Personally, I am not thinking about batting only at No. 4. I want to be someone who is very flexible batting at any number or if you go into any situation you should be able to grab that opportunity and make the best use of it.
I was nervous batting eighth, and I was nervous batting seventh.
The batting coach does his job. He tells them the basic faults and helps them improve their technique. But if the batsman is in form then he has to carry that form.
Grownups, as a rule, should always be ready to pay for their own meals – or else ready to graciously accept their date’s insistence on paying. The point is, one doesn’t sit there batting one’s eyelashes, fully expecting someone else to claim the bill.
I never thought in my dreams that I would score fifty in One-dayers: not fifty but match-winning knock because One-Day is a kind of format which doesn’t suit my batting, as I am not the kind of batsman who can hit big sixes.
If Trescothick had tried to get me off the field when batting well, I’d have hit him with my bat.
It is important that whenever you do get opportunities to practice, just get in some batting and be in a place where you feel if you get a chance to play, you can do well. It’s important to be in that zone and be as practically ready as possible.
The closer I got to Essex 2nds, the more technical I got with my batting.
I’d love to see pitches start very dry all over the world, which is good for batting but means there will be turn – a cricket match without spinners is like a chess match without two important pieces – a less interesting game.
I love batting at four.
When you are asked to open the batting in overcast conditions, it is a challenge.
Obviously, a lot of things play on your mind when you’re batting. This might happen and this might not. The best thing you can do when you’re batting is not to think too much, and wait for the next ball.
I have been pretty free-flowing in my batting. I have not let situations change my batting around too much.
There is a lot of talk about how Twenty20 has changed batting techniques in Test cricket. But it has also had an impact on bowling.
Campaign boot camp started as an opportunity to work in a grassroots way with people who were running for Congress. Colleagues on the Democratic National Committee were batting around different possibilities. I said, ‘We should have boot camps.’
To cure a batting slump, I took my bat to bed with me. I wanted to know my bat a little better.
I spent many hours in the batting cage. I remember many days when my hands were pretty cut up and bleeding.
Music, for me, is vital. Punjabi, Bollywood, Sufi, RnB… I listen to it all. When I’m not listening to music, you will find me chatting with friends. Off the field, I just let my instincts take over. I certainly don’t think about batting, or which bowlers I’m going to face.
We devote our entire lives to becoming good ball players. We take batting practice until our hands bleed.
I went from being one of the best players, batting .550, to not being able to do it mentally, hitting .200. I thought I was mentally tough. But I couldn’t hit the ball.
I have to be flexible in my role, batting and bowling.
I love to score runs rather than defending or leaving the ball. That is an important aspect of my batting: I don’t want to waste balls in any form of the game.
English conditions have changed over the years. Lots of runs are being scored in one-day cricket now in England, pitches are good for batting.
There’s a difference between batting at number four position and batting in the lower order.
Before the match starts I visualise that I will try to rotate the strike and take singles. But if I see that the players batting before me are struggling, and the wicket is not playing that good, I try to dominate from the first ball.
I have been up and down the batting order and it’s difficult. People don’t always realise that.
I’m still batting away on my politics for the Labour Party. I’m much further to the left of them than I used to be, but that’s because they’ve moved, not me.
I don’t think it matters too much if you are batting or bowling first on this pitch. The wicket remains the same throughout the 40 overs. There is only the dew factor that probably comes in the second innings.
You’re not going to have a 1.000 batting average, but the way you get votes is, you just push and you push. I’m not afraid to do that.
Playing at different positions is a challenge, and I’ve always believed that I can play in any situation and at any number in the batting order.
If you continually watch yourself do something well, it has a positive effect. If you sat down and watched yourself bowling, batting or fielding badly, it will probably have the equal effect.
On the road, we’re hitting in the cages during our normal batting practice for our position players.
Every now and then you might have to change things around. It’s not something that is good to do a lot – especially with your batting – but every now and then, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
I believe my actual job is that of a mentor. I don’t just talk about bowling. I discuss batting, I discuss fielding, I discuss team selection, talking to every boy individually on and off the field, giving them confidence and if they are struggling with their cricket, talking to them about their cricket.
I’d say that probably 95 per cent of batting is mental and decision-making.
I have always been a player whose form goes up and down but at the moment I feel my batting confidence is at its lowest. Negative comments can affect you and they probably have.
I just enjoy batting. I love it. It’s a craft and I love plugging away at it. I guess getting to do that in a match was the ultimate pleasure to be out there and do something I’ve been doing for a long time.
Without global human rights, labor and environmental movements, companies would still be hiring 12-year-olds as a matter of course and poisoning our groundwater without batting an eyelid.
I didn’t think much about batting average when I was playing.
I never thought I’d rather watch England’s cricketers batting for a draw than their footballers in the World Cup but it was a lot more exciting.
I have to thank batting coach Sanjay Bangar for providing valuable inputs. He gave me honest feedback about how poorly I was batting and what were the aspects I needed to focus on.
Preparation is not just about batting and bowling. You have to consider lots of things – the travel, the weather, the heat, the light, the sounds. You have to be comfortable with everything.
I just enjoy batting, scoring runs, and contributing for my team.
You have to always work on your batting as you are never perfect. I am working on my batting every day and trying to perfect a few shots that will help me score all around the world.
You don’t win games by batting long periods of time.
I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks during batting practice.
When it comes to batting, I have a lot of expectations from myself.
The federal government does not trample in jackboots those with whom it does business. It wraps them in cotton batting and, when they express ingratitude, apologizes profusely.
I have always liked to attack the bowlers, and batting is all about getting runs.
We are all really working hard to improve our batting.
I think it’s related. Batting and captaincy or bowling or captaincy. If you are doing your job well as a batsman, then the same confidence comes in to what you do as a leader.
I had to stop being a student idiot and become more sensible and organised and that definitely improved my batting. I also reacted far more quickly to situations in Test cricket because I’d been a county captain. It made a huge difference.
For me, David Warner isn’t just the future of Australian batting, he’s the future for cricket in general because he can excel in any form of the game. I’m excited just watching him.
I’ve always said, even batting leadoff, that I want to be a dangerous hitter.
Batting with Dhoni is always a dream for me.
In T20, you don’t have time to get distracted – it’s so quick, you have to run around in the field, and while batting, you don’t actually think about anything else.
In a perfect world, if I can get conversations done at a batting cage, there’s exactly the place I want to be.
I would love to win a batting title. That would be amazing. Can I do it? Yes, I can. No doubt.
Technically your best player should be batting at No. 3.
My batting took some time to develop – I was batting at No. 10 initially but my bowling took off.
God isn’t really interested in our batting averages.
So, I am concentrating more on the batting aspect of my game and trying to get used to playing the anchor role.
I was a wicket-keeper who opened the batting. Could I have made it? Hard to say. I probably wouldn’t quite have been good enough. I might get back into it once I’ve finished with the football.
In the old days, you know, they didn’t have batting cages. And in most ball parks, they only had one runway to the dugout.
I’m expecting big things from our bowlers, from Peter Siddle, who plays the enforcer role, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee when he gets fit again. In batting, there’s Phil Hughes, whose already done well for Australia and scored hundreds for Middlesex.
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