Under the SKanner: Shai Hope

#3 Scintillating stroke-making

Shai Hope in full flow

Defensive excellence is obviously a big part of the game for all batsmen but those who really make a difference and can often turn the game in his side’s favour are those who can get on top of opposition bowlers with sustained stroke-play. When the conditions are tough and runs aren’t coming, then batsmen need to play strokes to get the scoreboard moving and also to get the bowlers thinking. Just blocking won’t help in those scenarios and throughout cricket’s history, the best batsmen have been those who have been successful in such counterattacking measures. Shai Hope is someone who can deliver such a counterpunch and he has done so plenty of times in his career so far.

The most famous instance of such a counterattack was, of course, his second innings century at Headingley last year. As mentioned earlier, he can play on the front foot and is equally comfortable off the back foot, which allows the West Indian to choose from a wide array of strokes. In the years to come, his scintillating stroke-making prowess will probably see him become one of the world’s top batsmen.