5 greatest players of the straight drive

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Wally Hammond

Each and every shot played by a batsman in cricket has its own aesthetic appeal as far as spectators are concerned. However, certain shots are not only great to watch but also quite difficult to execute for batsmen, and hence the straight drive has attained a special status in the game.

The batsman needs to get his timing, footwork, body position, the position of the head and the ability to judge the length of a delivery absolutely spot on, in order to play the perfect straight drive.

Over the course of cricket's long history, plenty of batsmen have played the shot to perfection but very few have been able to do so consistently over a period of time. Here is a look at 5 of the very best exponents of the straight drive.

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5 Wally Hammond

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The Englishman who played for his country from 1927 to 1947 is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen to have played the game and during the 1930s, Wally Hammond was the one batsman who often drew comparisons with the great Sir Donald Bradman.

The right-handed batsman could play a wide range of strokes and was regarded as one of the game's best stroke-makers. Hammond was technically superb and was one of the best players of the straight drive the game has seen. His footwork, his judgement of the length early on and his ability to time and place the ball to near perfection made him such a superb player of the shot. Even the Don was not known to play the shot as well as Hammond did. 

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