T20 Struggles

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

Bat deep - all rounders are very helpful here.

I rarely play one day or 20/20 with more than 2 out and out bowlers as you need to have batting depth here - up to number 9 I'd suggest.
Albeit you don't want to sacrifice bowling but I always pack my teams with quality all rounders who can contribute with both bat and ball.

I try to pick 4 batsmen, a keeper, 4 seamers and 2 spinners - in in the IPL then I'd consider losing a seamer and playing a third spinner so ideally I'd have OS, LS and SLA.

[LastWicket]

I pretty much got bowling nailed down with exception of the power plays. I just struggle with batting and my scores are always in the 120-130s and a few 140s. Most sides are scoring 150-190 in the other games.

Im still able to win 50% of games due to bowling outside off and tinkering with the field placements. I usually have them all placed as far back as possible at third man, deep point, deep extra cover, and either another at deep cover or straight hit or sometimes at long off or long on. I tend to follow the ball a bit to each batsman when setting boundary fielders.

My highest score so far is 204 after Denly and Northeast set Kent record for 2nd wicket. Billings has probably been the least successful batsman for me. He came back from IPL with average in high 40s with strike rate of 150+, but for me he struggles to get a run a ball.

[Sureshot]

Where do you bat Billings in the order?

Generally if my very aggressive batsman aren't quite in form I'll try to get them in for the last 5-10 overs. Keep them away from the new ball/better bowlers.

I do give my batsman a few balls (like 5 or 6) to get "in" at 5 or 6 bars aggression before I go full attack. It is worth keeping an eye on the better bowlers of the opposition too.

In terms of balance of aggression rating, my top 7 for Auckland (in 20 over) currently is: Def, Agg, Agg, Avg, V. Agg, Agg, Def (keeper, who had a S/R of 180, albeit not many runs).

Form is king for me though. Jeet Raval (opener, Def) is consistently scoring at 8-9 an over and I think averaging 40 over three seasons. An injury to him in my most recent half-season of 20 over was the reason why I couldn't qualify for the finals

[LastWicket]

Where do you bat Billings in the order?
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I usually bat him at 4 or 5 which is where Kent usually play him. Also tried him a few times as opener as he is still listed as opening in both limited overs formats when I don't think he has opened for a few years now.

It seems he has problems against pace bowling as I notice he struggles a bit in First Class against them. When the spinners come on he usually smashes them around the park. So, I would think he is doing better in IPL due to being a spin specialist and would face a lot of spin there. This is why I'm now trying to improve is batting against fast bowling. This worked for Northeast who Ive made aggressive and slight spin preference in just a few months and he is performing a lot better in all formats.