Nets are great, but I am constantly searching for better ways to practice batting. Here's an idea to get you out of nets without needing full middle practice.

Pop up nets.

If you have not seen them before, these little "goals" were invented for football practice to act as goals for young players in small sided games. They have since been adapted for a range of cricket skills, mainly throwing at the stumps. But they can also easily be used by batsmen.

Set up your practice in the middle wicket as if you are going to do a normal middle practice, but put down the nets in target areas for the batsman to work the ball.

The main benefit is encouraging the batsman to aim for the gaps when you are rotating the strike (a very difficult skill to master). Plus it feels more realistic to be in the open middle rather than an enclosed net. You need far fewer fielders and they can do much more because if the batsman does not hit the net, they become "normal" fielders.

You can they play the game in a couple of ways:

• With bowlers and fielders. The batsman gets runs for hitting the goals, but has to run if they don't. The fielder has to run the batsman out.
• With throw down, bowling machine or Sidearm. The batsman is simply trying to hit the target.
• Some combination of the two methods, depending on your goal.

Naturally, there are challenges to this drill. You can't block off every area so you need to decide how many fielders you are going to have. You also need to decide how long each batsman will get and if they can be out if they get out. These decisions will all be made based on the goals of the session. There is no one answer.

Come up with your goals and methods, give it a go and see how you get on!