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Yes

10 (50%)

No

10 (50%)

Total Members Voted: 20

[19reading87]

I know there seem to be endless amounts of topics on trigger movements but I was wondering the above question.

Please explain your answer.

[WalkingWicket37]

No idea what it does, was taught to trigger when I first started playing so just do it! 

[ProCricketer1982]

Personally I've found them unhelpful. My reason is that I find I end up committed onto the front foot, it gets planted more and I can be undone by simple bk of a length balls. I've watched many trigger movement players fall over their pads and get out lbw.

However, when against real pace (80+), I find myself triggering naturally without even knowing. I think it's needed vs pace but pointless vs medium plod. I found at pace it helped me get behind the ball.

[jamielsn15]

I'm not sure.  A couple of seasons ago I had one (back and across) until I realised it was playing to my weakness by being on off stump, i.e. missing straighter balls when my strength is the offside.

I was very well balanced and still early last season and scoring (for me) consistent runs, taking a middle guard.  Towards the end of the season my runs tailed off in correlation with (unknowingly) falling over, causing me to be bowled or lbw.

With a few weeks to go our skipper brought in Mal Loye, who he knows through work, to do an outdoor net with us.  He had his sidearm and, first ball, had me plumb lbw.  Second ball the same.  Third, he paused at delivery and I was falling over.  The first thing he tried to do with me was a trigger - directly backwards then step forwards.  In a nutshell, I was all over the place!

Long story short, I've been at Vitas for nets and working with Jake on a middle guard and staying upright, eyes level and going towards the ball.  I feel much more comfortable doing that than worrying about timing of triggers.  I understand totally if players have grooved it to perfection, but (as someone who's tried it for some time), it's not for me.

I think it feels like I have to think about when I perform the trigger, so I'm not focussed on the bowler and then the ball.  I've clearly never grooved a trigger for it to be unconscious competence.  I probably could over the course of a winter, but I genuinely don't see how a trigger would help me at the level I play at.  I've scored my highest scores by staying upright, eyes level and watching the ball.

That said, there will be forumites with a lot more ability than I to provide their own insights!

[Stumper]

Personally it is all a load of old b0llocks, If you have or do not have a trigger, you play with what is comfortable for you. I have a slight trigger movement where my front foot slightly moves a couple of inches to the right and forward before deciding what the ball is doing and then play accordingly, and that is the way i have always played since a kid, it is just natural for me. When i was younger I had a few coaches trying to take that out of my game, it never worked for me and i always went back to what felt natural to me. On the other hand I have had coaches that have said nothing and even encouraged a healthy front foot trigger movement. At the end of the day nobody plays the same way, we all play to what is natural to us, and no coach really can agree amongst themselves what is the correct way to play, as they all have their own ideas. Just work out what is best for you, taking on board the good things that coaches tell you and filtering out what does not work for you. At the end of the day we are all different and take different approaches to make our batting work to any given situation.

[InternalTraining]

For an opening batsman who is playing against quicks, trigger movement is very helpful. It aligns to me the line of delivery, gets me in a strong balanced position, and gets my feet moving. My initial position is back-and-across-weight-on-back-foot which I adjust forward in case of a fuller or good length delivery. Reality is that against genuine quicks you have very little to no time to move your feet and my trigger gets me close to a ready position for a broad range of strokes. Once the trigger is executed, I shift my weight forward or backwards depending on the type of the delivery.

You can't have the same trigger for all types of bowlers and will have to adjust accordingly. I have a different trigger for spinners. For medium-pacers and quick spinners, I start with back-and-across which enables to read the ball and also eliminates the surprise of a quicker delivery [note: have been lbw'ed by quicker deliveries from spinners when coming forwards on their FIRST delivery of the over/spell. Bad way to get out!]. A medium-pacer is that is consistently bowling good length deliveries, back-and-across is not always effective. In my last T-20 of the last season, this pacer had impeccable line and length and I changed my trigger to front-foot (sub-continental style) and it yielded good results. There is an article on Cricinfo about Tendulkar using different triggers for different bowlers.

Ultimately you,  as a batsman, have to experiment with different approaches to different styles of bowling based on your physique, temperament and technique. Hopefully, your technique will evolve over time and so will your triggers.

[InternalTraining]

Having said that, if I had to pick one trigger and use it consistently for sake of safety as a batter, I would use back-and-across. It buys you a lot of time to read the ball when facing genuine quicks and other types of bowlers.

[InternalTraining]

And, I am the lone "Yes" vote so far.

[Stumper]

Yes you are  for now. Like i said everyone has their own way of going about it, no one is wrong or right, just what works for yourself.

[Maverick79]

I'm in the 'no' camp. The most important thing is have your head remaining still at the point of delivery. I used to have a trigger of back and across from batting on leg but I found being on the move had quite a difference to my perception of the pace of the ball and the time I felt I had to play it - hence I felt I was rushed and found it difficult to cope with speeds above 55 on the bowling machine. I also found it hard to play on the leg side as I found myself moving across to off when the ball was heading towards leg stump.

My focus now is to remain as still as possible on release which I find allows me to pick the line and length much quicker than having a trigger. No would then move my feet accordingly to get myself in line with the ball. If I choose to advance down the track then I concentrate on keeping my head as level and as still as possible whilst advancing.

[InternalTraining]

^ I should clarify that I am not moving when the ball is released. The idea is to have your head still and eyes level when the ball is released and by then, I have completed my trigger and am in a "set" position. Lot of this evolved by batting in front of Bola.

Later, I noticed that Pros do this as well and it is probably a natural evolution of technique due to bowling machine experience. Amla is a great example.

[ProCricketer1982]

^ I should clarify that I am not moving when the ball is released. The idea is to have your head still and eyes level when the ball is released and by then, I have completed my trigger and am in a "set" position. Lot of this evolved by batting in front of Bola.

Later, I noticed that Pros do this as well and it is probably a natural evolution of technique due to bowling machine experience. Amla is a great example.

My game is entirely bola made and I don't trigger until I go 80+, even then I don't know I'm doing it tbh. What the pros do is completely different to amateurs, totally different game.

[Stuey]

I used the Alec Stewart back and across, because i was young and Stewart was smashing the Windies, but it never really worked for me, kept being stuck on the crease. Now i just stay still. I recall Rob key saying a couple of seasons ago he spent the winter trying a trigger movement but couldn't get comfortable with it after facing roughly 10,000 balls, so come the start of the season he gave it up and stood still. That sold it for me.

[Buzz]

My game is entirely bola made and I don't trigger until I go 80+, even then I don't know I'm doing it tbh. What the pros do is completely different to amateurs, totally different game.

This.

If you are going to trigger you need to complete it before the bowler is in his delivery stride (also mentioned above)

[wdeans92]

there is a huge chance it could maybe not make you more balanced but in a stronger position to play the ball, chanderpaul as an example