Hitting the ball outside leg..

Matty_k

New Member
Hitting the ball outside leg..

I'd like to consider myself a decent bat. Have made a ton before in senior cricket i am still a junior. Anyways a couple of years ago most likely 2. The
only place i could play a ball was if it was down leg side. Then overtime i
eventually got more and more confident with my batting now. I can play shots
all over the ground. Most of my runs are from the offside or straight down
the ground. The point i am trying to make is the last 2 times i have gone out
i have been lbw which i thought i could play down leg. One was a full toss that
should've been put away. The other was a shorter ball that stayed low.

I cant seem to get bat on ball with anything remotely pitched outside leg.
If i do manage to hit the ball it wont even reach fine leg. What can i do to improve this?
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Matty_k;310370 said:
I'd like to consider myself a decent bat. Have made a ton before in senior cricket i am still a junior. Anyways a couple of years ago most likely 2. The
only place i could play a ball was if it was down leg side. Then overtime i
eventually got more and more confident with my batting now. I can play shots
all over the ground. Most of my runs are from the offside or straight down
the ground. The point i am trying to make is the last 2 times i have gone out
i have been lbw which i thought i could play down leg. One was a full toss that
should've been put away. The other was a shorter ball that stayed low.

I cant seem to get bat on ball with anything remotely pitched outside leg.
If i do manage to hit the ball it wont even reach fine leg. What can i do to improve this?

Practice playing leg side shots in the nets and until you perfect it just let the ones down leg go. They will be called wide or the bowler won't put it there too often anyway.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Are your legs getting in the way? I have that problem. I just try to get them out of the way and get my bat in there.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Sometimes it can also be your stance that it is closed towards the off side and you need to open it up more. You will know this is the case if you can only hit it to mid on when playing leg side and that you will not be able to play a hip glance without edging one.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Well lately i have gone out a couple of times caught off the edge trying to play a glance.
So maybe ill move my stance a little more towards leg side.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

i had the same problem , and have made a slight change to my technique.
i now take leg stump and as the bowl hits his delivery stride and make a back and across movement with my back foot onto middle. i feel i watch the ball better and work off my pads with ease.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

fmr_13;311552 said:
i had the same problem , and have made a slight change to my technique.
i now take leg stump and as the bowl hits his delivery stride and make a back and across movement with my back foot onto middle. i feel i watch the ball better and work off my pads with ease.

That's a fine idea. Try it. Practice it alot. It'll take practise but it'll work.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Matty_k;311548 said:
Well lately i have gone out a couple of times caught off the edge trying to play a glance.
So maybe ill move my stance a little more towards leg side.

Make sure you do it with a coach or someone though.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Mousey;311615 said:
That's a fine idea. Try it. Practice it alot. It'll take practise but it'll work.

Yeh, believe me it has taken a lot of time to get it to work.
My old man would have thrown me about 1000 balls in the past month I reckon, plus 2 trainings and 3 matches a week.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

fmr_13;311901 said:
Yeh, believe me it has taken a lot of time to get it to work.
My old man would have thrown me about 1000 balls in the past month I reckon, plus 2 trainings and 3 matches a week.

Yeah !!! After all, practice makes a man perfect.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

A couple of things spring to mind as possibles. Of course without seeing you it's impossible to say for sure.

1. Your head is too far to the off side in your stance. It should be over your toe.
2. Your backlift is over middle or even leg stump.
3. Your downswing is not coming down straight
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Hello, Im not the greatest batsmen of all time, but i might be able to help you. Just watch the ball closer, Or maybe you get too exicted seeing a ball down leg, so just calm down and hit it with out the exictment. Practice in the nets.. Rember Watch The Ball. All the best..
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Matty_k;310370 said:
I'd like to consider myself a decent bat. Have made a ton before in senior cricket i am still a junior. Anyways a couple of years ago most likely 2. The
only place i could play a ball was if it was down leg side. Then overtime i
eventually got more and more confident with my batting now. I can play shots
all over the ground. Most of my runs are from the offside or straight down
the ground. The point i am trying to make is the last 2 times i have gone out
i have been lbw which i thought i could play down leg. One was a full toss that
should've been put away. The other was a shorter ball that stayed low.

I cant seem to get bat on ball with anything remotely pitched outside leg.
If i do manage to hit the ball it wont even reach fine leg. What can i do to improve this?

Matty, I had this same problem at the start of this season. The key to being able to hit legside deliveries is to aim to use the pace of the ball and turn it away, rather than to try and hit it hard.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

The Doosra;318952 said:
Matty, I had this same problem at the start of this season. The key to being able to hit legside deliveries is to aim to use the pace of the ball and turn it away, rather than to try and hit it hard.

Yes and no.

If it's a half volley it should be put away squarer because it's a bad ball. You should aim to slap it through midwicket or square leg with a tennis topspin type action.

A good length ball can be helped finer.

However, both of those points are useless if your head, feet, shoulders and bat are out of position. Look at that first.
 
Re: Hitting the ball outside leg..

Matty_k;310370 said:
I'd like to consider myself a decent bat. Have made a ton before in senior cricket i am still a junior. Anyways a couple of years ago most likely 2. The
only place i could play a ball was if it was down leg side. Then overtime i
eventually got more and more confident with my batting now. I can play shots
all over the ground. Most of my runs are from the offside or straight down
the ground. The point i am trying to make is the last 2 times i have gone out
i have been lbw which i thought i could play down leg. One was a full toss that
should've been put away. The other was a shorter ball that stayed low.

I cant seem to get bat on ball with anything remotely pitched outside leg.
If i do manage to hit the ball it wont even reach fine leg. What can i do to improve this?
Try and have a teammate bowl to you in the nets. It sounds like that you either hardly practice your batting or you don't do it at all.
Practice makes perfect.
Read the delivery that is being bowled to you and try and make contact.
Don't forget to move your feet. That will stop you from getting out LBW.
If it is a spinner that keeps getting you out, get a spinner to bowl to you in the nets. That way you will get used to bat a little differently.
Hope that helps.
 
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