Batting in Cricket: Stance and Basic Technique

This is an article designed for the absolute beginner picking up a cricket bat for more or less the first time. The information below may also be useful to those fans who love playing fantasy cricket on their smartphones or tablets.

Batting right-handed or left-handed

 Not all right-handed people who play cricket are right-handed batsmen and vice versa. A lot of left-handed people bat right-handed and vice versa. Often people just play the way they started playing when they first picked up a bat. Some will do what their first coach said. Others will experiment both ways and settle on what feels more natural.

 Batting right-handed involves standing side on to the bowler and looking at him or her over one's left shoulder. If that feels unnatural, try standing the other way and looking over the right shoulder, which is batting left-handed.

Take hold of the bat well. The great English cricketer Geoff Boycott said that the bat should feel like an extension of the arm; it should neither be too heavy nor too light (though batsmen use a very wide range of bat weights and they tend to be heavier but better-distributed in the modern game). If batting right-handed, the left hand should be on top and the right hand on the bottom of the bat handle, and the other way around if batting left-handed. As such, for a lot of main cricketing shots, the top hand (the left hand, if batting right-handed) will drive the bat, while the bottom hand plays more of a supporting role.

 Different batsmen grip the bat in different ways, but the hands should be reasonably evenly spread, grippingthe bat firmly but neither too tightly nor too lightly.

 Place the end of the bat (furthest from the handle) on the floor by your feet. It can go just behind the front foot, behind both or a little away from them.It is perhaps best to watch where your favorite player chooses to place theirs. In order to place the end of the bat on the floor, the batsman is no longer standing upright. It is important to keep the head upright and directly above the bat. Some batsmen like to flex the knees slightly, others prefer to keep their legs straight in the stance.

 Watch Michael Vaughan to see the classic set-up for a right-handed batsman.

The backlift

 Some batsmen lift their bats at an angle (even the greatest, Don Bradman, did that) but the classic, coaching manual backlift is to take it back in a straight line. Much of the power in a shot comes from the backlift, so the bat should come back quite away as the bowler approaches.

 When to Play on the Front Foot or Back Foot?

 The most difficult decision a batsman has to make (which even a beginner must make) is whether to play the ball on the front foot or back foot. What this means is where the batsman's weight should be. An awful lot in batting is about foot movement.

 The first question is whether to move forward or backward. And that is all about where the ball is pitching. If the ball is pitched full (in other words, if the ball is going to pitch quite close to the batsman) the best approach is to advance towards the ball or at the very least, transfer the weight onto the front foot. If the ball is short (in other words, if the ball is going to be pitchedat some distance from the batsman and therefore, probably, bounce higher by the time it reaches him), then the best approach is to go onto the back foot. When playing on the front foot, it is best to think along the lines of putting the front foot out to meet the ball, where it's pitching and in its line. Again, it's important not to be reaching for the ball.

Playing with a straight bat

 No doubt you will have seen extraordinary cut shots, hooks, pulls and reverse sweeps on the television and you might want to emulate them. But all those batsmen will have learned how to play straight first. To play straight, the top hand is the key. If the backlift has been straight, then the bat can be brought forward in a dead straight line to meet the ball. It is important that the middle part of the face of the bat comes into contact with the ball for the ball to be hit straight into the ground. If the foot movement is correct (forward or backward) and the timing is good (that is, the bat comes through to meet the ball at exactly the right time) then the ball should go along the ground. It is important that the ball be played directly below the head so that the player is not reaching away for the ball and the player is well balanced at the moment of contact.

 The temptation to try and hit the ball as hard and far as possible is overwhelming, but often the bowler is going to bowl a good ball, and every batsman needs to know how to keep it out! Therefore, the next step is to learn how to play defensive shots.

 Even if you play fantasy cricket with afantasy cricket app,understanding these basics of the game will help you enjoy gaming more. You can also participate in fantasy cricket matches while you hit the ground!