West Indies Cricket Fans

In my opinion, a batsman who does not have the necessary skills to defend his wicket will always be found wanting, in the long run. What do you think?

Boycott, Gavaskar, Ian Chappell, Gordon Greenidge, Lara, Shiv are all players whose defensive play could be even a more daunting proposition for the opposition than their flashing blade. Why? Because you knew that once that aura of soundness began to permeate every move they made at the crease then the bowlers were in for a very tough time!

Not only did these players possess a mental toughness that gaverise to immense powers of concentration, but they also relished the battle of bat versus ball. One can observe that to be a great batsman you can't afford to get tired of playing the ball on merit and patting it back to the bowler off the middle of the bat if it so dictates. But such stroke play should fill you with joy because the more solidly you defend the broader the bat begins to appear to the opposition.

One can even argue that when a batsman defends comfortably and confidently, then the edges of the bat disapper and all that remains is the solid, sweet, middle!

As spectators we signal our respect for the solid AND timely forward defensive shot by uttering a resounding, chorus of "noooooooooo" as the batsman plays an immaculate forward defensive back to the bowler having earlier hit him for boundaries off successive balls! All yuh know what I mean?

Why does this current crop of WI batsmen appear to get closer to being dismissed the more they are asked to defend?

I did not plan this follow-up at the time of that first post, however in places on this youtube clip we can hear Brian talk abiut his innings. Listen to what he says about wanting to build an innings and NOT getting out - at least before he had scored 100. Why? Because he realised that he had thrown away his wicket in the past! He had learned from the past - and to imagine this was his the ocassion of only his 3rd test match hundred!

Hear what he says about hie mental approach to a score of two hundred; and beyond that to how Sir Viv's mark of 292 then became a motivation.

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Yes, Batsmanship: A solid defense paves the way for attack.

I see like me and maps got the same train of thought . Is what dey say? Great minds think alike, eh . Check out his post here which touches on the topic and signals his agreement with my assertion in the topic title. What do you say?

Amongst other things:

mapoui wrote: ...lil bravo ... they compare him to Lara but Lara had the mos brilliant of defences, impregnable if he decided to defend, Lara was so good he hardly had to be defensive, but when he had too there was no getting through him.

another great batsman with an impregnable defence was Viv Richards. to see richards defend was an impresive sight. but Viv as so aggressive dat people dont know that aspect of his batting very well...

correck is rite!

got to have the basics!