A mirror view of Amla batting. In this video I have flipped his batting style to left handed view.
Amla shuffles a lot, but he does that before the ball is released. His base(feet are still) is firm during the release of the ball.
This is not the case with Cook, as he is still moving during release of the ball- creating imbalance while playing or not playing. He needs to reminds himself to stay still as long as possible. Most of the times he has an unusual grip, it’s a defensive grip. He is not able to change the grip when he is playing off the back foot or away from the body, and when he wants to use force/aggression. This is where he can use his body for support.
If we look at Amla who like Cook bats with open shoulder and shuffles. Neverthless his base is strong(motionless)when the ball is released and travelling.
Amla too he is a defensive batter who will not look for runs at beginning of his inning, hand is very close to his body(almost resting on waist/stomach), and once he decides to play an aggressive shot(back foot or front foot) than he uses his body for support allowing his batting hand to play with freedom. His hand does not get locked or hang out.
In this analysis I am not suggesting that Cook should imbibe Amla’s batting style, but there are similarities in their game plan. In the current cricket era both are traditional orthodox top order batsmen who are made of Test cricket.
I feel Cook will arrest his form and score runs once again. He is very determined cricketer like Amla. Hope this analysis was easy to understand.
Here is a video analysis of Cook(mirror image of Amla)
[local /wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2014-cook-amla-open-shoulder.flv]
