Cricket Masterclass: The art of attacking batting with Gilchrist, Pietersen and Ponting

time to talk about batting and attacking play in particular three of the modern greats Kevin Peterson Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist Gilley starting with you yeah I guess I think back to it how it all began the the basic foundation that my father who was sort of the biggest influence on my career at a young age how he used to coach me or a stir nag him keep throwing balls keep feeding him into the machine but he gave me a strong foundation of learning that the basic fundamentals so you needed a base to work from be it physically or just in your mind a basic technique of for defense back defense and I used to do a lot of those drills but dad always at the end that the finish of the net session would say right now you've done that I'm gonna throw something out just swab it hit the ball that's what the games about you've got it you just that's when the fun part of this while we play talked about base talking about the stance for the Wigmore a base to work from that you're confident that you know if a good ball comes and and I guess the big point and I think that everyone would agree here you learn your own technique I mean I grew up and I think most of us grew up with all the calling all cricketers textbook and that's what you sort of had in your mind but eventually you work out your own technique look at hands can look at Smith at the moment you're not gonna find those techniques anywhere in a textbook but really I was judged about just getting a nice balanced foundation so that then when the ball if you get a good ball you've got a good tight defense to try and keep it out or back foot nice tight but then from there it's an extension your aggressive stroke plays an extension of that base so as a settlement I can show you the drills that dad used to have me doing if you just get some tennis balls they're pretty pretty simple stuff so just a session would be just simple underarm balls and so you're doing all your basic drills that you might work on top hand drills to get some strength in that upper arm and it might be you know back foot as well just getting the petition but as I say he'd finish a session you do all that and you'd feel compact and then it was just hit the ball just well sorry Mike but just about just having that extension of your base and having some fun because there's no better feeling than you know going for a shot and feeling of the out of the middle that's as I say while we play the game so so that was the basic sort of foundation that I worked from I suppose the other thing that people asked me about being aggressive and and getting bat speed was my grip and people often used to say did I purposely hold the bat you know up high to get better leverage and better extension through the book no that's why your technique that's just what was comfortable for me you know Ricki was down lower okay leave it so you know I just that's just where it felt comfortable for me so I guess the key point is from my perspective was get a good foundation of a defense learn the defense the attack attacking strokes will be an extension of that but learn your technique and learn what's comfortable for you the base pretty similar absolutely right I mean i was a bit wider just because i'm a bit taller so I wanted to try and get that level level eyeline on it but I think the key to my betting was also I echo exactly what Gilley says was the ability to play a good solid defensive shot and I think when you can defend and you can defend straight and you're comfortable defending then you know that the bowlers best ball you can manage you can manage the bowlers best ball then you have the confidence to try and start improving on that and accelerating through your stroke play I busted my arm I got a excuse me pins and plates in my arm when I was 11 years of age they stopped me playing rugby but it helped me do is it helped me to play hockey I played a lot of squash I played a lot of tennis and a lot of people talk about the way that some players are step across their stumps said they hit the ball across their stumps or that switch hit and playing the reverse sweep I found it actually quite comfortable quite easy to play because all the switch it is is it's a backhand squash shot so you're running around a squash court it's a backhand it's a backhand to backhand tennis I mean top spinner or the more the back spinner so for me it wasn't a difficult shot it was a controlled shot it was controlled accretion but was all about manipulating the field and that's what people say against Muralitharan against Warnie against the Aussies in 1011 once you beat the left on spinner from around he'd come over the wicket and what do you do when he comes over the wicked as he falls into the rough when you bowl into the rough you said a 6-3 leg side field you have the slip in place you might have a backward point you might not so we might have a sweeper on the boundary one field of two fielder so if you block off my whole leg side you cannot get me out lbw I'm gonna get my pair in the way and then it's just an easy shot to accumulate runs and also just basically try and get the bowler to go back absolutely so it's all about defeating the bowl it's about defeating the captain as well and once you've defeated them from over the round the wicket you're hitting them through the extra car you flick in you're doing whatever you need to do the ball of things right defensive mode is to go over here now all it really is is a backhanded shot and that's a safe shot that might look like a risk but when a bowler goes around the wicked backward point generally isn't up they might not have a backward point or backward point might be on the boundary so any top edge is two three four remember going to a hundred in India and in Sri Lanka with exactly that same shot there was no fielder there the bowler was around the 6-3 and there really is no risk that's not out because it's pitched outside a leg stump so there really isn't any risk if you missed the ball and you get your pads in the one but you can just hit the ball and you can just manipulate the field and then the captain things this isn't working I've got to do something with my field he maybe take one man up from that side and then you can play start playing the power shots again so for me I was always four three two one in scoring I always look for a boundary first I'm gonna need went down yeah and it must be an amazing test of the mindset and strength of mind to be taking that risk changing the game of test create with innovation you know I think everyone associates those sort of shots to short version cricket don't they to open up scoring it was easier was better yeah because Test cricket you you could pack a leg side field in one day cricket you can't pack a leg side field yeah and also the with the wicket spinning a lot more they think it becomes more of an attacking option but you can see there one ball hit me here it's gonna hit the stumps but it's pitched outside leg so it's not outs and the calculated risk you're talking about there if your batting here with rough outside the leg stump if you come down and try to hit the ball that way the legacy marry the rough that's a bigger risk than walking with a spend the mic doing that agent Rick we talk about all the shots all the different tricks that these guys brought to the game what about the mindset now what's the mind like when you're trying to be all too aggressive well batting familiar all about scoring runs and I was showing that positive intent and putting the pressure back on the bowler to get them to ball where I wanted them to bowl that's that was basically my batting manager from the start so I looked I did nothing different than anybody else Gilly talked about the grip my love my grip was a little bit lower on the back because I probably wasn't as big and as physically strong and I wanted to make sure I felt like I had complete control of the blade my stance was pretty pretty normal just probably shoulder width apart and if anything my front foot was always a little bit more open to me Don because my natural move was to go forward and across my stumps to try and get into the the ball and get on into the ball as quick as I could and show the bowler that I was coming after him I wanted to get at him so that was my my natural movement was down that way and if you look at the lot of time when I was batting well I'd I'd take my stance I look up and the first thing I'd do it I saw I'd always look at a spot on the pitch and that spot on the soon as you take the guy during your stands the first thing you look at is always look down there how big is it I used to visualize like an a4 piece of paper on an on an area where abouts where you're looking what well it was normally a few if you had a change for different bowlers as well I was a bit the height of the bowler talking here dictated that yeah probably little bit further bit a little bit yeah about there so what I visualized as being a for defense length so basically what I was saying it to the bowler was if you're good enough to hit that that's going to be a defensive shot for me but with my intent and what I'm trying to do to you I'm trying to make BOTS by coming forward I'm trying to make you both short of that if you land the ball short of that I think I can pull you from that length and also by visualizing that area there if you pitched up on the full side of it the way I was going at the ball I thought I could get forward and drive the ball back down the ground so what I was trying to do was minimize the boulders margin for error if you like and make if you look at my career my two strong shots probably were punching back down the ground to meet on and hitting a good pull shot off balls that weren't overly short but it was all about that that intent that I had I wanted to get into a contest with a ball let him know that he was going after ball really well to try and restrict the way that I played and the way I scored and you know if first ball I got in the Test match was a half volley then I play it the same way as I would if I was a hundred no doubt you know I wanted to get in and get on and put pressure back on the bowlers as early as I could as a number three batsman as well that that could set a tone for the rest of the the rest of the team and the rest of the day if I play well so you know regardless of the situation that I went in or what situation the team was in I tried to play the same way every time we've spoken about you know bat lifts and and kind of wide basis the mentality of going out there to look to score but I know you did a masterclass before and thought about the head position and my key to my by him was getting that head towards the ball as soon as it went over to the offside I was in big trouble yeah and we talked a lot about you know getting a wide stance and getting kind of at the ball and getting a good stride in I've always felt that battens about the head about getting that head back towards the ball absolutely right and as you can see with Joe rout at the moment I think he might be a little bit worried with the short ball and so he's going searching for something that's actually not really there and that's why he's falling over it but the reason is falling overs because his head it's not because of his feet it's got nothing to do with his feet the heaviest part of your bodies your head so if your head goes in a certain direction your feet have to go in that direction if your heads gone at the ball your feets are going at the ball and you're quite right well I'll just I'll show you something with that with keV if we talk about because this obviously was something that I battled my whole career it was being a little bit there you get to get through the ball and and maybe not going in the exact same position all the time quite often my head will go towards meat off rather than towards meat on and then to work to to just show us their route with keV can take you stance there what I would say to anyone that battles that problem there is falling over their stumps is if I was teaching a kid that was falling out what I tend to do I tell him to see the ball from this eye from his right eye if quite often when you take his stance you're looking at you're looking out of your left eye you never really get your eyes Square enough to where the ball is coming from so if you're falling over your stumps see the ball from this side here and if and where you can when you start to move take that eye towards the umpire that's even evinced a leg side of the ball then watch the leg side of the ball you can actually make a move into the line if you want but once you've actually moved across early you can't go back the other way which is what Joe's doing right now so little things like that and the other thing with with young kids as well which hopefully this programs going to the one thing you can notice with the kid when his heads and his eyes not level is the peak on his hat or his helmet yeah you know it's always on an angle like that when your eyes aren't level so if there's anyone that's coaching these young kids just get them to straighten the peak of their helmet up and that gives them a better chance of taking it there so so true because I remember playing in some Test matches saying look at me don't look at me don't look at me Don to try and keep my head this side of the ball especially when somebody fastest bowling because you stay this side of the ball it's easier to do duck and sway and then watch the ball as soon as you get this side of the ball all the comedy is not watching the ball is it's hard to watch the ball when your head is tilted in this direction if you're in this direction you can play both ways if your heads here you literally ducking balls going past you you're getting this way you're turning your head and it's so true so obvious body your body you know you hold my bodies reigns first is going to be coming down that way when we're trying to be upright level-headed that's Test cricket what about t20 cricket don't ask me what we're looking at and see 20 cricket what do players need now technique that you've just sold as well Oh Oh jumping because usually but you know Almighty 24 I opened the batting so for me it was pretty much no change of my mindset or technique the field was up our one-day cricket brand-new ball so a couple of field restriction to power play so for me there was there was plenty of gaps you know here I didn't have to sort of think I've got to go aerial they're trying to hit sixes just just my same mindset so nice and positive frame of mind and a lot of people ask me just jump him at the test feed about the mindset around the the Perth 100-150 old balls and the first innings that that for me was mindset first innings over at Monty Panesar I just prop forward really negative in mine inside edge caught for a duck and I remember walking off thinking if I get the chance of facing Monty again if I'm going to get caught I'm gonna get caught on the fence and I got out there I managed to get into the innings and he came out it was just much more a dressing so it's not so much you know the end result of hidden sixes but it's aggressing in aggression in the feet getting down getting out of the crease being prepared to take that risk whereas if you're negative and proper you're gonna get out that that's the really a really good point you make there because soon as you are looking to score looking to hit the ball all your movement speed up because you're actually trying to get into position early where you can actually strike the ball but if you're looking to defend only all your movements are slow cuz you're not looking to move anyway that's not going to do this and defend they never get yourself in a good position to play shot the dismissal of Steve Smith over his first Test wicket that's exactly he's just on the move the ball hits his pad if he's more aggressive with that leg movement it hits he's paired fatsia goes yeah not outside the line but he's on the move it hits his pad goes to the inside edge chops it onto the stamp side yeah a little bit of something on t20 here get the t20 cricket is exactly the same as Test cricket exactly the same as one-day cricket you just give yourself less time to get yourself in you'll see your mindset for me personally is absolutely 100% like I did in Test match cricket what I did in a Test match cricket I try to get myself to ten runs before I started taking advantage I tried I really did try it didn't mean then my intent wasn't there to get to those ten runs into said it to me don't go yeah what exactly right so there was intent that's the intent to score I was always looking to score but in t20 cricket doesn't matter where I come in about three one two or three it's always ten balls but also the intend to walk out there and I've ever laughs or someplace that you're going to walk yourself in and while you're walking in you get yourself right now now I speak a lot to these guys when I walk out to met in Australia then it's quite refreshing because you can talk about what you want to do and you can say what you've actually got to deliver this now because this is what you're talking about but it's all about the intent to score and having captained in t20 cricket you understand how fragile bowlers off and when you've captained the team and you go and play in another team and you bet you know that a bowler is so scared about the guy working him he's so scared of going for runs so the position of strength in a t20 game is all with the batsman so I walk out to about a set right I'm gonna give myself ten balls in those ten balls because of my reputation and because of the way that I've played I will get three four balls I get three four balls which means of ten if I block the rest I'm off twelve if I get to those ten those ten deliveries and that's the mindset that I walk out of that within people okay how do we teach Oh the modern player that young kids the boys and girls out there now that just starting out to play the game how do we teach them how to play the modern game what I like to teach young kids these days exist almost the reverse of what Gilley was taught by his father I took two kids now about finding a way to hit the ball as hard as you can but hit along the ground right from the start learn that first learn how to strike the ball first and then we can build a little defense around that if you look at the modern players I think most of them that are good these days have done that they were born a Stephen Smith they've all come in as flamboyant stroke players that have and then ended up building a defense around it but also when you're teaching kids you got to give some fun to have luckily said he got he's found out the end of you session I like to tell kids if we see kids playing short version cricket now the first thing they do is they go out and they try and whack it up in the air and try and hit sixes and actually learning nothing but why don't we teach him to hit the good hard shots along the ground give him less chance of getting out the bat for longer periods of climb that walk off enjoy himself interesting enough I was doing some coaching in Sydney last week and I walked in and there was a little kid he's 14 years of age he's got 200s already and exactly right 14 years of age and the guy said dad said I can you come over look at my son so I was like I cool so the coach was there who was there it's our through him three balls he went crunch-crunch-crunch and the coach said to me said what about his I mean his left arm is a bit stiff he said don't you think it's a bit stiff and I turned to the coach and I said dude I said I don't know who this bloke is I know he's dead he just come in yeas crunch turn off drought crunched run straight down the wicked flick torn off his pads I said there's nothing wrong with his technique I think there's too much talk about technique it's about finding your way and it's about making sure that this thing that we've all talked about goes at the ball if you're defending off the back foot it's at the ball if you're off the front foot it's at the ball look to score use this thing don't worry about these they go all right all three of you we've talked about technique we've talked about the modern game fearlessness how do you give a kid that chance to go out there and not worry about getting out because everyone no one wants to get out and there's always that little gremlin in the back you miles away if I dance down and play the aggressive stroke may get out how do we teach kids to kind of clear that out of the mind yeah well I think again it goes back to what but they've both just said it's about letting kids experience the joy of of creaming it just the fun of running down gum in your mind you're I'm gonna go Ariel and you swinging the bat and just for that split second you nail it out of the middle and you're the only person in the whole world that knows that you've got it and you just gone through Beauty this is quite clear so if they can experience that early that that'll be enough incentive for them to stay in the game to keep wanting to do that and replicating that and then they'll try and carry that into a match and yes they are gonna that they're gonna get challenged they're gonna get out but a bit like I was saying to keV he brings that type of game but tests create you know criticize your challenge but you've just got to be stronger that morning and trust that on the back of being free scoring you've got a base foundation for the good ball like we've spoken about I don't think he can teach it I don't think you can teach it I think it comes from the confidence within the more successful you get the more patient you're gonna get with your failure the more you're gonna accept failure and the more that you're gonna understand that failure happens because you've also achieved some good stuff I do not think for one stretch of the imagination I can take that bloke there with that bucket head on and teach him how to be fearless I don't know I can't you've got to do it yourself you got you've got two choices haven't you trained two or three times a week to be ready to play on game day so if you're going to get confidence out of anything you've got to try and get something from the way that you're trained so if you think on the weekend going to be playing a spinner and you want to be able to use your feet then you got to do that all week of training or give yourself a chance yeah so that's the one thing of a sign but the other thing I'd say to the kids is just see the positive outcome don't see that negative outcome of getting out like if if you're visualizing their night before your game that you're running down and going here to spin it don't think you're gonna go around run down and get stumped plenty visualize yourself running down there and playing the perfect shot like give yourself half a chance if it's happy thought then that's one way they can give us your best ashes moment in terms of attacking play keV okay it has to be 2005 that final day in 2005 was that spell of brettly after lunch was pure instinct it had nothing to do with technique had nothing to do with power nothing to do with talent it was technique it was either him or me it was a six of thumb and I could have got out any ball Ricky well this might sound funny because we're batting for a draw but I think the intent that I showed with my batting in old trafford 2005 in tough conditions I stuck to my actual game plan right the way through that day still managed to score quite freely but never got outside of my natural instincts so that was the one for me Kelly but you've already mentioned purses is that not 2006 I guess so I in an Ashes first innings of an Ashes Test in Brisbane a few years before got out for a duck so second innings went in there again you know you dreaded pair but again it just managed to trigger myself and and Ashley Giles ball and I thought right I've got to go biggie I'm if I'm gonna get out for a pair I'm gonna get caught on the fence and manage to get away with a six so again it's like keV talks about the oval you know could have been out any boy you got dropped but he kept backing himself from so I think that's the key thing so yeah well I'm talking to drop sir Gilly mine was 2005 when I got 160 yards I think you helped me out on about 40 with a you're right handing quite grab onto that SB I don't know where you're keeping master posture you've given me a lift up there Gilley thank you Gilley Ricky kept thanks so much for that three of the best hope you've enjoyed that

Channel: TNT Sports

Views: 1,909,310

Keywords: cricket, ashes, t20, IPL, BBL, Big Bash, England, Australia, KP, Gilchrist, Ponting, Vaughan, England cricket, Australia cricket, How to, Tutorial

Id: 2wdT4zzNinI

Length: 21min 29sec (1289 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 25 2017