Following the Basics of Test cricket

[Cricketics]

49 minutes ago, express bowling said:

Don't play unnecessary cross-batted shots and lofted shots on pitches with either variable pace or variable bounce or both.

Depends on your kind of bowler you are facing. But yeah, straight bat is always better, especially when you are out of form and have just come on strike after a dismissal.  

Smith plays cross bat every time but he has his own technique. 

 

[express bowling]

15 minutes ago, Cricketics said:

Depends on your kind of bowler you are facing. But yeah, straight bat is always better, especially when you are out of form and have just come on strike after a dismissal.  

Smith plays cross bat every time but he has his own technique. 

 

I am talking about pitches with either variable pace or variable bounce or both.

 

On pitches with true pace and bounce , especially if the bounce is on the higher side......cross-batted shots can be very lucrative.

[express bowling]

Both KL Rahul and Rahane poked at deliveries outside the off-stump and got dismissed. 

 

Quite unnecessary  and  they will look to not repeat this.

[fineleg]

Pujara - despite his 100 too did that , Need to follow basic fundamentals even after 100

66.4 84.7 mph, he's gone now! The concentration snaps, chases a shorter, wider delivery and gets a thick top edge which Bairstow takes to his right. Out-of-character shot.

Edited November 17, 2016 by fineleg

[express bowling]

Both Kohli and Pujara watched the ball carefully, rarely poked at deliveries outside off-stump and , most importantly,  put away most loose deliveries.

 

Both got 100s and the English attack was dominated upon once the the duo got set.

[express bowling]

Umesh followed the basics in this test, in the 2nd and 3rd session of day 1, and looked much better than the 2nd test match.

 

He targeted the top of off-stump for most deliveries and put pressure on the English batters apart from taking 2 crucial wickets.  

 

He should continue like this and add the surprise bouncer to his repertoire. 

 

Also. he should seriously look at bowling wide of the crease. His accuracy improves significantly when he does this and there are very few down the leg deliveries.  The angling-in  deliveries are more difficult to face given his skiddy nature.

Edited November 27, 2016 by express bowling

[beetle]

In the age of referrals ,don't walk unless given out.

At least make them use their reviews....

[express bowling]

A brilliant knock of 147 *  by Kohli today on a rank turner, batting with scoreboard pressure and with the tail.

 

He followed the basics of test cricket impeccably today.  Watched the ball carefully, did not poke at deliveries outside the off-stump, put away all the loose deliveries, did not play any lofted shot, , defended the spinners with soft hands most of the times, left good-length deliveries that were spinning away.  

 

You get results when you do everything right.

 

Vijay played an excellent knock of 136 too. He too followed the basics till he reached 100. The best feature was handling short balls on and around off stump, which he left very well and did not try to defend like the last few innings.  Him losing concentration and playing some loose shots after reaching 100 lead to his eventual dismissal.

[fineleg]

On 11/26/2016 at 10:56 PM, radhika said:

In the age of referrals ,don't walk unless given out.

At least make them use their reviews....

@express bowling  Yes, pls add this to the basics list in OP.

Edited December 10, 2016 by fineleg

[Vijy]

4 hours ago, express bowling said:

A brilliant knock of 147 *  by Kohli today on a rank turner, batting with scoreboard pressure and with the tail.

 

He followed the basics of test cricket impeccably today.  Watched the ball carefully, did not poke at deliveries outside the off-stump, put away all the loose deliveries, did not play any lofted shot, , defended the spinners with soft hands most of the times, left good-length deliveries that were spinning away.  

 

You get results when you do everything right.

 

Vijay played an excellent knock of 136 too. He too followed the basics till he reached 100. The best feature was handling short balls on and around off stump, which he left very well and did not try to defend like the last few innings.  Him losing concentration and playing some loose shots after reaching 100 lead to his eventual dismissal.

Yes, an impeccable knock today. Vijay looked quite loose after the 100 - needs to tighten up his mental game.

[adi B]

Be decisive if you want to play a good length ball (by a spinner on a turner) on the BF or FF (comes with practice).

Avoid gap between bat,pad while lunging forward

[express bowling]

Lokesh Rahul has followed the basics much better in this innings.  He made a conscious attempt to not play deliveries outside off-stump, left a lot of deliveries especially to the seamers, and played very few loose shots.  He has watched the ball carefully, made decisive foot movements and did not play away from his body ( the way he got out in a few earlier innings).  He is also standing a bit within the crease in this innings and not outside the crease like he did earlier. This is allowing him to play late.  Result---- 199 !!   He should bat like this in the future.

 

Both Kohli and Pujara had followed the basics of test cricket excellently in this series and both have piled up a lot of runs as a result,   In this innings, both were dismissed playing deliveries which were way outside the off-stump. Pujara gave catching practice to the slips and Kohli mistimes a drive off a slower cutter.   It could be that...with the series already won 3-0..... they were trying to score quicker on a flat pitch, so that we can take a lead with sufficient time left.  Anyway...it backfired like it usually does.

 

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by express bowling

[Laaloo]

If you're going to declare in the first innings of a test match, make sure you have ruled out a loss for your team.

[express bowling]

KL Rahul does not go to the pitch of the ball and tries to drive..... plays away from his body.....  plays a loose shot before getting set

 

Fails !

[Pollack]

47 minutes ago, express bowling said:

KL Rahul does not go to the pitch of the ball and tries to drive..... plays away from his body.....  plays a loose shot before getting set

 

Fails !

One reason why he plays lots of arial shots and always looks edgy.But I think that's the way he plays.He has foot movement though not like sehwag.

[Cricketics]

Do not dive like this or Mishra Ji. Slide all the way instead of breaking. 

[express bowling]

I hope our fast bowlers follow the basics of test cricket tomorrow.  They need bowl around the off stump for most deliveries, hit the deck hard  and punctuate their overs by surprise bouncers.

 

Hitting the deck hard for some bounce and seam movement and keeping the line right is very important on this pitch with bounce.

[express bowling]

Our batsmen have by and large played the off-stump deliveries quite well in this series against pacers.  Lots of deliveries have been left and that is half the battle won.  There have been exceptions though.

 

Some batters are still trying to defend short pitched deliveries around the off stump or trying to attempt wild strokes to them.  This needs to be changed and most such deliveries need to be left.

 

 

[express bowling]

Kohli needs to get set before going for his shots. He needs to leave or defend more balls.

 

After his shoulder-injury-induced break, he is playing too many shots and playing too many deliveries before getting set.  This is happening in both tests as well as ODIs.  We saw it in the WI and in the CT final as well.

 

Before his shoulder injury, during his dream run, he was getting set first and then going for his strokes. He needs to go back to this.

Edited July 27, 2017 by express bowling

[express bowling]

Umesh needs to target the top of off-stump with his stock balls and target the back-shoulder of the batter while bowling bouncers.

 

He did not do this today and gave too much width or bowled on the leg-stump.

 

We saw him doing this during the Australia and Bangladesh test series and getting good results.

Edited July 27, 2017 by express bowling