How to Hit Long Sixes in Cricket?

Tip 1 – Plan Early for Hitting a Six

Planning to hit six is probably the most important aspect of the art of hitting sixes. There are times, such as death overs in limited over cricket, when you need to go for the big shots to put on as many runs as possible. Apart from these moments, a batsman needs to pick the bowler, spot on the field, and situation to hit the opposition bowler out of the park.

Hitting sixes becomes crucial in chases when certain batsmen prefer knocking the opposition’s fifth bowler out of the attack by hitting some big shots or chose an area of the field where there’s less protection.

In international cricket, it is seldom that you would get the ‘hit-me-for-six’ balls, and often you would have to plan to manufacture these big hits.

Players like MS Dhoni were excellent in calculating when to go for the big shots, whom to target, and to what side of the field.

Tip 2 – Watch the Ball

Now when you decided that you need some big shots, do not go after every ball. Trust that you will get your chances. Trust that the bowler will eventually make a mistake. And when he does, make him pay.

For that, you have to watch each ball intently right from the moment the bowler begins his runup. Many believe you need to watch the ball in the bowler’s hand right till the moment he delivers it.

While some believe that you can relax while the bowler, especially the bowler with longer runup, is running and switch to the bowling hand and ball once the bowler comes close to delivering the ball. The latter technique would save you some mental energy.

Fun Fact!
Goerge Headly, the great West Indian batsman, once said that throughout his career he had watched every single ball coming out of the bowler’s hand. Every single one of them.

Either way, both are tried and tested techniques and you should use the one that suits you. Make sure to practice the technique in the nets fervently. There is no alternative to watching the ball off the bowler’s hand al the way on to the bat.

Now, this might seem impossible to do, especially against the fast bowlers, but with practice, you can achieve it.

One trick that many great players apply is that, once they see the ball off bowler’s hand,  they quickly move the eyes to the location where they think the ball would land before it actually lands. This gives them an extra fraction of seconds to react to the ball better. Easier said than done though.

Tip 3 – Keep Your Head in line with the Ball

One of the most basic techniques batsmen all over the world follow is to keep the head in line with the ball.

It helps you gauge the line of the ball properly and react to swing or spin, if any, appropriately. One of the major reasons for getting out in the slips is that a batsman misjudges the line of the ball and reacts inappropriately.

While you are trying to maintain the head position, make sure to concentrate on the seam of the ball. The seam and the shiny side would tell you where the ball is going to move.

Tip 4 – Movement in the Crease and Shifting Weight

One of the major characteristics of a good batsman is that he judges the length pretty early.

If the ball is on a good length, move your front foot in the direction of the ball and transfers the weight on the front foot to get the solid base for launching that big hit out of the park.

If the ball is outside off, try to hit it over cover or extra cover for a maximum. If the ball is on the middle or middle-and-leg stump, try long on or cow corner as the spot for the big hit.

For the deliveries that are short of a good length, you must rock back quickly, and transfer the weight onto the back foot while attempting the horizontal bat shots.

If the ball is wider outside off, try to cut is over deep point or third man for a six. For the ones on middle and leg stump, a batsman must swivel on the back foot and attempt a hook or pull shot in the mid-wicket or the square leg area.

For the very full deliveries, almost yorker length, some batsmen prefer to convert them into full tosses while some try to flick off the pads. Then, there’s the famous Helicopter shot, which you can attempt by staying or moving deep into the crease to deal with yorkers.

Remember that balance is the key to power in the shot. If you are not balanced or the weight transfer is not complete, you would not get the desired power in the shot which might result in a mishit straight to the fielder inside the boundary line.

Tip 5 – Swing the Bat Correctly

Cricketers spend hours in the nets in perfecting the swing of the bat and rightly so. Imagine someone like Rohit Sharma, pulling good length deliveries into the stands, who has a simple but perfect swing that meets the ball at the perfect moment transferring all the momentum generated by the swing.

Batsmen with high backlift need more practice with the bat swing. With high backlift, there is a larger distance for the bat to cover before it meets the ball.

While the higher backlift generates more power, there’s more chance of missing the timing on the shot. Some batsmen have a swing that starts from the direction of the keeper to the bowler, while some, like Steven Smith, has a swing that starts from first or second slip. The latter is difficult to pull off but effective if done well. The practice is the key here.

Tip 6 – Focus on Timing the Shot

There are two ways in which you can achieve a hit for six runs. One is to follow the above procedure and focus on timing more than the power to hit the ball into the stands.

The balance, swing, the timing would generate enough power for the ball to reach its destination. The other school of thought the modern-day cricket is to build and use power to hit the ball for maximum. We will talk more about this in the latter part of the article.

However, it is preferable to stick to the basic cricketing approach of timing the ball as well as you can. It is less risky and the timing mentality would be beneficial while playing other shots as well. At times when trying to hit the ball too hard, batsmen tend to lose their shape and end up miscuing the ball high in the air rather than long.

Tip 7 – Do NOT Get too Close to the Ball

When the target is to hit the ball out of the park a certain elevation is needed to get the ball over the boundary line. If the shot is too flat and a fielder may interrupt the shot.

Too high and the ball may not go the distance. The elevation should be good enough to evade any fielders in the way and to get the ball far enough to cross the boundary lines.

To achieve this one must avoid getting too close to the ball. You need to have a certain distance between the bat and the ball to get underneath the ball. If the bat too close to the ball, the batsman may end up yorking himself or simply scooping the ball to the nearest fielder.

On the contrary, if the length is misjudged, especially with spinners, and the ball falls farther from the bat than expected then you would end up hitting the ball high on the air going for the big hit.

When going to for the maximum, try to hit the ball around the sweet spot on the bat. Too high or too low on the bat would both result in an ill-timed and false cricket shot.

Tip 8 – Do NOT Try to Overhit the Ball

This cannot be overstated and is one of the perils of trying to use too much power behind the shot. There’s only limited power you need in the shot for it sail over the boundary line. Trying to overhit that ball any farther than that would not result in more runs.

In fact, it would ruin the timing and more often than not, would result in mishits. Attempting to overhit the ball might also suggest to the opposition that you haven’t gauged the pace of the wicket yet and are to compensate for that by overhitting your way out of trouble.

Focus on technique and timing and use just enough power without compromising on the former two and you have a perfect recipe for a six.