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[InternalTraining]

Folks,

What is your technique and thoughts on dominating the channel outside off in limited over games? How do you minimize your risk of getting caught behind/slips or point? Bowlers dry up the run rate by bowling outside off and this leads to rash dismissals. Batters who take the leg-stump guard have to reach for the ball that is cutting away from them. Steven Smith of Australia ventures away from leg and often exposes his leg stump but he has the runs to show for his technique. What do you do? Take middle-stump guard? Walk across line? How do you handle quicks who are creating this angle?

[Cin88]

Take middle, leave anything outside off. They soon start bowling straight once they realise that i'm quite happy to go test match on them. Failing that, break out the cut and cover drive and get some boundaries stuck on their figures.

[tim2000s]

Take middle, leave anything outside off. They soon start bowling straight once they realise that i'm quite happy to go test match on them. Failing that, break out the cut and cover drive and get some boundaries stuck on their figures.

Just what we like to hear. Keep bowling in the channel and you won't score any runs, and you'll also not expect the one seaming in [emoji3]


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[Cin88]

I always expect the ball seaming in, often at the expense of outside off stump shots, hence why I tend to leave them.

[Seniorplayer]

As an opener at the start of the innings tend to leave every ball outside off stump in the knowledge that no bowler at my level is good enough to continually bowl there without bowling wides. The key here for me is to know where my  off stump is that way should the ball seam in I can easily play it. Also i only play 50 overs.

[ProCricketer1982]

Leave well outside off and bowlers come to you (excluding old dilly dabblers who don't count as proper bowling anymore).. Up you might get one ball in 3 years happen to seam back in enough to bowl you but tbh, that's rare, the bowler doesn't mean it and you're already a few 1000's runs in credit by then

[uknsaunders]

Take a few steps down the wicket if he isn't quick and the keepers back. It cuts down the amount of movement and forces him to change length. Sometimes they bowl better (got a good one a couple of weeks ago when he shortened his length and I nicked it) but sometimes they go completely to pot. It's not risky if the intent is simply to make him bowl a bad ball and play proper cricket shots. If you don't feel happy shuffling down the track, just keep marking your guard further down the wicket! Some games I've been batting off 17/18 yards against some trundle. Eventually the keeper will come up but some bowlers don't like that, either way it's 1-0 to you.

[InternalTraining]

Take a few steps down the wicket if he isn't quick and the keepers back. It cuts down the amount of movement and forces him to change length. Sometimes they bowl better (got a good one a couple of weeks ago when he shortened his length and I nicked it) but sometimes they go completely to pot. It's not risky if the intent is simply to make him bowl a bad ball and play proper cricket shots. If you don't feel happy shuffling down the track, just keep marking your guard further down the wicket! Some games I've been batting off 17/18 yards against some trundle. Eventually the keeper will come up but some bowlers don't like that, either way it's 1-0 to you.

I start off my inning by triggering a step-and-a-half forward. That takes out in-swingers and yorkers. Bowlers are forced to bowl short and I pull them to the boundary. This pattern forces them to the channel outside off. That is where reach becomes a problem and I start leaving balls. Dot balls galore. Any thing swinging in and I can drive it, no problem. My scoring slows down by all the leaves. Lot of it is fear of nicking a ball to the keeper or slips. I see some batters absolutely kill anything outside off. Anything coming to my body, full or short, I can score on. Anything outside off is like a live-wire that I am reluctant to touch unless I get my body close/behind it. Unfortunately, with the pace of opening bowlers, criss-crossing to the line of the ball is not always possible.

Do you guys think there is merit to Steven Smith's approach? He take middle-stump guard and basically swats everything on off to the leg side. Cook and Amla are predominantly leg/on-side players. Smith has few off-side shots.

[Chad]

Do you guys think there is merit to Steven Smith's approach? He take middle-stump guard and basically swats everything on off to the leg side. Cook and Amla are predominantly leg/on-side players. Smith has few off-side shots.

I think I watched a video of Bob Woolmer coaching, and he said something along the lines of:

'If you like to play on the leg side, you should take a middle stump guard. If you're greedy, and like scoring all round the wicket, you should take a middle-leg guard. If you're predominantly an off side player, you should take a leg stump guard to give yourself that extra bit of room to free your arms.'

If something is a weakness, then leave it in a match situation and improve on it by first mentally going through the shot, visualising what kind of a line and length you're going to play the shot off, then groove the shot through shadow batting and underarm feeds, then bowling machine. If I had the time to do it, this would probably be my approach. Yes, you may get out a few times at the beginning, but it's about building confidence in the shot. What works for Smith/Cook won't necessarily work for you!

I basically received a rectal examination on a fast and bouncy track at Tynedale on Sunday, where their opening bowler kept bowling a channel outside off and just short of a length. Kept having to leave, and ended up scoring 2 runs off 12 deliveries from him. (The runs came from a ball on the stumps) I'm a bit of a front foot bully, which I'm looking to change up, as with more attacking batting being on demand due to the professional game, I'd like to make runs off as many types of deliveries as possible! (Games at my level have also been reduced to 40 overs a side, which makes 200 a par score)

[tim2000s]

Take a few steps down the wicket if he isn't quick and the keepers back. It cuts down the amount of movement and forces him to change length. Sometimes they bowl better (got a good one a couple of weeks ago when he shortened his length and I nicked it) but sometimes they go completely to pot. It's not risky if the intent is simply to make him bowl a bad ball and play proper cricket shots. If you don't feel happy shuffling down the track, just keep marking your guard further down the wicket! Some games I've been batting off 17/18 yards against some trundle. Eventually the keeper will come up but some bowlers don't like that, either way it's 1-0 to you.

I always bring the keeper up if someone starts doing this to me, and take half a yard off the pace. I've found batsmen hate it (and we always check where they first stand to determine if it should happen from ball one). You don't need the pace when the ball is moving!

[Simmy]

i leave nothing outside offstump.

if its got width its going, if i snick off i snick off.

Opened batting 2 weeks ago. got a ball just short of a half volley just outside of stick was trying to push it through covers for 4 but it seamed away and i got caught at second slip just one of them things. but can think of millions of other times where this has paid off

[skip1973]

I can't understand why you're not play in the IPL at the very least if it has come off millions of times.

[felix]

As an opener myself I think my greatest strength is knowing where my off stump is.  However unfortunately I'm not at all strong off my legs - wish I was better but I miss out on so much.  My strongest scoring area is in the cover - 3rd man arc, so I can't afford to keep shouldering arms or I'd never score a run.  So I simply base my judgement of what to play and what to leave in the channel on length.  Short or very full I'll look to score, otherwise I'll leave it.

[uknsaunders]

I always bring the keeper up if someone starts doing this to me, and take half a yard off the pace. I've found batsmen hate it (and we always check where they first stand to determine if it should happen from ball one). You don't need the pace when the ball is moving!

Agree but many bowlers aren't comfort able with keepers coming up.

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[Simmy]

I can't understand why you're not play in the IPL at the very least if it has come off millions of times.

what a stupid comment.

so if you opened the batting in a T20 game and the bowlers was bowling out side off stump you would just leave every ball?

Nick will back me up here he has seen me do this a fair few times!

he has also see this fail many times