Batting with a high back-lift - An advantage or disadvantage?

[Justcrazy]

Is Batting with a high backlift an advantage or disadvantage ?

Players like Klusner, Amir sohail, Naseer Hussain, Vinod Kambli etc all used high backlifts.

 

[cricketfanfirst]

One of the most famous batsmen with high backlift was Graham Gooch.

I guess, when playing against express bowlers who are specialists at bowling yorkers, high backlift may be a problem. As, it would take some time to get it to dig the yorker. Also, I think there will be more effort on the forearms with high backlift?

High backlift may be advantageous in playing horizontal bat shots.

I have been used to playing with the normal stance and normal backlift, never tried high backlift.

 

[CoolSERAZ]

andrew caddick had a high backlift while batting.

 

[Blitz]

Is Batting with a high backlift an advantage or disadvantage ?

Players like Klusner, Amir sohail, Naseer Hussain, Vinod Kambli etc all used high backlifts.

Are those suppose to be good players?

Sounds like a disadvantage.

 

[90MPH]

It is advantage if playing shots like the pull which can be more do
Difficult with a lower backlift. It all depends on your bat speed.

 

[90MPH]

Mohammed Yousaf and Brian Lara also had high back lifts.

 

[Shoaib Akhtar's Fan]

One of the most famous batsmen with high backlift was Graham Gooch.

I guess, when playing against express bowlers who are specialists at bowling yorkers, high backlift may be a problem. As, it would take some time to get it to dig the yorker. Also, I think there will be more effort on the forearms with high backlift?

High backlift may be advantageous in playing horizontal bat shots.

I have been used to playing with the normal stance and normal backlift, never tried high backlift.

I agree that with a higher backlift, it can be pretty difficulty to dig out yorkers if you come across the likes of Malinga or Gul. In my club cricket days in Karachi, I batted with a high backlift. However, once I was forced to bat with a lower backlift. We came across a bowler very similar to Malinga, who yorked out more than half of the team. I batted with almost no back lift to counter him and play out his quota. I succeeded and ended up scoring 70 odd in that game. Funny part was I yorked out " Malinga " when they batted.

 

[AZ]

Has its pros and cons.

Allows you to play more shots on the offside, but you could be susceptible to fullish deliveries.

 

[AlizeeFan]

Dhoni lowered his backlift in WC final to counter Malinga. Maybe you can change according to the situation.

 

[Poison]

How could you not mention Brian Lara in the OP?

I do it sometimes, feel like a baw$$ and really increases power.

 

[Fireworks11]

Lara had an extravagant back lift, it's so elegant to the eye...as is Yousuf. It obviously has its downsides as it makes you more vulnerable o the yorker, delightful to watch nonetheless.

High back lift players are more reliant on pure timing rather than lower back lift players, who have an advantage when it comes to clubbing.

 

[velu]

yorked him cos of yuvi's backlift

 

[Shoaib Akhtar's Fan]

yorked him cos of yuvi's backlift

and sheer pace

 

[Hooker]

Helps u become a stroke player , however when out of form u can give catches behind the wicket easily.

Whatever makes u score runs is the key .... Aussie batters used to lower their backlifts against Shoaib back in the day to counter the pace.

 

[cricketfanfirst]

I agree that with a higher backlift, it can be pretty difficulty to dig out yorkers if you come across the likes of Malinga or Gul. In my club cricket days in Karachi, I batted with a high backlift. However, once I was forced to bat with a lower backlift. We came across a bowler very similar to Malinga, who yorked out more than half of the team. I batted with almost no back lift to counter him and play out his quota. I succeeded and ended up scoring 70 odd in that game. Funny part was I yorked out " Malinga " when they batted.

Good adjustment from you. Lower backlift helps to counter those yorkers, since we don't lose those precious fraction of seconds in digging out the yorker.

 

[Alien9511]

I use a high backlift and all the shots that come off it feel like they are played with authority. Its useful if you are a "touch" player. Also if not for fast bowlers then for spinners it is certainly an advantage (atleast for me it is) .. but to be honest, the lift dosent matter as much as your bat speed

 

[Fireworks11]

High Back lift - Timing, elegant strokeplay.

Low Back lift - Brute force, clubbing.

 

[Cricketismylife]

High Back lift - Timing, elegant strokeplay.

Low Back lift - Brute force, clubbing.

not true. a bit of the opposite actually.

shots with timing need no high lift for extra power.

depends on what sort of player you are, what is the weight of your bat (usually high backlifts = lighter bats) and what feels right as well.

Unless the player is starting out or facing in swinging fast deliveries - no point in changing or thinking about backlift.

 

[dinakar]

yorked him cos of yuvi's backlift

and sheer pace

that was full-toss. of course at sheer pace.

 

[Saqs]

How could you not mention Brian Lara in the OP?

I do it sometimes, feel like a baw$$ and really increases power.

Lol at this.

Lara and Ponting (the two most successful exponents of the high backlift) weren't mentioned.

 

[Saad Hasan]

What the original poster meant to say players who had backlift from the get go as soon as the bowler would start their run the players mentioned in the OP would stand straight up with their bats already lifted in the air...

I believe the likes of Lara, Ponting, Yousuf and even Zaheer Abbas, though all with high backlifts, start their batting stance in a normal fashion, it is when the bowler is releasing the ball that you see the extravagant and pronounced backlift of their bats...otherwise their bats are in normal below the waist position...which is not the case with the likes of Gooch, Sohail, Robin Smith, Kambli, etc...

 

[driver26]

What about Inzamam? Didnt Inzy had a high backlift as well?

 

[Eagle_Eye]

Is Batting with a high backlift an advantage or disadvantage ?

Players like Klusner, Amir sohail, Naseer Hussain, Vinod Kambli etc all used high backlifts.

You forgot Lara....

High backlift + high bat speed = Quality
High backlift + slow bat speed = Disaster

 

[DRsohail]

any pakistani domestic player with high backlift..

 

[MMHS]

I think from the examples (players) OP gave, people are mixing high back lift with raised bat stance.

High back-lift is something that's associated with shot making - before hitting the ball, from where the bat is coming from. Players like Lara, Sobers, Sehwag, Mark Waugh, Sanga, MoYo, Ganguly, Zaheer, Mazid Khan, Tiger Pataudi, Ian Chappel, Grineedge ..... actually starts their bat swing well above the shoulders & they swing the bat with full extended elbow, like a Golf Tee. The first batsman with glorious high back-lift & golf like free swing was probably Victor Trumper - some of the still photos taken 100+ years back actually indicates that. That was, in an era, when batting technique was limited to high elbow, steady head, foot in line, toe to the direction .....

Sohail, Gooch, Zulu, VK (Inzi as well) had a stance with their bat raised - but not necessarily their back-lift was high, while playing shots. On contrary, Tendulkar had a fantastic stance with perfectly balanced feet position & bat stuck to his left toe - but, his bowlers back on drive often had 360 degree swing of bat, starting from above right shoulders, finishing at left shoulders. Someone like Lara used a full bat swing from top of his shoulders, even for a dead bat forward defense. Opposite to that was Ravi Shastri, but Shastri had a raised bat stance.

Position of bat at stance comes from better balance - how the batsman is comfortable on his stance & how quickly it allows him to get him into position. High back-lift comes from the type of wicket batsmen are groomed & how quick their reflex is, and how fast they can bring the bat to striking line with the power of their wrist. Previously PAK & WI players had the highest back lift (Rohan Kanhai used to sweep with a full bat swing from top of shoulders, while Zaheer's in side out cover drives were like a full stress in side out forehand top spin of a Tennis player) - now PAK batsmen are Azhar Ali model. Unless domestic wicket changes - it'll go down to Saqline or Mongia model in short time; Umar Akmal's change in batting technique over 8 years should be indicative enough.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

any pakistani domestic player with high backlift..

Sohail Tanvir

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Sohail Tanvir

Wow bro. Good One & quite true actually.

 

[Bilal7]

Players who bat in this manner look so elegant and classy when batting. Amla and Ali utilize a high backlift as well.

 

[Pollack]

No.Looks at DON BradMan.

 

[Pollack]

Yuvraj's is not discussed for high back lift???????

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Imran Farhat as well and he had slow bat speed as well.

 

[Hasan123]

Steve Smith and Johnny Bairstow have high bat lifts.

 

[Amirforpresident]

Steve Smith and Johnny Bairstow have high bat lifts.

And Haseeb Hameed as well. But in my opinion those guys dont look pleasing at the eye tbh.

 

[gazza619]

I guess the back lift helps some batsmen with timing, a modern succesful example is Steven Smith. Though if you notice most batsman have minimal back lift. From my personal experience as a batsman, having a still stance helped me keep my balance and eye on the ball. But i never really batted on high bounce pitches so dont know if a high back lift helps on a high bounce wicket..

 

[gazza619]

Imran Farhat as well and he had slow bat speed as well.

What a great example of the legend!
I must admit though that i always found Farhat's style of batting to be very pleasing to the eye and stylish..(if only he could have scored some runs)..

 

[gazza619]

I dont know if anyone noticed, since Ahmed Shahzad started to bat with a high back lift, he is only half the batsman he was when he started his career with minimal back lift..

 

[Daniyal 13]

Mohammad Yousuf and Brian Lara had it..... needless to say, how good this can actually be.... and above all, aesthetically it looks amazing.

 

[Hamza_]

I dont know if anyone noticed, since Ahmed Shahzad started to bat with a high back lift, he is only half the batsman he was when he started his career with minimal back lift..

Shehzad has too many flaws. No good reflexes, timings are out, can't play fluently and unable to find gaps.

 

[Justcrazy]

Mohammad Yousuf and Brian Lara had it..... needless to say, how good this can actually be.... and above all, aesthetically it looks amazing.

Lara backlift was much more higher than Yousuf

 

[volcyz]

Root/Butler/Morgan/Hales/Ali actually most of the English have ultra high backlifts.

Gill has a pretty high backlift too

 

[Madplayer]

Sharjeel and Faheem Ashraf.

 

[sshakir411]

Players with a high backlight are always more pleasing on the eye...Lara, Ponting, Yousuf ,M Waugh, Dravid, etc..are all examples of who were a delight to watch and had high backlights. Not sure if it's the best way to bat but it was defenietly more esthetically pleasing.

My preference is batsmen who can play the short ball well because playing off the front foot is always easier, imo. But if I had to pick a batsman to watch all day long it would probably be someone with a high back lift.

 

[HuzaifaE]

High backlift means you can open yourself to the offside more (Lara), get the bat on top of the ball when playing a short delivery (Ponting is a great example) and get more arc into your swing to clear the ropes (Yuvraj), but means you must be very good at getting your bat down and across your pads to defend the stumps and avoid LBW. High backlift with great batspeed and hand eye coordination is the ultimate package.

 

[Mr.Q]

It’s interesting that none of you mentioned Rohit Sharma, one of the most elegant batsmen out there! He raises his bat a fair distance. The pros and cons would be very clear if you watch him bat. Nice, fluent shot making is the pro. Often it’s not the additional power generated by the backlift that gets the ball over the boundary. It’s the timing. Most batsmen with high backlift are sweet timers of the ball.

Yorkers are usually not a problem but a swinging/seaming ball can cause problems if you have a high backlift. When the ball is swinging in, you gotta bring the bat in front of your pads which is not easy as you need the bat to come down at a difficult angle. Some batsmen bat with a slightly open stance to make it easier. One example is Steve Smith. He has a high backlift and an open stance and is not troubled by inswingers at all.
Batsmen with high backlift can have problems with outswingers too because they have a greater tendency to ‘fish’ outside the off stump. This can be corrected with practice and many batsmen at the international level don’t have this problem.

I’m not going to call it a disadvantage. We have so many successful players in front of us. Just like any technique, it’s an advantage if it works for you and a disadvantage if it doesn’t work for you .

 

[PakLFC]

A disadvantage in my opinion. Takes longer for the bat to come down on a faster delivery. Greater chance of the ball getting through the defence.

 

[Titan24]

Wow! Nobody mentioned Fakhar Zaman

 

[Mr.Q]

And Kevin Pietersen! High backlift and a slightly open stance.

 

[WengerOut]

Does Aamir Sohail qualify ?

 

[Justcrazy]

Does Aamir Sohail qualify ?

No doubts about that

 

[barah_admi]

Root/Butler/Morgan/Hales/Ali actually most of the English have ultra high backlifts.

Gill has a pretty high backlift too

In England, even at the level I played, which was school and junior club, a high back lift is easy because there is even bounce and decent pace. It does lead to certain problems, especially against spin where the ball keeps low and turns quick. A high back lift restricts ones ability to get down quickly, sweep, or play after the ball has turned.

 

[Justcrazy]

In England, even at the level I played, which was school and junior club, a high back lift is easy because there is even bounce and decent pace. It does lead to certain problems, especially against spin where the ball keeps low and turns quick. A high back lift restricts ones ability to get down quickly, sweep, or play after the ball has turned.

Graham Gooch also had high backlift

 

[Mr.Q]

In England, even at the level I played, which was school and junior club, a high back lift is easy because there is even bounce and decent pace. It does lead to certain problems, especially against spin where the ball keeps low and turns quick. A high back lift restricts ones ability to get down quickly, sweep, or play after the ball has turned.

It's relatively easy to play the sweep/slog sweep with a high backlift actually. Have you tried it?

 

[barah_admi]

Graham Gooch also had high backlift

He certainly did but he was also a good player of spin, which might have something to do with him playing the bulk of his cricket for Essex. IN the damp weather down south, with the odd hot day, pitches could take turn and he developed a technique to combat that. You also see Alastair Cook doing well in India against a barrage of spin, and he also plays for Essex on those types of wickets.

 

[Justcrazy]

He certainly did but he was also a good player of spin, which might have something to do with him playing the bulk of his cricket for Essex. IN the damp weather down south, with the odd hot day, pitches could take turn and he developed a technique to combat that. You also see Alastair Cook doing well in India against a barrage of spin, and he also plays for Essex on those types of wickets.

Yes , he played sweep very well