Using the sweep shot to unsettle spinners in not a new tactic in cricket. It has been tried by a number of batsmen in the past, with various levels of success
NZ's Tom Latham practises the sweep shot yesterday. Pic/PTI
Using the sweep shot to unsettle spinners in not a new tactic in cricket. It has been tried by a number of batsmen in the past, with various levels of success. However, sweeping quality spinners on Indian pitches is a task full of risks, which New Zealand's Tom Latham successfully accomplished during his match-winning century against India in the three-ODI series opener in Mumbai on Sunday. To begin with, he had kept wickets for three and half hours in hot and humid conditions. He was also demoted to No 5 position instead of his usual role as an opener.
NZ's Tom Latham practises the sweep shot yesterday. Pic/PTI
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No time to settle down
That meant facing the spinners straightway, instead of having already settled down. Coming in at 80-3 in a chase of 281, he took on India's two in-form wrist spinners, who spun the ball both ways with excellent control. But Latham forced them to loose the control by sweeping them and then reverse sweeping them almost every time they bowled full. It requires a reasonable amount of skill and judgement to play the sweep shot against the wrist spinners. Latham called it a 'different gameplan'. "Everybody is different in the way they play spin in different conditions. I think the Indians play the different way, they are used to these conditions and they have got their game in place. One thing that comes to me is the sweep that I have played.
'Easier to sweep'
"It's something that I find easier to play than hitting down the ground. The other guys may find hitting down the ground easier. It's important to have different gameplans for different conditions and try and stick to that," Latham said on the eve of the second ODI against India.
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