Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => Cricket Training, Fitness and Injuries => Topic started by: FattusCattus on May 29, 2011, 06:45:28 PM
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I know this will seem a very silly question to most of you - but indulge a poor tail-ender trying to improve himself.
When batting, do you watch the ball pitch, and then watch it all the way onto the bat?
I seem to watch the ball out of the hand - have a general idea of where it pitches and throw my hands through it. Need to change the mentality!
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I spent nets this pre-season watching hand pitch bat and really noticed now much more i picked the ball than when i didn't.
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i honestly dont know i watch it out of the hand and then play it, i dont think im watching the ball when it makes contact with the bat tho
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This is not a stupid question at all. it is really hard to watch the ball that closely, especially when playing attacking shots.
I try telling myself ' eyes up ' to ensure I watch the ball more closely.
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It is amazing how much concentration you need in a 15 minute net session to watch the ball that closely. It's exhausting. In a game it will be much harder!
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Ok - but timing aside, it is a good idea to attempt to watch the ball off the pitch and onto the bat?
(Bearing in mind the standard I play at, the pace is relatively medium, and I am setting myself up to block the ball, or mete out extreme violence to it).
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We were told by our coach to designate the offside and legside two separate colours and in the nets, when you play a shot, as you hit the ball, shout the colour of the side of the wicket you hit the ball if that makes sense. For example. If the offside is Blue and legside is yellow you'd have to shout this colour as you're hitting the ball to that side. This apparently gets you to watch the ball closer as I have the same problem as you.
only problem is in games now I find myself shouting colours
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I, along with most, normally watch the "window" or area surrounding the ball not the ball itself. I have recently tried to change this meaning I gained the pleasure of seeing the ball cut in from outside off and roll along the ground past my bat before I heard the bails fall off on saturday >:(
Today I did the same (watching the ball not getting bowled!) and got a gritty 95 in 36 overs against a fairly poor attack. I felt more comfortable watching the ball and mre sure of my shots after the first few overs where it still felt weird.
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Right - I need a good session with the bowling machine, just watching the ball onto the bat - not easy at our club's overpopulated net sessions.
Any windows of opportunty Phillip?
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Hi,
Lets apply some science. I actually studied this at uni so I kinda know what I'm talking about.
People often say they watch the ball all the way onto the bat, (Boycott etc!) but for balls speeds over about 60 mph it's actually impossible to really do that. Why? the eyes can move quick enough. This is true even for first class players, even for the greats!
So what do the pros actually do then? Well its a case of seeing it out of the hand (which we will come back too), seeing it pitch, and this is the important part, the eyes then move to where they think the ball is going to meet the bat -i.e. they jump forward - this is less noticeable to spin, and more evident against pace, but generally you need special tech to see it happening. You can see the end point though, all those slow motion replays on sky of some one smashing it and the close up on the face!
So back to the ball out of the hand bit. This is most often what makes the difference between "good and bad". Better players, can tell more quickly once the ball has left the hand, the line and length of the delivery. The sooner you know where the ball is coming the easier it gets to hit it - right!
So back to your question. If you can, and its not easy to do, you need to try and find the ball hitting the bat. Pragmatically the only thing you can really do to work on this is to try and watch the ball as closely as you can. but you might find that you watch it closely until it pitches then "lose" it. Its that bit that you can now address, and try and move to point of impact.
Good luck, this is a very hard thing to get right.
Ross
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Similar to Colesy, I've been asked before to shout hit, as I make contact with the ball. In order to shout at the right time you HAVE to watch the ball more closely
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Same doing drills last night taliking wait wait yes
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This is what I find... when batting against the bowling machine at speeds at less than 75ish miles an hour I don't concentrate that hard on the ball when it gets dropped into the machine. BUT once it gets turned upto 90 I watch very very very closely. The focus of the concentration narrows to the hole where the ball comes out. I've tried to maintain the concentration at 75 and less, but cannot do it. Short attention span I guess.
When batting in a match, I try to watch the hand as much as I can. With spinners I watch the ball as it comes down to see which way it's turning - this just helps concentration and also helps not to make oyu look to much a of dick if you can't pick it out the hand.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/Eyemancomau
Also go to the website and it says how watching it out of the hand means you react slower, so you basically want to watch it be delivered, but then you want to focus on the pitch where you think it will land, and the sooner you pick where it will land on the the pitch, the better.
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This is what I find... when batting against the bowling machine at speeds at less than 75ish miles an hour I don't concentrate that hard on the ball when it gets dropped into the machine. BUT once it gets turned upto 90 I watch very very very closely. The focus of the concentration narrows to the hole where the ball comes out. I've tried to maintain the concentration at 75 and less, but cannot do it. Short attention span I guess.
When batting in a match, I try to watch the hand as much as I can. With spinners I watch the ball as it comes down to see which way it's turning - this just helps concentration and also helps not to make oyu look to much a of dick if you can't pick it out the hand.
what standard do you play as netting at 90mph is nuts lol
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I say that you shouldn't watch the ball, you should obviously watch the bowler deliver the ball, but as soon as it is out of the bowlers hands you move your foucs to the pitch so you can get into position earlier, otherwise you will be slower to react.
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I say that you shouldn't watch the ball, you should obviously watch the bowler deliver the ball, but as soon as it is out of the bowlers hands you move your foucs to the pitch so you can get into position earlier, otherwise you will be slower to react.
Are you serious?
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Are you serious?
Makes sense, and that is more to do with the eyeman.com.au article.
I have never ever watched the bowlers hand, I watch the bowler come in and then move to the ball once he delivers it. I watch the bowler deliver the ball, then I follow the ball line and pick where I think it will pitch and play accordingly. So I should have said I don't watch the bowlers hand.
Read this, http://eyeman.com.au/page/vision_amp_sport.html#Knowing_Where_To_Look
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Are you serious?
My thoughts exactly although I wasn't going to say anything!!
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So that is effectively telling you how to watch the ball more effectively rather than losing sight of it, you are still watching it.
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I never said I lose sight of the ball, although I probably should have said I watch the ball leave the hand, then I look at where I think it will pitch and then once it bounces I obviously follow the ball. Probably should have said that at the start, ahah :p
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For me it's watching the ball out of the hand.. I believe Ponting used to physically say to himself 'watch the ball' as it leaves the hand, I then watch for the length to where the ball will pitch which I think i've already half anticipated and then finally make adjustments for bounce/swing. It's worked well for me this season, although timing sometimes messes it up so perhaps I need to watch it more closely onto the bat.. but then I agree with one of the previous forum members that it's very hard to pick after a certain speed... some enlightening responses though...
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you should watch the seam on the ball from before the delivery stride, through the action all the way until after the ball has pitched. you may loose it slightly in the action, but suggesting you watch the ground not the ball is not advice I would give...
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Play div one at the moment, but look likely to be back into the prem next year... seriously if you watch the ball well and you take the pace up slowly 90 is not too bad. Bonus is when you drop the pace down to 80 it seem really slow and you've got loads of time to play your shots. Really good if you've got a quicker than average bowler you're going to be facing at the weekend.
Did this when one Vaughn Hungry Walsh played in the league, now he was seriously slippery...
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what league are u in mate? with u being up north?
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Everards League in Leicestershire www.elccl.net - Kibworth who have been National Knockout Champions twice in the past six years or so are in the prem. I play for Broomleys and have never played for anyone else...
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Leicestershire? thats not up north lol!
sounds good tho mate. ive been at my club all my life
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Everards League in Leicestershire www.elccl.net - Kibworth who have been National Knockout Champions twice in the past six years or so are in the prem. I play for Broomleys and have never played for anyone else...
I've played at Kibworth, such a nice ground!
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Yep, Kibworth is GREAT place to play. Facilities are the best in the county - including Leicestershire...
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Im going to read the eyesman website properly but we run studies on how the eyes and brain work to play shots etc and a lot of what you do at club level is different to professionals.
Watching the bowler in the run up and to release they make subtle changes per each delivery they bowl, watch a video of someone bowling an inswinger, then outswinger, a yorker and bouncer, they make subtle changes, some elite bowlers were very subtle like the Wasim Akrams of the world, if you have a good setup etc and watch the bowler and release of the ball your brain with work out an initial shot selection and it readjusts this when the ball is almost to you, hence when you see variable bounce you can change stroke, cutting movement ie leg cutter readjustments can be made, but you do need to watch the ball and the bowler, the more you pay attention the better you are at predicting the delivery that is coming, dont pre-meditate against 90mph bowlers if you're not capable of facing them, you telling your body what to do is far slower than allowing reactions and the brain to deal with the situation, but just remember the brain has other main focusses so its essential to keep still pre delivery to give your brain the best chance of making a decision