Recently I was asked, “is ‘foot
work’ really that important?”When batting in cricket it is essential to have
excellent footwork. As
good foot work is the basis for
achieving excellence in cricket and is the foundation for good batting
technique.
Foot work is absolutely necessary as
all successful strokes start with effective footwork.
If you watch Brian Lara, Michael
Vaughn, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, all of these amazing batsmen have
outstanding footwork, often when these types of players don’t perform it is
simply due to lack of footwork.
Good footwork allows you to time the
ball well and place the ball in gaps. It gets you in the optimum position to
hit the ball, so you can hit it where you want and with ease.
If you have been struggling to play
a particular shot for some reason it could be due to poor footwork causing
bad
timing and body positioning.
With faster bowlers it is even more
essential to have excellent fast and precise footwork, so that you can get into
a balanced position, in-line with the ball, so you can play the ball with
control.
Getting quickly into position
through footwork therefore is very important.
The more you practice your footwork
against both fast and slow bowlers the easier you will gradually find it. Many
players do what we call trigger movements just before the bowler releases the
ball, this helps get the feet moving into position and into line much quicker
and easier, especially against faster bowlers.
Next time you watch a game on TV
watch the batsmen’s feet really closely as the bowler is about to deliver
you’ll see these small ‘trigger movements’; small foot movements, which help
the batsmen get in position and inline early.
As a batsman it is absolutely
necessary to develop your foot work and foot movement, as all excellent strokes
start with effective and efficient footwork.
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