The shot and delivery you just can't get enough of.

In cricket, there are many shots available to the batsman. Every player though tends to have a particular area of the field in which they like to attack. Some are wristy players capable of flicking balls from well outside off-stump onto the leg side. Some (surprisingly most left-handed batsmen) are very good off their feet. While some like to chip over the in-field or even blast over the outfield, others prefer to keep things on the ground and punch the gaps in the classic V.

So plenty of shots to look at but as a spectator what shot could you look at over and over and not grow tired of watching it. And what exponent of that shot do you think is the best executor of that shot? For example, I can never grow tired of the classic cover drive. The foot to the ball, the perfect timing, the crisp shot, the straight bat at the end and the raised upper elbow like he was posing for a photo. Call me a traditionalist but I love a front foot player and even though 4 runs is not as much as scoring a 6 straight down the park, to me it´s more demoralising being driven along the ground repeatedly. At least if a ball goes aerial the bowler thinks you have a chance he might not middle one of them. But a ball across the ground all the time and you start to feel you´ll never get the batsman out. Now what´s more difficult is to think of a classic cover drive specialist. I can think of a few Aussie drivers of the ball - Waugh M, Ponting, Slater. Vaughan and KP for England spring to mind. But I´ll reveal my batsman after you offer up a few candidates of your hand.

An honourable mention goes to the pull shot. I love watching classic front foot drives on or off. But I like a batsman who isn´t afraid of a bowler and who wants to get on top of the bowling and dictate terms. It´s not pretty to watch but it is extremely effective and I love players who aren´t afraid to play this shot. The trouble is usually this shot is actively being encouraged by the bowlers and a trap is being laid. You know it will end in tears if the batsman keeps playing it but I guess that´s the appeal of it.

As for the delivery I never grow tired of, it has to be the one that goes the other way. I do like a good slower ball, I do love seeing good spin bowling. But I just love watching good quick bowling. The stock delivery is hard when it´s at genuine pace. But the ball that moves the other way - usually into the batsman with pace bowling just short of a good length and teasing an ill-advised stroke from the batsman, then I can watch that all day long. Plenty of candidates there for that one like the reverse swing experts of Akram and Younis. But I have a certain player in mind...

Cover Drive - Mark Waugh. Even better when he almost got on one knee to caress the ball through the gap.
Vaughan and Gower and Lara are definitely worth a mention.

Straight Drive - Tendulkar plays it almost perfectly. Balance and that big bat help. The trick, not trying to hit hot to hard.

Pull/Hook - Ponting and V Richards are two of the best exponents I've seen.
Viv didn't even bother with a helmet.

The most devastating delivery IMO is the inswinging yorker. Waqar, Gough and Steyn are the three that use it better than most.

Akrams swing then seam on Lewis I think - World cup final 1992
Jayasuriyas cut for six/Saeed Anwars nonchalant flick off the leg for 6

Mine complement each other - favourite delivery is the brutal bouncer that screams in at the face or throat, favourite shot (to watch) is the hook. Used to enjoy watching Kevin McKenzie (father of Neil) in the 80's, never wore a helmet and had no qualms about hooking the ball off his face - was always half-expecting his face to be Gattinged but he never missed. Bouncer-wise any combinations of the WI of the 70/80's - sad never saw a contest between the two.

favourite shot: the straight drive. just love seeing a batsman present the full face of the bat and punch the ball back past the bowler for four, or go aerial for six. Two modern batsmen spring to mind for me: Pietersen and Ponting. When they're driving the ball straight you know they're in good touch.

favourite delivery: the classical outswinger. The ball which angles into the batsman slightly, around off-stump, before veering away late and taking the edge to one of the catchers behind the wicket. Jimmy Anderson would be my pick for this delivery, bowls it beautifully.

Special mention to Shane Warne's "slider" which was basically a slow straight ball, and yet tied many batsmen up in knots.

The Inswinger that Waqar bowled was just deverstating, Though a full length yorker like Gough bowled was equally exciting.

I always liked the pull/hook shot that Pointing or Trott do to perfection. The Straight drive the Waugh brothers did,.

Cover drive has to be my favourite, along with an on-drive which when done properly is a glorious stroke.

Michael Vaughan is my cover drive man, and Jacques Kallis plays a high quality on-drive.

In terms of delivery, I agree with MFC. A Jimmy Anderson outswinger that kisses the surface, takes the edge and settles nicely into the keepers gloves is poetry in motion.

Favourite shot has to be the square cut. Growing up watching the likes of Peter Willey, Mike Gatting and Robin Smith annihilating anything short and wide through point was magical to me. Still love watching the likes of Andrew Strauss playing it now.
Favourite ball is the yorker. Watching 'Big Bird' Joel Garner, Imran, Waqar and even Darren Gough smashing batsmens toes always brought a smile to my face, and more recently Lasith Malinga has kept that tradition going.

Maybe a bit biased but nowadays there is nothing better to me as an England fan than watching Ian Bell drive the ball. It is just pure technique and timing.

Delivery wise it has to be that beautiful leg spinner that drifts into the batsman and then spins and clips the outside edge or the off stump. As a leg spinner myself it was a joy to watch Warne bowl these so consistently (although less of a joy when he was doing it so successfully against England)

Couldn't agree more with both of those points, killer. Bell is just exquisite at times, even when he isn't getting a big score he looks like he is well set on 100 not out.

Notice you've been joined up a while, but only just started contributing. Good to see you doing so

Yeh, I continually follow these threads in a lot of sports, I am a bit of a sports fanatic to be truthful. Just never seem to get round to contributing, that and work just seems to get in the way a lot.

One other shot that I can't get enough of is every shot that Morgan plays that just seems impossible. I would name one but he will just come up with another one in the next match and I will change my mind about which is my favourite.

Work? Pah, much better to be paid whilst discussing sports

Hopefully you'll continue to contribute regularly, this is a good cricket section but new posters always freshen things up a bit.

Morgan plays some outrageous strokes, I also like KP's switch-hit for obvious reasons, and of course his 'flamingo' which is so incredibly dismissive.

Franklyn Stephenson's slower ball.

Ponting's hook shot, malingas yorker and may be dhoni is wristy six (it looks ugly but very unique)

tendulkar's straight drive
sehwag's cut shot
mark waugh's drives
hashim amla's drives

killer938 wrote:One other shot that I can't get enough of is every shot that Morgan plays that just seems impossible. I would name one but he will just come up with another one in the next match and I will change my mind about which is my favourite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX2yOzCJTQ0

I don't think he will ever top this one to be honest.

The yorker is a beautiful thing to watch. The in-swinging yorker is even more compelling.

The one thing I love most about cricket is the mind games involved with it. The yorker is usually set up with a couple of short deliveries. The outswinger or inswinger is usually set up with a few balls short of a good length just outside off-stump moving further away off stump or closer in depending on the ball you want the batsman out to.

Usually though the balls I love seeing dispatched are the balls that haven´t been bowled well. It´s not part of the bowler´s grand scheme of things generally to see a ball being driven. it invariably means you´ve overpitched. That´s why I like the pull or the hook because the batsman is generally falling into the bowler´s wish to hit the ball. He´s just saying I will hit you for six rather than hole out to square leg.

Often timing is the most beautiful thing about a good drive. If the batsman doesn´t appear to smash the ball but rather caress it and it still comes off the face of the bat like a rocket, then you know the batsman is in good nick.

Mark Waugh's glide through cover point off the back-foot. To call it a drive would be doing it and injustice.

Ponting's swivel pull off the front foot.

Vaughan played this pick-up pull-shot from a ball just back of a length which was amazing.

The most extraordinary shot I've ever seen was Morgan essentially straight-driving Rampaul (not a slow bowler) over third-man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjdgmnNLEPo
It is not like the "classic" scoop where you let the ball run off the face, Morgan actually catches up with the ball and hits it. Ridiculous.

Bowling-wise I loved Warne's flighted turning leg-spinner which lured the batsman out of his crease and had him comprehensively stumped.

We've got a leggie at the moment with a fantastic top-spinner (a bit like Afridi): it's great to see him bowl it, the batsman go for a square cut and be cleaned up middle-stump as the ball goes straight on.

Otherwise agree with the inswinging yorker.

Special mention to Wasim Akram who remains to this day the only bowler I have seen swing the ball both ways with one delivery.

A classical shot: Cover Drive, agree with Fists regarding Michael Vaughan. Loved watching him cover drive.

But I do love seeing the Dil-Scoop as a newer shot if you will.

In terms of a delivery, don't think you can beat an off spinner pitching the ball outside of, through the gate and bowling the batsman.

Laxman's whip through the leg side is a thing of beauty.

Ponting's pull/hook was wonderful doing his pomp.

Dravid's cover drive

Kallis' cover drive

Lara's straight 6s of any spinner.

Watching Gower was a joy. I remember seeing him play in a World Cup one-day match against Austrlia at Lord's in 1979 and I would swear the crowd purred as his sumptuous shots reached the cover boundary.
To watch Gary Sobers approach the wicket when he was bowling seamers was a wonder, too.
Michael Vaughan when his blood was up and he was pulling balls only marginally short of a length was pretty easy on the eye.
Michael Holding's run-up was a sight - as long as you went not receiving.

Jimmy's Outswinger.

Two shots come to mind.

Cover drive, but then again the straight drive although not as impressive maybe because great batsmen make it look so easy.

But me all time favourite is the hook/pull shot (don't understand the difference between the two). Greame smith does that particaularly well and Ponting, Sehwag is not to bad at it, but maybe Sehwag's best shot is the cover drive.

biltongbek wrote:Two shots come to mind.

Cover drive, but then again the straight drive although not as impressive maybe because great batsmen make it look so easy.

But me all time favourite is the hook/pull shot (don't understand the difference between the two). Greame smith does that particaularly well and Ponting, Sehwag is not to bad at it, but maybe Sehwag's best shot is the cover drive.

I always thought that the pull was played in front of square, probably to a ball that doesn't get up much and the hook played behind square, to a ball that comes at you slightly higher.

Not much difference really.

The pull shot is played to a ball around a batsmans waist height, and the hook is classed as such from around the chest area or higher.

Same type of shot, just higher or lower.

Gilchrist was a fantastic hooker of the ball.

Stella wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Two shots come to mind.

Cover drive, but then again the straight drive although not as impressive maybe because great batsmen make it look so easy.

But me all time favourite is the hook/pull shot (don't understand the difference between the two). Greame smith does that particaularly well and Ponting, Sehwag is not to bad at it, but maybe Sehwag's best shot is the cover drive.

I always thought that the pull was played in front of square, probably to a ball that doesn't get up much and the hook played behind square, to a ball that comes at you slightly higher.

[quote]

I have read before that the pull/hook shot was related to whether you hit the ball in front of or behind square, But i am not sure if that is correct.

I've always thought that it was a question of height, miss a pull and you get hit in the guts, miss a hook and your teeth are in a bit of bother.

Galted wrote:I've always thought that it was a question of height, miss a pull and you get hit in the guts, miss a hook and your teeth are in a bit of bother.

And it always amazes me how there were not more visits to the dentist in the days of no helmets, especially with unlimited bouncers

skyeman wrote:

Galted wrote:I've always thought that it was a question of height, miss a pull and you get hit in the guts, miss a hook and your teeth are in a bit of bother.

And it always amazes me how there were not more visits to the dentist in the days of no helmets, especially with unlimited bouncers

suppose it's because players weren't encumbered with arm/chest/thigh padding etc so it was easier to duck out of the way.

Galted wrote:

skyeman wrote:

Galted wrote:I've always thought that it was a question of height, miss a pull and you get hit in the guts, miss a hook and your teeth are in a bit of bother.

And it always amazes me how there were not more visits to the dentist in the days of no helmets, especially with unlimited bouncers

suppose it's because players weren't encumbered with arm/chest/thigh padding etc so it was easier to duck out of the way.

Hence the importance of the box.

My favourite delivery is a tie between a late inswinger, a la Waqar/ Akram, that cleans a batsman up, and an outswinger pitched on middle just full of a length that tricks a batsman into trying to clip it round the corner before sending his off-stump cartwheeling.

Favourite shot? An elegant cover drive is a thing of beauty, but I think rather than a favourite shot, I have a favourite mindset - when a batsman just decides to go after a bowler and take him out of the attack. It doesn't have to be slogging, but that moment when you just sense that the bowler's confidence has gone is always exciting.

The height is the essential difference, a pull shot can go behind square no worries. A hook shot is usually played by getting inside the line of the ball more, whereas you can pull from outside off.