Batting (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball with a cricket bat in order to score runs without getting out.

Types of batting shots

The act of hitting the cricket ball is called a shot or stroke. Batting involves knowledge and skill in several different types of shot. These have different names:

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:;Block : A purely defensive shot designed to interpose the bat in front of the wicket so as to stop the ball from hitting the wicket. This shot has no strength behind it and merely stops the ball moving towards the wicket. Also known as a forward defensive or backward defensive, depending on whether the batsman plays the shot from the front foot or the back foot.

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:;Cut : A cross-batted shot played at a ball wide on the off side, slapping the ball as it passes the batsman so that it is hit in the region square or backward of square on the off side. Also upper cut, deliberately cutting the ball over the slips, and Chinese cut, accidentally cutting the ball with the inside edge so it escapes to the leg side.

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:;Drive : A shot played by swinging the bat in a vertical arc through the line of the ball, hitting it in front of the batsman. Depending on the direction the ball travels, a drive can be either a cover drive, off drive, or on drive.

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:;Hook : An aggressive, cross-batted shot played at a bouncer aimed at or near the batsman's head. The batsman must step inside the line of the ball and swing his bat around his head, hooking the ball around behind square leg, usually in the air and sometimes for six runs.

Related Topics:
Bouncer - Six runs

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:;Leg glance : A delicate shot played at a ball aimed slightly on the leg side, using the bat to flick the ball as it passes the batsman, deflecting it to the fine leg area.

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:;Pull : A cross-batted shot played to a ball bouncing around waist height by swinging the bat in a horizontal arc in front of the body, pulling it around to the leg side.

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:;Sweep : A cross-batted shot played to a low bouncing ball, usually from a slow bowler, by kneeling on one knee and swinging the bat around in a horizontal arc near the pitch, sweeping it around to the leg side.

Related Topics:
Bowler - Pitch

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:;Reverse Sweep : A cross-batted shot played to a low bouncing ball, by kneeling on one knee and swinging the bat around in a horizontal arc close to the pitch, but reversing the blade of the bat half-way through the swing and sweeping the ball around to the off side from the leg side. The reverse sweep is a potentially valuable shot to play because it effectively defeats the field positions, but it is considered an unorthodox shot by cricket purists. It was first regularly played in the 1970s by the Pakistani batsman Mushtaq Mohammed. Two cricketers who are considered to have played the reverse sweep very well (it has been described as their signature shot by some) were Andy Flower of Zimbabwe and Javed Miandad of Pakistan. The reverse sweep requires good timing and coordination in turning the blade over and also requires considerable arm-power in driving the ball to the off side. It has been known to backfire, for instance in the case of Mike Gatting of England against Allan Border of Australia in the 1987 World Cup, when Gatting, attempting a reverse sweep off a fairly non-aggressive first delivery off Border, edged the ball with the top edge of his reversed bat straight to wicket-keeper Gregory Dyer. This subsequently proved to be a very expensive wicket for England, whose run rate dropped sharply and caused them to lose the 1987 World Cup Finals.

Related Topics:
Pitch - Pakistan - Mushtaq Mohammed - Andy Flower - Zimbabwe - Javed Miandad - Mike Gatting - England - Allan Border - Australia - Gregory Dyer

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Also:

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:;Slog : A powerful shot, usually hit to the leg side in the air in an attempt to score a six, often without too much concern for proper technique. The classic example of a slog is known as a cow shot, a massive swing across the line of a ball of good or full length, attempting to hit it over the area roughly between mid-wicket and long-on, known as cow corner. Slogs must be timed perfectly, as the batsman is swinging across the line of the ball rather than through it and it is very easy to hit the ball straight up, get a leading edge or to miss completely. It is generally safer for a batsman's wicket to hit the ball straight over the bowler's head than towards cow corner, but it is often harder to generate the same amount of power from a shot played straight than from a swing to leg.

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:;Slog sweep : A cow shot played from the kneeling position used to sweep. Slog sweeps are usually directed over square-leg rather than cow corner. It is almost exclusively used against reasonably full-pitched balls from slow bowlers, as only then does the batsman have time to sight the length and adopt the aggressive kneeling position required for the slog sweep.

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