taking guard

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

As a spinner i do observe the batsmen's guard to judge his batting fav side wether it is middle, leg or middle & leg stump.

[Palley]

I`m no batsman, but I would suggest try different guards in the nets. Whichever position you feel most confident with, take that as a start in the next match.
I take middle and off purely because I`m not as strong on the off side by starting more to the off I can play more balls to leg or straight without moving my feet too much and over complicating things. KISS or Keep It Simple Stupid was made for me!!

[NEWCC (L)]

Originally Posted by edladd

That was in a taverners game - marked his guard on leg and then stood about 5 inches outside that! I don't think he knew what he was doing somehow

a taverners game? Lord Taverners?
what school did you play with and when?

[good_shot_4_runs]

taverners, isnt that the really wierd rules like 2 20 over sides and you get bonus runs depending on how big of a partnership you make

taking guard for me is tking middle, then imagineing a line on off stump all the way up, so i know where i can and cant play from, it all depends on the batsmen, if i stand up on leg i tend to play at more balls and lose track of my off peg

[TheFieldingSpecialist]

I tend to take middle stump and then place my toes on that line in line with the bowler. For bowlers that move the ball and bowl fairly full I like to bat out of my crease to cut down the angles and reduce the chance of LBW, whilst for the quicker guys that bowl fairly short and occasionally throw in a bouncer or two, I prefer to bat in my crease to give myself more time to play a shot.

For a left arm over bowler, I generally take leg stump (leg to leg) and open up my stance slightly, so that I am still aligned with the bowler. Many cricketers will tell you that this causes problems because it increases the angle across you, however this angle is only perceived. If you face the bowler, the bowler can only create angle across your stumps, not across your stance. The way I see it, if a bowler is bowling from square leg (hypothetically of course), then everyone will turn to face the bowler, so not opening up your stance slightly to a left hander doesn't really make any sense.