How hard is opening the batting?

[honestbharani]

On topic, I think Howe Snr should sign up to CW and replace Howe Jnr..

 

[kyear2]

It is harder to open the batting as you always get the best and freshest of the bowlers and the ball and the worst of the conditions before they settle down.
I always believe that you best batter should bat at 3 and never understood certain players refusing to move up for the better of the team.
It is laways easier to bat at 4 and as such openers averages should never be compared to middle order batsmen.

 

[howardj]

From my own experience as a crack sub-districts C grade opener I can say that:

- The ball generally moves around more, both off the wicket and through the air
- The opposition is much fresher/keener, and all over you as an opener, so mentally it's harder too

You start on zero no matter where you bat, but I still think generally speaking it's much harder up in the engine room.

 

[Top_Cat]

Found that the better the opener you are, the harder it is a place to bat. If you're ****, you're not going to nick the good ones.

 

[GotSpin]

One of the things that does my nut about coaching is that kids never want to open the batting - and those that do never want to face first.

Get out there and score some bloody runs!

When I opened I was always nervous about facing the first ball straight up. The fielders are pumped, the bowlers steaming in and you don't want to get out in the first over.

When I wasn't opening I usually batted lower down the order, particularly when I started getting picked because of my bowling. I always felt I was cursed batting at 3 and 4 though.

 

[Jono]

Yeah facing the first ball is nervey imo. Especially if you're batting first innings. **** going out first ball of the match. Too brutal.

 

[GotSpin]

I reckon that must be every opening batsmens nightmare

 

[Sanz]

More than the anything, it is the uncertainty/unknown that makes you nervous.

 

[Burgey]

Better to face the first rock imo. Less likely to have a bloke bang on the money straight away. I think a lot of opening combos take turns, unless one is overly superstitious/ soft.

 

[Top_Cat]

AWTA. If the opening bowler is just warming into their stride, was easier than facing them later when they were warm. If they hit their stride, paid to be fatalistic about it because people are just more worried about the embarrassment of getting our early. If they nailed you early, found it easier to remove the embarrassment and just accept that I got a good ball/bad luck.

 

[Jono]

That all makes sense and is logical. But we're not logical beings. Walking out there with everyone to start the game, and then walking back one ball later is just too horrid to think about. There's a golden duck, and then there's that

 

[Top_Cat]

Used to be paranoid about that so I once tried this having virtually no backlift, took a gigantic stride and just dead-batted the first ball. Unlike the video above, was a road so you can imagine the oppo lolled at my paranoia.

Am a really ordinary opening bat, tbh.

 

[Flem274*]

I used to open the batting a bit because no one else wanted to do it. I'm a terrible batsman so the international equivalent would be opening with Fidel Edwards; all stonewalling but no runs.

 

[Hurricane]

I opened the batting for years in club cricket and Howards post resonates with me. The intensity of the chatter and energy of the fielders is immense for the first 7 to 8 overs then they get tired.

One day I was opening and the guy bowled a ball on my middle stump so I tried to clip him through midwicket but the ball was a leg cutter and I got a leading edge and was caught at point for 3.

As I sat on the sidelines I watched him square up our next batsman consistently with leg cutter after leg cutter. And I figured if I hadn't have opened I would have known what he was bowling before I went into bat against him and wouldn't have gotten out.

These days I hate opening. I find the first 20 runs of the team total are incredibly difficult and slow to score unless the opposition is useless. While coming in with 60 on the board runs just seem to come more naturally and the scoreboard looks after itself.

 

[howardj]

I opened the batting for years in club cricket and Howards post resonates with me. The intensity of the chatter and energy of the fielders is immense for the first 7 to 8 overs then they get tired.

One day I was opening and the guy bowled a ball on my middle stump so I tried to clip him through midwicket but the ball was a leg cutter and I got a leading edge and was caught at point for 3.

As I sat on the sidelines I watched him square up our next batsman consistently with leg cutter after leg cutter. And I figured if I hadn't have opened I would have known what he was bowling before I went into bat against him and wouldn't have gotten out.

These days I hate opening. I find the first 20 runs of the team total are incredibly difficult and slow to score unless the opposition is useless. While coming in with 60 on the board runs just seem to come more naturally and the scoreboard looks after itself.

Spot on mate.

The first 20 team runs are like breaking the ice with a pretty chick - it's just intimidating and really hard work. The fieldsmen are just all over you, and the best bowlers are invariably firing the opening salvos. Granted, you're bound to get a loose one or a warm up ball early (that's why I actually preferred facing, and the fact that I'm a naturally anxious person who wanted to get my innings going ASAP) but after that, it's bloody hard work - just the mental side of it, as much as the new ball and the brand new pitch (which by the way you don't know how it's going to play).

 

[BoyBrumby]

That all makes sense and is logical. But we're not logical beings. Walking out there with everyone to start the game, and then walking back one ball later is just too horrid to think about. There's a golden duck, and then there's that

How much of it is mental, one wonders? I think here of the travails of Dravid opening. If ever there was a chap whose technique and temperament were designed to open, Rahul was he. Yet he always looked more comfortable at #3.

 

[Zinzan]

Depends where in the world you're playing. Isn't opening the easiest place to score runs in Tests in India while the ball is new & before it starts to slow-up & turn?

 

[Burgey]

Depends where in the world you're playing. Isn't opening the easiest place to score runs in Tests in India while the ball is new & before it starts to slow-up & turn?

Depends who's bowling I suppose. We've had plenty of openers go cheap there over the years.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Imran once got Gavaskar out first ball of a Test match. Did Gavaskar tend to take strike first ball?

 

[hazsa19]

Surely it depends what type of batsman you are.

Personally I love opening; getting stuck in, playing my own game, stroking the ball while it's hard, and facing up to the challenge of pace bowlers.

I'm a rarity at my club though. Most of the guys at my club my age prefer to get in down the order and have a whack tbh.