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Switch Hitting in Cricket
July 1, 2008
What is switch hitting?
Switch Hitting is a new cricket shot that was played for the first time by kevin pieterson in an international match. While playing this shot, a right handed batsman changes his stance to that of a left handed batsman after the bowl is bowled and then plays the ball. Its vice-cersa for a left handed batsman.
There is a lot of debate going on about the morality of the shot and wheter it should be banned by the ICC. Here is a very interesting article by Harsha Bhogle on why switch hitting is immoral.
Harsh Bhogle: “I also believe the ICC need to take a very firm view on switch hitting.
When the MCC, the guardians of the law and the spirit of the game (and surely that has to be wrong - it has to be the ICC, not the MCC), say it is okay for Kevin Pietersen to change his grip, and effectively become a left hander, they are letting the bowler down. And, lest we forget for we do so too often, the bowler is an equal shareholder in the game of cricket. At the heart of our game lies the contest between bat and ball and when that is imperiled, the game is imperiled.
There are rules to bowling and batting. When the bowler delivers a ball he is presenting the batsman with a challenge. The basis of this challenge, which can never change, is the line and length he has chosen and the field he has set. These are the cards he holds.
The batsman now has to respond to this challenge by offering a shot. If the field is moved in the process of the ball reaching the batsman, it is unfair on him because the goalposts are being moved, the challenge is being amended, without him being aware of it. That is why it is against the spirit of the game to do it. So just as the batsman enjoys the security of a fixed challenge, so must the bowler. If the batsman alters the foundation on which the challenge has been presented to him, he is wrong and he must be stopped.
That is why a right handed batsman must remain a right handed batsman. If he becomes a left handed batsman after the ball has been delivered, he is conning the bowler and because the bowler delivers his cards first, he has no comeback. That is unfair and undermines the very foundation of cricket, which is a fair contest between bowler and batsman given identical conditions for both. Indeed, I will go so far as to say it is immoral.
Admittedly it requires an extraordinary level of skill to switch hands in such a short while and still hit the ball for six but then extraordinary skill doesn’t make things lawful. We would have to legalise pickpocketing otherwise.
To allow switch hitting, we must allow the fielders to change positions after the ball has been bowled, allow the bowler to go over or round the wicket and to bowl right or left handed without informing the umpire or the batsman. This list could get longer.
The easier, simpler and more honourable way is to preserve the sanctity of the challenge; the bowler sets his field and chooses line and length, the batsman responds and nothing changes in between.”
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