2.  The Toss
Cricket strategy begins with the coin toss. The
captain winning the toss has an important
decision to make: whether to bat or field first.
This is not as trivial as it may sound.

3. Batting Strategy and Tactics
 Batting Order
 Batting Shot Selection
 Sharing the Strike
 Declaring the Innings Closed

4. Batting order
 A typical side composition will be 6 specialist batsmen, a
wicket-keeper, and 4 specialist bowlers.
 Two of the batsmen will be specialist openers
 They have experience and the skills required to bat when
the ball is brand new and tends to swing and bounce
more.
 Positions 3 to 6 will be filled by the specialist batsmen,
usually in order of batting ability, from best to poorest.
Thus the number 3 batsman is usually the best batsman in
the side.

5. Changing the Batting Order
The batting order can be changed at any time during a
match, it can be manipulated to provide a tactical
advantage in certain situations. Some examples:-
 Using night watchman. (to protect better batsman)
 Using Pinch hitter (Promoting batsman up in the order)
 Right/Left combination of batting
 Giving resting time to the injured batsman

6. Batting Shot Selection
 Shot selection is usually made based on the line
and length of the ball.
The batsman must decide whether to:
 Not play at the ball.
 Play a defensive shot.
 Play an attacking shot.
 Actively avoid the ball.

7. The following situations will tend to make a
batsman play defensively:
 Having recently begun his innings, either
coming in after a wicket or at the start of a day's
play.
 Playing against a new ball.
 Facing a skilful bowler or a bowler who has
been performing well in the current game.
 The game being in early stages.
 The pitch deteriorating, with uneven bounce
and pace.
 Facing a bowling style with which the batsman
is less comfortable.

8.  Being unable to confidently pick the type of ball being
bowled.
 There being several close fielders around the bat ready
for catches.
 The side being unable to realistically score enough
runs to win the match in the time remaining.
 The time being close to the end of a session of play.
 Standing instructions from the captain to bat
defensively

9. The following situations will tend to make a
batsman play attackingly:
 Being settled in to batting, having batted for
half an hour or more already on the same day.
 Playing against an old ball.
 Facing a poor bowler or a bowler who has been
performing poorly in the current game.
 The game approaching its conclusion.
 The pitch playing well, with consistent bounce
and pace.

10.  Facing a bowling style with which the batsman
is most comfortable.
 Being able to confidently pick the type of ball
being bowled.
 There being few or no fielders close to the bat.
 The side requiring runs to be scored relatively
rapidly in order to win.
 The time being not near the end of a session of
play.
 Standing instructions from the captain to bat
attackingly.

11. Sharing the Strike
 Sharing strike with 1,2. & 3
 Farming the strike (A batsman who can score 1
or 3 off the last ball of the over consistently can
face several overs in a row without the poorer
batsmen facing any balls at all. This tactic is
known as farming the strike)

12. Declaring the Innings Closed
 The basic strategy behind declaring is of course
declare when you think you have enough runs for the
situation.
 The relative skill of the two sides, particularly his
own bowling attack against the opposition's batting
line-up.
 The captain's estimation of the opposition's ability to
score runs quickly.
 The morale of both sides, both in the context of the
match and in a series the match may be part of.

13.  The captain's estimation of the
psychological state of the opposing captain
and his tendency to take risks to try to win
versus his tendency to play safe and try to
avoid losing.
 The amount of deterioration of the pitch
over the course of the game.
 The importance of the match in the context
of a series, and whether a win is needed or
a draw will be satisfactory.
 The weather forecast.

14. Bowling Strategy and Tactics
 Field Placement
 Choosing Bowlers
 Taking the New Ball
 Bowling the Over
 Enforcing the Follow-On

15. The captain places fielders in positions
designed to do two things:
 Get batsmen out by being in the right
places to take catches.
 Prevent runs being scored.
 These includes attacking & Defensive
fielders

16. Attacking & Defensive fielding
 This includes fielders in the slips, gully,
silly point, silly mid off, silly mid on, short
leg, and leg slip.(Attacking)
 These positions include third man, deep
point, deep cover, long off, long on,
deep midwicket, deep square leg, and
fine leg. (defensive)

17. Choosing Bowlers
At the beginning of each over, the captain must
decide which of the players on his side will bowl the
over. Bowlers generally perform best in spells of 5-
10 over's.
The particular bowler chosen to bowl an over depends
on several factors:
 The age of the ball. (swing R,L,REV)
 The relative skills of the available bowlers in the
side.
 The bowling styles of the bowlers.
 The freshness or tiredness of all the potential bowlers

18.  Whether a bowler has been performing well or
poorly so far in the game.
 The state of the pitch, and whether it has deteriorated
over the course of the game.
 Any known strengths or weaknesses of the batsmen
to particular bowlers or styles of bowling.
 The state of the game and overall strategic position,
in terms of whether it is more important to take
wickets or prevent runs.
 The wind speed and direction.

19.  The temperature and humidity.
 The time of day, in terms of whether it is near the end
of a session of play.
 Once the ball has begun to wear significantly, spin
bowlers can get significant spin off the pitch and will
come into play. If the ball is getting very old (50 overs
or more) and

20.  Taking more fast bowler in the squad for green
and bounce pitch
 Taking more spin bowler on dry and crumble,
pitch.
 Use a part-time bowler

21. Taking the New Ball
A new ball can be taken after75 over’s of
the match. H however there are spin
bowlers who are performing very well
with the old ball, and the pitch is
crumbling and more conducive to spin
than to pace bowling, the captain may
decide to continue with spin bowlers
using the old ball.

22. Bowling an over
Fast bowler- is to pitch the ball on a good
length just outside the batsman's off stump. If
he can achieve some out swing all the better.
The goal here is to create some doubt in the
batsman's mind as to whether the ball might
hit the wicket or not. The bowler might try a
sudden variation of line and length. A good
example would be a yorker aimed at the wicket.
Bodyline attack is effective.

23. A few other tactics used by fast bowlers:
Bowlers may attack the leg stump, directing most
balls towards the leg stump or even into the
batsman's legs.

24. Spinners pitch the ball closer to the batsman that fast
bowlers, because:
 They have less speed on the ball, so
they don't need to pitch as short to gain
significant bounce by the time the ball
reaches the batsman;
 it gives the ball more time in the air
before bouncing to drift;
 it gives the batsman less time to react
after the ball bounces;

25.  Changing the angle of attack to provide
variation to a batsman who has settled in
and looks difficult to get out.
 A spin bowler changing his angle to allow a
better chance of hitting scuff marks at the
striker's end of the pitch.
 Enforcing the Follow-On