Former Australian captain Chappell disagrees with the switch-hit because the bowler is forced to nominate which arm they're bowling with and which side of the wicket they're bowling from – and they set their field accordingly – before the ball is bowled, while the inventive shot allows the batsman to ruin their plans with no time to rectify.<\/p>\n
Australian leg-spin great Shane Warne is another top figure who's called for the switch-hit to be outlawed<\/a>.<\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/cricketcomau\/status\/1334087772655603713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n When SEN co-host Jimmy Smith asked Langer to give his son advice for playing the switch-hit, the Australian mentor threw his support behind the shot.<\/p>\n "I went down to my brother's place a few weeks ago and for the first time he's coaching. He's coaching his 10-year-old son Noah," Langer said.<\/p>\n "And they're down there at training and Noah's reverse-sweeping and switch-hitting and he's saying, 'You can't do that', and I say, 'What do you mean you can't do that?' That's what they do now and it's great.<\/p>\n "Tell him – because if you get out doing it you look like a clown – do it but get bloody good at it because if you don't everyone's going to jump over you.<\/p>\n "And Glenn Maxwell – how exciting is it when you see guys do it."<\/p>\n The switch-hit can be traced back to the 1987 World Cup, when Indian Kris Srikkanth hit a four off a switch-hit off the bowling of New Zealander Dipak Patel.<\/p>\n It wasn't seen again until South African Jonty Rhodes hit Australia's Darren Lehmann for six in an ODI in 2002, and it was first played in a Test in 2006 by former England entertainer Kevin Pietersen.<\/p>\n That shot was off the bowling of the greatest wicket-taker in Test history, legendary Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.<\/p>\n The likes of Maxwell, David Warner, AB de Villiers and Colin Munro have since made the shot a genuine part of their arsenal.<\/p>\n Langer believes cricket has advanced to a point where the switch-hit must stay.<\/p>\n "It's part of the modern game, particularly in T20 cricket," Langer said.<\/p>\n "As long as kids are playing cricket – reverse-sweeping, hitting sixes, blocking it, whatever they do – it's all good fun. I talk about that in the book (his new book Cricket – The Aussie Way!<\/em>). Backyard cricket, playing with your mates, having fun – that's how we learn to become the best cricketers possible."<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n