How To Bat In Cricket
If you’re not into intense workouts to stay fit, you might as well pick a sport that you’re passionate about. One thing that sports and workouts have in common is that they both help us to stay fit. Sports have helped the majority of people discover their true meaning and purpose in life.
It gets better when cricket is your beloved sport. You stand to enjoy lots of immense benefits, such as enhancing your mood. There’s plenty in store for the beginners who find it quite interesting.
However, you are better off when you familiarize yourself with the basics. For instance, how to bat in cricket is a bit tricky in some instances, but not to worry.
How to Hold a Cricket Bat
As simple as this may sound, it does require the highest level of accuracy and meticulousness. This applies especially if you’d like to be perfect at cricket. You’ll need to invest your time in mastering this art.
What better way to make the most out of the lockdown than perfecting the art of holding a cricket bat? Focus mostly on your grip, and everything else falls neatly in place.
There are four types of grips that you must be familiar with. Thereafter, you’ll be able to determine which one works best for you;
- The conventional V-grip- Experts advise that this is the best grip for those trying out cricket for the first time. It’s a comfortable and flexible grip that enables you to get your shots correctly without much effort.
- Closed face grip- Here, you’ll have to pay attention to where your bat faces. This grip is named so because the face of the bat faces the legside most of the time.
- Open face grip- This technique is used by experienced cricketers when they are in the middle of a fix and need to score runs.
- Don Broadman’s grip- You can call him the godfather of batsmanship because he was exceptional in this field. This grip is unique because you have to put your bat down with its face touching the ground, and the handle faces you.
It’s a little bit more complex considering your hands and bat will maintain close contact with the ground most of the time.
As the name suggests, the term ‘short’ is used when the bowler’s delivery is not up to par with the required length. Short pitch ball requires you to adopt a technique that you’ve seen legendary cricket players use.
From there, you are required to concentrate fully without any distractions as you keep your eyes on the ball. This helps in dodging any kind of premature bowling deliveries that are headed your way.
Have a trigger movement that would enable you to keep your body in position. This way, you are able to balance and manipulate your movements immediately; the bowler delivers a shot.
Be a few steps ahead of the bowler so as not to be taken by surprise. This requires a great deal of mental juggling. You’ll have to perfect the art of reading the bowler’s next move.
Cricket is one of the sports where the focus is key in every aspect of it. Batting timing refers to that perfect moment when the bat hits the ball squarely, not too early or late.
Improvement of the batting timing takes a lot of practice that will make you feel proud of yourself rather than disappointed. You can start by keeping a firm grip on your bat. This should be a smooth sail, especially since we tackled the types of grips earlier on.
Follow this up by working on your position. Remember, this carries the ultimate turnout of the entire match. Avoid putting so much weight and pressure on one side of your body.
Distribute them equally to make it easier to apply force during batting.
Swing the bat as soon as the bowler delivers the ball. Work towards your speed to avoid delays in batting timing.
As you watch your beloved game, you may have noticed the batsmen assume a certain standing position. The reason for this is to distribute weight and pressure equally to both legs.
They appear to bend their knees slightly as they get ready to swing their bats. Experts refer to the standing position as the stance. Just the stance alone may require you to get the basics right. Failure to which will cost you in the long run.
Never show your back to the bowler, only stand facing sideways. Keep a straight back as you bend your hips as well as the rest of your body. If you’re right-handed, keep your right leg at the front as you aim at hitting the ball with the bat.
How to Watch the Ball in Cricket While Batting
Sounds like a lot of work, right? Watching your stance, maintaining the right grip on your bat, and then keeping an eye on the ball. The more you take part in this is, the more you get used to it with time.
You don’t need to have special psychic powers to be able to pull this stunt. On the contrary, it’s all as simple as keeping your eyes level. During practice, choose a method of ball watching that you think works best for you. Perfect it and then stick to it in all your matches.
Have verbal reminders that should help keep your mind in sync with the action itself. You’ll never go astray if you keep telling yourself to keep your eyes on the ball. There comes a time when you have to be your own coach.
Another trick you have to muster is watching the ball immediately; the bowler does the delivery. This will be easier for you to put your next cause of action into motion. Waiting till the ball is already midway towards your direction can be disastrous.
Even the best cricketers in the history of cricket weren’t born with the skills and knowledge listed in this article. All it took was tons of practice and some bit of creativity.
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