If you are a cricket coach, researcher Habib Noorbhai at he Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa is asking for your views.

"Play with a straight bat."

Everyone who has played cricket has heard this advice: Your bat is lifted back towards the stumps with the elbow up, pointing in the direction of the ball.

Or is it?

We have examined whether top international batsmen use this technique. We looked at 65 of the most successful batsmen of all time in the last century (based on their career averages, strike rate and runs scored).

Surprisingly, more than 70% of these successful batsmen did not adopt the traditionally taught technique.

Instead they adopted a more looped action in which the initial movement of the bat was in the direction of the slips, and in extreme cases it was either towards the gulley or point region. It seems it is more natural for a non-coached batsmen to use this method instead of the traditionally taught straight backlift.

What does all this mean?

There is a need to explore insights from cricket coaches, to learn more about the current teachings with respect to coaching batting techniques.

So, we want to hear from you, in a survey of cricket coaches from around the world.

Click here to take it now.

The aim of the survey is to evaluate the teachings of cricket coaches on the batting techniques among cricketers. If you are a coach, please take a moment to complete and help contribute to research in this area.

Habib Noorbhai is a Lecturer and Researcher at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa. He is currently doing his PhD in Exercise Science at the University of Cape Town in cricket. He is also a Registered Biokineticist, Cricket Coach and former cricketer. He has published papers in reputable journals and has presented at both local and international conferences. His research interests are wide-spread, ranging from Cricket, Biomechanics, Injury Prevention and Exercise Science. He has worked with the South Australian Redbacks and Yorkshire CCC in 2010 and 2012 respectively for the CLT20.