Kevin Pietersen's Switch-hit needs a look in, says Fraser

Switch-hit needs a look in, says Fraser

Special Correspondent

Mohali: Former England pace-bowling spearhead Angus Fraser believes the
game’s law-makers need to look again at the switch-hit stroke.

While he admired Kevin Pietersen’s stunning strike over the mid-wicket
fence off Harbhajan Singh on Sunday, Fraser added the stroke was rather
unfair on the bowlers.

Speaking to The Hindu on Monday, Fraser said, “Your first reaction is —
‘Wow, what a shot.’ Then you think deeper. The stroke makes ruling a
batsman out leg-before very difficult. A delivery out-side the off-stump
to the right-hander becomes out-side the leg-stump to the left-hander
and he cannot be given out leg-before. The authorities have to take a
call on this issue.”

Need for rule changes

Pietersen had said he employed the stroke to beat a packed on-side field
set by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Fraser said the shot was innovative but
stressed appropriate rule changes.

Moving on, Fraser calls Ishant Sharma, “the most exciting, young fast
bowler in the world.” “He is tall, fit, strong, and has a nice, easy
action. He’s shown good skills with the ball which suggests that he is
learning things from Zaheer.”

Fraser rates left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan high as well. “He can bowl
over and round the wicket. He swings the new ball and reverse swings the
old. He can also seam the ball."

Reverse swing, a science

Fraser concedes he reverse swung the ball “a bit” during his playing
days. “Now, it has become a science. There are legitimate methods of
getting the ball to reverse.”

Fraser says the England pace attack is going through a period of
transition. “We had one of our best pace attacks during the 2005 Ashes
series. Subsequently, there have been quite a few changes. Matthew
Hoggard has faded away. Simon Jones got into injury problems. And
England has not really settled down on a pace attack since. But there
have also been some positives. Stuart Broad is coming along well.”

Asked how he would have bowled at Virender Sehwag, Fraser replied, “It’s
not easy for sure. Bowling a tight off-stump line and not giving him any
width at all could be an answer against Sehwag. If you stop him from
scoring, he might get frustrated.”

Fraser had words of appreciation for Dhoni. “It’s not easy having to
concentrate on every ball as a ’keeper and also think tactically as a
skipper. He has performed the dual role well so far.”

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Maybe we'll worry about LBWs when KP doesn't middle one and when the bowler doesn't shit himself and bowl an absolute turd as soon as KP begins to move.

Just have a rule so that KP can be given out lbw as left-hander when he plays the shot.

A bowler advocating how a batsman should use his bat!
Hmmmm ... nice one Gus!
Maybe all bowlers should bowl up 'n' downers ... stop swinging it both ways or surprising the batsman with a bouncer or dropping in a swinging yorker or bowling a doosra/wrong 'un/top spinner/googly when they're classified as leggies or .... the list is endless.

Keep the stroke ... it's legitimate inasmuch as the batsman is using his BAT to hit the ball!
name of the game innit?

If it hits the pad in front, then the umpire adjudges it as he would for a left handed bat.

Case closed.

Don't understand this.

If the batsman takes his guard as a right-hander, then a right-hander he surely is, no matter what he does when the ball is delivered?

The LBW law as applied to a right-hander should apply to any batsman switch hitting to become a left-hander.

(And vice-versa for a cack-hander doing the same.)

I see no need for any change of law or clarification at all - if KP (or anyone else) decides to p*ss about while the bowler is in his delivery stride it's up to him, but the umpire should adjudicate as per the guard taken.

He should be treated as BOTH right and lefthander. This means it doesn't matter where the ball pitches as long as its hitting him in line with the stumps and is going to hit the stumps he should be given out.

It's all a bit of a waste of time. From what I've seen, he hasn't looked like missing one anyway...

Let the bowlers surprise batsmen with a left handed delivery - then people will realise doing things with the wrong hand is pretty fking difficult. Anyway, he is a right hander, no matter what pissing about he decides to do.

Remember breaking my thumb as a kid and having to learn to write left handed, which was obviously incredibly difficult, even though I was all of 7.

Big_Bad_Bob wrote:Don't understand this.

If the batsman takes his guard as a right-hander, then a right-hander he surely is, no matter what he does when the ball is delivered?

The LBW law as applied to a right-hander should apply to any batsman switch hitting to become a left-hander.

(And vice-versa for a cack-hander doing the same.)

I see no need for any change of law or clarification at all - if KP (or anyone else) decides to p*ss about while the bowler is in his delivery stride it's up to him, but the umpire should adjudicate as per the guard taken.

totally agree

The shot is so fraught with danger that it takes a special kind of talent to even contemplate it. No need to amend the laws as far as I am concerned.

I have a lot of time for Gus Fraser, but he is life president of the Curmudgeonly Glass Half Empty, Life is a Bitch Union of Fast Bowlers

Curmudgeonly Glass Half Empty, Life is a Bitch Union of Fast Bowlers

Fast Bowler's Union for short. And Ian Bishop is the president. Srinath is probably in a high position as well.

I think it goes a little further than just the LBW ruling. All things being equal and by the same virtue, an ambidextrous bowler should be allowed to switch his bowling arm without informing the umpire. As long as this is beyond the rules, a right handed batsman should not be allowed to switch his grip and stance without prior intimation. Clearly this does not apply to the reverse sweep as neither the stance nor the grip is changed.

Any bowler worth his salt would love to face a batsman who switches hand mid shot. A wicket can't be that far away.

So no need to change the rules.

Sehwag probably would have carted Fraser all over the park

Nath wrote:Sehwag probably would have carted Fraser all over the park

Hmmmm, not so sure about that

Big_Bad_Bob wrote:Don't understand this.

If the batsman takes his guard as a right-hander, then a right-hander he surely is, no matter what he does when the ball is delivered?

The LBW law as applied to a right-hander should apply to any batsman switch hitting to become a left-hander.

(And vice-versa for a cack-hander doing the same.)

I see no need for any change of law or clarification at all - if KP (or anyone else) decides to p*ss about while the bowler is in his delivery stride it's up to him, but the umpire should adjudicate as per the guard taken.

Bob, that's simple, and makes sense. Therefore it has no chance of surviving as a rule.

Aye!