Ways of Batting

The batsman is a member of the batting team who try to hit the ball delivered by the bowler and run between wickets to get as much runs as possible. Shots in batting, range from the square cut, hook, off-drive, pull to the sweep and the leg-glance etc. The different types of shots a batsman can play are as follows:

Block

A defensive shot played with the bat vertical and angled down at the front of the wicket, so as to stop the ball and drop it down quickly on to the pitch in front of the batsman.  This is also known as a forward defensive or backward defensive, depending on whether the batsman plays the shot from the front foot or the back foot.

Drive

A shot played with the bat sweeping down through the vertical arc through the line of the ball.  A drive can be either a  drive, straight drive, off drive, or cover drive, depending on the direction the ball travels.

Cut

A shot played with the bat close to horizontal, which hits the ball somewhere in the arc between cover and gully.

Edge, or Glance

A shot played off the bat at a glancing angle, through the slips area.

Leg Glance

A shot played at a ball aimed glancing angle behind the legs, using the bat so that it goes in the direction of fine leg area.

Pull

A cross-battled shot which pulls the ball around the waist height of the batsman into the square leg side.

Sweep

A cross-battled shot played to a low bouncing ball, usually from a slow bowler, by kneeling on one knee and swinging the bat around in a horizontal arc near the pitch, sweeping it around to the leg side

Hook

A cross-battled shot played to a bouncer at or near the batsman's head and intended to hit the ball high in the air over square leg -sometimes for six runs.

French Cut

An attempt at a cut shot which hits the bottom edge of the bat and goes into the area behind square leg.

Reverse Sweep

A cross-battled shot played to a low bouncing ball, usually from a slow bowler, by kneeling on one knee and swinging the bat around in a horizontal arc near the pitch, but reversing the blade of the bat half-way through the swing and sweeping the ball around to the off side from the leg side.