Gary Palmer is an experienced coach and head of CCM Academy. In this article he talks about the way to bat to give yourself the best chance of success.

Batting technique needs to evolve to be more successful in the current climate.

With the emergence of Twenty20 and higher scores in fifty over cricket, expectations are high for batters to score quickly. This means players need to be able to have more attacking shots and take more risks. Of course players will develop new flair shots an innovative ways to score runs, but this alone is not the answer for being a successful one day player.

While game plan options have moved forward and new shots have been invented the actual key principles of basic batting technique have not evolved to suit todays type of cricket.

So what should we be doing today?

Open up your technique

I believe in a more open body position from stance through to striking the ball when playing front and back foot straight batted shots.

It's a more natural thing to do, and it makes it easy for a batter to have good access to hitting the ball down the ground and through the leg side. The only time the shoulder needs to turn more and a batter get side on is when they hit through the off side.

McCullum and de Villiers are good examples, and are excellent in all formats of the game.

The positives of having a slightly open stance and striking position are,

• You find it easier to achieve good consistent balance, alignment and full completion of shot with the full face of the bat.
• You have more control and choice of where to hit the ball. This also means the risks of mishitting the ball and getting out are lower.

It's all very well implementing fashionable techniques, but if they are flawed ideas that result in inconsistency and failure they need to be binned. Moving forward is about identifying effectiveness. Once we discover the most effective way of doing something we can play in those proven ways, regardless of age or skill.

For more batting advice from Gary Palmer, click here. For a free fault correction and drill checklist, click here (pdf).