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...offside seems to be privileged over clearing front leg and hitting to leg

and by extension offside play over legside play?

aficionados only

In reply to doosra

Well, I’m not an aficionado, but I have slept at a Holiday Inn.
Traditionally to give yourself room, you would clear the front leg to play a proper shot on the off side. Nowadays with T20 all sorts of unorthodox shots are being played! Conversely, you would clear the front leg to hit on the onside (cow corner) whenever you get a half tracker or short delivery!

In reply to doosra

You did say aficionado, which I am not, however is it because it looks more pleasing?

In reply to doosra

Spud Mackenzie is pleading for someone to UNBAN him from this board

In reply to natty_forever

so you're saying it's about the aesthetic value and not about risk or productivity?

In reply to StumpCam

yea all of that but why is one more privileged and valued over the other?

and to blame this legside hitting to t20 is a stretch...men were always hitting to leg ...some made a name for themselves doing it

In reply to doosra

Some men even “changed the line of the ball!”

In reply to doosra
If you play golf you will understand the term, clearing the front leg can either be setting up the ball to go from left to right or from right to left.
the bat movement or path must be in line with your body.
There is nothing wrong with clearing your front leg, if the bat path follow the clearance

In reply to doosra

from observing-

nowadays (T20 and slogging in ODIs) clearing the front leg means being planted on the back leg and pulling back the front leg almost parallel with the back leg opening up your stance.

in this position the weight is on your back leg and your body is positioned for hooks, pulls, swings and almost all shots across the body.

it is quite difficult to play off side shots in this position unless you slightly pull back the front leg (not as far back as to be parallel with the back leg) leaving some weight on the front leg to execute off side or down the ground shots.

this is sometimes the first movement until the batsman sees whether the ball is short enough to pull the front leg back either parallel or further back depending on the shot he intends to play.

the problem with some players is that they pull the front leg fully back too early thus limiting themselves to swinging across the body or scooping the ball in the air on the offside

reminds me of a reverse back and across movement except mostly the front leg moves

In reply to openning

Clearing the hips buddy

In reply to sudden

Clearing the front leg is either opening or closing the stance.
The bat path should follow the stance
It is not that complicated

In reply to RonaldM

Clearing the hips is for short deliveries, batsman are hitting inside out shots, which is like having an open stance.
with big bats all needed is to swing along the body path.
It is easier to hit to leg with a close stance than to off, and to off with an open stance, once the batsman follow the path of where his body setup is for the shot.

In reply to openning

Makes implicit sense as a batsman, but I was referring to your golf analogy. All cool though, I know exactly what you mean. I do enjoy playing both sports.

In reply to StumpCam

In the days of lighter bats and orthodox batting, clearing your front leg would get you kicked out of the nets. That was considered swiping. You were supposed to bring the bat through close to the pad when playing drives, to cover for any late movement. That helped to keep you balanced at the point of execution, and also ensured that your weight was optimally transferring into the ball.

My theory is that with heavier bats, you don't need to get into optimal position. Just through your hands through and let the bat do the rest. Timing and balance not so necessary...

In reply to doosra

So first, I am not an aficionado either.

I think offside play is usually looked at as more pleasing on the eye, and it is thought that these shots require a bit more skill. Swinging to cow corner while effective is seen as ugly swipes, and more braun than brains. I am not saying this is right, but alot of players get offended when you call then an onside player for example. The lofted drive over extra cover is seen as perhaps the best shot in the game. For me it is about production, but if the list to Sanjay Mandrekar and those fellas, they give very little respect for the power game. It could be jealously since they are not able to hit the ball out of the park ala the swing to cow corner guys as well.

In reply to jballer84

Ummm the sweetest shot to look at AND play is the ON drive. A nice well balanced leg side flick is not to be sneezed at either. Sadly you don't those shots too often in cricket these days.

In reply to Larr Pullo

There is Hope (pun intended)!

In reply to natty_forever

That's why he looks like a classic...

In reply to RonaldM

The post is about clearing the front leg, making it seem that's the issue with some batsman.
Shiv's set up was like clearing the front foot, but the path of where his bat follow was inline with his body, where as Kraigg Brathwaite has the same setup, he move his left for inline with his right just before the delivery and is stuck on his right leg, where his movement and bat path is limited

In reply to openning

Shiv's set up was so he could watch the bowler with both eyes. When he played the shot his feet were usually in the correct position.

In reply to Larr Pullo

Get a video of shiv, you will see he can get in position, move his bat in line with his foot position, on drive, off drive, cut, pull etc.
He can even close his stance and hit the ball to the other side of the wicket.
Watch Steve Smith, he move to the right but bat movement is still along his body line.
Shai Hope move hi bat from the slip angle, instead of the body path

I would have to agree. In the 150 years of cricket a premium has always been put on off side stroke play.

Any number 11 batter can swipe like a cane cutter and hit a four on the leg side. However, very few number 11's can caress a ball all along the ground through the covers for four.

For me, the cover drive, placing the ball between cover and extra cover along the ground, is the most exquisite of cricket shots.

In reply to openning

Am I disagreeing with you re Shiv?

In reply to Fivestar

you're NOT an aficionado.

In reply to Larr Pullo

Maybe I just think I'm one.

In reply to openning

Them agree with you.

In reply to Larr Pullo

.

I take it you’v never seen the Master Blaster execute a square cut off his middle stump!
BTW, are the bats heavier or THICKER but lighter or the same?

[b]In reply to Openning

when you have an opening stance, would you be able to hit the ball to either side.
.

In reply to Larr Pullo

The best shot I've seen, is by Everton Weeks off Denis Atkinson on a rain effective wicket.
Atkinson was bowling with two slips, a gully, two leg slips, silly midoff and a silly midon, the balls were dancing that day.
Sir Everton like he was doing a split, pushed his left foot to the length of the delivery and flicked it, before the leg slips could move the ball was in the boundary, every fielder applauded the shot

In reply to tc1

You can, with a close bat face to the leg, or swing along the body line to the off.
KB, does it all the time, his is because of a strong right hand grip.
In driving the ball, the batsman still need to get the pitch of the delivery
The thread is about clearing the front foot, and swinging.

In reply to jballer84

Not really, the on drive is the most difficult of shot to play and required practice, it ‘s a classic and when executed can rival any shot.I was surprise to hear many div 1 players said they never played this shot. But I agree with you that an offside player looks more pleasing to me .

In reply to StumpCam

You're expected to clear the front leg for cutting and pulling. Now players clearing the front leg to drive. As for the bats they don't press them like they used t so while thicker they are lighter and have more "rebound" in them, thus enabling them to hit the ball farther. To this day men think that Gayle hits the ball harder than Clive Lloyd...

In reply to Larr Pullo

Hence my response to doosra!

In reply to Larr Pullo
The technology has changed in all sports over the years, the player bat speed can be track today.
Do you have knowledge of Llyod's bat speed in comparison to Gayle"s?

In reply to openning

I think as a test player Lloyd probably had similar bat speed to Gayle. In them days they had to hook and cut way more than in Gayle's time. I've seen Lloyd his sixes where the ball didn't travel more than six feet off the ground in a straight line. I remember seeing him lash an Australian quick bowler into the score board at Bourda, no arc just a flat hit and the ball traveling up in a straight line until it crashed into the scoreboard.

All about natural movement for power from the bottom i.e. dominant hand. It's considered that more power is easily generated by swinging to leg while more skill is required to generate the push from the bottom hand to play to off??