The Art of Batting on a wet wicket

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Learning to bat on a wet wicket is a skill set that begins with mindset. Most batsman born after the Greg Chappell era learnt to bat by "hitting in the V". Essentially this has a foundation of coming forward and playing predominantly with a straight bat and works best on a hard true surface.

Learning to bat on a wet wicket requires the batsman to disregard this plan and develop another. A wet wicket in this context is defined as one that has had significant rainfall leading to a surface that is able to be pressed in with fingers and which collects mud on your spikes when you attempt to mark centre.

The basis of the technique is to expect the ball to "pop" meaning that full length deliveries will stay in the pitch and rise sharply but at reduced speed. Attempts to hit the ball down the ground risk being lifted in the air to short cover/mid off for easy dismissal. The preferred method therefore is to "cover up" with soft hands attempting to hit the ball as slowly as possible ideally keeping the ball within three metres of the striker.

The batsmen is therefore not attempting to score off the front foot. It is the "dismissal risk" they are trying to avoid. Instead, the striker waits for the bowler to drop fractionally short, thereby using the slow bounce to their advantage. As both the height and the speed of bounce is unpredictable, it is easier to "hit across your body" to the legside. The reasoning for this is that you can drag the ball with more power and typically there are less fieldsman to avoid on the leg side. Being more interested in scoring than aesthetics, the leg side represents lower risk for more reward. A slow popping delivery can be hit behind square leg, a ball with better bounce can be hit in front of square leg. This method, deployed for a batsman's first 20 balls allows them to avoid a cheap dismissal to a full delivery getting out the way the bowler intends them to get out whilst retaining some counter attack option should the bowler miss their length to move the scoreboard forward.

Aligned with this technique can also be a counter intuitive move to bat out of your crease. The purpose of batting out is to dare the bowler short, but also to extend the likelihood of doubt should the bowler get it right in their endeavour to get you out LBW.

Next time you are caught on a wet one and teammates are unsure how to go about it, try this technique. Should you get through the initial period, it should then be tempered by your "natural game" as you allow yourself to move through the gears and to transition to your natural flow state.