Coaching batters, with Toby Radford

Toby Radford, talking with Tim Dellor for an ECB Coach Development icoachcricket podcast, on the technical points he (Toby) looks for when analysing & coaching a batter

Toby Radford is currently batting coach with Kent, and prior to that with the West Indies, Glamorgan and Middlesex. It was interesting to hear what he considers to be the absolute fundamentals of batting.

And Toby does take a quite fundamentalist approach to batting — it’s not the stroke that is difficult. Rather, it is the position you start from that makes it difficult.

Toby advocates hands below head (not the currently fashionable “hands to back pocket”), then back & up before starting forward (into the stroke).

This chimes with the thoughts of another cohort of experienced batting coaches — it’s not enough to start with the bat already picked up, it needs to be in (upward) motion before starting the downswing.

In the stance, Toby strongly favours “head over toes”, and eyes inside the line of off stump, with the batter “sitting” into a squat position rather than leaning forward from the ankles with knees forward of toes.

Which makes senses — if the knees protrude beyond the toes, and the eyes are outside off stump, the batter’s balance will be further to the off side than perhaps ideal. The bat path is likely to be from 2nd slip to mid-on. As seen in many First Class batters in recent years…

And he re-emphasises: Set up, set up, set up.

See Toby’s posts on X.com for examples of his analyses.

Observation

It was also interesting to hear Toby’s take on Observation-Analysis-Feedback

He is keen on reviewing video away from the session, rather than “live”.

• Observe (“what do you see”);
• Analyse (“how does what you see match with the “ideal”?);
• Review (with player — showing the player what the coach has seen before suggesting any changes);
• Analysis & Feedback (“doing it this way will mean…; let’s try doing it this way, instead”).

Altogether a very interesting conversation.