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[Watch] Ponting's Masterclass On How To Pick Up Cues Against Pacers 

image-lq96nwnuRicky Ponting (screengrab)

Indian fans missing out on 'Channel 7' coverage for the start of the international summer Down Under via the Perth Test between Australia and Pakistan were left delighted when the Aussie broadcaster shared a clip featuring a masterclass from legendary Ricky Ponting. 

Channel 7 unveiled a great clip from Ponting's commentary stint on Day 4 of the ongoing Test match where the giant of Australian cricket and one of the most intelligent brains of the sport shared his inputs to aspiring batters around the world on how to pick up early cues against pacers.

Bringing his own experience into play after watching the ball like a hawk for the best part of one and a half decade at the international stage, Ponting shared how batters can gauge which way the bowler intends the ball to move in the air or off the surface. 

Ponting Masterclass For Aspiring Batters 

Holding a shining red cricket ball in his hand, Ponting said inward and outward movement of the delivery depends largely on how the seam is held and shaped up in the bowler's fingers. For incoming movement, Ponting underlined, the delivery is usually held slanted towards the fine-leg region while directed to the second or the third slip for away swing or seam. 

"The visual cues that a batsman is looking at. So when you (as a bowler) load up in the top of your bowling action, you would generally see the seam like that," Ponting said, explaining the basics of swing movement. 

"If you're going to bowl an outswinger to a right-hander, the seam would be pointed towards second or the third slip," he added. "And the batsman picks that up, and sees that, and he actually knows then that this probably going to be an outswinger."


"The straighter one, if it is going to be a straighter one or an attempted off-cutter (inward movement), the seam will be a little bit straighter than that and angled more in towards the where fine leg would be and it would be seam back in off the wicket."