by Vikram
(Chennai, India)
Left Hander Matthew Hayden: Great Balance For A Big Man
Sir,
I am Vikram from Chennai, I am a 16 year old left hand batsman.
I represented my state team in the U-16 category and was successful.
I met with an accident which made me stop practicing for 6 months. Now I am back and I’ve found my head falling over, I am strong through the offside and am finding difficulty when the ball is pitched on middle and leg, I am hitting on drives but not on a consistent basis.
I want to know whether there are any drills for correcting this. Also, I want to develop my mental toughness, so if you could give some tips on that it would so much help.
Thanks in advance!!
Hi Vikram, glad your back full to fitness after your accident.
You rightfully point out that your head falling over is effecting your balance and your ability to hit your on drive.
The head is the most important part of your set up in the crease, if it is not still and balanced in your stance, it flows through into all your shots.
For simple drills for balance, timing and mental toughness click here Cricket Coaching Batting Tips / Focus, Concentration And Timing Drills on this previously answered question on ‘Ask Coach’.
A simple but powerful drill for working on your head position and balance for hitting straight and through the leg side.
1.Practice Drill with Coach or partner: Create a target zone about 2-3 metres apart between the stumps and a square mid on, you can use two cones/ markers if you want.
Get your partner to throw under arm to start off with, straight at you, you are going to drive the ball straight back into the target zone. If you do 30 then keep count of your scores. You can share the drill with your partner, do ten each and swap … have a bit of fun competing as well. It sharpens the focus.
Then get your partner to throw over arm, hit the ball into the ground and straight into the target zone. Repeat as above.
2. Advanced Practice Drill: When your balance is good and you have control of this shot, let’s challenge your balance a little more.
The goal now is to hit mid on, mid off and a straight cover, moving your eyes ( head) into position with controlled balance.
You’ll need 4 cones or markers for this drill, lay out markers at mid on, the stumps (for straight), mid off and a straight cover. Thats three areas, you focus on hitting the ball into space now into these zones, it will work your focus, balance and bat control.
Get your partner to begin throwing underarm, 10 throws each, hitting into the zones relative to the line of the ball. Then work on over arm, again keeping scores.
Work on this consistently, it will help in all aspects of your batting.
Good Skills, Coach
About Richard Pybus
I'm Richard Pybus, I've coached Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middlesex, Titans and the Cape Cobras in South Africa and the goal of this site is to help you to play winning cricket.