My cricket club has a big game this Saturday.

We are up against the top of the league; a side with an impressive bowling attack. We are still in the hunt for promotion so a result is crucial.

I hope no one form the opposition reads this because I’m going to give the game away as to how we are going to win...

Our main batting strategy is to target their weaker bowling so we can either put up or chase down a score.

But I’m not worried because it’s a tactic of which the bowlers have very little control.

And with big bats and long batting line-ups, it works.

Let’s look in more detail at how we plan to do it so you can see if it’s a technique that your team could follow.

Using targeting to score more runs

Targeting is a simple idea; you pick a bowler or two who you are going to go after consciously. You don’t wait for them to bowl a bad ball: you make runs happen.

With a bit of confidence and freedom to your batting you can:

• Stand out of your crease
• Walk down the track
• Clear the front leg
• Work a good length ball into gaps

Essentially, you are looking to score quickly against that bowler like you would in a Twenty20 match no matter what stage of the game they bowl.

So, your target bowler may come on as early as the 15^th over in a 50 over match. You still look to hit him while playing the percentages.

In other words, you don’t slog. It’s not that easy.

Who to target

Before you start targeting in the middle the whole batting unit has to agree who to go for. This is to make sure that no batsman is left in the cold if he gets it wrong when attacking the target.

So no cavaliers when you are in the middle, this is a precision, pre-planned attack.

• See off the better bowlers then go for the second string later in the innings.
• Pick a star bowler to go after to get him out of the attack. This tends to be a spinner.

In my own team’s case we are going for option 1.

We are picking two solid, steady batsmen to open the innings. They can score relatively slowly in the first 20 overs of our 50 over match, “seeing off” the better bowlers at around 3 an over.

They still put away the bad balls in an orthodox way, but we don’t worry too much if we fall a little behind the rate.

Our usual attacking opener drops down the order to come in when the bowling is friendlier and the field is set further back.

We have our target bowler and depending on the wicket and the score we can look to score safely at 6-8 an over against anyone bowling in the middle overs.

Then we can continue to attack in the last 10 against the better bowlers.

In my mind, targeting is a superb tactic. It frees up a batsman mentally so much because he doesn’t have to worry if he is bogged down against a better player. It also gives stroke-makers an excuse to free their arms even in longer games.

I’ll let you know how we do on Saturday, but don’t be afraid to try targeting yourself, it’s a solid tactic in the right circumstances.