13 year old Ben Baruch is back for another in depth look at batting strategy. This time he examines what we mean when we say 'Play the high percentage shots'.

If the ball goes in the air, does that make it a low percentage shot? Are shots the same percentage with different bowling or batting?

This will help you decide what shots are the safest early on.

As a side note, if you are better at a shot, most of the time it will be a higher percentage shot. It may be a good idea to try and learn to play the percentage shots, to increase the chance of playing yourself in.

• Leave. As long as the ball is not hitting the stumps, this is the best thing to do. For starters, you have been able to see how fast the bowler is bowling, how the pitch is playing and how the bowling is going to be without any effort at all. You are safe to face the next ball, without even moving a muscle. The other thing that makes this tactic especially useful against fast bowling is that in wears them down and annoys them. The strike bowler’s job is to get batsmen out. They put loads of effort into doing so. It is as if you are saying, “bowl at me, this is not worth any effort”. A few runs and suddenly, you’ve seen their best bowler off and he stomps down to fine leg, annoyed that he hasn’t done his job. Each time a fast bowler bowls he is using up energy. With you not playing at the ball he will tire quickly.
• Check Drive. This helps against fast bowling because the full face of the bat gives you more to hit the ball with. If you are not seeing the well, this effectively makes the ball bigger. There is no follow-through needed because you use the pace of the bowler to hit the ball hard. Sachin Tendulkar has the best back foot check drive in the world.
• Leg Glance. If the ball is on your pads, going down the leg side, the leg glance can get you loads of runs. This is because, again, you are using the pace or the bowler. To play it well, start with a regulation forward defence. When you see the going down the leg side, stand up tall and bring your front foot next to your back foot, keeping your weight forward. It is very important not to play around your front leg. As the ball comes in contact with the bat, close the face of the bat to angle to ball onto the leg side. Do not try too hard as it will come naturally to you. Depending on how much you turn the face will decide on where the ball goes, between backward square leg and the wicket keeper. Flick your wrists more the play the ball in front of square, although this is dangerous to a really fast bowler. Don’t leg glance off your pads or away from your body, as they almost always lead to lbws and caught behinds respectively.

• Forward Defence. Always defend with your bat. You wouldn’t pad up to a seamer, so why a spinner? If you play with the pad by the bat, you really increase the ways you can get out. The trick is to play with the bat in front of the pad, but not to leave enough of a gap to get bowled. Also, if you play with both soft hand and soft arms, you can keep the ball down. You can also let your bat ride with the spin. This means you can play the ball as it spins. You can turn the ball 'round the corner' and pick up singles. If you play defensively, the soft hands and arms ensure you cannot get caught.
• 'Full-blooded' Drive. This is the other type of drive. It is still where you get your foot to the pitch of the ball and swing through the line, but it is slightly different to the check drive. For the check drive, the bat stops just after contact. The full-blooded drive is where you relax your wrists after contact and follow through over your shoulder, like a golf swing. You can only play this to a half volley to keep this on the ground. This is good to spinners because as you get over the ball you can smother the spin, and then hit the ball hard. You could also come down the pitch to make a half volley and upset the bowler’s length. However, this is not nearly as safe because you can be stumped, so you have to be in full control and be sure to hit it.
• The Conventional Sweep. The conventional sweep is a sweep through the on side on the floor, as opposed to the reverse sweep, slog sweep or the 'switch hit' that Kevin Pietersen does. If the ball is turning a lot then it can actually be safer than the drive. This is because, as it is cross-batted, you can adjust to the turn of the ball. The trick is to get down low, take a big stride out and make sure you get the back leg on the ground. If you don’t, the bat will be pointing downwards and you can top edge it into your face. The bat should be parallel to the ground on contact. Hit down on the ball or roll your wrists, whichever is easiest, to keep the ball down.

If you want to learn everything there is to know about technique, check out Gary Palmer's interactive coaching courses. Gary is a coach with over 20 years experience teaching players to become first class cricketers. For the first time he has put his drills online, only at PitchVision Academy.

Ask most people about opening the batting and they will tell you about batsmen who can block. Occasionally you get a big hitter. But, what really makes a good opening batsman?

Opening is about more than "seeing off the new ball" in your cricket match. It's a matter of good organisation, and a position that is specialised. The bowlers usually have the upper hand with a new ball and fresh legs. That means you, more than any other position, need to have your cricket wits about you.

There are certain traits a good opener has, or is able to develop.

• An adaptable technique. Although you could have lots of shots, knowing your own game is most important. Playing straight is the cornerstone of your game. You could have the ability to switch gears from disciplined defence to attack depending on the conditions, match situation and bowling.
• A good judge of the off stump. Knowing when to play and when to leave is a great skill for the opener, even in Twenty20 conditions.
• Patience. There will be times when the bowlers make you play and miss. However, the bad ball will come. The ability to stay focused on the next ball will see you through the tough periods all openers experience.

This is often what coaches mean when they talk about seeing off the opening bowlers. Personally, I don't like the phrase. It puts openers into a defensive mindset. Opening the innings is more about having a sound defence and being ready to attack.

Once you have assessed that conditions have are in your favour you can start to think more aggressively. This may be a couple of hours in, or right from the first ball. However, you need to keep a tight defence as a good ball is never far away.

Naturally, these skills are useful anywhere you bat. So the biggest difference for me is the desire to do it.

You have the biggest opportunity as you are on the field from the first delivery. You have to be prepared to make a big score and that takes focus, patience and cricket bravery. Get out early and your side are off to a poor start. Make runs too slowly and the pressure is on. Do well, bulid an innings and pace yourself effectively and the team will come to rely on your solidity at the top. That's a different kind of pressure to batting between three and seven.

Opening practice

There is not much an opener can do differently from any other batsman to prepare. The principles of deliberate practice apply just as much with any position in the batting order.

That said, you will want to focus on two areas in particular:

• Middle cricket practice. Practicing against fresh bowlers with a new ball in simulated match conditions will teach you how to adapt to the mental and tactical side of opening. When you have had a middle practice, sit down with your coach and opening partner (and possible the number three) and discuss how it went, what your tactics were and whether they worked or not.
• Technical development. While you want as many shots as possible, you don't need them. Get the straight shots in order first. Learn to judge whether to play or leave. Have some more attacking options thirdly. This can't be done in standard nets as the bowling is not accurate enough so grab an empty net with your opening partner and give each other some accurate throwdowns or bowling machine drills instead.

I would also strongly recommend learning how to rotate the strike by taking cheeky singles and turning ones into twos. You can score very well without ever hitting booming boundaries.

An opener needs to be a positive player with the ability to leave attack behind for a while if you are up against a good opening bowling attack. Practice to learn this cricketing nous, and you will not go far wrong.