How to see the ball better while batting?

[jsingh009]

Hi guys, so this question is to all the expert batsmen out there. How do you see the ball better?

I am really not good at batting but I would like to improve. One thing that has stopped me playing better is inability to see the ball right after it gets out of the hands of a bowler. After that, it's just hit or miss for me.

I've read and seen batsmen leading with the head in their initial movement and tend to look down to the ground after bowler delivers the ball. Does looking into the ground after delivery helps? Do you have enough time to play? What are some other strategies or techniques that you use?

Thanks for helping.

 

[Hurricane]

Hi guys, so this question is to all the expert batsmen out there. How do you see the ball better?

I am really not good at batting but I would like to improve. One thing that has stopped me playing better is inability to see the ball right after it gets out of the hands of a bowler. After that, it's just hit or miss for me.

I've read and seen batsmen leading with the head in their initial movement and tend to look down to the ground after bowler delivers the ball. Does looking into the ground after delivery helps? Do you have enough time to play? What are some other strategies or techniques that you use?

Thanks for helping.

You've come to the right place JS as I have given this issue some thought over the years.

Keep your head still
Keep your head square. this means your eyes should be parralel to the ground. Don't have your head on an angle. this is very important.

Next try to watch the ball in the bowlers hand when he is running in.

You should be able to start to observe things from the bowlers delivery action before the ball is bowled. If he gets through his action extra quick then it is going to be a short ball.

As he enters his delivery action just look at him - you will suddenly see the ball appear - do not look at the ground as you suggested.

Watch the ball all the way until you hit it. And Bob's your uncle.

What you should not do - is Martin Crowe's tip. In his autobiography he recommends picking a spot on the sightscreen right behind the bowlers release and watching that right from the top of the bowlers run up. I have tried this and it makes me pick up the ball much later.

Just follow my instructions of looking at the bowler.

As for your reactions being slow - this will come with time.

 

[Maximas]

Head still, so many times I've focused on this and I've found I'm able to pick up the ball much earlier and maintain better balance and shape whilst playing a shot than before, Hurricane listed some other good points

 

[Daemon]

Watch some high level ping pong and focus extra hard on following the ball.

Alternatively you can try chasing the floaters in your eyes.

 

[SLA]

Hi guys, so this question is to all the expert batsmen out there. How do you see the ball better?

I am really not good at batting but I would like to improve. One thing that has stopped me playing better is inability to see the ball right after it gets out of the hands of a bowler. After that, it's just hit or miss for me.

I've read and seen batsmen leading with the head in their initial movement and tend to look down to the ground after bowler delivers the ball. Does looking into the ground after delivery helps? Do you have enough time to play? What are some other strategies or techniques that you use?

Thanks for helping.

Once you pick the ball up out of the hand, you actually track different deliveries in different ways.

If you imagine focusing on the ball at the moment it comes out of the hand, if that ball stays in your field of narrow focus, you know its a full ball and you automatically move forward. keep tracking the ball as long as you can. Research suggests that if you can watch it for 3/4s of the pitch, that is enough information to be able to find the middle of the bat. You never actually even need to see the ball pitch.

If on the other hand the ball immediately disappears out of your field of focus, this suggests it is a short ball. You need to get back and immediately look down at the area of the pitch you expect it to land. Once you pick it up, you then track it as it rises towards you. Short balls you can watch almost all the way onto the bat.

 

[YorksLanka]

Fully agree with what everyone says about keeping your head still. One thing i have tried this season with reasonable success is opening up your stance a little bit so that instead of being fully side on and relying on just one eye, you are slightly more open and therefore you get both eyes helping..the only downside of this is that you must be mindful of making a more exaggerated foot movement across your stumps as i found i went forward sometimes rather than forward and across(if that makes sense)..hope it helps..

 

[OverratedSanity]

Personally, keeping the head level (ie) as Hurricane said, both eyes parallel to the ground is more important than focusing on keeping the head still, especially when you're still inexperienced. For this, it's really important to have a properly balanced stance. So just concentrate on having a comfortable, level stance at the crease and the head falls into place pretty much on its own.

Consciously focusing on keeping my head still led to me becoming overly rigid and tight in my stance and I've heard this happen to others too.

 

[Esperance]

Should've gone to Specsavers.

 

[Blocky]

Playing faster ball sports like Squash helped me, but nothing helped me as much as facing faster bowlers and watching the ball - actually watching the ball.

Almost every cricketer at club level and even some at first class do not actually watch the ball properly, those that do watch the ball also take their eyes off the ball before their bat hits the ball - the key is to watch the ball right onto your bat, especially in defense and look to play as late as you can to give yourself more time.

I tended to focus intently on the ball, I tried to see it in the bowlers hand as he was running up and I'd look to watch it all the way through to my bat. I did a lot of work with a bowling machine (much harder to pick up the ball at higher speeds) and practiced solely watching the hole where the ball would move into, then watching the ball carefully onto my bat, playing everything below my eyes. I'd do that every single time I was on the bowling machine and even with throwdowns and would never look to play anything away from my body, that helped me get used to actually watching the ball onto the bat, helped me pick up the ball much easier and I would then use bowlers to start working on driving the ball and pushing infront of my pads on the off drive - but even then, watch the ball onto the bat. That's one thing a lot of people just do not do.