April has been wet. Very Wet. All the covers in the world wont stop the pitches we'll be playing on at the start of this season being affected by all the rain we've had. They will be slow. Very slow in many cases. Coming from the perfect, fast surfaces of the nets onto the puddings outside means drives and flicks are likely to loop slowly into the hands of mid off as you go through your shot well before the ball arrives. So what scoring solutions are there?
1. The drop and run. Simple and effective in any conditions, let the ball come to you and play it down at your feet, angled bat, classic defensive shot, off front or back foot.. If your partner knows the plan he is backing up and both of you just go as soon as the shot is played, with no calling needed. Not such a good idea if the keeper's standing up but can still work if you can manipulate the angles.
2. The lofted drive. In wet conditions you may well find yourself playing this unintentionally so why not make it part of your armoury? Step forward into your drive, keep going through with the shot, commit to it and watch it fly back over the bowler's head. Don't panic and try to over hit it just because the ball hasn't come onto the bat the way it would do normally. Think Ian Bell (on a good day) and you get the idea.
3. Use your arms. Delicate, wristy shots require pace on the ball and trust in the pace and bounce of the pitch. Put those shots away and look for pulls, cuts, sweeps and pick ups played using the arms. Don't roll the wrists, hit down on the ball by getting your hands up high if you want to hit the ball down, OR...go up and over with an upward sweep of the arms. Keep balanced, commit to the shot and, again, don't try to over hit.
If you go through the process now of working out your best scoring options for the conditions before the time comes you have opportunities to prepare.
