Watching the bowler from start to delivery very important

FLASHBACK..... What do you do when the bowler's running in to hurl it down at you? The best and most sensible thing to do is to watch him from the start of his run. There is a mannerism of the batsman taking strike to look down at the crease when he (the bowler) is in the middle of his run and in the last few yards.

The batsman taking strike should concentrate on his bowling arm and after that, it's back to the basics and the instinctive reactions.

Dennis Lillee – had a field day taking 6 for 26 and 5 for 139 in the first and second innings in England’s 96 in the first innings and in England’s second innings score of 417.

Dennis Amiss made 64 in England’s second innings score of 417 against Australia. He was deservedly awarded the man-of-the match award.

David Hookes made 56 in Australia’s second innings score of 419 for 9 wkts declared.

Some batsmen have a slight backlift at the start, may be a foot off the ground and the batsman's bat would be going up just as the bowler lets fly. It's then a split-second thing. The batsman will not have the time to wait to see where the ball is going to pitch, but the batsman will have to pick up the line and its trajectory and work out instinctively whether it's on a full length or dropping short. The batsman will be on his own and have to back his judgement such as it is. You can coach someone at the nets, but it is the player in the middle will have to pick the correct shot for the appropriate ball.

Judge the bounce

If the wicket's bouncy one, the batsman will have to be extra careful to get behind the line. Australian speedsters Lillee and Thomson got stacks of wickets in Australia against the West Indies and the Englishmen by surprising them with their bounce.

A typical dismissal would be when the batsman was surprised by the extra bounce so that he was out of position and lamely edging the ball to Marsh or one of those superb slip fielders. Many of these deliveries would never have hit the stumps, but they kept coming in at the batsman so he was mesmerised eventually.

Players like Redpath and Boycott were always masters at swaying out of the way of such deliveries - they could pick up the line of the ball so quickly that they could easily sway gently away, even though the ball was fairly straight.

This method would not work out on English wickets, where the bounce isn't so steep, but works in Australia.

Bat-pad technique

A different technique is needed on a typical English seamer's wicket. You need your pads as a second line of defence because the ball can deviate so much - if you're playing forward, and don't play a shot and the ball nips back and hits your pad. You usually won't be given out lbw.

This is the way to avoid being bowled 'through the gate, I.e. When he ball passes between your bat and pad. This is a tyipcial dismissal on a seamer's wicket and you must have that pad clsoe to the bat and get well forward if the ball's keeping low.

Don't worry about lunging forward because if you'e hit on the paid the chances are your'e too far forward or the ball would have missed the stumps, so that you won't be given out lbw. If you're getting dismissed a lot in the bat/pad position at short leg, perhaps that's because you're not hitting the ball hard enough - most of the catches in that position are from little nudges and half-cock shots, so follow, through with your attacking shot and if the bloke at bat-pad picks you up off a full-blooded shot, then he deserves your wicket.

Playing swing

Rodney Marsh made 110 not out in Australia’s second innings score of 419 for 9 wkts declared.

Late swing needs to be played calmly don't commit yourself too soon. Try to pick up the line of the ball quickly, but rememebr it doesn't really start to swing until it's half way towards you. The late out swinger is a problem - you can have it nicely lined up about leg and middle, it starts to swing a little and you aim for the on-side, but then it straightens up and you're out lbw or (even worse) clean bowled. No real physical worries about swing bowling, but it keeps you on your toes mentally.

To hook or not?

One thing you have to work out for yourself when facing fast bowling - are you going to play the hook or the full shots? You have to decide if you play them well enough. So take some advice and get in the nets to practise against short-pitched fast bowling. If you can play them properly. You'll make a lot of runs and don't worry if you get out to the hook or the pull now and then.

In my case, I don't play the hook shot unless I'm well settled, the bowlers are tired and I'm seeing the ball well.

There's an old saying that you shouldn't hook until after tea and that's not a bad adage in my opinion because so many things can go wrong - the ball can be on your too soon, or you play the shot too prematurely or you may have a habit of hooking in the air I'm happier with the pull shot because you can play that off a long hop from a medium pacer. No real need to worry about misjudging the pace of the wicket there.

Viv Richards is the best hooker and puller of the fast stuff I've seen anything fractionally short he murders. Clive Lloyd gets over the ball well and rarely seems ruffled by the quicks - mind you, he's been playing them for years. Graeme Wood, the Australian opening batsman, plays the fast men well - very much an on-side player and not much of a driver, but he nudges and deflects well and seems to enjoy the challenge.Playing fast bowling can be fun if you get it right - but it's never as much fun as playing spin bowling.