Problem playing leg side balls

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akkers

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Problem playing leg side balls

I have a youngster who is very strong on off side and even plays a good pull shot. However he is very poor at playing low leg-side balls. He just cant make contact and bowlers repeatedly send down balls down leg side when they see him.

How can he improve this aspect of his batting?
 
Re: Problem playing leg side balls

Hard to say without seeing him but let me take an educated guess!

Most players that have the problem you describe are getting themselves closed off to the leg side because they are keen to hit through the off side.

Once they are in a closed position they have to play round their body to get to balls that go down the leg side and therefore miss the ball a lot. If the player is closed off in the stance (feet or shoulders) or their backlift goes over leg stump (or even towards leg slip) they have cut off the leg side. Here is a picture to illustrate:

2803345834_6d19baff34.jpg


The other main cause of this is the head being too far over in the stance like this:

2803339984_5854631ee8.jpg


Although that is over exaggerated, if your head leans to the off side your weight is likely to go that way, forcing you to plant your front foot. That's OK for off side shots but leg side shots are again closed off.

The answer to all these problems is to correct the stance and backswing. The head should be over the toe in the stance and the shoulders/feet should be side on or slightly open. The backlift should go up over off stump.

This will give the player access to on side shots like the on drive and flick off the legs through midwicket or square leg. However, these shots are tricky to get right and will need to be coached too. You can't do that without correcting the setup first though.

Let me know if you can see any of those errors in the player.
 
Re: Problem playing leg side balls

Some of this is correct. The youngster has a tendency to concentrate on the off-side. His front foot and body seem to be heading to off as a trigger. However I cant say he is closing himself off with the bat lift. He tends to pick the bat up, loop it wide off off-stump and then brings it down fairly straight (a la Geoff Boycott coaching method).

His problem is not all leg-side shots. He can play off the knees/hips ok; its just the leg-side balls that stay low. I am not if he should be bending his knees further or not.
 
Re: Problem playing leg side balls

It's good his backswing is in line. It sounds like the problem is his desire to go off side.

I suggest working on head position by drilling the on drive and straight drive. Leaning intoo the shot with the head and striking the ball out in front of the pad usual sorts out knee position for itself.

Once that is done encorage the player in the nets to only hit through the V and not through the covers at all. This will reinforce the correct position of balance. Get him thinking between mid on and mid off rather than mid off and cover. Then expand it out as he gets comfortable at the crease.
 
Re: Problem playing leg side balls

i used to have a problem with the same thing
take him to the nets and give him throwdowns for a while
just full on his legs,
do this consistently and get him used to playing balls on the leg side
he'll get it
 
Re: Problem playing leg side balls

another thing may be psychological
there may be nothing wrong with his technique
when the ball is full he likes to cover drive
if he knows cover driving is his strength he probably wants to play it as much as possible
junior batsman are always told to play to their strenghts
 
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