Something happens to a new batter’s swing as soon as they pick up a bat, and it is almost always the grip. The hands squeeze, the wrists lock, and a ball that should be hit along the ground flies straight up. Nothing about the technique is wrong. The bat is simply being held too tightly for the hands to move quickly.
The grip is also the only part of batting you can fix without a bowler in front of you, which makes it the easiest thing to improve this week. Work through the steps below and you will notice a difference in the nets before you change anything else. The batting grip section of our cricket skills guide is the natural place to pick this up if you want the wider picture. If the bat feels heavy in your hands, work through our cricket bat weight guide, because a bat that is too heavy will make your grip tight without you noticing.
Quick Answer
Hold the bat with both hands close to the top of the handle, and line up the V between your thumb and forefinger on each hand with the spine at the back of the bat. Your top hand goes on top and grips firmly, because it steers the bat. Your bottom hand sits just below it and grips more softly, because it supplies the power. The most common beginner fault is holding too tight.
Why the Grip Matters More Than It Looks
The bat is a lever, and your hands are the hinge. Whatever the grip does, the rest of the stroke has to live with. A grip that is too tight makes the hands late. A grip that sits too high on the handle removes control. A grip that holds the bat in the wrong place on the handle makes it impossible to play shots on both sides of the wicket without changing your grip mid-innings, which is not practical.
Getting the grip right buys you three things at once:
- Speed. A relaxed hand travels through the ball quickly. A tense hand arrives after it.
- Direction. The top hand is what steers the ball to a chosen part of the field. Without a firm top hand, the shot goes wherever the swing happens to send it.
- One grip for every shot. A correct grip lets you play a cover drive, a pull shot, and a defensive block without letting go or rearranging your hands.
The grip is the same for a right-handed and a left-handed batter. It simply mirrors. On a right-handed grip the left hand is the top hand; on a left-handed grip the right hand is.
The Standard V Grip, Step by Step
The grip most coaches in England teach is called the V grip, after the shape your hands make. It is worth learning in the order below, because each step assumes the one before it.
1. Pick the Bat Up the Easy Way
Before adjusting anything, lay the bat flat on the ground with the face pointing down, as if it were a small axe lying at your feet. Pick it up with both hands without thinking about it. The position your hands land in is already close to correct, and it takes less effort than forcing your hands into a position you cannot remember.
Check the result. Both hands are on the handle, not on the blade, and the two hands are close together rather than spread out.
2. Line Up the Two V Shapes
On each hand, the gap between your thumb and your forefinger forms a V. Those two V shapes are the heart of the grip, and they are the first thing coaches look at.
Turn both V shapes so they point down the spine of the bat, which is the ridge that runs down the back of the handle and up the blade. The V should sit roughly in the middle of the back of the bat, not around the edge and not on the flat face.
Do this part with your eyes rather than by feel. Hold the bat up in front of you and look straight down at the spine. If you can see two clear V shapes sitting centrally, this step is done.
3. Put the Top Hand on Top
The top hand, also called the lead hand or guide hand, is your stronger hand and it goes at the top of the handle. For a right-handed batter that is the left hand, resting against the inside of the left thigh when you take your stance.
This hand does the steering. It decides the direction of the shot and how much of the bat face meets the ball. Hold it firmly, not tightly. The back of the top hand points roughly toward the extra cover fielder, which is a quick way to check you have not rotated it.
4. Keep Both Hands Near the Top of the Handle
Both hands belong high on the handle, with the top hand slightly above the bottom hand and roughly a finger or two of space between them at most. The further down the handle you slide, the less leverage you have and the more the bat twists in your hands.
Hands placed low, sometimes called choking the bat, give more control but noticeably less power. Hands placed high give more power and less control. For a beginner learning to drive, high on the handle is the better starting point, because control matters more than power at the start.
5. Top Hand Firm, Bottom Hand Soft
This is the distinction that changes how a beginner bats, and it is the one most people miss.
Hold the top hand firmly enough that the bat will not move in it. Hold the bottom hand more gently. The bottom hand provides the force, but the top hand sets the angle, and a bottom hand clenched as hard as the top one drags the face of the bat around. The result is the ball flying to the leg side while you were aiming at the off side.
A useful mental picture is holding a small bird in the bottom hand. Firm enough that it does not fly away, loose enough that it is comfortable.
How Tight Should You Hold?
Less than most beginners expect, and that is the single most useful thing in this guide.
A tight grip is the leading cause of mistimed shots in beginner cricket. Tension travels from the hands up the forearms and into the shoulders, and a tense body swings slowly. The bat then arrives after the ball, which sends it either into the air or straight to a fielder.
There is a simple test. Take your normal grip, then close your eyes and squeeze everything, your hands, arms, and shoulders. Notice how much tighter your forearms are. That is what a tense grip feels like from the inside, and it is the sensation you are trying to avoid.
Two further checks worth knowing:
- Check during the backswing. While the bat is raised and waiting, the bottom three fingers of the bottom hand should be able to relax slightly away from the handle. If they cannot, the grip is too tight.
- Check after the shot. At the end of a stroke your hands should be in roughly the same place as they started. If you had to wring the grip out afterwards, it was too tight.
What a Bat That Is Too Long Does to Your Grip
Length is not a style preference. It changes whether you can hold the bat properly at all.
Important
If the bat is too long for the batter, both hands end up down the handle near the blade, because the top of the handle is out of comfortable reach. That is the choke position, and it produces exactly the complaints beginners bring to a session: no power, edges going through to the keeper, and a drive that flies straight up. A shorter bat, not a stronger grip, is usually the fix.
Under Law 5.7.1 of the Laws of Cricket, a bat’s overall length cannot be more than 38 inches, which is 96.52 cm. That is a ceiling, not a target. Junior players are usually best served by a bat short enough that their bottom hand can still sit just under the top hand near the top of the handle.
Law 5.2.1 also requires the handle to be made principally of cane or wood, and Law 5.2.3 allows the upper portion of the handle to be covered with a grip. The MCC Laws of Cricket on the bat set out the full measurements and the four bat categories, A through D, that apply at different levels of the game.
One more rule worth knowing: under Law 5.6, a glove worn on the hand holding the bat counts as part of the bat. So a ball that clips your glove has still hit the bat, and the same applies to the bare hand holding it. A pad is different, because a pad is not part of the bat, so a ball that clips the pad has not struck the bat.
Common Grip Faults and How to Fix Them
| Fault | What it causes | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Gripping too tightly | Late bat, balls into the air, straight to a fielder | Soften the bottom hand until the bottom three fingers can relax at the top of the backswing |
| Hands too far down the handle | No power, bat twisting, edges behind the bat | Slide both hands up, and check whether the bat is simply too long |
| Hands too far apart | Bat wobbles and the face tilts at contact | Bring the bottom hand up so only a finger or two of space remains |
| V shapes facing the edge | Ball goes to the leg side no matter where it is aimed | Rotate each hand so the V points down the spine, then check by looking down at it |
| Hand on the blade instead of the handle | Almost no control and no power | Both hands belong on the handle, near the top of it |
The grip is the one thing in batting you can correct in a single session, because it does not need a bowler. Fix the grip first, then work on anything else.
Ten-Second Grip Checks You Can Do Anywhere
These four checks take almost no time and catch nearly every problem. Run them at the start of every nets session, before you have bowled a single ball.
The spine check. Hold the bat up and look down at the back of it. You should see two V shapes, one from each hand, sitting centrally. If either V is wrapped around the edge, turn that hand.
The reach check. Take your normal grip without looking. If your top hand is not within easy reach of the top of the handle, the bat is too long for you.
The tension check. Squeeze everything, then release and notice the difference. Bat with the released version.
The still check. Take your stance and hold it for ten seconds. If your forearms are burning, your grip is too tight.
Once the grip is right, put it to work on an actual shot. Our guide to the cover drive takes you through the first stroke most beginners should master, and the grip you have just set is exactly what that shot needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far up the handle should I hold the bat?
Close to the top, with the top hand just below the very end and the bottom hand a finger or two beneath it. The further down you hold, the less power you get. Holding near the top is why a bat that is too long becomes a real problem rather than a minor one.
Should my hands be touching on the handle?
Not quite touching, but close. Leave a finger or two of space at most. A wide gap between the hands lets the bat twist at contact, and that is one of the reasons a beginner’s edges go straight to the keeper.
Is the grip different for a left-handed batter?
Only mirrored. The same V shapes line up on the spine, the same rule about hands near the top applies, and the same top hand firm and bottom hand soft relationship applies. The top hand is simply your right hand instead of your left.
Does wearing gloves change the grip?
It can. Gloves add padding, so the same hand position feels tighter. Many batters find they need to open the grip slightly, sitting a touch further down the handle, to get the same relaxed feel they have without gloves. Test both and pick whichever gives you the looser hands.
Does grip change between shots?
It should not. A correct grip lets you play a straight drive, a cut, a pull shot, and a defensive block without rearranging your hands. If you find yourself shifting your grip for different deliveries, the starting grip needs work rather than the shot selection.
Conclusion
The grip is the cheapest improvement available to a new batter. Keep both hands near the top of the handle, point the two V shapes down the spine of the bat, hold the top hand firmly and the bottom hand softly, and resist squeezing. Do the four quick checks before every practice, and spend a few sessions with nothing else to think about. Once your hands are relaxed and the bat is where it should be, the rest of your technique has something solid to build on.
Photo: a selection of cricket bat handles showing the shape of the handle and grip. Photograph by Mike Prince, licensed under CC BY 2.0. Cropped to 1200 by 1000 pixels.
Read More: Cricket Basics and Rules: A Beginner’s Guide to the Game
