing a form of touch football or some other game involving movement and handling a ball. If you have practice nets nearby then make use of these for throw-downs. Whatever forms your warm-up takes, impress your coach and manager with your initiative. 

Check Your Gear

• Have you got all that you need in your gear bag? Your gear bag should contain most of the following:
• Bat – is it clean, has any damage been fixed, is the grip firmly fixed to the handle?
• Practice ball(s) – for use in throw-downs.
• Pads – clean and with no loose stitching.
• Groin Protector (Box).
• Thigh Pad.
• Batting gloves – dry.
• Arm guard.
• Batting helmet with face guard or grill, snugly fitting, light in weight, with chin straps.
• Cricket shoes – clean with all spikes present and firmly screwed in. If you are to play on an artificial surface you will need a pair of rubber-soled cricket shoes. Batsmen will favour shoes with spikes at the front and rubber-treaded heels. Pace bowlers will need shoes with spikes front and back with extra ankle support.
• Cricket Trousers – clean and pressed.
• Cricket shirt – clean and pressed.
• Socks – white.
• Cap – your team or club cap, not that of your dream sports team. If you have been selected for a representative team and have been awarded a cap for that team, wear it only when you are playing for that team. Do not be tempted to display your ego when playing for your school or club team by wearing your representative cap.
• Cricket sweater.
• Water bottle – your own personal bottle.
• Sunscreen.
• Energy snacks. 

Arrive in plenty of time

Your coach will tell you what time to arrive at the ground. Plan to be there fifteen minutes before the specified time. If you are regularly driven to the ground by a caregiver, make sure that they clearly understand what time you are required to be at the ground. It is most frustrating for the team coach and captain if their pre-match plans are upset because team members have not arrived by the specified time. 

Welcome the visitors

Have a welcoming word for members of the visiting team and their supporters. Point out where they should store their gear, and where the scoring bench and toilets are located.

Practice

The Purpose of Practice

You go to practice to learn and improve your skills so they become automatic reflexes (via muscle memory). Muscle memory is the body’s ability to repeat an action over and over without conscious thought about the action. If you have developed early muscle memories that are faulty in a cricket skills sense, your coach will need to assist you in replacing the faulty muscle memory with the correct habit.

Your coach will have planned out the session for the overall benefit of all the team members, but will probably not have a specific plan for you in mind. It is your responsibility to make sure that you get the most benefit from each of your practice sessions.

Practice should have the atmosphere of a match. When you bat in the nets, concentrate hard on improving your batting. Don’t regard it as simply a chance to practise your slog shots against the hard-working bowlers. Treat every bowler as you would in a match, as an opponent trying to take your wicket.

Pay attention

You must want to hear what your coach has to say to you. You must focus on what is being said and being demonstrated, catching every word. Avoid the wandering mind, ignore what is going on around you. Remember that your coach, assuming he did play the game, will have a great wealth of knowledge to help you improve your game.

Be busy

Ensure that you take the opportunity to take part in a high number of repetitions of whatever specific skill you are practising. This could take the form of a specific fielding technique, a particular batting stroke or a certain bowling variation.

Have a personal practice plan

Have your own plan about what you want to achieve at each session. Ask your coach to monitor the particular aspect of your game you are working on. Your coach will be impressed with your motivation. Too many young cricketers attend cricket practice, particularly net practice, as an excuse for social interaction rather than skill improvement. The idle “chit chat” about what you are planning to do on the weekend can wait until a more suitable occasion. If you need to chat to the others, talk cricket!

Informal Practice

Don’t disregard the importance of informal practice. You will only get better by repetition. The more the better. Backyard and schoolyard practice is vital. A concrete wall, a tennis ball and a bat is all you need for an informal solo practice.

In the off-season

Winter training

In general, you should work on the technical aspects of your game during the off-season, and the tactical aspects during the season. Technical is working on such things as how to bowl the ball (your action) and how to play various strokes. Tactical is where to bowl the ball and where to hit the ball.

Be careful, if you are a pace bowler, not to try too hard on hard, unforgiving indoor surfaces. Work on refining your action and developing rhythm rather than emphasising pace and bounce.

In the month before the start of the season, weather permitting, you will be able to practise outdoors, where you can finish off the technical improvements gained during the off-season.

Playing Indoor Cricket

By all means play indoor cricket as:

• it is fun.
• it is fast paced, some calling it the indoor version of twenty20 cricket.
• it is beneficial to your cricket fitness, agility and reflexes.
• it helps improve the speed of your decision-making under pressure.
• all levels can play together and teams can be mixed.
• it will help you transition to the summer game, with skills honed in the indoor version.

Read about the game

There are dozens of coaching books on the market and in your local library. Take some time in the off-season to read one or two of these. You will learn a lot of tips and advice to help you become a better cricketer.

View coaching videos

Many excellent cricket skills DVDs are on the market and viewing them is an excellent way to improve your technique as you watch international players demonstrate particular skills.

Get a junior umpire’s qualification

As you get to the later teenage years you will need to start umpiring your own games. In many competitions it is a requirement that you have a player umpire qualification. Players as young as 12 years of age can gain these badges through attending a series of lectures and passing a straight-forward written exam. Your coach will advise you when these courses are available.

Apart from being a qualified player umpire, you will learn much about the laws of the game that will help to make you a better performer on the playing field.

Set goals for the coming season

Achievement goals provide motivation and can be long term, such as to win the competition or be selected for a rep team, or short term such as winning the next game. These goals need to be realistic and attainable. If you set them too high and do not achieve them, you may lose motivation. Discuss your goals with your coach.

Performance goals are more under your control. An example of this will be to learn to bowl a leg spinner. A performance goal describes the process or actions that lead to achievement goals. Again, discuss these with your coach.

Your goals:

• should be clear and should be written down.
• should be measurable. For example, bowling no more than one ball per over down the leg side.
• should be challenging but achievable.
• should be flexible. You may become more skilled at not bowling balls down the leg side and may want to re-set your goal to just one leg side delivery every three overs.

Develop your own personal improvement plan based on areas you believe need attention. Again, seek advice from your coach on what areas of your game should be in your personal plan.

Fitness for Cricket - Part Three

Team Spirit

A good team spirit will undoubtedly aid the potential for strong personal performance. Humour will lessen tension and anxiety; appropriate discipline will help focus practice routines. Team warm-up games and collective stretching routines help develop a collective team purpose and a sense of enjoyment belonging to the team. These will lead to a general feeling of both individual and team optimism, leading to all involved being in the right frame of mind in which to play the game.

Injuries

A cricketer who is improperly conditioned (unfit) to play cricket is more likely to suffer an injury than one who has followed a regular fitness training program. This is because tiredness or lack of coordination leads to faulty movements and loss of concentration.

If you are unlucky enough to suffer an injury, make sure that you are fully recovered before resuming training or playing. If you have suffered a muscle strain injury, you must be able to play without pain when the affected muscle has been tested to full stretch. This enforced period of rest should not, however, be used as an excuse to do nothing. You should use it as an opportunity to get fit to play. For example, if you have suffered a broken finger or an injured ankle, you can still exercise to maintain a good level of fitness.

This is especially important for young pace bowlers who suffer from sore backs or side strains. If you suffer such an injury, it is important that you get a respected bowling coach to check out the safety of your bowling action. Many a promising young pace bowler had his career ruined by continuing to bowl after such an injury with an unsafe bowling action.

Cricket is a game where there is a risk of injury. In tables of injury rates it is close behind the contact sports of rugby, league, football and hockey. Ball impact injuries have lessened in the last ten years with the almost universal use of batting helmets and thigh guards by today’s young cricketers. With today’s emphasis on health and safety it is important that schools, clubs, players and officials do all that is reasonably possible to lessen the chances of injuries.

Some of these requirements include:

• ensuring a flat outfield.
• ensuring good footing for bowlers in their run-ups and delivery strides.
• ensuring artificial pitches are flush with the surrounding outfield.
• ensuring watering outlets are carefully covered and flush with the outfield.
• ensuring outdoor and indoor nets have no holes and the run-ups and crease areas are flat and not subject to slippage.
• ensuring the playing and practice pitches are flat and clear of debris.
• ensuring that players are wearing suitable socks and footwear with good shock-absorbency.
• ensuring that all batsmen wear good quality, appropriate and suitably sized, protective equipment such as batting helmets, leather batting gloves, thigh pads, groin protector (box), and batting pads.
• ensuring that the team’s wicket-keeper is wearing good quality, close-fitting wicket-keeping gloves and a mouth guard. It is encouraging to see many young wicket-keepers wearing protective helmets when standing up to the stumps
• ensuring pace bowlers wear heavy long-sleeved sweaters after completing a bowling spell in order to keep the back and shoulders warm, especially on a cold day.

In Summary

As a young cricketer you should not be given, or be forced to undertake, too rigorous a training routine while you are undergoing your growth phases. The major emphasis should be on acquiring skills and improving technique. Most of you will have achieved sufficient general fitness from your winter sport program and/or your school physical education program.

If you are a young fast bowler, you must listen to any warning signals your body is giving you and avoid over-bowling. Get the safety of your bowling action checked out three or four times a year as it is easy for unsafe bad habits to creep in without you noticing them. Avoid trying too hard when training indoors on hard surfaces as many a young bowler has developed stress fractures in his teenage years through this practice.

Back to Cricket Coaching Online