The cricket basics are not so basic any more.

 Ask most cricket players about the basics of batting and you will get a list of fundamentals. The web is overloaded with tips for the basics like a still head and hitting with the full face.

Get world-class at these simple rules, and the rest is easy, they say.

This advice is designed to be helpful: Why would you play with half a bat of you can use the full face and hit more consistently?

I’ll tell you why; because the idea of “fundamentals” itself is oversimplified nonsense.

No one who has succeeded at batting has played every drive with the full face. Turning the face to hit the ball into different areas depending on the field is a masterful skill that “hitting with the full face” often restricts.

That’s before all the balls you have edged or missed.

That’s before you have to chase a big total on a terrible pitch when they team are already five down.

Focusing on a perfect fundamental means players spend training time on busywork like underarm throws and hitting from a tee to perfect a movement.

It’s a waste of time.

Batting perfection

That aim for perfection in fundamentals is at the root of the issue for most batsmen.

The more you strive to get perfect fundamentals, the less likely you are to actually bat. Perfection is a fine aim, but no one ever played a perfect innings.

Batting is messy.

You play and miss, the field changes, wickets fall, time runs out, form comes and goes, you’re dropped at mid off. Perfection is a million miles away even during your best innings.

It’s time to accept this.

Batting fundamentals

Once you accept you will never get close to perfect in the fundamentals, you can concentrate on the important parts of batting.

The only real fundamentals are:

• Stay in as long as possible.
• Score runs.

How you do that is highly individual.

Of course, there will be basic patterns that everyone moves towards the more they try to bat. The boffins call these things “attractors”. Everyone watches the ball in some way or another, everyone holds the bat by the handle with the face at the front in a comfortable stance, everyone ends up stepping and swinging in rhythm.

Even in these attractors, there are natural fluctuations. Not everyone watches the ball or swings at it in the same way, for example.

But really, this doesn’t matter.

All you need to do is find a way to stay in and score runs.

No answers

There are no clear answers to this other than to try yourself.

And by trying, I mean facing bowlers and attempting to hit the ball into different parts of the field without getting out.

Often under the stress of a critical moment.

Often while physically exhausted.

Often in very tough batting conditions.

Always while dealing with plenty of distractions.

It’s a beautiful mess.

That’s batting!

It means you make a lot of mistakes along the way. It means you have to reflect on what works for you and what doesn’t. It means you have to embrace the “learning edge” and use failure as a tool.

And in the end, it makes you a self-aware, streetwise and adaptable batsman who can stay in and score runs.

That’s no fake.