My son is getting caught out on the leading edge when hitting through the leg side. Any quick fixes??

Cricket CoachCoach

my advise would be to limit his shots through the "V" i.e. between mid on and mid off

instead of playing across the line....

YDT Coach, England

This is likely to be because he opens up his hips too early and is effectively too front-on towards the bowler when he tries to hit the ball. More often that not I've seen this where either the top hand grip is slightly wrong or where the hands are not aligned properly stopping them working together properly. The mechanics of it usually means that the front elbow is far from vertical - and probably points somewhere between square leg and cow shot corner when he pushes his arms towards the ball. This in turn means that the top hand pulls the bottom hand; bottom arm; and bat around the body - which makes the hips quite naturally open up to be more front on to the bowler. If the hips are front on and the elbow is heading for square leg then the bat will be side on at contact point.

The fix is to check the grip first and foremost - and the elbow position as he straight drives. There is a really good video of Ian Bell teaching cover drives on youtube which shows very well the position of his arms through the shot (the number 9 shape). If he cracks that then he is in a good place to go into drills.

If it still happens after that then you should check where his feet are pointing at contact point. It should be pretty much straight down the wicket (for front foot clip off the legs).

Finally, make sure he doesnt try and hit the ball too hard as it could force the hands through the shot too fast. He just needs to turn the wrists at point of contact - and the timing and speed of the ball should do the rest