How to play the pull shot

Throughout the history of cricket, whenever a bowler has strayed onto the pads of a batter, the typical play has been for the batter to use the pace of the delivery and turn the ball into a gap on the leg side for a risk-free single.

Picture the scene. It’s the first day of an Ashes Series and both sides are desperate to put an early marker down. A pace bowler comes charging in off their long run and bowls a short delivery on the stumps which gets up at waist height.

Does the batter play a solid back-foot defensive shot and let the fielding side feel they are getting on top? Of course not, the batter goes back in their crease and pulls the ball in front of square, through the on-side, crashing into the boundary boards and a great cheer erupts from the crowd.

Over the last quarter of a century, you could have seen any of Michael Vaughan, Alyssa Healy, Ricky Ponting, Kevin Pietersen, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Marnus Labuschagne, and many more top players playing the batter role in the above.

It’s not just in the Ashes where the pull is a popular stroke, in fact, from April 2014 to July 2020, Pakistan’s Babar Azam averaged 152 runs with a strike-rate of 230.3 from the shot in Test cricket.

The pull shot can be played against both pace and slow bowlers.

Although the shot is not without risk, it is considered to be far safer than the hook shot which is played to a ball between chest and head height.

When taking on the pull shot, the batter needs to be aware of the positioning of fielders on the leg side. In longer-format cricket there will often be a boundary rider patrolling the outfield so placing the ball away from that fielder will be a priority.

As this shot requires the batter to judge the length and bounce correctly, very few tend to attempt the pull to one of the first balls in their innings.

Sometimes a batter’s greatest shot can be their downfall and if they have a reputation as a ‘strong puller’ then the bowler could well send down a short ball far outside off-stump and try to tempt them to ‘fetch’ the ball which could cause them problems.

The Technique for playing the pull shot to slow bowlers:

When playing the pull shot, the batter will need to pick the short length early and transfer weight onto the back foot to get set.

You can see and example of this in the image below, the batter has picked up the lengh and has started to get into the correct position on the back foot.

How to play the pull shot to slow bowlers

After getting deep in the crease, the batter will decide whether to leave the ball, defend with a straight bat, or play a cut shot through the off-side or a pull shot through the leg-side.

If the ball is coming on at a greater pace than previously anticipated, it is better for the batter to ‘wear’ the delivery on the thigh guard and take the bruise rather than risk their wicket.

With the head in line with the ball, the batter should roll their wrists when hitting the ball to keep it down and minimize the chance of a catching opportunity for any fielders.

Concentrate on connecting with the ball in front of the body and don’t try to hit it too hard. Otherwise, the ball could be mistimed and struck in the air - again this can be seen in the above image.

The below image shows the full follow through of the shot with the batter keeping his eyes on the ball.

A slight variation on the shot is the ‘short-arm jab’ popular with Indian opener Shubman Gill. This is played from the crease (ie - not forward or back) with the batter halting his follow-through during the shot (like a boxer with a ‘jab’ instead of a punch) and sending the ball through mid-wicket.

Some batters, when playing with confidence, will play this shot on the front foot. Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden was a prime example of this (see below for additional technique)

The Technique for playing the pull shot against fast bowlers:

Playing the pull shot against fast bowlers has similarities to playing against slow bowlers, however you can keeping the number of movements to a minimum while playing over the front foot.

When playing this pull shot, the batter will need to pick the short length early

Keeping the weight over the front foot and standing tall as can be seen in the below image.

How to play the pull shot to fast bowlers

With the head in line with the ball, the batter should roll their wrists when hitting the ball to keep it down and minimize the chance of a catching opportunity for any fielders.

Concentrate on connecting with the ball in front of the body and don’t try to hit it too hard. Otherwise, the ball could be mistimed and struck in the air.

Weight should always be pushing forward, and then at point of connection weight should go through the ball and into the follow-through.

Conclusion

The pull shot is a wonderful scoring shot against a short delivery and works nicely for both slow and fast bowlers. The beauty of the shot, you can go over to the top of the in-field or keep the ball on the ground, depending on the match conditions and field placements.

So, get into the nets and start practicing following these guidelines with some throwdowns and perfect the both pull shots.

The pro player we have used for the videos and images uses a Trogon Cricket Grade 1+ English willow bat with our black and white sticker range.

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How to play the pull shot

The Technique for playing the pull shot to slow bowlers:

The Technique for playing the pull shot against fast bowlers:

Conclusion

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