Print

Best batsman bat first

15 (13.6%)

We pick specific players to do certain jobs ie. a blocker to open

35 (31.8%)

We pick a solid top 3, attacking batsman later

26 (23.6%)

Certain players have favourite positions so we go with it

25 (22.7%)

Whoever is turns up!

9 (8.2%)

Total Members Voted: 67

[uknsaunders]

3 votes on this one as it's never cut and dried!

[shamelessshaun]

As captain I put myself number 4 or 5 depending on how rough I may be feeling. The rest is pretty much the same week to week if everyone is available. Will obviously getting changed to suit certain situations (fast runs/block overs etc.).

[Buzz]

Is this for a club side or an international side?

My main philosophy is to have a mix of attacking and defensive batsman throughout the side - so have one hitter and one blocker opening
I would then speak to my best batsman and ask him where he wants to bat and build the rest of the order around him.
I look to mix experience and youth
Other than that, this is club cricket, you look to do your best with the team you have!

If the pitch looks really terrible and we are batting first, I have been known to front load the batting order with blockers to try and see of the new ball bowlers.

[Percy]

Is this for a club side or an international side?

My main philosophy is to have a mix of attacking and defensive batsman throughout the side - so have one hitter and one blocker opening
I would then speak to my best batsman and ask him where he wants to bat and build the rest of the order around him.
I look to mix experience and youth
Other than that, this is club cricket, you look to do your best with the team you have!

If the pitch looks really terrible and we are batting first, I have been known to front load the batting order with blockers to try and see of the new ball bowlers.

Looks spot on to me; this is club cricket after all and generally there is a mix of abilities and ages.

[uknsaunders]

Club cricket very definitely @Buzz , unless international teams pick from whoever turns up?

[Calzehbhoy]

All done by how broken people are from the night before.

The least hungover in first to give the rest time to sober up!

[sarg]

Try to bat at 5 or 6 and then you get out of umpiring or scoring...well at least thats how see it. Lol. I never get to bat lower than 4 grrr

[northernboy1987]

I'm skipper and it is tough sometimes to get a mix of fielding what you think is roughly your best batting order and keeping everyone happy.

Our two gun batsmen have preferred positions (1 and 3) so they bat there 90% of the time. In 40/50 overs I'd put our resident blocker in to open with Gun1 and then I'd bat 4/5/6 depending on who else is playing with me as the teams all round(er). But in T20 I like to put a pinch hitter (50 off 20 or out 2nd ball kind of lad) in with Gun1 to try and get us off to a flyer, with Gun2 still batting at 3 (good technique but hits the ball hard) and hold back the blocker as someone who can consolidate the innings in case we lose early wickets and keep the batting order flexible depending on situation.

[TangoWhiskey]

We have people who want to open so we let them, ignoring any ability. Worst comes to worst, they are out early and our better batsmen come in. A good situation will be that they have seen off the shine and the opening bowlers before they get out, but we'll be on 20 off 10 or something. Occasionally the come off and get past 50.

At our level it doesn't make a blind bit of difference where people bat as one good innings tends to win the game. Might have to review it as we progress up the leagues though having only just joined one for this season but for now it works out fine.

[uknsaunders]

It's a topic we have debated a few times.

Do you recognise that you only have 45 overs to bat and you need your best batsman facing most of the balls, particularly to deal with the better bowlers

or

Do you take the pragmatic approach and say we need to shield our best batsman for a few overs to come in when they have less chance of getting a good ball

In some ways the wicket determines the approach. Play on good decks and the new ball isn't much of an issue. Play on a bowler friendly deck and the pragmatic approach can win games.

I personally liked to attack the new ball, sending in an aggressive batsman to put the opening bowlers on the back foot. You can draw the sting more quickly out of an attack if somebody smacks 30 in 5 overs up front. However, you also die by the sword if the batsmen get out being to aggressive. Having somebody "steady" in the top order is important either opening or further down, just a case of where.

[InternalTraining]

Good topic!

I have seen blocker-fast scorer combo work well for us. Our pitches are AstroTurf with no turn and lots of swing. Blockers with good technique help. Why the qualifier? Because my definition of a blocker is someone with great defensive technique who will dispatch a bad ball for runs. We have one blocker who will prolong his outing with literal blocking and no running drawing the jeers and ire of the pavilion. And that is not blocking in my book, that is squatting.

[northernboy1987]

Good topic!

I have seen blocker-fast scorer combo work well for us. Our pitches are AstroTurf with no turn and lots of swing. Blockers with good technique help. Why the qualifier? Because my definition of a blocker is someone with great defensive technique who will dispatch a bad ball for runs. We have one blocker who will prolong his outing with literal blocking and no running drawing the jeers and ire of the pavilion. And that is not blocking in my book, that is squatting.

Our blocker isn't always capable of putting the bad ball to the fence but he does run like a whippet on heat haha 

[Cin88]

I've always played in teams that value runs scored over everything else batting wise so generally whoever has the most runs to date finds themselves higher up the order, apart from the captain who just chooses where he wants to be.

Personally I prefer having a blocker open to try and hold one end up for the majority of the innings whilst more naturally agressive batsmen go to work at the other end.

[ProCricketer1982]

1-2 proper openers who punish the bad balls but have the best techniques and mentality
3-4 best batsmen usually, guys who have sound techniques and especially 4 more attacking in mindset but can play properly too
5 attacking Stoke maker but not a slogger
6 probably a guy who can attack but also marshal he tail so needs to be able to do both but probably not as competent as 3-4

7+ hitters of varying degrees of competence but should all be able to occupy the crease to bat for stumps of needed and not just give it away . Ideally score about 240-260 off 50-55 overs. Anymore and you don't tempt Oppos into the chase. If you are playing win/lose then just load up with sloggers from the start, no need for proper batsmen in that game really tbh

[edge]

Club cricket I think you need to have one of your best batsman opening ideally, if they don't like opening then the good old hitter/blocker combo. Agree with Buzz in that when I'm putting a batting order together I'm ideally aiming to make sure there's players capable of scoring quick runs mixed throughout the order, it's limited overs after all so you don't want a pair getting bogged down together for a long period. In a perfect world you've got those positive players to get on top, mixed in with people who just bat time and score faster as their innings progresses. More usually you're trying to make the best of what you've got though!