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[Cys1]

Garret, as I said in my first post, this now leads to a debate on which technique is best and something that I wanted to avoid.
Firstly, you are misunderstanding what I am saying. I am certainly not recommending that he plants his front foot. A forward press certainly does not mean a huge plant of the front foot across your stumps before the ball is bowled! It is a small movement positioning the front foot straight down the wicket, not closing off your stance at all.

Can it work against bowlers of 80mph? I can infact state that it even works against 90mph,having faced NTini, Simon Jones, Franklin Rose etc using this method. Sorry, thought it might illustrate that I am indeed speaking from personal experience not just throwing about untested advice.

The point is that the beauty of batting and cricket is that you can achieve the same result by using different methods. The most important thing is that the player uses the method that is appropriate to his technique and style of play. If not, we would all be batting the same way and how boring would that make cricket.

[GarrettJ]

I agree 100% that the reason cricket is such a wonderful game is that it is an art form not an exact science and open to a friendly debate.

I never moved at all at the crease until I moved up a few levels and then this technique was trained into me over a whole winter. It was more to combat some hostile short bowling than to get forward though.

Interesting to see who you played against, how did you find it, was your biggest problem the self doubt as they come steaming in? I find that is what holds back a lot of batsmen.

[Cys1]

No fortunately no self doubt, too young and stupid to have thought about it. Is this something that happens to you when quicks run in?
Loved quick bowling since it gave me a greater sense of alertness and somehow made me move better. You kinda also have to like quick bowling if you are an opener. Main issue as with most guys who play at that level was shot selection.

Found that anything under about 140kph was not that difficult to adjust to.There was a huge difference between guys that could get up to 145kph though. Does not sound like a huge difference on paper but it really makes for a big difference in the middle. Trigger movements usually would come in handy here.

[GarrettJ]

No self doubt for me, im a bit of a nutter, but i know a lot of good club players who when faced with a pro they crumble mentally. I open the batting and keep wicket as well, so im used to the ball flying at me as i like to stand up.

I love to face fast bowling the faster the better, i think the danger is the best bit ...slow bowling bores me to death. Ive been hit on the head a few times as like you say shot selction was a problem ... i used to go after EVERY short ball and often got pinned or caught at fine leg if i didnt quite get it right.

My training was to get me into the right position quicker and if i didnt quite get there i was to leave it. I think the idea was to get me used to getting inside the line and then hook it, if i wasnt then sway out of the way.

Now im very controlled against short fast bowling. i leave most of them. I dont face fast bowling these days so reckon i would be a walking target if i was to come up agaisnt anyhting 85 mph plus.