FLICK THE SWITCH?

Wednesday's T20 at the West Sydney Wastelands had rock all going for it, and would have had even less than rock all going for it if it was not for Cow Corner Warner's switch hit, which re-started the debate over the shot's legality:

Dave Warner's blow ignites debate between left and right

DAVE Warner's sensational 100m switch hit for six in Wednesday's Twenty20 match has reignited debate over the legality of the shot.

Dave Hussey loved it, I think:

Teammate David Hussey - a batsman - is a fan of the shot.

But Hussey admitted he got frustrated with Warner when bowling to him at training. "Dave does it to me in the nets all the time. It frustrated me, so I beamed him - I tried to hit him in the head. It didn't go down very well, so we had a bit of a falling out for a couple of moments."

"No, no, no. You hit him on the head. You naughty moose."

Comments

[Bruce]

I doubt I'm alone in my view, but we do have a couple of rules where the difference between on and off side are important. LBW, the zone for wides and the number of men behind square on the leg side.

Once the batsman switches then those definitions get redefined to whatever benefits the fielding side the most.

[Tony]

Speaking of switch hitting.

When I was a kid, me and my brother would play Shield matches in the back yard, which entailed us batting through the whole line-up of whichever sides we had playing.

When a left hander was called up, we also had to bat left handed.

The thing is, I got pretty good batting the other way around, and in fact I was more correct batting left handed, probably because my dominant right hand was now my top hand.

But I had much less power batting left handed, which makes Cow Corner's monster hoik all the more amazing. Then again, I had a Grey Nick size six, not a rocket fuelled, turbocharged super clubber.

[Tony]

Bruce, yes I agree with that. Switch hitting is fine as long as the rules... sorry, Laws are updated to reflect the new shot.

[Russ]

Is Warner actually a natural left-hander? For some reason I was thinking he wasn't - that that is his natural slogging side. CI lists him as a leg-break bowler, but that is a bit vague. Has arms like Sammy Stosur though, so either hand is going to go a long way.

[Tony]

Good point. He's a right hand bowler, is he not? That could well mean he's a natural righty with all the natural strength that entails.

[Russ]

Have no issue with the switch hit incidentally. The lbw law becomes generous on both sides, so don't know why bowlers don't just aim wide on what was the off-side. Field is set for it, batsman needs to use feet (unlikely after switching), decent chance of a stumping if you fire it in. Ashwin basically plopped it in the slot. Not optimal.

[Big Ramifications]

I like switch hitting coz switch hitter is slang for a bisexual man.

Heh heh. Dave Warner is a switch hitter.

I'm laughing already.

[Tony]

Chuckle, choke, chicken.

[The Don has Risen]

A bowler is not allowed to change arms when bowling yet a batsman can his.

cricket has always been , will always be a batsman's game

[Hangover Black]

Rock all going for it?

Haddin's imminent demise is far from rock all. And lest I be chastised for wishing ill upon an Australian player, this is my response:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-australia-2011/engine/match/514029.html

[Tony]

Haddin is not gone yet. Don't count your chickens before they cross the road.

[The Don has Risen]

from an Umpiring point of view the batsman is a left-hander so an appeal for LBW will be viewed in that way.

Thus if Warner missed he may well have been close to LBW.

KP hit a six in England doing this.

[Hangover Black]

Haddin is not gone yet, but he is inhabiting territory not dissimilar to that of Ian Healy after the 1999 tour of Zimbabwe.

[The Don has Risen]

Haddin is heading for Paine

[2BarRiff]

Speaking of heading for pain: http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-england-2012/engine/current/match/531630.html

[Professor Rosseforp]

I think the batsman should be able to switch hit 15% to the opposing side from his stance -- every batsman does it anyway, and every batsman always has.

[Tony]

The batsman changing stance is an optical illusion.

[Professor Rosseforp]

And his bat was congenitally bent, anyway

[Tony]

Tim Blair: Keep the Switch on the Pitch.

[Tony]

This morning on Offsiders Gideon Haigh made a parallel between the 15 degree law and the switch hit. AGB - ahead of the curve, as usual.

[m0nty]

I can tell you who would have been uncontrollably excited at flicking the switch: Spanky Roebuck. Then again, he gets excited over the switch for different reasons than most.

[Yogi Berra]

Boy, I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

[Tony]

Almost Yogi: "When you come to a fork in the road, knife it."