this is interesting, again from aakash chopra, talking about Shane Watson's technique, on cricinfo.
It was a typical low, slow
subcontinental pitch; a left-arm
spinner with a round-arm action
was operating, and the ball was
only marginally short on middle
and leg - the kind that forces you
to be a little wary of the low
bounce and makes you offer a
straight bat instead of a horizontal
one. Most batsmen, including ones
from the subcontinent who grew
up on these surfaces, would
happily dab the delivery into a
vacant on-side area and be
satisfied with the outcome - mostly
a single or a two. Years of batting
on these surfaces have taught these
men to bring out the horizontal bat
shots only when the ball is really
short and they are 100% sure of
the bounce. Unlike when you play
with a straight bat, where you can
check your shot and convert an
aggressive shot into a defensive
prod even at the last second, once
you've committed to a horizontal
bat shot, there's no looking back.
You're forced to execute it for
good or ugly.
All of this only seems to be of
academic interest when Shane
Watson is batting, for he dispatches
every short ball deep into the
stands on the on side, even on
these pitches. Where others are
busy protecting their pads and
wickets from the low bounce, he
has found a way not just to make
contact every single time but also
to get under, getting elevation.
How does he do it so efficiently?
Watson's trigger moment is among
the unique facets of his batting. He
goes deep into the crease with his
back leg and keeps the toes of his
front foot mobile, barely touching
the ground. In doing so, he
transfers his body weight
completely onto the back foot just
before the bowler releases the ball.
This is, in fact, the antithesis of
what the coaching manual
recommends, which is that the
batsman should distribute his body
weight equally between both feet -
the rationale being that equal
distribution of weight makes both
forward and backward movements
easier.
In Watson's mode of operating, he
prepares for the full ball first.
Since the weight is already on the
back foot, the forward movement
becomes fluid, manifested in his
long front-foot stride. But the
moment the ball is even slightly
short, instead of using a proper
forward press to transfer the
weight on to the front foot (like
most other batsmen do, consuming
precious time) before transferring
it to the back foot again, he digs
his front toe into the ground and
uses that movement to transfer the
weight and then swivels on to the
back foot. In the process, he also
clears the front leg quite nicely,
which allows his arms a free swing.
Watson's unique method of loading
and unloading both feet to transfer
weight gives him a precious few
extra moments to pull even
marginally short balls without fuss.
It isn't just Watson's ability to
transfer his body weight that helps
him get the ball to sail over the
ropes so often. For such a tall man
it must take special skill to not
miss horizontal bat shots often on
pitches where the ball stays
alarmingly low. Watson manages to
do so in large part by collapsing
his back knee on almost every shot
he plays. This helps him get under
the ball and find elevation. To hit
the ball in the air while playing
horizontal bat shots, the bat must
not go above the bounce of the
ball in the backlift. It's incredible
to see how low Watson goes by
dropping his back knee and hands
to get under the low bounce.
Watson has turned the
fundamentals of batting on their
head and is still hugely successful.
It is widely believed that cricket is
primarily a side-on game, and
batting more so. It is believed that
if both a batsman's shoulders are
square-on while he plays strokes
through the off side off the front
foot, he is doomed. It is also
thought that a straight drive can
only be hit effectively with a
straight bat.
Watson not only shows both his
shoulders square-on, on almost
every shot he plays, including the
straight drive, he also plays with a
vertically straight bat only against
balls that are too full to be played
with a slightly anguled or almost
horizontal bat. Under normal
circumstances, he should miss
more often than not, but his back
knee comes to his rescue. While
playing a sweep, it's advised to
drop the back knee, which helps
you to stay really low, prevents you
from going off-balance, and helps
watch the ball closely. Watson
follows the same principles, but
does so even when playing down
the ground. Staying low while
playing all the shots off the front
foot make him successful even on
subcontinental pitches.
Collapsing the back leg has
negative implications too. For
starters, it makes it difficult to hit
the ball straight, for your weight,
instead of being on top of the ball,
stays somewhere in between and
you end up dragging the ball
squarish on off-side shots.
Somehow Watson has managed to
take care of that too, which makes
his adjustment quite extraordinary.
Finally, the secret to his clean
hitting is the shape he maintains
during and after hitting those big
shots. Even while he plays
outrageous strokes, like the flat-
batted swipe over the bowler's
head, he manages to stay quite
composed. His arms, shoulders and
torso are always firm, rarely losing
shape.
Watson's unique way of playing
makes it difficult for bowlers to
find the right length and lines to
bowl to him.
Former India opener Aakash
Chopra is the author of Out of the
Blue, an account of Rajasthan's
2010-11 Ranji Trophy victory. His
website is here and his Twitter feed
Author
Topic: What will be the next innovation in batting technique? (Read 5732 times)