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[Blazer]

Try and hit towards the machine mate and tell your mate to arrange the machine so as to make the balls come into you
rather than move out 

[100 not out]

I think that sometimes we can over complicate things. Play in the v with a full face. You do fall over and do play away from your body. I would leave the wider balls. I think you need to pick up the bat slightly higher with the bowlers arm. Get your grip stance and backlift correct and you're nearly there. The majority of faults lie in one of these three.

[100 not out]

Didn't see many cover drives lol.

[Cover_Drive]

I think that sometimes we can over complicate things. Play in the v with a full face. You do fall over and do play away from your body. I would leave the wider balls. I think you need to pick up the bat slightly higher with the bowlers arm. Get your grip stance and backlift correct and you're nearly there. The majority of faults lie in one of these three.

I didn't quite get what youre saying regarding grip stance.

Regarding back lift you are saying it should be high ?

[ca_gold]

have you had a coach ever? not sure that working your kinks out on a machine is the best way to go about it. i'd contact geoffery crosse for private coaching lessons. he was an assistant coach/analyst with team canada for a few years. he does private sessions. They will be well worth it for you. i dont have his contact info - but im sure if you ask around you will be able to get it.

[Cys1]

But surely a trigger isn't changing anything at all it's just giving the "shuffle" a different name!
I understand it from CD's perspective, there's a video of me in the youtube thread with an open stance and a trigger where i basically take a step down the pitch.
I then closed off my stance a bit and have nearly got rid of the trigger and for the first net it felt really weird not doing the trigger but only for one net then it was pretty much normal

yip, it's the same thing. his problem was never the fact that he had a trigger, it was the his balance. michael vaughn, ricky ponting, jacques kallis, ab de villiers, all these guys have triggers and don't have many issues with balance. it is however how you execute the trigger that matters most. he could have the same problem with balance without a trigger as well.  i am sure that Buzz would agree with me when i say that often, from a coaching perspective, more than one solution to a specific problem can be found and that identifying the solution that is more suitable to the player and would be integrated more easily is often the best way to go. i am simply suggesting  that doing something that he might feel more comfortable with might yield quicker results as opposed to something completely different.
Either way, the forum has done it's job, it has provided CD with a number of possible solutions to his issues and it's up to him now to decide how to implement these.

[Canners]

coverdrive i think you need to sell some of those lovely bats now......

[Johng]

As I am a batting coach trigger movement are not recommended for everyone but do work for some. But as a whole the recommendation is to remain still and eyes level and good head position while at the crease and not moving till the ball leaves the bowlers hand,this does work for a majority of players. Trigger movements do work for some in helping with crease organisation and has worked wonders for Simon Katich, Paul Collingwood etc but can create an awful mess for some.

If a batsman is falling a trigger movement can make the problem worse if balance is not corrected first. Elbows need to bought into the body more and leading with the head should be introduced but this is easier said than done as when a player is under pressure in a match scenario bad habits reappear. So all of this takes time and needs to embedded into the technique as a natural and first reaction. Hand position will also help by the arc of the swing being bought into line with the body but this does go hand in hand with the position of the elbows.

[Cys1]

Hi john. Agreed. hence the suggestion to do it before the bowlers delivery stride in order to eliminate head and feet movement at the release of delivery. this will then also give him time to lead with the head by pushing slightly forward straight down the wicket preventing the head from falling over to the off side. under pressure he will likely revert back to a trigger and therefore i suggested that he keeps it but just do it a bit earlier. do you not think that this would be a reasonable first option before cutting out the trigger completely?

[PedalsMcgrew]

If I was you I would book an hour with a coach, he'll give you some drills to work on in your own time and the improvement will be noticeable! I had a few issues much like yours regarding my balance and spent an hour with an ECB level 3 coach the other day. My confidence returned, I am standing up straighter, I'm more balanced and I am hitting the ball harder as a result of everything being in the right positon at the start and my head leading all my front foot shots.

Will be the best few quid you can spend.....most of the advice on here does seem to mirror what I was told but nothing beats a practical demonstration!

[Buzz]

Hi john. Agreed. hence the suggestion to do it before the bowlers delivery stride in order to eliminate head and feet movement at the release of delivery. this will then also give him time to lead with the head by pushing slightly forward straight down the wicket preventing the head from falling over to the off side. under pressure he will likely revert back to a trigger and therefore i suggested that he keeps it but just do it a bit earlier. do you not think that this would be a reasonable first option before cutting out the trigger completely?

No personally I don't - I think under pressure he forgets to trigger - if you look at the video when there are two or three balls bowled in quick sucession he forgets to move.
When you are playing at a mid to low level, staying still is the best possible thing you can do - it will give you less to think about or to distract you from watching the ball and playing each ball on its merits.

[Buzz]

If I was you I would book an hour with a coach, he'll give you some drills to work on in your own time and the improvement will be noticeable! I had a few issues much like yours regarding my balance and spent an hour with an ECB level 3 coach the other day. My confidence returned, I am standing up straighter, I'm more balanced and I am hitting the ball harder as a result of everything being in the right positon at the start and my head leading all my front foot shots.

Will be the best few quid you can spend.....most of the advice on here does seem to mirror what I was told but nothing beats a practical demonstration!

Totally agreed, it took me 5 years to listen to the advice of the L3 coach who I worked with - but he was right all along

[Cys1]

No personally I don't - I think under pressure he forgets to trigger - if you look at the video when there are two or three balls bowled in quick sucession he forgets to move.
When you are playing at a mid to low level, staying still is the best possible thing you can do - it will give you less to think about or to distract you from watching the ball and playing each ball on its merits.

You do have a point there! triggers do become very handy when you are facing very quick bowling though.
most cricketers do not watch the ball properly and move too early before they have identified the proper line and length.

[Buzz]

most cricketers do not watch the ball properly and move too early before they have identified the proper line and length.

Yes - and then having committed to the shot they "drop" their head as the ball pitches so it looks like their head is over the ball, but actually it is looking at the toe of the bat and not the ball at all. This is one of the most common cause of edging to slip and being bowled through the gate in lower level cricket.

[Cys1]

In fact, most first class players don't watch the ball properly as well. they pick up line and length and then let the hands and feet take over without watching the ball onto the bat. there's probably a reason why most of the great batsmen are so focused on really watching the ball out of the hand of the bowler. these are the guys who have that "extra time" to play. they are simply able to pick up line and length quicker because they are making a conscious effort to watch every ball.