Playing in swinging deliveries

Playing in swinging deliveries

I have a problem while opening my legs to play an on drive or a delivery swinging in and coming into me. I can play the off side shots well but have a problem on the leg side for pacers. Any advice please?

Cricket CoachCoach
TOP ANSWER
Neville YoungCoach, Australia

A lot of the time this sort of problem is related to batsmen placing their front foot straight down the pitch, basically to the same spot every time and then having to try to hit the ball around their leg when it swings in. (as in the case of Shane Watson)

The best way to combat swing is to get your front foot as close as possible to the pitch of the ball. This will reduced the amount of movement that you will need to adjust for.

As Matt has already said moving your stance around so that it is slightly more opened will help.

To play bowling that is pitched up on the leg stump requires you to get your front leg inside the line of the ball.

This is harder to do that it sounds, because many batsmen are worried about exposing their "family jewels".

If you use your front shoulder to point at the line of the ball it will automatically place your front foot in the correct line (your front shoulder should be angled down towards the ball).

Keep your back lift short, because the ball can deviate late and it will make it easier to adjust your shot. A short back lift also takes less time to bring down, so it helps to shorten your response time against faster bowling as well.

Play to defend the ball at the beginning of your stroke. You can always increase the force of your stroke if the ball is there to be hit. Playing an attacking shot and then trying to readjust to defend is a sure method for failure.

As far as stance goes, align the toes of your shoes (your back foot and front foot) so that if you drew a straight line starting at the toe of your back foot and then on to the toe of your front foot it will draw a line straight to the arm of the bowler in his delivery stride. This will help align your body and head to the line of the ball and allow you to play your shot back in the direct of where the ball has been delivered from.

This works whether it is to a right arm bowler around the wicket or a left arm bowler around the wicket. It allows you to open and close your stance to align your body and head to the line of delivery.

Inswing bowling is very difficult to play if it is late and sharp and in this case get as close to the pitch of the ball as you can. Keep you bat behind your front pad and very close to the pad. You would be very unlucky to be given out LBW if the ball is swinging sharply.

Make sure the bat doesn’t get ahead of your front leg as this will result in nicks to the inside edge of the bat and getting caught behind by either the keeper or the leg trap fieldsmen that a good inswing bowler will employ.

ANSWERS
Matt OTooleCoach, England

If you`re right handed and have a typical stance where your feet run parallel to the popping crease, try opening up your stance a little. This can be as simple as turning your left foot so it`s pointing towards extra cover. I find that helps to get my left leg moving and helps me play more on side shots. You don`t necessarily have to turn your whole body.

Neville YoungCoach, Australia

Hi Manoj,

Can you provide a bit more information about what the problem is. Hard to score, having trouble getting bat to ball, getting out bowled, getting caught down the leg side, etc.

Neville YoungCoach, Australia

A lot of the time this sort of problem is related to batsmen placing their front foot straight down the pitch, basically to the same spot every time and then having to try to hit the ball around their leg when it swings in. (as in the case of Shane Watson)

The best way to combat swing is to get your front foot as close as possible to the pitch of the ball. This will reduced the amount of movement that you will need to adjust for.

As Matt has already said moving your stance around so that it is slightly more opened will help.

To play bowling that is pitched up on the leg stump requires you to get your front leg inside the line of the ball.

This is harder to do that it sounds, because many batsmen are worried about exposing their "family jewels".

If you use your front shoulder to point at the line of the ball it will automatically place your front foot in the correct line (your front shoulder should be angled down towards the ball).

Keep your back lift short, because the ball can deviate late and it will make it easier to adjust your shot. A short back lift also takes less time to bring down, so it helps to shorten your response time against faster bowling as well.

Play to defend the ball at the beginning of your stroke. You can always increase the force of your stroke if the ball is there to be hit. Playing an attacking shot and then trying to readjust to defend is a sure method for failure.

As far as stance goes, align the toes of your shoes (your back foot and front foot) so that if you drew a straight line starting at the toe of your back foot and then on to the toe of your front foot it will draw a line straight to the arm of the bowler in his delivery stride. This will help align your body and head to the line of the ball and allow you to play your shot back in the direct of where the ball has been delivered from.

This works whether it is to a right arm bowler around the wicket or a left arm bowler around the wicket. It allows you to open and close your stance to align your body and head to the line of delivery.

Inswing bowling is very difficult to play if it is late and sharp and in this case get as close to the pitch of the ball as you can. Keep you bat behind your front pad and very close to the pad. You would be very unlucky to be given out LBW if the ball is swinging sharply.

Make sure the bat doesn’t get ahead of your front leg as this will result in nicks to the inside edge of the bat and getting caught behind by either the keeper or the leg trap fieldsmen that a good inswing bowler will employ.

Login or Join Now for FREE to post your answer

JOIN SPORTPLAN FOR FREE

  • search our library of 350+ cricket drills
  • create your own professional coaching plans
  • or access our tried and tested plans

TRANSFORM YOUR TEAM'S SEASON WITH PROFESSIONALLY PLANNED SESSIONS

Use our expert plans or build your own using our library of over 700+ drills, and easy-to-use tools.

JOIN NOW

VIEW MORE QUESTIONS

See the whole archive of questions.

QUESTIONS ARCHIVE

SIGN UP NOW FOR FREE

  • search our library of 350+ cricket drills
  • create professional cricket coaching plans
  • or access our tried and tested cricket plans

Sportplan App

Give it a try - it's better in the app

YOUR SESSION IS STARTING SOON... Join the growing community of cricket coaches plus 350+ drills and pro tools to make coaching easy.
LET'S DO IT