6 Simple Fool-Proof Cricket Batting Tips

There are hundreds of different cricket batting tips in the game of cricket which can all potentially improve your batting and run scoring ability. Here is a selection of cricket batting tips that I’ve found useful to help improve your batting.

• 1st Batting Tip – Keep your eyes level, it’s been shown that having your eyes level helps speed up your reaction time, as it makes it easier for the brain to process the incoming information.

• 2nd Batting Tip – Your first movement should be from the shoulders towards the line of the ball. The rest of your body will follow naturally and will help ensure you get correctly inline with the ball.

• 3rd Batting Tip – Play the delivery based on its length, if it’s short; even if it’s in line with the wickets it should be ‘tonked away’ (Andy Flintoff style) to the boundary. The same principle applies with full deliveries and half volleys.

• 4th Batting Tip – One of the most important things is to watch the ball from bowlers hand in run up all the way to the bat. By watching the ball in the bowler’s hand you can see what the bowler may be trying to do with the ball. Try to identify which is the shiny side or rough side, so you can determine which way they may be trying to swing the ball. The same applies with spinners; but also make sure you closely watch the wrist movement to determine the type and direction of spin.

• 5th Batting Tip – When batting against spinners, try doing an initial ‘forward press’, making an initial half-step on to the front foot as the bowler bowls. This will give you good base to play from and help give you quicker feet.

• 6th Batting Tip – It is essential to maintain a solid base when batting and to be in a solid position when you play the ball. If you watch for example Brain Lara play a cover drive, he has a solid base from which he plays the stroke, he is perfectly balanced.

Square Cut

How To Effectively Execute The Square Cut For Maximum Runs Scoring Potential

The square cut is another shot which you should try to add to your batting ‘armoury’, as it will allow you to play aggressively to balls delivered shot outside your off stump which you wouldn’t be able to drive.

Can you play the square cut?

It is an aggressive/attacking shot played off the back foot to a ball which has been pitched short of a good length (a short delivery) and is passing wide of off stump. You should aim to hit the ball square of the wicket ideally between point and gully, always aim to hit the ball between the fielders and into the gaps.
Main Points

• To play the square cut start from your normal batting stance, stay nice and relaxed, with your head still and your eyes as level as possible.
• As the bowler is about to bowl take your backswing, and as you see the delivery is going to be suitable for a square cut move your back foot, back and across towards the off stump.
• Move your weight onto your back foot and establish your base of support over it. Bring your bat down and across the line of the ball towards the off side, increasing your bat speed into contact, from a high position to lower one. As you hit the ball ‘roll your wrists’ over the ball to keep it down.
• Follow through the shot naturally and stay relaxed and balanced.

Common problems:

• The most common problem is getting caught out at point or gully by not rolling the wrists or not playing from high to low. Like most shots, you need to isolate it in the nets and practice with throw downs hitting the ball down (low) and along the ground.
• Another problem is lacking the ability to hit the ball in the gaps and instead hitting it to fielders, the best way to improve your shot placement is to use targets in practice to hit the ball between.

Advanced tips:
Try playing a ‘late’ cut. To do this you need excellent timing, as you need to wait a fraction of a second longer before hitting the ball. You should aim to hit the ball behind gully towards third man (be careful if there are slips in place).

Backfoot Defence

The back foot drive is an attacking shot which is played to a ball which has pitched short of a good length and which will probably bounce around stump high. You should try to hit the ball between mid on and cover and along the ground.
Main Points

• Take your normal batting stance with your eyes level and remember to always stay relaxed to help you react quicker to the delivery. Once you’ve judged that the ball/delivery is suitable for a back foot drive, take your backswing and step backwards simultaneously.
• You should now have an established and well balanced base with your weight fairly evenly distributed over both feet, ideally it should be slightly forward on the front foot.
• Initiate your down swing ensuring that you bring your bat down straight (remember the drill with the two stumps?) and move your front leg backwards at the same time.
• Increase your bat speed into contact with the ball and swing it down and through the line of the delivery, keeping your elbow high and keeping control of the bat with your top hand. Try to follow through naturally, stay relaxed and well balanced at all times during the shot. Don’t try to hit the ball too hard, use the pace of the delivery to maximise the shots power.

Make sure you're behind the ball when playing the back foot defensive

The Back-footed Defensive
The back foot defence is a defensive shot, which is played in response to a ball of a good length or slightly shorter which is most likely to bounce and hit your stumps or come close to hitting them. You want to aim to just block the delivery and have it drop straight to the ground.
The main set up points are similar to those above so I won’t go through them again just for the sake of it!
The major differences are that you need to SLOW your bat speed into contact with the ball. You should swing your bat down and into the line of the delivery and aim to contact the ball beneath your eyes, remembering to always show the full bat face to the ball. Again try to stay relaxed and well balanced.
Having a relaxed grip with your bottom hand will help you drop the ball to the ground and not pop it up in the air.
Common problems:
The most common problems I see are that a batsmen is not getting into line with the ball and so might an edge to the wicket keeper or slips. A good tips to improve getting into line would be to initiate a trigger movement (a small foot movement) prior to delivery to help get the feet moving, which in turn should help you get into line.
Some batsmen have more than one trigger movement depending on their style and technique. I do two; I move my back foot about a few centimetres backwards and towards off stump and I move my front foot about a few cm’s forward, this helps me get into line and respond to a delivery quicker.
Another is playing with an overly strong bottom hand which can cause you to get caught. Try loosening your bottom hand or holding the bat with just your thumb and first two fingers in training to keep the ball on the ground (remember to keep your top and elbow high).

The Power of an Effective Cover Drive…

As a batsman and cricketer you primary aim is to score as many runs as possible to help your team set a high target for the opposition, or in order to beat the score which the opposition has set for you.

A great cover drive is the hallmark of a refined cricketer...

To help you do this, this article will identify some common problems and teachyou how to play better cover drive. Hopefully you’ll find these tips useful and they will help you improve your cover drive and score more runs.
The cover drive is an aggressive and attacking shot which is played to a delivery which is pitched up or just a bit full of a good length, you are aiming to hit the ball along the ground between mid off and cover.
To play the shot, watch the ball out of the hand and correctly judge that the ball is going to be slightly full of a good length. From your stance, lead with your front shoulder in towards the line of the ball and into the shot. If you lead with your shoulder first and get it inline it will help the rest of your body come into line naturally and more fluently.
Step with your front foot out to the pitch of the delivery and bring your bat down and through the line of the delivery, ensuring that you keep your front elbow high and bat straight (not a crossed batted shot). Aim to place the ball between mid of and cover, maintaining a firm base and follow through the shot in a relaxed manner.
Key points:

• Watch the ball out of the hand all the way onto the bat
• Lead with your front shoulder into the shot
• Get your foot to the pitch of the ball
• Keep you elbow high and bat straight
• Hit the ball along the ground
• Keep a solid base of support
• Follow through naturally

Common Problems:
Are you getting caught at mid-off or cover when you play the off/cover drive, is it caused by the follow through?
Getting caught at mid-off or cover is a very common problem and is not usually caused by an exaggerated follow through, but more likely to be with the timing of the shot or because the batsman is playing with too much bottom hand.
To solve this try loosening your grip with your bottom hand and practise just griping the bat with your thumb and first two fingers on your bottom hand. This should help you stop driving it in the air and getting caught.
Another technique is to try waiting a fraction of a second longer as if you’re playing the ball too early it will go in the air, if you are struggling getting the timing right this is the solution for you.
Also if you’re trying to drive a ball that is pitched short of a length you’ll hit it up in the air. If so try to judge the length better and drive the balls that are pitched fuller of a good length, you should also take into account the pace and condition of the wicket as this will affect the timing of the shot. For example on slow wickets you will have to wait longer and play the ball later to keep the ball in the ground.
In conclusion remember to accentuate your leading elbow, keeping it high, don’t use to much bottom hand as this will cause you to drop the elbow and hit the ball in the air. Practise in front of a mirror at home to watch and analyse your body position and always remember good footwork is the most essential part of any shot, so get your foot to the pitch of the ball.

How To Use Effective Foot Work To Score More Runs

Great footwork when batting will help you get in the correct position to deal with any delivery which gets bowled to you.

When batting in cricket it is essential to have excellent footwork. As good foot work is the basis for achieving excellence in cricket and is the foundation for good batting technique.
Foot work is absolutely necessary as all successful strokes start with effective footwork.
If you watch Brian Lara, Michael Vaughn, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, all of these amazing batsmen have outstanding footwork, often when these types of players don’t perform it is simply due to lack of footwork.
Good footwork allows you to time the ball well and place the ball in gaps. It gets you in the optimum position to hit the ball, so you can hit it where you want and with ease.
If you have been struggling to play a particular shot for some reason it could be due to poor footwork causing bad timing and body positioning.
With faster bowlers it is even more essential to have excellent fast and precise footwork, so that you can get into a balanced position, in-line with the ball, so you can play the ball with control.
Getting quickly into position through footwork therefore is very important.
The more you practice your footwork against both fast and slow bowlers the easier you will gradually find it. Many players do what we call trigger movements just before the bowler releases the ball, this helps get the feet moving into position and into line much quicker and easier, especially against faster bowlers.
Next time you watch a game on TV watch the batsmen’s feet really closely as the bowler is about to deliver you’ll see these small ‘trigger movements’; small foot movements, which help the batsmen get in position and inline early.
As a batsman it is absolutely necessary to develop your foot work and foot movement, as all excellent strokes start with effective and efficient footwork.

How To Play The Forward Defence

The Most Important Shot You’ll EVER Learn…

When you first start to learn how to play cricket one of the first shots you will learn is the forward defence, it’s a fundamental shot which is the foundation of your batting and should be mastered to help reach you potential, as you can’t score runs when you are out and sat in the pavilion.

What's not quite right with this forward defence?

The forward defence is the best way to protect your wicket from accurate deliveries which you can’t score off, as you need to remember your primary aim as a batsmen score runs of every delivery if possible.
The forward defence is simply a defensive shot which is played in response to a ball which you can’t score runs off or where it would be very risky to try and hit for runs. Usually it’ll be of a good line and length that will hit or come close to hitting the stumps.
Main Points

• Take your backswing and step forward with your front leg to make a comfortable stride towards the pitch of the ball.
• Try to establish a strong, well balanced and relaxed base/stance, over the leg which has stepped out towards pitch of ball and you should have a bent front knee.
• Bring your bat down to ball using your top hand to control the movement, speed and direction of the bat. Slow down your bat speed into contact with the ball and keep your top elbow high.
• Aim to contact the ball under your eyes and play the ball with the full face of the bat. Always remember to play the shot with your bat against pads (your front leg) so that there is no gap between the two which the ball could pass through.

Common problems:
There are a number of common problems, which with good practise can be easily solved e.g.

• Having a gap between you pad and bat. To help solve this have a friend pr coach watch you play the shot to identify whether this is a problem for you. If it is, get in a net and have throw downs and consciously practice getting your bat next to your pad. Ensure that you try to get your foot out towards the pitch of the delivery.
• Playing with a strong bottom hand, causing the ball to pop up in air. If you are doing this, try loosening your grip on your bottom hand and control the bat with your top hand. Practise with a tennis ball and try to make the ball drop dead and not bounce off more than a meter from the bat, this is quite hard with a bouncy tennis ball!
• Not bringing the bat down straight from high position in backswing, so causing the bat to come down at an angle and not through the line of the ball, which will result in you missing the ball. To help solve this, put up a set of stumps as normal, then remove the middle stump. Now stand closer to the stumps than you would normally and practise your backswing, bringing up and down between off and leg stumps, you’ll quickly find out if you backswing is straight or not.

Advanced tips:
Try playing with soft hand, whereby you loosen you grip slightly with both hands, not so much that the ball will cause the bat to move in your hands, but just enough to ensure the ball drops straight to the floor. If you try the tennis ball drill above you’ll get the hang of it pretty quick. This also helps have the effect of causing the ball to drop quicker if you edge it and will often hit the floor before reaching the slips.
You can also try angling your bat to defect the ball away for a single to fine leg or third man, almost becoming a leg glance.

The Sweep Shot and Reverse Sweep

The sweep and the reverse sweep are two batting shots which are not commonly used, especially the reverse sweep which is rarely used. However both shots can be used in certain batting situations and are an effective way to score runs and keep the score board ticking over.
There is a high element of risk with the sweep shot, so good judgement and excellent timing is essential. Avoid playing the sweep and reverse sweep early on in your innings especially to straight deliveries, as it is not a good idea to play it until you have your eye in and know how the pitch is playing and what the bowler is doing. As for example, if the ball stayed low it would be quite easy to misjudge and get out LBW or bowled which you definitely want to avoid, so be patient and play yourself in first.
The sweep and reverse sweep are both cross batted shots and should ideally be played to slow deliveries which are of a good length and not too full. To play the orthodox sweep shot, first wait for the ball to be released before making any movement…

DON’T PREMEDITATE THE SHOT!

Once you have determined that the ball is there to play the sweep shot to, move your front foot as far down the wicket towards the pitch of the ball as you can. As you are moving forward bend both knees simultaneously so that you whole body is low down, let your back knee touch the ground to act as an extra base of support. Try to stay balanced and relaxed. Bring the bat down from the off side and across the ball towards the leg side and aim to hit it either in front of or behind square leg. You can roll your wrists over the ball as you hit to help keep it on the ground. Aim to have your arms fully extended when you contact the ball.
To play the reverse sweep, get in to the same position as for the orthodox sweep, however this time, bring you bat down and across from leg side towards the off side, so you are aiming to hit the ball through the gully area. This shot requires very good coordination and timing as you have to twist the bat round so that the bat face faces the off side at the point of contact without altering your grip.
Common problems:

• Premeditating the shot- deciding to play the shot before the bowler has bowled the ball. Wait until the ball is released from the bowlers hand before deciding to play the shot.

• Playing the sweep too early in the innings before getting your eye in. Wait until you are set and know how the pitch is playing and what the bowler is doing before attempting the shot.

• Trying to hit the ball too hard. Good timing and technique is better and more effective as you need to reduce the risk as much as possible.

• Playing the shot to deliveries which are either too full or too short, so good judgement of length is required.

Remember that the sweep and reverse sweep are quite hard shots to master and carry quite a lot of risk, so make sure that if you intend to use them, practice the shots in the nets and in training to get a feel for the shot and so you know when to play it; so that when you come to use them you are confident and skilled enough to do so.