Or there is Flintoffs power version of the cover drive, seriously he looks good when he hits it hard, and gets his timing right at the same time.

The one problem I have with this shot is that against real pace, the batsman is always likely to be out LBW with changes pace or length.

Yes was a strange looking shot he perfected close to the end of his career.
But no stranger than the shots Jack Russell used to play, I can't even describe them.

Alan Knott had a shot that was fun to watch, his high cuts down to third man - and I hardly ever remember him getting out to that shot.

__________________
Ern

This shot was rightly highlighted earlier in the thread....

Rachael - back foot players came to the fore because of the likes of Lillee and Thompson, and the West Indies quicks, and before that trueman and Wes Hall et al.
Only the brave would play front foot cover drives against the genuine quicks, and a cover shot timed is IMO far more elegant than any back foot shot.

Also if my memory serves me right, Robin Smith favourite shot was the square cut, puched hard like engssmoothcriminal says, but hardly a drive.

I would like to know which England player, or for that matter which world player could really play a drive of the back foot of Brett Lee, and not risk being out LBW?.

And with a vertical blade of the back foot of genuine pace, a leg slip could be an option for a captain.

__________________
Ern

Hildreth is talked up for exactly this strength. Of the current lot, Vaughan has what it takes but seemed reluctant to back himself under Fletcher. As a result, Bell might be the strongest in this respect. Cook and Strauss would be let down by a tendency to play the bat well infront of the pad. Flintoff would be simply out of his depth. I'm not confident enough to make the call on Pietersen, Collingwood and Shah.

nothing better than a front foot on drive. class

__________________
Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

That's true, but Vaughan was a true opener with a good eye, but you answer my question with your accessment of the rest of the England side - the shot is to hard for most mortals.

Gooch was a decent opener, he like to play of the back foot - and was more prone than most to being out LBW early in his innings.

But who can play it week in and week out, it looks good played proper - but ugly if not timed more so than an off drive IMO.

__________________
Ern

Hmm, yes but only when properly played. Over the years, there appears to have been a slight change in the definition of the Cover Drive. Great cover drivers like Don Bradman, Wally Hammond and Len Hutton took a longer stride forward, played the ball earlier and most imporatantly, did not open the face of their bats as much as the current batsmen tend to do. Therefore, the traditional version of the cover drive often went past the right hand of the cover fielder and had better timing and more power. It was also wonderful to see - in the few grainy VHS recordings of TV footage that I have collected over the years.

These days, such a stroke is far less common and only a few like Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Vaughan or Ricky Ponting occasinally play it....and more often than not it gets describes as an extra-cover dive. Most of the "cover drives" these days are played with a shorter stride, a trifle later and with a partially open bat face, aiming to pass the cover fielder on his left side. Still a fine stroke, but I prefer the former.

The early opening of the bat face these days is reflected in the stroke pie graph often shown on TV. With a few exceptions like Tendulkar, batsmen tend to score comparitively few runs vis strokes "down the ground".

From a technical point of view it is one of the hardest shots to play. Get your head position wrong and your body shape will follow - ending up with a chip to mid on or mid wicket.

Bell has the natural advantage of being short, it makes playing from off the back foot much easier.

But Goochs LBW problems were caused by him planting his front foot down the wicket to medium pacers. As for the back foot drive it depends on the conditions and bowlers involved. If the pitch has bounce or the bowler is an Ambrose the ball should bounce high enough to play safely. A lot of English batsmen get dismissed LBW by non existent footwork and playing from the crease.

Yes there probably has. I suppose some of this will be down to harder pitches and heavier bats and the fact that batting technique has changed over the last 35 years or so.

As for watching old footage, I've found some of Tom Graveney, now he could play an old fashioned cover drive.

__________________
Mark.

Yes I take your point about Gooch, but in particular at the start of his career he would stand up and play from the back foot, a lot of boundaries came - but he did get caught out LBW playing from his crease.
If you remember at one stage - he had a very high backlift if my memory serves me right, which caused him problems at times playing late shots.
A lot of England players where out in the way you described "playing from the crease", and that IMO was caused by the advent of super fast bowlers like Holding et al, to be blunt a lot of England players did not get into line, for fear of being hit.

__________________
Ern

Yes, and other strokes too. Graveney was fluent and stylish in his batting.

Speaking of old TV footage, somewhere in the shelves I have an old recording of an interview in the mid-80s with the former England pace bowler Bill Bowes. This included archive footage of the "bodyline" series of 1932-3 in which Bowes bowled Bradman first ball at the MCG.