If you’re reading this you’ve probably played cricket.
You’ve watched the bowler stride in, while you possibly stood strangling the bat, forgetting about soft hands, footwork, front or back foot or that gap you noticed between fielders a few seconds ago.
No doubt there’s been times you’ve envied the sheer natural talent of the professional cricketers you admired. Those shots off their toes, the over the top of the ball defensive shot, straight drive off a ball right on the stumps.
How do players attain those skills? No doubt there are the endless hours in practice nets. The guiding hands of a technical but inspiring coach. Endless fielding drills. These modern times also offer the ability to watch yourself on film, finding out about your flaws and skills.
Then there are stories of Justin Langer sleeping with a bat or Don Bradman playing at golf balls with a stump while they bounced off the uneven surface of bricks under an iron tank. Imagine that level of sheer commitment and determination.
But what about how you see the ball? The way it drifts or rockets towards you. And your resulting ability to read and respond to what it will do. Is there, for instance, something about the way Steve Smith sees the ball that enables him to be so gifted?
Some studies indicate that the time to respond to a bowler’s delivery is a mere .45 of a second!
Last year I sat in a motel room in Manchester, having woken to what can be a typical English summer day. Mizzle (a blend of mist and drizzle) fell, leaving the view outside resembling a black and white photograph.
But lying on the bed with muddy instant coffee in hand, I listened to Ricky Ponting discussing how he used to see the ball. He claimed he only saw the top half of it once it left the bowler’s hand. Its movement towards him was the same as observing a spinning top.
And that’s all he needed to instinctively know what it was going to do. Then Shane Warne spoke on the same subject.
He noticed the different way the fielders observed before he bowled. As he reached the top of his mark, most fielders looked towards the batsman. In particular they concentrated on the likely transit of the ball. But there was an exception in Mark Waugh.
He watched Warne, following his return to his mark and continuing to study him as he ran in. Warne concluded from that fielders had different ways of concentrating on the delivery and the batsman.
Ponting and Warne agreed that as a batsman and fielder, some players saw the ball in a truly unique way that set them aside from others. It left me wondering whether this gave certain cricketers what is almost a supernatural power that placed them into a category of possessing what could be described as an x-factor.
We know there’s all kind of ingredients that produce a brilliant cricketer. Most we can list. Maybe it begins as the kid who has to be dragged inside and told to cease their practice as the light fades and the mosquitoes arrive.
As opposed to the others who pack up early to sit on the couch. The youngster you see bowling pieces of gravel and half-eaten apples at fence posts. The kids arriving early for practice, rehearsing strokes in mid-air without a ball bowled.
We accept people having incredible memories, mathematical brilliance, abilities to pick up multiple languages, create stunning art and more. In the context of cricket, the mere act of seeing the ball may be something else that sets some cricketers apart.
JGK
Roar Guru
There is also the fact that in T20I, the batsman has a better idea of where the bowler is going to bowl because of the field setting which is often skewed to one part of the ground.
JGK
Roar Guru
I was there that day too. As it turns out, Marnus aside, no one could face the ball on those first two days. Even Davey's 60 odd was very lucky and it was like Marnus was playing on a totally different track. It is those sort of performances that set the absolute greats apart. Think Smith at Edgbaston and Steve Waugh at Old Trafford. Much of the skill in those sort of innings is in not getting out to the good balls rather than scoring off the bad ones.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I remember that because of his age
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
I was lucky enough to have seen him play often.. Played for Transvaal in the isolation days and I watched him hit a ton against the Aussie rebel side aged 44.that was against the likes of Rod McCurdy, Rackemann and I think Alderman. He truly was special.. I have never seen anyone as good.
DJM
Roar Rookie
I also heard Pollock say once that all his best innings started scratchy. If the ball flowed off the bat from the beginning he’d get out for 20 or 30. If he had to play himself in and concentrate hard, look out.
Peter Farrar
Guest
Thanks for that comment. In the years I've followed cricket, I recall some players being more at ease with an overall aggressive approach (Botham, Stackpole, Slater, Viv Richards being some examples) as opposed to those more inclined to slowly build or graft (Ross Edwards, Geoff Boycott, Chris Tavare). So even with confidence I daresay there's a preferred approach. Somehow amongst all this I think there lies quite a science behind how a player sees the ball, then reads what it is likely to do.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I basically got to the point where I just let it hit me and I realised it didn't hurt much so that helped.
Peter Farrar
Roar Pro
Very interesting Matth. As I read your last paragraph I thought of those times when bowlers conceal the ball before delivering it. The Ponting interview I mentioned made a strong impression on me, in many ways it would have been better to post the tape rather than write the article I did.
Peter Farrar
Roar Pro
I was lucky enough to be at the first day of the Headingley test during the last ashes and it's beyond me how anyone could face that ball the way it hooped around. You needed a good share of luck not to get out. Probably an example of where muscle memory wasn't much help
Peter Farrar
Roar Pro
I think my batting style was much like yours! I tended to be taking a front foot defensive position before the ball left the bowler's hand. For the same reason you describe, self preservation. It's true speed is intimidating which makes an innings like that one of Rick McCosker's many years ago when he returned to bat after suffering a broken jaw so incredible.
Brian
Guest
I think that is what Smith does, he reviews his dismissals and rewires his brain to react differently. Its one reason why he gets so mentally exhausted. S Waugh also did it so he would no longer hook the ball.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Confidence in ones ability to cope, calmness under pressure, coupled with muscle memory from 10,000 hours of training produces an elite approach. Focussed concentration produces it regularly or on demand. I believe it's the difference between 'in the zone' and the new age 'intent'. Maxwell and Lynn can show intent and regularly last a few spectacular balls. Ponting, Smith, Tendulkar, Lara had supreme confidence in their training and ability to react to situations and a huge hunger to replicate the feeling of really big innings. That's why they're the guys you build teams around and the other two useful for the short attention span format. The same goes for bowlers, not everyone has the confidence and calmness under pressure to apply their 10,000 hours to the last few overs of a 5th day thriller, or the death of a tense ODI.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
:stoked:
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Einstein had the same relationship with maths.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
As Graeme Pollock once famously said.. Cricket is still a see the ball hit the ball game...
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Two categories of batsmen I have enjoyed watching: Graceful batsmen who play in the "V" e.g. Greg Chappell & one of my favourites Martin Love whose century in a Shield Final against NSW on a Gabba greentop almost produced an improbable victory. These types of batsmen reach 50 almost unnoticed by caressing the ball as opposed to using brute force. Then there's those who smash the cover off the ball. Maxwell & Lynn in the shortened forms of the game however I enjoyed watching Sehwag open in Tests as he went for his shots from the first ball.
Rellum
Roar Guru
From what I have seen in regards to the science and technique is the professionals work on a routine of watching the ball. Usually something along the lines of their gaze moving up the bowlers body as they run in, picking out consistent markers to focus on ending with the ball in the hand at release.
matth
Roar Guru
I can’t remember where now but I read an article on this very topic, where they actually studied what batsmen look at when they bat. They used club, state and international cricketers as subjects and also spoke to famous players (Greg Chappell was one). It was interesting. Some who thought they were watching the ball were only looking on the general direction. The consensus appeared to be that the best watched the ball from the hand but not before, so there was less eye movement required to follow the ball. I think, it was a long time ago.
Peter Farrar
Roar Pro
I would love to have met Walters. He always looked as if he belonged in that team. I still have a bottle of port released to celebrate his cricket career. (The cork is probably ready to crumble). I'm sure you've heard the story of him putting down a cigarette to go out and bat when a wicket fell, telling team mates to leave it alone as he'd be back to finish it. I'm guessing he was probably a man of few words.
Burger
Guest
There is a lot going on with batsmen - eye, muscle memory and technique. Eye and muscle memory are all you need to bat on our drop-in roads. But you need technique to bat when the ball is doing a lot such as it can do on English pitches. Just ask Doug Walters!