In the 1980s we were taught the importance of footwork when batting. A step to the pitch of the ball when the ball was pitched up and a step back in line with the ball when the ball was shorter.
There seems to be minimal feet movement in the modern-day player. The really good players still seem to play the ball late and under their eye line, but their footwork tends to be from the crease.
Has there been a change in coaching and if so how is it better for the batter?
I maybe wrong in my assessment but would like to get other people’s opinions.

Heading back from Darwin with the family in late September 2022, we stopped at a Westfield on the outskirts of Adelaide to grab some supplies of warm clothing from being in a cooler climate.

Wandering through the BIG W, I always find it hard to prevent myself from taking a look at the book specials.

Greg Chappell - Not Out

I had heard of this book being written during the pandemic period yet had missed going any further to seek at the time as a few colleagues had mentioned it was all right. Opening the cover to discover that it was co-written with Daniel Brettig convinced me to purchase it immediately. The $10 price tag is an unexpected bonus. 👍

As described in the Cricket Books section of Cricket Web:

This book should become de rigueur for every aspiring or established cricket coach in the world. Greg Chappell has set out what the elite player needs to possess to reach the top of the game. It might surprise that endless hours in the nets is not part of the Chappell doctrine. Instead, some basic techniques, a proper mental aptitude and as much as possible match simulation are considered to be of greater benefit. I won’t try and go into too much detail as it is a lot more complicated than my basic summary, however, it is so well set out in this book that you won’t have any trouble following the Chappell blueprint.

To answer the question here Terry:

In the chapter "On Batting" Chappell details how at a time when he was still coaching in state cricket (South Australia) and before the internet, he spent "several days in Melbourne, locked in a hotel room with Ian Frazer and Swan Richards watching hours of footage of all the top players. These included Sobers, Lara, Gilchrist, Chanderpaul and more to unlock the human movement elements within these players.

What they found was the fact that all the players shared a virtually identical position at the point of the bowler's release, despite finding all manner of different ways in which to get there.

Chappell describes it as the "active neutral" position. Basically meaning that at the point of release, their weight was mainly on the back foot but with their front foot lightly touching or just off the ground, ready to move forward if required by the early release of the full ball, or back if a delayed release meant the shorter ball.