This is a brilliant, simple trick for bowlers to get a big hitting batsman away from the strike if you are struggling to get them out.

Hit the thigh pad.

This trick works best for seamers who naturally angle the ball into the batsman, but it can work for anyone. Your aim is to bowl a ball that, after pitching, will hit the batter on their thigh pad.

Why?

Because most decent batsman will see this as an easy single off the hip and work it down for a single. It's quite hard to smash this kind of ball, so unless they are going for everything, they will take the "free run" you gave and saunter up the other end.

You may not have got the danger batter out, but you have done the next best thing; taken them off strike and given you a chance to bowl at the lesser partner.

If you think it's worth a go, try practicing it at your next net and challenge yourself to see how often you can force the batsman to work it down for one. It's a very useful yet underrated skill.