The Eoin Morgan Forward Lunge
Though it can be a little startling on first viewing, Eoin Morgan's wobbly-kneed, crouching trigger movement is simply a technical refinement, writes Barney Ronay in The Spin Guardian blog
Liam Brickhill
25-Feb-2013
Though it can be a little startling on first viewing, Eoin Morgan's wobbly-kneed, crouching trigger movement is simply a technical refinement, writes Barney Ronay in The Spin Guardian blog. What's more, Morgan's "defining exoticism" suits him, and you might as well get used to it because it's here to stay.
Perhaps the first unusual thing about the Lunge is that it should be seen as unusual at all. It is a mark of how carefully styled batting techniques have become in the age of top-down micro-analysis that this bending of the knees should seem so striking. In the pre-modern era the range of different "set-ups" was far more varied. Notable stand-outs included: the swaying, wafting bat waggle of David Gower; the hunched, fidgeting broad-shouldered ballerina elegance of Mohammed Azharuddin; the extraordinary Kim Barnett, who used to come Riverdancing in from short leg; Derek Randall who appeared to have been caught sneaking off towards point; and Peter Willey who simply stood there, front on, like a caveman playing French cricket.
Liam Brickhill is a freelance journalist based in Cape Town