Hey :)

I'm quite new to cricket but already bat high up the order for my club, thats quite a mystery to me to be honest because i'm not too great.

I have problems playing straight. I'm not a particulary good driver of the ball and am terribly bottom handed so i play across the line way too often. Any tips on playing straight or improving straight/cover drives?

I like playing the slog sweep but I have trouble timing it sometimes against the spinners,im good with flicking the ball away for a boundary im a lovely timer at driving the ball through covers.I havent played cricket for sometime infact it was about 3 months ago since i bowled my leg spin or had a bat,my bat cracked in half so im getting a new one soon.The shot that I mostly time to perfection is the pull shot like Ponting who has no problem with this shot,I struggle to paddle or reverse sweep even though I said im a gem at it.

You sound just like me, strong cover drive, weak defense. And I think you also said you were strong on the leg side, like me

cheers for that. i play village cricket. got a game today, anyway a guy there said the best way to play swing bowling is to, not move untill the ball has done its business and then just play the shot in the last secund. i tried this to much success, scored 25 odd, now is this what coaches suggest or was this the batsmans own technique,

ive never had any coaching learnt how to play cricket with the tape ball going down to the local park with a group of friends.....

ok i have a few weaknesses.....

1, i canot for the life of me play down the leg side, anyball going dow leg that looks hittable i totaly miss. i can play of my pads with ease, but lets say a swing bowler whos bowling wide i want to help it on its way past the keeper i just cat seem to do it.

2, anythig a little short of a length with bounce. im not scared of the ball i seem unable to capitalize i end up leaving it or making a hash of a defence  shot.

3, a seeming ball........how do you play a ball that is pitched up and seems away. all i do is show the bat and find im beaten. i can judge in one seeming into me but away bahh!!!

Originally posted by warnester a very short yorker

  I meant a bouncer, I always get confused between them!!

 Thanks for pointing that out mate!

 I do have a very weak defence and wrking really hard on that now.

 My favourite shot is probably the cover drive as when I play it well it is beautiful!

i more favoured to the sweep shot

Originally posted by crownmethod I never seem to hit the ball to the off side. Is this bad for me? Can someone tell me how to fix this problem?

play straight... and look at the grip on your bat, where does the blade face?  open the face of the blade

Originally posted by minimurali  I tend to be too impatient to wait for bad balls, my patience is definitely my downfall!

Whats your best shot?  I hopeing your not going to say a solid defence... but what you really want to do is put into your batting a solid defence where you consider that no one touch you on.  If you got all that your patience shouldnt be your down fall... however if this isn't the case, maybe its your confidence to play your shots off the wickets you need to build apon

Originally posted by ANIL KUMBLE I'm a specialist batsman at playing spin (any kind),I've just started practising playing the leg cut,or cutter shot and I have improved alot since I first tried the shot but one shot I have trouble with is the hook shot,sometimes I time it well and hit it for 4 or 6 but other times I hit it 15 metres in the air and get caught can you help me with this,its the only shot I have trouble with everything else is a gem oh and I forgot to mention its tough playing a yorker I aslo need help with that inswingers espeically.

When you play your hook shots do you get your body right in line behind the ball?  Do you put the head in line of the ball...? 

The way I hit my hook shots is by making sure that the ball will come and smack me in the face, once you know that its going to come straight on to your face go on to the back foot, twist your shoulders and get it locked and loaded with imense power, then make sure you hit it with a strong follow through and make sure the bat is palarell with the ground as much as possible.  Then just change the face of your blade to decide wat your actually going for ( a four or a six)