Cricket is a beautiful game that has grown in popularity around the world. It can be tricky to pick up, however, as there are so many different types of cricket. There are five main positions you will see most cricketers use during a match-fielding, batting, bowling, keeping the wicket down or running between the wickets to stop the ball being batted through the field.
There are some great coaches out there who have made it their mission to help young players develop into professional level crickshps. These coaches spend time with students outside of of practice teaching new skills or correcting mistakes they may make.
However, not everyone has access to these resources and even those that do are usually limited to only one position or type of player. This can be very limiting for someone trying to get close to pro levels!
Net drills are a helpful tool to work on your net play. They’re fun to do and can easily be adapted for almost any net position. In this article, we will go over three easy net drill exercises that focus on the bails. We will also look at some variations if these drills seem too simple.
Practice makes perfect
As mentioned before, practicing your cricket net drills is an integral part of improving your game! There are many different ways to approach this. You can do it for fun or for profit, either way, you will want to be as efficient as possible.
Practicing with less intensity may seem like a good option at first, but it does not work that well in the long run. To improve your skills, you must invest time into it, just like any other sport.
Certain sports have rules about how much practice is allowed before competition, which is smart because you do not want to overtrain yourself. The same goes for cricket nets!
You should never feel restricted when doing cricket net practices, they were designed to help you develop your skills! More often than not, people get discouraged by this, however, there is no reason to worry.
Having a low goal for practice really helps you focus only on the things you need to fix without getting distracted. This also gives you more chances to reevaluate your current skill level and determine what needs improvement.
Frequency and intensity
When practicing your net drills, make sure to put in enough effort. While some may feel tired after doing just one practice session, this is not the case! If you are ever unable to perform a certain drill because you are too tired, then do not hesitate to take a break.
It will take time to get comfortable with the net, so do not worry about being perfect right away! It takes hours of dedicated practice for most people to become efficient at the game, so have fun experimenting with the sport!
At the beginning stages of cricket, batting without the use of a proper cricket bat can be very difficult. The same goes for bowling without a proper cricket ball. However, as you progress, equipment can be obtained or rented to help you learn the basics.
The batting nets should always have plastic balls due to the hardness of the surface. For fast bowlers, there should also be soft surfaces around the field to enable quick arm speed.
Repetition and consistency
As mentioned before, practicing your cricket net skills is important to improve your game. However, you must make sure that what kind of practice you are doing it with is proper!
Practicing with an empty net or a full net will not give you the same results. You need to be working on your technique with a properly sized net.
This way, you can get better accuracy, control, and feel when throwing towards the net. Also, being able to see how well your throw covers the court helps determine if the ball went in or out!
Your coach can sometimes times ask you to go one-on-one with the net to test yourself more effectively. This is perfect for developing personal strength as well!
On top of that, most sports have small group practices where members play each other to hone their skills even more.
Helpful tips for cricket net drills
While practicing your skills in the game of cricket is great, there are some things that can easily be overlooked. One of these is proper cricket net drill practice.
While most coaches suggest doing one set of cricket net practices per week, we believe this is an oversimplification. The reason being is that not every player has access to a quality cricket pitch or field where they live.
If you do though, then once a week should be sufficient!
That is unless you’re training at a professional level, in which case twice a month may be needed. Either way, it’s important to make sure your efforts are properly focused.
Too often people will spend hours trying to get their ball to bounce higher off the turf, only to realize that their feet are too high when they hit it. Or they’ll try to focus on getting the ball to move faster through the air, but forget about how much power they’ve got behind each throw.
Cricket nets and their benefits
As mentioned before, practice is key to improving your game! The best way to improve as a cricketer is by practicing with different types of cricket equipment – including net balls.
Net balls are one of the most important pieces of equipment in any aspiring cricketer’s collection. They can be tricky to track down though, which is why I have prepared for you some easy ways to make your own.
You can pick up an old ball at your local sports store or garage sale very cheaply (we suggest buying a few!). All you need to do from there is cut off the seam and add some fuzzy fur for softness.
Tips for setting up a cricket net
When you are trying to set up your net, there is an important thing that most people do not do. You should try to put yourself in the position of a batter looking to hit the net. This will help give you some insight into how professional cricketers setup their nets.
Bowlers usually have very long run-ups before hitting the net, so they create more time to be prepared. They also like to step forward with the front foot when preparing to hit the net, which helps them gain momentum.
For fast bowlers, they typically crouch down slightly at the approach of the net, which gives them better balance and control as they deliver the ball. For example, if someone was bowling towards you across the wicket, then they would likely stand up or squat down depending on whether they wanted to go over the top or under the bat.
Catchers normally wait until about one stride before the crease before getting ready to catch the batted ball.
Cricket nets and their limitations
As mentioned before, using a net for your back swing is one of the most important cricket skills you can learn. Not only are these swings needed in order to hit balls with power, but they’re also very fundamental to batting basics.
Unfortunately, not every cricket club or country has access to a good quality net that is low enough so that it does not prevent you from practicing your backswing.
Mostly due to cost, some people do not have the option to use a net when trying to practice their back swishes.
What should I practice?
Between your feet, underfoot, and overhead there are several different types of cricket nets you can use to hone your skills. The type of net that is best for you will depend on what level of player you want to become.
At the highest levels of the game, using an over-the-back-wall net or a backboard is ideal. These types of nets have a very hard surface which helps in developing strong legs and agility.
For more advanced players, using an undersoil net or a bails wall is better. An undersoil net has a soft padding layer underneath, which is used to work on batting by practicing low punches and pulls. A bails wall is similar to an over-the-back-wall net but instead of having a solid front face it only has plastic covers that line the edge of the pitch.
Net types such as these help develop eye-ball control as well as strength and timing when hitting through the bounce of the ball.
