photo credit: lmnop88a

Last night I ran a fielding only net session for my club.

As it's winter here the cold and dark restricted us to the local sports hall.

Normally we have a net session but I have long been gunning for more fielding practice and Sam, our club captain, decided he wanted the same and asked me to run a session. The session was an hour for around 14 adults ranging in skill from club first to third team. We had the whole hall to train in. All the equipment we had were 4 sets of spring loaded stumps, some bats and balls.

Purpose: To practice picking up and returning the ball on the run in the deep.
Description: The coach (c) rolls the ball so the fielder has to run around the boundary, pick up and return the ball. This can be done using any fielding technique (long barrier, two hand pickup, crow hop, etc). The fielder then runs across to the other side. Repeat until all fielders have moved across and back.

Purpose: To practice a match situation running between the wickets and fielding under pressure.

Description: Divide the team into two groups: Batters and fielders. The wicketkeeper rolls the ball out the the first player on the fielding team. The two batters try to complete 2 runs before the ball is picked up and returned to the wicketkeeper. The batsmen can abort the run if they feel they will be run out. Each pair of batters keep score over a set number of balls (6-10). Change after each pair has had a go. The winning team is the one with the most runs.