CRICKET HINTS

Evening Star, Issue 20666, 13 December 1930, Page 22

CRICKET HINTS

NO. V. —BATSMANSHIP [Written for tho ‘ Evening Star,’ by J. D. A. Scott and F, T. Baucock;]! Nothing is more completely emphatic in this world than the armchair critic, whether ho is expounding his theories on golf, football, cricket, or any other form of sport. We wish, as far as possible in tiie articles, to discuss cricket in as many phases as is practicable, and to avoid as far as is compatible with clearness contentious points that may give rise to endless discussion. Wo propose, therefore, when dealing with the subject of batsmanship, to confine ourselves to methods of producing the strokes required iu what may be described as the orthodox and classic manner, and to eschew criticism of well-known players whose styles do not conform to the orthodox, but whose results, nevertheless, appear to justify their methods.

To be effective criticism must be constructive and not merely destructive, as is usually the case with the pavilion brand. It is a coach’s job xo bo critical, but lie must be able to offer, in place of tffe tiling ho condemns, some substitutes that must bo superior, and the batsman can, by cooperating with his tutor, make the art or batting considerably easier than ho hud at first imagined possible. Wo use tho term “art of batting” advisedly, for batting is nothing it not an art. Only those who Have seen one of tho groat batsmen at work can appreciate the difference between tne first-class player and the goou club cricketer. There is just that difference tiiat there is between a lloyal Academician and a painter of lamp posts. It is frequently asserted that batsmen are born, not inade, and this has sometffh-j ot truth in it; but there are many outstanding instances of batsmen being, made trom apparently unpromising material. The ono and only C. B. Fry was undoubtedly a made batsman, and ho because tho master that he was through sheer perseverance and attention to correctness of style and. detail. Wilfred Rhodes, wiiose place on the batting list was once habitually No. 11, through his own dogged efforts lived to open England’s innings in test matches with Jack Hobbs. Great natural batsmen, however, besides being born, have to have a certain amount-of “tailoring” before they are fit to take their place in polite cricket society. To produce a stroke it is necessary that the eye and the mind should co-operate penectly. The eye, of course, acts first, flashes its message to the mind, winch, in turn, gives its order for tho required stroke _to bo served up. When a cricketer is in the condition commonly referred to as being “ out of practice ” what really is wrong is that nis eye and mind are not on terms of perfect understanding and co-operation. With practice eyesight becomes trained to the peculanties of a, swiftly-moving ball, and so does tho eye appear to become focussed to certain distances that it is usually extremely difficult for a deep-field to acquit himself with much credit in the slips, or for a slip to distinguish himself in judging the tall ones. Before the eye and mind are called upon to perform, their, duties there are certain small matters that batsmen can attend to to facilitate their functioning. The batsman’s stance at the •wicket must bo natural and without strain. His feet should bo from bin to ffin apart, (should they be together or very wide, apart, he will find that lie is unable to move rapidly. The left too should point in the direction of coverpoint, and the right towards third man. Tho weight of the body should bo evenly distributed on tho forepart of both feet for ordinary paced wickets. Where a “glue pot” is encountered, batsmen will find it a distinct advantage to maintain their weight slightly on their left foot, and in the case of a really fast wicket slightly on the right, so that they may move backwards quickly in the former case and forwards in the latter. The knees should be straight, but not stiff, with just enough give in them to make one conscious of having knees. The hands must, _in all cases, be together, as in gripping a golf club. If they are permitted to part, the point of balance of the bat will bo found to come between them, and the bat takes up a pendulum movement. An easy method of discovering for yourself the correct way to grip the bat is to stand in a normal position, with tho hands at your sides, palms turned inwards. Rest the bat against the left thigh. Without altering the relative position of the hands, advance them and bring them together, grasping the handle of the bat. If the left hand is too far in front of the handle it will be found impossible to keep the bottom of the bat from flicking upwards at the erld of the stroke, with horrid results—if too far behind you will find yourself too tied up and awkward to bring off a really “ meaty ” off drive. Grip the bat firmly, but not tightly, with the grip coming more from the fingers than tho palm of tho hand, permitting the flexibility of tho wrists full play. Tho correct position of the shoulders is the natural corollary of the correct position of the feet. If tho left foot points up the wicket towards tho bowler or mid-off, with the right slewed round towards point, tho “ two-eyed stance ” is the inevitable result. In parenthesis wo might add that, in our opinion, the phrase, “two-eyed stance,” is a distinct misnomer, and should always read “ two shouldered stance,” since both eyes should always be directed towards the bowler. It is not a good stance for the young player to adopt, and should not be used except by batsmen of big experience for some special purpose. It was first noticeably used by It. I*l. (“Tip”) Foster to combat the wiles of B. J. T. Bosanquet, the original googly merchant, and became somewhat too generally popular in tho decade before the war. Its use tends to restrict tho freedom of play to the off, since it is necessary firstly to place tho feet in tho correct position for off play, and then to swing the shoulders round to face the off—-much valuable time lost here. Tho eyes must be kept on tho bowler, throughout his run, and delivery, with the head as still as possible. We are now ready to make the stroke. Our body is correctly poised to make any movement ordered. The eye is ready to flash its message to the mind as soon as it appreciates the direction and flight of the ball, so that all we have to achieve to make the correct stroke is the smooth co-operation jn sequence of eye, mind, and body 'in obedience to one another. _ And by body wo primarily mean feet, since it is footwork that is going to bring the body into position to use the rest of the agents for tho stroke. Our sequence then (revised) will read Eye, mind, feet.