High Back Lift During Power Play Overs- Is it Good or Bad for the Batsman?

[Alchemist]

I was playing a friendly cricket match this weekend. When I went to bat, there were only a few overs left. So, I decided to go for some big shots.

Interestingly, I also decided to follow a high back lift on my stance (while the bowler is taking his run up, similar to Mushi, Riyad and Nayeem, who are our players for the last batting powerplay overs). Then something very strange happened.

I got a short pitch delivery from a medium pacer and pulled the ball to score a Six. However, I couldn’t pull with enough power so it ended up with a catch at deep square leg area.

Ok, the reason I’m bringing my personal experience on this topic is, I felt like with my normal back lift (which is not very high) I could’ve gained the momentum behind my pull shot and the ball should’ve travelled over the boundary.

I felt like having a high back lift could be useful if I’m driving an overpitched/half volley delivery (giving me more time and power), however, for a long hop at chest height, I couldn’t generate enough momentum to hit the ball for a six. It was like a fast bowler taking a short run up to bowl faster (with less momentum).

During the powerplay and death overs, most teams try to bowl yorker and bouncer length deliveries to the batsmen. To my understanding, having a high back lift (before the bowler releases his delivery) may not provide any extra benefit to the batsman to play these balls (by blocking the perfect Yorker or pulling a bouncer).

I’m not a professional player so please don’t consider this experience coming from an expert. If we had Jamie Siddons in this forum (like Pont and Julien), I would’ve asked him this question. As that can’t happen, I’m interested to know your opinions.

[Abirz]

I think strong forearms and a fast bat speed are more important than a high back lift,most importantly hitting the ball at the sweet spot through timing, I've seen flicks off the pads go for six purely cause of timing

[AsifTheManRahman]

It's all about what you're comfortable with. A high back-lift does aid in, for example, driving the ball through the V, but one can't downplay reflex, bat speed and power.

[F6_Turbo]

just to clear any confusion, what's the difference between

High bat lift

and

High backlift


oh and alchemist, which oval mate?

[shuziburo]

High backlift can be devastating against express pacers like Roach. But, the more important thing for BD batsmen is to completely cut out the premeditated shots. Watch any good inning by Sehwag. He defends good deliveries and properly dispatches all bad ones. Yes, few are blessed with a hand-eye coordination like Sehwag. But, the principle can be applied by anyone.

[Haru-party]

in the powerplay batsmen try to go underneath the ball. high backlift wont help that cause.

[allrounder]

High back lift only helps if the ball is coming just below the waist. Anything lower or higher, if you try to pull will not go where you expect the ball to go. Think of baseball, all has high lift to take a swing when the ball comes in the perfect spot.

[betaar]

As far as I know, high back lift can help driving the ball on the v harder as the momentum of the bat, coming down from a higher than usual hight, is more thus hitting the ball with more force while driving comapred to regular back lift. But one must also slouch a little, especially if they are on the taller side unlike Mushy , so there is no gap between the bottom of the bat and the ground so they don't get themselves yorked while playing fast balls. And the grip on the bat needs to be firm enough so the extra momentum gathered does not prevent from giving a full face of the bat to the ball.
High back lift is also detrimental while trying to pull and/or hook as the bat has to travel more distance in coming down from the back to almost waist height in front, unless of course some has a tremendous forearm and hand-eye coordination.

[Alchemist]

Thanks all for the responses.

@F6_Turbo: I believe the correct statement would be high backlift of the bat. And it was in Banksia park.

@betaar: I was actually thinking in the terms of having a high backlift even before the bowler releases the bowl. It's like you take your stance at the crease, wait for the bowler to release the delivery then decide what shot you are going to offer by judging the ball compared to you take your normal stance (with normal backlift), see the ball (line+length) and go for a high backlift after watching the ball.

I did the first (high backlift from the beginning) and although I timed the ball pretty well, I could'nt put more power behind my pull shot. But for driving the ball, I managed to hit a six over the long off boundary on a half volley with similar high backlift that created problems for my pull shot.

That's why I was thinking, how much benefit Riyad and Nayeem get when they use the high backlift (from the beginning) during the power play overs? But, I believe, they mainly rely on timing the ball correctly rather than hitting the ball like a afridi or a pollard.

[Alchemist]

Originally Posted by allrounder
High back lift only helps if the ball is coming just below the waist. Anything lower or higher, if you try to pull will not go where you expect the ball to go. Think of baseball, all has high lift to take a swing when the ball comes in the perfect spot.

Precisely my point. And it's very hard to get this kind of waist height deliveries during the death (or powerplay) overs, I guess.

[aosaif]

more threads like this please! love to read about the ins and outs of cricketin technique! Nice break from arguing about ashraful, 1-pacer-bowling-attack proposition, and our team's overall shortcomings!!

[Alchemist]

^ Thanks aosaif bhai.

[Tigers_eye]

Dear Alchemist,
ato analysis koirey kono labh nai. bodmash gula fielder shoi koira marey. upor diya geley out. nichey diya geley dot ball.

[cricket_king]

I don't agree with the idea that a high back-lift prevents you from playing pull shots or the short ball. I have a rather high back lift and play the pull shot quite often. To be honest, if you're really looking to blast a ball out of the park, a front-foot shot would be more appropriate since you're leaning into the shot.

[Jadukor]

I always found weight transfer on the back foot really helps getting into a good position to swivel into a pull shot... too many times i got out to top edges because my balance was on the initial movement to the front foot and i had tried to pull the ball from that position...

[RazabQ]

A high back-lift or a low one really not an issue during PowerPlay. High back lift will tend to increase your bat speed on down-swings (drives & flicks) and cuts. I can see how it would be not ideal for playing the pull-shot but players like Gilly, Aravinda, Ash etc are phenomenal pull shot players and they also possess high, flourishing back-lifts.

Actually more than how high your back-lift might be, I believe your grip is a better variable in terms of influencing your shot selection. If your back-lift tends to go straight up, odds are you will play better in the V, and as previously mentioned, along with a crouch, should set up you very well for fuller lengths. If the bat tends to point towards 2nd slip, you sir are a cutter and puller.

[RazabQ]

I should add, you better have faith in your eye if you play with a high back-lift. Otherwise think of Mushy against express pace.

[BANFAN]

High Back lift really depends on individual players. Some are more comfortable with high back lifts & some are not.

Off: I think there is a silent hype building up with Roch? Our boyz faced him in last series without too many problems.

[Sovik]

Example of pulling the ball with a high back lift