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Fundamental Batting Certificate

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Coaching Sheet 3: How to select the right shot to play

The batsman's job is to score as many runs as possible.

But to build an innings, a batsman needs sound judgement to work out which deliveries to defend, leave or score off. Even top class batsmen give their wicket away because of poor shot selection, so it's not an easy science.

The batsman has approximately 12 shots to choose from either side of the wicket.
So stroke selection depends on the line, length and speed of a delivery.

There are three main lines:

Off stump and outside

Middle stump
Leg stump and outside

And there are five main lengths of delivery:

Bouncer/long hop
Short of a length
Good length
Full length/half volley
Full toss

For the best chance of building an innings, a batsman needs to move their feet backwards or forwards or to one side or another to get into the best position to play a stroke.

The red (straight drive), green (forward defensive) and black (backward defensive) are the most dangerous areas because the ball could hit the stumps. Therefore it is important to be able to play these shots before trying the others.

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