Use of helmets hampers development of proper technique

May 22, 2012
Sunil_GavaskarBatsmen of today are unable to play quality seam and spin. It's the delivery that moves late that asks questions of them. They have no answers. Most seaming tracks or pitches with vicious turn have bounce and this makes the good length move closer to the batsmen. This shift in good length and late movement foxes most players of today. Why?


The game has changed in many ways. Batsmen now use heavier bats, their back lifts have become more exaggerated than before. Helmets have altered technique. Wickets once known for their spite and character have been destroyed to make way for higher-scoring games.


Under such staid circumstances where the shift in the game has been from back-foot to front-foot and from side-on to square-on, when today's batsmen are thrown onto a seaming track they start gasping for air.


Stand-out performers

Within this rot V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid stand out when it comes to contemporary batsmen. This is because till he was seventeen Dravid did not use a helmet and neither did Laxman till he was fifteen. Their instincts were moulded into proper technique without the comfort of protection. This makes them the last of our greats with a solid technical foundation built on superb back-foot play, the perfect balance and the ability to play late and play each delivery without committing themselves.


That's what made them so good against the quicks, seamers and spinners alike on challenging wickets. Both used light bats and both conquered the world of challenging pitches at will. Whilst it's essential to know how to play off the back foot on seaming tracks, for one to be able to play late and off the movement, back-lift and the weight of the bat matter as much. A higher back-lift and a heavier bat make it difficult to make the last-minute adjustments required to play good seam.


Of late, maybe because of the changing need to get quicker runs, batsmen have become more aggressive and an increasing number have started to use heavier bats with higher back-lifts. Though this high back-lift helps deliver greater impetus, it leads to a looser game.


Batsmen normally get around 1/3 of a second against the quicks to decide a shot and because of the extra distance the bat has to travel to meet a normal good length delivery, batsmen with bigger back-lifts are forced to commit that fraction of a second earlier than usual to make the desired contact. Because the momentum through the downswing of the bat is far greater than that of a normal batsman, once committed it becomes difficult to change the shot.


Further as the good length moves closer and the deviation off the wicket also moves closer, the batsman has lesser time to make last minute adjustments. On good batting tracks the big back-lift is an asset but on seaming tracks it becomes a grave liability.


Every child is born with an inherent instinct which is used in his development as a cricketer. Take this basic test: walk up to a man and just as you get near him bend down fast and drop your hand near his knees. Don't touch him. Stay a foot away.


The man will buckle and try and instinctively protect his groin by shoving his hands down. Try the same with a woman and you will find that she will barely react. Why?


It's because the man's instinct, evolved since childbirth, takes over. This is not the case with women. The player with the helmet is like the lady who will not flinch and the player without the protection is the man who will always move to defend himself.


This is exactly the case with cricket. This basic instinct of the child is used by the coaches and moulded into proper technique. And that's why it's absolutely necessary, keeping in mind that batsmen of today have a problem with the seaming and spinning delivery that we try to find out if we are making a mistake at the time of moulding instinct into technique with our youngsters.


Dravid, Laxman, Bradman, Richards and Gavaskar to name a few: all learnt their game and moulded their instinct into technique without a helmet, and that's why they became complete players on all kinds of wickets whilst the batsmen of today moulded their instinct into technique wearing a helmet and lost the ability to play like the stalwarts of old.


Owing to the extra protection have these batsmen become lazy and now have to commit themselves on the front foot? Have they forgotten how to play off the back-foot as a result? These are questions which remain unanswered.


Back-foot play was essential in the days before helmets. There was not a single batsman in the world that played the quicks on fast wickets off the front-foot. It was essential both to protect yourself from bodily harm and to stay on the wickets long enough to get runs. This of course changed with the introduction of helmets.


The fast bowlers thereafter lost their sting and the batsmen lost the knack of playing back. Playing off the back-foot is easier said than done. It's a discipline that needs to be inculcated from the very beginning. Many batsmen believe that just going back will ensure that the rest of the body will automatically fall into place but that's far from the truth.


The position of the toe when the back foot moves across is crucial. The toe facing point locks you into place for playing in the arc from the bowler to point. It ensures you stay side on and play straight. If you need to play to backward of point, or past gully, then it's better to open the toe just a mite further. If you want to play on the on-side then face the toe towards cover, it will force your leading shoulder to mid on and open your chest out.


Compounding errors

A trivial mistake leads to compounding errors. Many try and play to cover with the toe of their back foot facing cover. No sooner that this happens than you become open-chested, the natural downswing of the bat is now from third-man to mid-on. To play to mid-off instead of playing straight which you would have done had you been side-on now you find yourself playing inside out. This inside-out angle increases when you play to covers. You have compensated one error with another.


Once your instinct gets used to such error-riddled techniques, even the slightest fault in judgment gets you out. Consistency in scores becomes unattainable. In order to get power of the shot, the complete weight of the body needs to be transferred onto the back foot. Many batsmen, being front-footed are hesitant to commit to their weakness and get caught in no-man's land when they try and play back.


Please don't confuse the shuffle with back-foot play. The shuffle stops you from locking yourself into a front-and -across position. As explained earlier that's doable on slow wickets but disastrous against both pace and seam on quicker tracks.


The shuffle forces you into position and as you are well balanced at the time of delivery, it gives you the extra split second required to position yourself post delivery. The seaming ball needs to be seen onto the bat and that's the reason back-foot play is so essential to thwart the late movement.


Unless the batsman is used to playing back, he tends to hang the bat out. That's always suicidal. Batsmen with expansive back lifts have this tendency of hanging their bats outside the off stump on seaming tracks. You have to play close to your body at all times, Most back-footed players have shorter back-lifts over which they have complete control at all times and are masters at working the ball around their hips.


My gut feeling is that after a proper comparison between cricketers of the two different eras, namely pre-helmet and post- helmet learning years, we will find that proper technique can only be inculcated without the use of helmets by youngsters. The cricket world has to shift to the back foot and unless that happens, seaming tracks will continue troubling batsmen.



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News Network
July 21,2020

Melbourne, Jul 21: Cricket Australia's chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the Indian players and staff will most likely be asked to face two weeks of quarantine before the four-match Test series.

This scenario will bring the Adelaide Oval and its newly constructed hotel firmly into view as the sort of biosecure bubble, ESPNCricinfo reported.

India and Australia are slated to face each other in a four-match Test series, which is to begin from December 4 at Brisbane.

"The two-week quarantine is pretty well-defined. What we are working on is making sure that even within that quarantine environment, the players have got the absolute best training facilities, so that their preparation for the matches is as optimal as it can possibly be," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockey as saying.

"Certainly the fact that the Adelaide Oval has a hotel. It does provide a facility not dissimilar to Old Trafford or Ageas Bowl where the hotels are integrated into the venue," he added.

Hockley also said that an exacting standard of biosecurity and testing would be applied before the series against India as the coronavirus cases are spiking in the subcontinent.

"It's widely known and it's unlikely that international travel restrictions would have lifted by the time that India will be due to come into the country. Clearly there will be testing regimes. We will be able to test people before that they get on to the plane and it is the nature of the situation of making sure we have the quarantine arrangements in line with government and health authority protocols," Hockley said.

"The key thing for the players is that there's regular testing and that we appropriately quarantine them when they come in and all of those plans are currently in development," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18-November 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement, the BCCI is likely to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October-November window. However, it is known where the T20 tournament will be played as cases continue to rise in India.
"I think the BCCI has made no secrets that they are considering what that means for the IPL. For us, it's about getting a bit of an understanding and certainty around what that means. Clearly, in a normal course, some of our best players are obviously top picks for those IPL teams," Hockley said.

"It's a bit premature to speculate on that. We need to understand what the plans are if any and once we understand that we will make decisions accordingly," he added.

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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Agencies
April 2,2020

Lausanne, Apr 2: The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and the shutdown of the sporting calendar because of the coronavirus pandemic are going to hit international sports federations hard financially.

Many sports that are part of the Games depend heavily on the payouts every four years from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"The situation is tense and very gloomy. An assessment will be made, but clearly some posts are under threat," said an official of a major international federation.

The 28 international federations (IF) of the sports that were due to be present at the Tokyo Olympics, would have received substantial sums from the IOC.

However, the postponement of the Games until 2021 could lead to a freeze of their payment.

"We have a lot of IF with substantial reserves, but others work on a different business model, they have income from major events which are suspended, which can be a problem for the cashflow if they don't have enough reserves," said Andrew Ryan, director general of the Association of International Olympic Summer Sports Federations (ASOIF), which is responsible for distributing this money.

The five additions to the Tokyo Games programme - karate, surfing, skateboarding, climbing and baseball/softball - are not eligible.

The Olympic payout totalled 520 million after the Rio Games, four years ago.

"The Olympic money could be less than for Rio 2016," Ryan warned before adding: "My advice is to budget the same as in Rio".

The federations receive money on a sliding scale determined by their audience and size.

The three largest (athletics, swimming and gymnastics) can expect approximately 40 million.

For the second tier, made up of cycling, basketball, volleyball, football and tennis, the sum is 25 million.

For group three, which contains eight sports, including boxing, rowing, judo and table tennis, it is 17 million.

The nine sports in the next level (including sailing, canoing and fencing) receive 12 million.

For the three in the last category (rugby, golf, modern pentathlon) the payout is 7 million.

For the largest associations, such as football's FIFA which has a 1.5 billion nest egg, or basketball body FIBA which has CHF 44.4 million (42 million euros) in reserves, IOC aid represents a small proportion of their income.

For others, it is vital.

"Some IF probably don't have the cashflow to survive one year," said Ryan.

For most federations, the postponement of the Olympic Games has a domino effect, forcing them to reschedule their own money-earning competitions.

"The revenues from these events will eventually come in," said Ryan. "But this impacts the cashflow." World Athletics has already postponed the 2021 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon to 2022.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) will have to do the same for its World Championships scheduled for next summer in Fukuoka, Japan, when they would probably clash with the Tokyo Games.

"One edition of the World Championships means for us 10 million in revenues," said one sports federation official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"If this income is postponed, totally or partially, for a year, we will face major problems, especially if the IOC money, originally expected in September, is not paid out."

The Singapore-based International Table Tennis Federation has already taken steps, with "the Executive Committee agreeing to reduce their expenses and senior staff offering to take a salary reduction," said marketing director Matt Pound, but, he added,"further cuts will take place if needed."

- 'Significant loss of revenue' -

The ITTF has suspended all its competitions until June and that is costly.

Kim Andersen, the Danish president of London-based World Sailing, said commercial revenues are not immune.

"The IOC will eventually pay out its aid, but what weighs most heavily is the uncertainty about whether our competitions will be held and whether our sponsors will be maintained," he said.

The IOC is not prepared to go into details of what it plans.

"It is not possible at this stage to assess the overall impact" of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, an official told AFP.

"It depends on a number of variables that are currently being studied." According to an official of one federation: "the IOC will discuss on a case-by-case basis, sport by sport".

Another option is for the federations to ask for a share of the public aid set up to deal with the coronavirus crisis, in Switzerland, where 22 ASOIF members are based and also in the United Kingdom, home of World Sailing.

"Can sports federations benefit from federal aid? The answer is yes, in principle," Philippe Leuba, State Councillor of the canton of Vaud, in charge of the economy and sport, told.

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