Top 10 Cricket Batting Tips From Faf Du Plessis
WATCH THE SEAM
My Australian teammate Mark Waugh was the best slip fieldsman I have ever seen, and I was amazed how easily it came to him. His 181 catches in Test cricket, mostly from second slip, is in the top five of all time. Firstly, his stance at slip was strong, yet relaxed, feet shoulder-width apart and the fingers pointing down. Mark always watched the bowler deliver the ball and looking for the length of the delivery, then watched the rotation of the ball flying past the batsman. This is massively important, and it is worth noting for all slippers. Mark always said if the batsman nicked the ball and the seam of the ball was scrambled, then the ball was not traveling quickly and was likely to dip at the last minute. Sometimes when a batsman nicked the ball, the seam would be spinning like Saturn, horizontally or even vertically, which told him that it was traveling ‘hot’, or very quickly. So by watching the rotation of the ball, a slip fieldsman can tell exactly how quickly the ball is traveling to him.
THE RIGHT WAY TO CATCH
In Australia, we have always been taught to have ten fingers up or ten fingers down when attempting to catch. It is standard practice, and you cannot be caught between those two positions. But I have noticed that over the last 15 years or so some of the best slip fieldsmen, like Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Mahela Jayawardene, Shane Warne, and Mark Taylor, used a few variations on this. The modern way to catch is to overlap your hands, assuming that you have put two hands on the ball, with the dominant or throwing hand in front to take most of the force of the ball. There is very little driving involved; great slip fieldsmen
don’t need to dive, as they have great balance. If you look at any decent wicketkeeper’s gloves, you will see that it will have wear marks on the dominant, or throwing hand of that player. So slip fieldsmen are now copying the keepers in the way they catch, in my opinion. This overlapping technique stops the ball from bursting through their hands when the ball is coming through with speed. Interestingly, Ricky Ponting loved catching the ball in slips with ten fingers up. Scientific studies using special glasses proved that Ponting was watching the bottom of the ball when it flew to him and thus caught mostly with ten fingers up. Everyone is different, and Ponting surely was Many players now use gloves at practice, with the fingers cut out to alleviate any chance of bruising. The Australians, who have probably been the best fieldsmen over the last 20 years, love to have their fielding practice and catching at full throttle, with no easy catches. They take just as much pride in their fielding skills as their batting or bowling. If you have lost some confidence in catching, try catching a seven-kilogram shot putt. If a slipper or fieldsman catches, say, ten shot putts from two meters, then try to catch a cricket ball, it gives him the feeling of catching a tennis ball because it is so much lighter. Try it, and you will see that it is good for confidence.
MARK WAUGH
WHERE TO LOOK
When you are fielding, it is a personal decision as to where you watch. Is it the ball that you are following, or do you look at the batsman on strike? We have just noted that Mark Waugh, for instance, liked to look at the ball in flight, but not everyone is the same. I have asked many players over the years which method they favor. If it is the bat that they watch, which part of the bat? A lot of them say that in slips they
watch the edge of the bat, but which part of the edge? Personally, I like to keep the game simple, so I would watch the ball at all times. But even then there can be confusion. If you are fielding at mid-on, should you watch the ball? There are many different answers. Two of the greatest fieldmen that I have ever seen in Sir Vivian Richards of the West Indies and Mark Waugh of Australia both told me that they watched the ball all the time, no matter where they were fielding. I was watching Viv closely at Adelaide once when he was fielding in the covers, and I could not believe how quickly he moved to the ball. It was as though he was one step ahead of the batsman. I asked him later over a beer what was his theory, and he answered: ‘Deano mean, I watch “Mako” (a faster bowler, the late, great Malcolm Marshall) release the ball. I look for his length. Maan, if I see it short, I move towards the point straight away. If he bowls length, I hold my position. Maan, but I was deathly smooth to maintain balance ... you know so I could pick up the ball. You know, Deano, I don’t dive coz I don’t have to, maan ...’ He finished with a belly laugh in that West Indian way.
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