There are a number of possibilities:

• Your head is not over your front toe in the stance (your weight is too far over to the off side making you fall over).
• You have a closed batting stance or trigger move either with the shoulders or feet.
• Your backlift is over middle or leg stump stopping you from playing straight and through the on side. It should be over off stump or slightly wider, coming back down straight.
• You are trying to play through the covers rather than through the V and are looking to go off side too early.

Get your coach to tell you which of these you are doing and they should be able to correct it.

Let us know how you get on!

Thanks, I'll be going to the nets today, so I'll probably try opening up my stance, and also working on my trigger, which is just a a step in front of me with my front foot.

Ah that is probably the issue, I would guess you are closing yourself off. Try standing stil or going back and across if you must. It can be hard work to correct though.

I also remember reading in the Bob Woolmer book that you shouldnt go back and across to spinners as it is too hard to track the ball after this movement, do you agree?

Hmm not really. It is hard to track the ball if you are moving as the ball is delivered, but if you do it before release it's OK, especially to spinners who turn the ball in. Although I would prefer no trigger movement to any bowling except the very quickest. It's VERY hard to get right.

Okay, I tried opening up my stance and not closing myself off with my trigger, but it didn't seem to work, i think it may be more of an issue of losing form, seeing as i couldnt manage to time any drives.

Sadly, it's not going to take one session to get right. Your muscle memory is programmed to play in a certain way and you can't overcome the feeling just by trying it once. You will need to drill it out over a longer period without the complication of a a bowler causing confusion.

Go back to basics, do some tennis ball drop drills and move to bobble feeds before changing it in a proper net.

I'll give it a go,
what sort of tips would you give to get back in form? I tried visualisation while bowling and batting today, but although my batting improved from yesterday, I am not happy with that standard of batting, my timing could be improved and my shots were not very solid.

Great question. It's a tough one and is different for each person. I would suggest looking through these articles to see if any of the tips work for you:

• Back to basics
• Confidence is like a bank account
• Mental nets
• Relaxing at the crease

Also there is the mental training course on PitchVision Academy for a more comprehensive answer.

I'll have to save up my pocket money!

I agree, this problem is your front foot trigger movement towards off. If you lead with your foot then the big muscles in your leg want to move your leg away from you, towards the offside. This is ok for shots on or outside off stump but is a problem for those on leg stump. I think the key is to rotate the top of your body towards the line of the ball or lead with your shoulder, this in turn opens your hips and your foot will then move straighter down the pitch.

I use a tennis ball drill to teach kids this. They adopt their batting stance without a bat. I throw the ball on the line of their legs and they have to move their hands to catch the ball on the bounce. It seems that when you are thinking of getting your hands to the ball then all the above happens naturally.

Steve

Hi,
So should I try and rotate my torso towards the bowler with my trigger movement?
Thanks

I would stop thinking about your trigger move, it seems to be putting you off. Keep your head still and eyes level when waiting for the ball. When playing a shot move your head to the ball and stay balanced by keeping your head over your toes. Hit your hands through the line when driving. Drill, drill, drill until your body is in the right position.