Do you get out LBW often in Cricket?
How did I eliminate LBW from my batting?
I have been playing competitive Leather Club Cricket in Bangalore since 2021. I am an opening batsman and wicket keeper.
I was getting LBW in recent days. Two instances: One on a slow low mat wicket and one on a fast in-swinging delivery on a wet astroturf.
I assessed my technique and realised that I was doing a back and across trigger movement, with a middle stump guard. Here the across movement of my back foot is not in my control and happens even before the delivery is being bowled. This was taking me around, and at times beyond, the off stump while facing the delivery.
Now this stance had a few issues:
#1 Unnecessary Head Movement
This stance is mainly to face fast bowlers bowling above 130kmph+. But here in Bangalore in club matches, the bowlers are bowling at best at 120kmph+ , that too is a rare occurrence. Most pacers are bowling gentle medium pace in the range of 100–110kmph with a short run-up. So while the trigger of back and across is making me ready to play a fast ball, most balls are coming to me slower in the air, and as a result, my head was falling towards the off-side due to the extra split second. I was also playing the ball early. If the bowlers was fast, then there were no issues as I was meeting the ball below my eyes, but in the case of a slower baller, I was playing it early and my head was falling due to the extra split second available. This made me susceptible to miss the ball and was also hampering my judgement of the line of the ball as my head was moving up and down and sideways while watching the ball.
#2 Covering the line of the ball more than required
Since I was moving towards the off stump, the bowlers were bowling to me towards the off side more as my stumps weren’t visible. The line of the ball was closer to my body and hence I ended up playing it straight, mostly towards mid-off, which didn’t produce boundaries. Cover drives were less as most balls are close to my body. Given my backlift, I tend to hit cover drives on the balls which are away from my body. Hence this being close to the ball killed the cover drives. It also killed the cut shot for the same reasons. As a result, my offside runs were choked. However, playing the ball straight was coming off nicely. I did a straight drive to a pacer and it was beautiful!
#3 Getting out LBW
As I was taking a middle stump guard and moving more towards off due to my back and across movement, I was taking straight balls on my body. For balls with bounce, I could pull and glance, but for balls with low bounce, On drive or flick were the options. Given that I have an open stance, my body becomes sideways with my left leg planted across on the off stump, this has hampered the flick shots which I once played a lot. Instead of this I was either hitting on drives, or missing the ball altogether.
Now missing the ball was an issue, as when struck on the pad, the umpires would see the impact in front of stumps. The poor umpires wouldn’t not take into account the trajectory of the ball, and would judge me out. This has resulted in me being given out on balls which were missing leg stump.
Getting out LBW feels bad
So, to summarise, I was getting LBW, not scoring of off-side, and moving my head unnecessarily before playing the ball costing me my stability.
Hence I decided to make a change to address these issues.
I change my set-up and trigger movement
I decided that I would stop back and across movement, take a leg stump guard, and will be still at the time to release of the ball, without any conscious movement of body. I would then move my front leg towards the line of the ball (i.e. towards the arm of the bowler), essentially a forward press, which will take my head towards the line of the ball. (More like Sachin Tendulkar or Inzaman ul Haq)
The change in stance results in the following benefits:
#1 Stable head Position: In this stance, the head and body were stable at the point of release of the ball. After the ball was released the head was steady, and moving towards the line of the ball making the judgment of the line even better. This also took my head closer to the ball, and I could wait and hit the ball under my head. As the head was moving towards the line, so was the front leg. The head was basically leading the front leg into the shot. I was able to hit the ball crispy on the front foot. Also since the weight was on the front foot, I was in a position to rock back to back foot and hit backfoot shots.
#2 Scoring on Offside: Since I was standing on the leg stump, the bowlers were bowling to me on stumps or a bit away from the stumps. I was thus able to open up the off-side for myself. Being away from the line of the ball, I was able to more squarer that straighter. As the head was leading me into the shot, the cover drives came back and so did the cut shots. For balls which were straight on the stumps, I was able to hit straight and on-drives which were better scoring options.
#3 Eliminating LBW: Now due to a forward press and a leg stump guard, I was able to play all balls on stumps. And the balls which were going down the leg, I was able to either able to hit those on mid-wicket or flick them. Even in case of missing the ball, i.e. when the ball stuck me on the pad, the impact was happening outside the line of stumps. As stumps were visible during impact, it was easier for the umpire to judge that the ball was missing the wickets, which was not the case with my back and across trigger which gave an impression that all balls hitting the pad would hit the wickets. See the image below for reference:
A Change has its pros and cons
But a change of technique always brings its own pros and cons. While we have seen the benefits, what could be the cons?
Well, thinking aloud, there might be a case where I miss the ball on the off side as I am far away from the line of the ball. Perhaps, I might knick the ball at times. But I hope that doesn’t happen.
This will most probably reduce my flick shots toward the square leg, but that should be ok, as it opens up many more shots. I can perhaps try to be more side-on to allow for flick shots, but I think my weight and body structure will make my head fall more, hence perhaps I can re-assess when I perhaps 20kgs leaner in future.
Other questions which comes to my mind is that can i play an express pace bowler in this stance?
Well, the technique should allow me to play pace as well, given that at club level at best I am gonna face a 130kph+ bowler. And even for such pace , this technique should work.
Apart from this, I don’t see any issue whatsoever.
I am hoping this small change in stance will allow me to score runs and expand my range of shots.
So look forward to hit more cover drives, more cuts, more straight drives,more on drives, and more pulls. And hopefully this gets me rid of the LBW completely.
Cheers
Update:
I played in nets and faced bowling in range of 120–130kmph with a robo arm. I could see that I wasn’t feeling very comfortable at that pace. Primary reason was the use of robo arm and the bowler was bowling in a slingy action, hence it was difficult for me to follow the arm to activate my trigger. Hence I was getting late.
I improvised by taking a forward press proactively before the release of the ball, and it did work. Good thing is that I didn’t get LBW or bowled. Was able to play balls bowled on stumps well. I was also able to hit many pull, cut, and lap shots. All this is very encouraging, as with time I will only get better.
However I felt that a leg stump guards takes me a bit far away from the ball and gives the bowler an advantage as they can bowl me balls near the wide mark. I am also not awake of my off stump, which is not ideal. My head was on Leg stump during the time I was playing the ball. Hence I feel I should take a Middle stump guard.
This will allow me to be a bit closer to the wide balls, and also my head will be on top of middle stump at the point of release of the ball. I can thus leave balls which are a little outside my reach and play at the balls which are below and slightly wide of my eye line.
However this is redundant as these days the way cricket is going, I am playing almost all balls, and leaving very less no: of balls.
So let’s see how it goes. I have one more net session tomorrow before the match on Sunday. Will keep you posted.
Cheers
