Top hand grip

[mottsboots]

Please can someone advise me on my grip? I'm an opening batsmen and having problems with my top hand on the bat, it keeps spinning hence the ball not going where I want it it, the bat is turning in my hand. I've tried new gloves and also new rubber grips but still doing it? Has anyone on here had this problem before??

 

[SLA]

Is the bat turning in your hand or is your wrist itself turning?

I have never heard of a bat turning in the hand before, unless you're gripping it incredibly loosely.

 

[Riggins]

Nah the bat will turn in the hand if you don't have enough strength in left forearm and you're striking off centre. It can be exacerbated by hitting the ball too early/being too front on at impact, or having a grip very high on the handle (a la Gilchrist) or a bat that is too heavy.

You need to make sure your forearm/wrists are strong enough, particularly if you're using/wanting to use a heavy stick.
- A good way to build up cricket specific strength in them is to take your normal stance, holding the bat with only the top hand, and **** your wrists so that the toe of the blade points to the sky. Drop it back down, lift it back up, etc for a few minutes or as long as you can.
- Also, you should be able to hold your bat in your left hand with your arm and bat parallel to the ground for at least 45 seconds or a minute or so. Forcing this longer and longer should also build strength.

For the ball striking part, have someone underarm balls too you slowly and straight drive the ball back to them using only your top hand. Force yourself to stay as side on as possible and hit the ball late. Once you do this for 5-10 minutes bring the bottom hand back onto the bat and you should feel much more control of the blade.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

I definitely struggle with the bat turning in hand. It's something I've tried to work on for years but my top hand just gets awful cramps whenever I try to grip tighter.

 

[Daemon]

I definitely struggle with the bat turning in hand. It's something I've tried to work on for years but my top hand just gets awful cramps whenever I try to grip tighter.

Squash ball!

 

[Riggins]

That's for your bottom hand.

 

[Daemon]

I thought the bat turning in your hand is because your bottom hand is holding the bat too tightly (..i think?). Squash ball helps with that.

 

[Esperance]

Everyone cares, winner.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Top hand strength is probably the cause, as alluded to earlier.

One thing to help, but not supplement working on your top hand strength, is to slightly close your grip on the top hand a bit; i.e. so that your knuckles are the tiniest bit more towards the bowler than before. This helps to line up your wrist and top elbow to keep the motion stronger.

I guess the analogy would be tennis and backhands. With a forehand grip, it's easier to slice a backhand rather than rip over the top of it and for most bottom handed players, this is what happens with the normal grip - your bottom hand works around your top hand, which ends up slicing under the ball and hitting it squarer. Just changing that top hand grip slightly can allow you to be a bit stronger through that left hand side.