Cricket, despite popular belief, is no easy sport. It requires technique, stamina and a lot of practice. In cricket, batting includes the act of hitting a ball with a cricket bat while trying not to lose their wickets in order to score ‘runs’ and as such, it is one of the most important skills to hone for a player. Batting is affected by many external factors like the weather and the type of field that the match is played on. Read on to learn about the most important and basic elements of batting.
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1. Grip: A grip refers to the way a cricket bat is held and the structure of the bat itself. The way that the bat is held is extremely crucial to making effective use of it. In cricket, there are two ways of holding the bat:
- The orthodox grip: this grip requires the batter to hold the bat with both your hands together save for the thumbs, forming a ‘V shape while making sure that there is at least a distance of two finger-widths between both your hands, in order to maintain control over the way the weight of the bat is balanced.
- The ‘O’ shaped grip: this grip is used for bats that are too heavy for the batts. Te players start out with a ‘V’ shaped grip but rotate their lower hand so that their hands are fully under the bat.
- The knot grip: similarly, the players once again start out with an orthodox grip but this time, they rotate their upper hand around the handle so that it’s almost facing the same direction as the lower hand.
Most players often switch between these grips in order to accommodate for the weight of the bat and based on what kind of an impact they want to have on the ball when it hits the bat.
2. Stance: This refers to footwork and the way that players balance the weight of their bat for maximum efficiency. The most common stance requires the players to stand partly sideways, facing the bowler with some amount of distance, preferably the width of their shoulders, between their feet. The players also stand with the leg opposite to their prominent hand in front of the other leg, with their knees slightly bent. This stance helps the players move and act quickly while allowing them to swing the bat in a straight line.
3. Back-lift of the bat: a backlift refers to the way that batters lift the bat behind them in preparation when the bowlers run to deliver the ball so as to hit the ball with the most intensity. There are two popular used forms of back-lifting:
Straight Batting Back-lift Technique (SBBT): In this technique, batters lift their bats in the direction of the first stump while the face of the bat points at the wicketkeeper.
Lateral Batting Back-lift Technique (LBBT): This form is where the bat is lifted laterally in direction of the second stump whereas the toe and face of the bat point towards the off-side.