chaman82
County Cricketer
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2011
- Online Cricket Games Owned
- Don Bradman Cricket 14 - PS3
Footwork is equally important against faster bowlers too. Obviously you won't get as close to the pitch of the ball for pacers as you will for spinners but you still need to move your feet to cover for the line and be close enough so lateral movement doesn't beat you. The lateral movement for a pacer is not as much as the amount of turn a spinner can get and that's why you don't need to be that close enough. But if you don't move and get stuck in the crease you risk being bowled off half volleys as well as there would be large enough distance between the bat and the ball for lateral movement to beat you. And that's why it's so difficult to come up against genuine pace as you don't get enough time to get your feet in the right place and also there's a fear factor at the back of your mind about "what if it's a short one?" This foot movement may not be as important on truer or flat wkts but becomes crucial if there's swing/seam movement and the reason why batting in Eng is so different from batting in Aus. Even a foot or foot and a half of movement in the right direction to cover for line and getting closer to the pitch of the ball makes a huge difference against the pacers.
Adding to the complexity of cricket getting to the pitch of the ball is true only for front foot drives. You need a different system for backfoot (drives/punches) and horizontal shots (cuts & pulls). Unlike front foot drives where you want to try and get as close to the pitch of the ball, you need to increase the distance between where the ball pitched and when you play the shot so that you get enough time to judge line, length and height of the shortish delivery. For backfoot the ball needs to be short enough for the batsman to judge line, length & height of the ball, and if it's too full you end up risking an edge or playing on. Speed becomes a crucial factor as the faster it is, more difficult to judge line, length, height and get in a position to hook/pull or punch the ball. That is why there's a dilemma for just short of good length deliveries, i.e. whether to go on the front or the back foot. That's the "length of uncertainty" and is different for every pitch depending on the bounce and is analogous to the "corridor of uncertainty" for judging line (i.e. whether to leave or play the ball). If you decide to play the good/slightly short of good length on front foot and it's too short then you risk i) the ball getting big on you and you, or ii) end up edging the ball as there's too much distance between where the ball pitched and you for you to cover for lateral movement. If you decide to play on the back foot and the ball is fuller than you think then there won't be enough distance between where the ball pitched and you to judge line, length & height properly and risk i) edging the delivery or playing on, or ii) top edging the delivery in case of pull/hook.
That's exactly what's happening with me currently.
Judgement of length line and the good length balls in the corridor of uncertainty just outside off.
Playing the ball on its merit bringing gr8 results, slightly off and wkts edges