Well back on topic, of course it will be moderately difficult to talk about cricket as I don't have a vast knowledge of the sport. However, I can give some more details about baseball. Highest career average of any baseball player is Ty Cobb with a .367 batting average. Meaning the best hitting baseball player by average didn't even hit the ball 4/10 times when he went up to bat. Even considering back when Ty Cobb played where pitching wasn't necessarily as "good" as it is today. And I don't mean that in a slandering term but simply because they didn't have many variances of pitches as they do today. Simply meaning professional baseball players still only hit the fastball 3 out of every 10 times for a solid base hit. Whether you acredit that to the pitching or the defense is really a tough one.
But that doesn't take anything off the hitting. Average ERA for starting pitching in a season for baseball is generally in the 3.00 to 5.00 range. Meaning the hitting is still getting the job done. Not to mention usually your best hitters will have a .300 average, 30 home runs, and 100 RBI's in a solid season. But it is still obvious the game is in the pitcher's control because hitting is just so difficult in the MLB.
Pitchers still have a lot of work to get where they are. Nowadays the fastball is not enough to get most hitters out. Well if you can't use it interchangeably. Being able to have a good offspeed pitch as a "weapon" is a tactical way to approach a batter. Such as starting off a batter with a changeup on the outside corner and then slamming inside with a fastball up and in is a great way to throw a batter off balance. So for pitchers it isn't only about going up there and hurling all your best pitches for strikes but also ensuring that you have a strategy on how to get each batter out. Generally those decisions come from the catchers though as they call the pitches. They generally know all their pitchers and the batters they are facing and formulate an "attack" to best get them out.
Batters also have a "plan" at the plate but it's not as extensive as the pitcher/catcher. Simply because of the lack of time to react. Have about 4/10 of a second to react to a 90 MPH fastball at the distance.
So for batting and pitching it is quite obvious that aside from the strength and training aspect, there is are numerous amounts of balance, technique, and even strategy that are involved in even one at bat in a game. Although I mention technique, haven't really gone over proper technique for pitching and hitting. It's actually quite extensive. There are numerous ways to hit and pitch, but there is generally only one way to do it well haha. And then doing it numerous times repeatedly in a game over and over again with changing scenarios is where the practice before the season matters.
