Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world, with over 200 national cricket teams participating in different versions of the game. The number of people who play the sport has exploded in recent years as more and more individuals become interested in it.
Whether you are looking to learn how to bowl fast or just want to hone your batting skills, there are always ways to improve your skill set. And while some people have already mastered the art of bowling, good batsmen are still plentiful!
That’s why this article will focus on helping you to be a better cricketer by giving you tips and tricks for net practice. We will go through various types of nets, what benefits they offer, and how to use them effectively.
Once we have covered that, I would like to tell you about something special that I had seen recently during my research. It may not be available at every gym, but if yours does then I would recommend trying it out.
It’s an excellent way to spend time after work. What makes it even better is that you get paid to practice your craft.
Repetition is the mother of skill
“Repetition”, or practicing your skills repeatedly, is one of the most important things you can do to improve as a player. As we know, practice makes perfect!
Practicing batting with a cricket net is an excellent way to ensure that you are spending time working on your strokes and strategies. Not only will this help you become more skilled at hitting balls, it will also strengthen your concentration, fitness, and teamwork skills.
When you start playing limited-overs matches, they are usually played under close conditions (no grass fields) so there is less space for mistakes. This means shorter boundaries and closer pitches, which make it harder to get away from bad shots.
That’s why in our first tip we focused on practicing with a full size cricket net. Now that you have done that, let us look at some ways to make your net practice even better.
Keep practicing
Between the season and the off-season, there’s always something to do with cricket. This is great as it gives you an opportunity to keep playing the game you love!
However, what people don’t realize is that beyond just keeping up your in-game skills, you should also be investing time in your net practice routines.
Net practice can be anything from working on your stroke technique or mastering different shot types, to learning how to use the correct equipment for batting or bowling.
There are several good reasons to invest in some extra net practice each week. Not only will this help you improve your game, but it will also prepare you for when you actually play a match.
Match situations occur quickly so you won’t have time to hone your skills if you haven’t done enough preparation ahead of time.
That said, here are some expert tips for improving your net practice.
Measure your progress
The best way to evaluate how well you are doing as a cricket net user is by using performance metrics. What we mean by that is, how many times have you used the cricket net before? How long can you use it every time? If you need to check and make sure it’s working properly first, then great! But if you’re able to go straight into some sort of evaluation, that’s even better.
The easiest way to do this is to see how much time you spent under the net during a given period of time. For example, if you only had 30 minutes to practice yesterday, then you didn’t spend very much time practicing, did you? If so, then maybe you should look into investing in or buying a new cricket net already! 😉
That would be ignoring the most important part of our article though! Once you have determined how much time you spent under the net, then you can calculate how successful you were by looking at the difference between the two.
Practice makes perfect
While practicing your batting or bowling is great, there are some more advanced ways to improve your game. This article will go into detail about three of these techniques. The first two can be done at home and do not require any special equipment.
The third one requires you have access to a cricket field but no equipment needed. Let’s look at all three!
Practice making practice
Many professional cricketers spend time doing dry practices in order to work on their skills. A dry practice is when nothing but the mind is involved, only being distracted by things like talking, thinking about food, etc.
This is different than an active practice where balls are used. An active practice uses muscles and technology that professionals use in games.
Dry practices help develop reflexes and concentration areas such as learning how to focus for long periods of time. It also helps teach players whether or not they are able to control their nerves which would otherwise hinder them from playing at a higher level.
There are several ways to do this so we will discuss three here. All can be done alone and don’t take too long to accomplish each one.
Drill down
After you have practiced your batting, bowling or net practice routines, you should dive into more in-depth practices. This is called drill down.
Drill downs can be anything from practicing your favorite shot or action over and over again, to practicing with different types of balls (bump ball, fast bowler, slow bowler), to having yourself as the other player that you are training against.
By doing this, you will find that your skills improve much faster because you are putting in more time under controlled conditions.
Fun and exercise
While most of us know cricket as a sport, how to play it is something that many people forget. If you’re ever in need of some quick game time, or just want to have fun playing the game, these tips will help!
Many of them are cost-free, too. So why not give one of these a try? You never know when they might come in handy!
We had to include this one because it’s such an easy way to add some extra bounce to your net practice. Plus, if you happen to hit a ball hard during a live match, this can really help prevent injury!
So what are we talking about?
We’ll take a look at five ways to improve your net practice here. And don’t worry – you won’t find anything too complicated involved!
1) Kneel with feet apart
This is the easiest position to start from. Just place your knees together then push your legs outward while keeping your weight balanced between your feet and under control.
Your pelvis should be parallel to the ground, and your chest should stick out slightly. This creates more space for your arms, and helps keep balance.
2) Use slow swings
Once you have momentum, slowly bring your front foot forward until your knee is almost touching the ground. Then quickly pull back up and over so that your leg crosses in front of yours.
Learning is lifelong
As we mentioned before, spending time outside to enjoy nature and spend some quality time with friends are great ways to improve your mental health. If you’re looking to hone your skills in cricket, there’s no reason that you can’t combine the two!
As long as you’re practicing using a net or outdoor field, there’s nothing wrong with having some fun by trying different styles of play. There are plenty of resources online and through community groups for helping you develop your technique so don’t feel like you need to know how to hit a ball perfectly to start.
Many of the best cricketers never really mastered hitting straight balls but instead focused more on batting fundamentals and timing drills. By doing this, they were able to move onto other things such as shot selection and playing style.
So whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been picking up the game for a while, do not hesitate to look into new strategies and concepts.
Focus on your weaknesses
When you are practicing, try to focus more on things that you need to work on. This is important because no matter how good of an athlete you are, there will always be something you can improve.
By working on your weaker areas, you’ll find yourself moving onto better skills sooner than if you were trying to practice only your strong points.
This article will talk about some easy ways to do this!
Focus on weakness number one: Footwork
Most people start batting by stepping forward with their feet and then back again as they hit the ball.
But what most people don’t realize is that you don’t have to step forward-you can go through your motion in reverse too!
Practice going backwards first before forwards so that your player doesn’t take over and you get some time to understand it. Then move onto walking across the pitch and hitting balls from different angles and distances.
Once you feel comfortable, add steps and batsmen to see how quickly you can pick up on it.
Another way to improve your footwork is to watch professional cricketers play and learn from their mistakes. For example, notice where their feet go after a shot and why they didn’t keep them there for next time.
Weakness number two: Hands
Too many amateur players stick out their hands when hitting the ball.
