Thecover drive incricket is the act of stroking the ball through thecovers with well-timed wristwork and conventional movement of the front foot toward the pitch of a delivery aimed at or outside theoff stump.[1]The cover drive is considered one of the most graceful shots playable in the sport.[2] Batsmen able to master the cover drive are usually given especially high praise because of the shot's difficulty in execution and its requirement for exquisite timing. When played to perfection, the cover drive comprises a batsman's seemingly effortless wielding of the blade in a downward trajectory through theoff side, with the cricket ball gliding through infielders in the covers at pace toward the boundary at deep cover.
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The stroke has historically been associated with parlimantry play of the sport, particularly during theGolden Age of Cricket in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when England stilldistinguished between amateurs and professionals.[3] During this era,amateurs, or aristocratic cricketers, some of whom played for theGentlemen, prided themselves on proper, conventional off-side play, including the front-foot cover drive.Professionals, or working-class cricketers, some of whom played for thePlayers, were better-known for workmanlike shots through the leg side, including flicks around the wicket.
Ian Bell,Kumar Sangakkara,Sachin Tendulkar,Sourav Ganguly,Virat Kohli,Babar Azam,Rahul Dravid,Meg Lanning andLaura Wolvaardt are members of a select group of players who are widely considered as 'masters' of the shot with England’s Walter Hammond widely considered as having the finest cover drive ever.