Pitchvision Academy


Hi,

Love them or hate them, nets are one of the best ways to practice easily. So, here are some tips on making cricket nets better.

Plus we look at technique, form and standards. A great set of articles for cricket players!

Have a great weekend,



David Hinchliffe



Improve Cricket Nets with Themes

One of the fastest ways to get something from a big net session is to give it a theme.

A theme is a simple word or phrase that everyone at the session can use as a focus. Batsmen try to bat the the theme, bowlers bowl to it and everyone gets better.

This works well because everyone gets thinking about things rather than mindlessly going through the motions. Engaging your brain at nets is a wonderful excercise because you get to work out exactly what works (and what needs work) before you go into matches.

A theme allows you to do all your thinking, arguing and collaborating before you walk out for a game.

And that means you don’t have to think when you are out there. You just get to play, safe in the knowledge you are playing in the way that gives you the best chance of success (and no chance of paralysis by analysis in the heat of battle).

Themes to try

A good theme is broad enough to allow flexibility, but focused enough to keep everyone on task.

Here are some good ones:

  • First five overs
  • Rotate the strike
  • Playing spin
  • Experiment with something new
  • Growth mindset
  • Hitting out at the death
  • Twenty20 tactics

You get the idea; set a focus and get on with striving towards getting better.

Feedback

For a theme to work best, feedback is crucial.

And this isn’t just reserved to coaches or senior players. Every player should feel comfortable discussing techniques, tactics and tips with each other. This collaboration will give insights that grow your game.

So, take the time to chat with each other during the session, talk honestly about what you saw in others. Ask others what they saw in you. Some of it will be nonsense, some of it will be marvelous. Choose the good and reject the bad and get to work.

Then, after the session, reflect on what went well and what needs work. That way you can approach the next session with a clear mind and plan to progress further.

Themes are a great way to stay focused on your path to playing better cricket, one tiny step at a time. Use them to work harder and smarter.

One of the fastest ways to get something from a big net session is to give it a theme.

A theme is a simple word or phrase that everyone at the session can use as a focus. Batsmen try to bat the the theme, bowlers bowl to it and everyone gets better.

This works well because everyone gets thinking about things rather than mindlessly going through the motions. Engaging your brain at nets is a wonderful excercise because you get to work out exactly what works (and what needs work) before you go into matches.

A theme allows you to do all your thinking, arguing and collaborating before you walk out for a game.

And that means you don’t have to think when you are out there. You just get to play, safe in the knowledge you are playing in the way that gives you the best chance of success (and no chance of paralysis by analysis in the heat of battle).

Themes to try

A good theme is broad enough to allow flexibility, but focused enough to keep everyone on task.

Here are some good ones:

  • First five overs
  • Rotate the strike
  • Playing spin
  • Experiment with something new
  • Growth mindset
  • Hitting out at the death
  • Twenty20 tactics

You get the idea; set a focus and get on with striving towards getting better.

Feedback

For a theme to work best, feedback is crucial.

And this isn’t just reserved to coaches or senior players. Every player should feel comfortable discussing techniques, tactics and tips with each other. This collaboration will give insights that grow your game.

So, take the time to chat with each other during the session, talk honestly about what you saw in others. Ask others what they saw in you. Some of it will be nonsense, some of it will be marvelous. Choose the good and reject the bad and get to work.

Then, after the session, reflect on what went well and what needs work. That way you can approach the next session with a clear mind and plan to progress further.

Themes are a great way to stay focused on your path to playing better cricket, one tiny step at a time. Use them to work harder and smarter.



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How to Improve Your Cricket Form at the Right Time
 

Form is a strange thing. We all know it when we have it, and we all wonder how to get it back when it goes.

 

It’s indoor training time here for my club and I recently had a chat over coffee with one of our senior players about form. He told me he didn’t want to start training because he was worried he would get into form too early and lose it again before the season even started.

I respectfully disagreed.

To my knowledge, that’s not how form works.

But, he is right to be concerned about being in form at the right time. It’s no good middling everything in March only to become a shambles in May when the season proper begins in the UK.

To get to the answer to this dilemma, we need to answer a more fundamental question.

What is form?

Form is a feeling that leads to performing at your best.

Everyone knows form when they feel it: Being at the top of your game and everything just flowing with minimal effort. It’s wonderful. And when it’s gone you are desperate to get it back.

It’s so powerful that you can feel “in good form” even when you are not getting runs and wickets. You just know it’s a matter of time. It’s the same the other way round too. You can take a hat-trick and still feel out of nick.

It’s also mysterious.

Form seems to come and go as it pleases with little input from you. One day feels right, the next feels awful despite you changing nothing.

A lot of people - my senior player included - make it a simple equation: Form equals the optimal practice time. Practice too little and you will be out of form. Practice too much and and you will get in form then get out of form again. Practice the right amount and you hit form at exactly the right moment.

Of course, this is far too simplistic.

Practice volume is a factor in form, but there are many other things that go into the feeling of form:

  • Practice quality
  • Runs and wickets
  • Physical fitness
  • Genetic talent
  • Diet
  • Luck
  • Sleep amount and quality
  • Match and practice conditions
  • Mindset

The formula is complex. Then you bring in individual physical and psychological variations and you can see how people throw up their hands and pray to the form Gods.

Should you give up on finding form and just hope it comes?

Form is effort

I have looked at reasearch and have coached many players.

I have seen other coaches in action and listened to the words of world-class players in interviews.

After all this evidence I strongly believe one thing,

You control form, form does not control you.

Everyone, no matter what skill or talent level, has a great amount of control over form. That doesn’t mean you can stay in form forever - there are too many external factors to allow that - but it does mean you can make the most of times when form is up, and reduce the negative impact when form is down.

And that is done by effort.

You might argue that good players should not need to strive for form. Good players are good because form comes to them faster and stays longer naturally. Yet, as we have seen, form is only partially decided by your natural ability. You need to do more than that.

So, you strive by putting in some smart work.

This includes healthy eating, doing fitness work and and sleeping well, but it’s mainly about striving hard at training with the right frame of mind.

What does this look like?

Out of form training

When you are out of form, focus your training on getting back into form at the basic level.

This means identifying the things that are causing you to be out of form, then putting in as much training as you can to either correct or hide the issue. This could be technical, tactical, physical, or psychological. Everyone is different. Work out your flaw and push all your energy into dealing with it.

As you do this, form will return.

What if the cause is out of your control? Perhaps you are not getting enough sleep because you are a new parent, and this also means less training time. Make sure you accept that you will not be able to be at your total best, and focus instead on the areas you can control. Make the most of your time as best you can.

In form training

When you are in form, you have a golden opportunity to grow your skill levels further.

Take it!

Many people think that training while in form is dangerous because it can get you out of form. To that I would say two things;

  1. You can never be too good at the basics.
  2. You can take the chance to work on new things to make you even better.

Let’s say you are a batsman who is going well but has a desire to score more quickly. You have a solid drive and pull shot and work the ball off your legs well. You are in good form and scoring runs. So, use your net session to do a few minutes on the basics, then quickly move on to working on a shot that is weaker, like hitting over the top or sweeping.

You could also spend in-form sessions striving to turn your strengths into super-strengths. For example, increase the difficulty of balls you can drive (faster bowling, length deliveries, more swing or turn off the pitch, adding pressure or fatigue… the options are endless).

Control your form

As you can see, form may be a complex thing but it feels simple.

The risk is that you oversimplify it into either magic, or base it on training volume alone.

In fact, with the right attitude, form is something you have great control over. You can exploit the good times to extend them longer, and you can strive hard during bad form to get back to your purple patch in short time.

What are your experiences with getting into form and staying there longer?



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The Bang for your Buck Net Session that Rewards Discipline
 

Do batter and bowlers arguments happen every week in your net sessions?

That’s the modus-operandi for many club and school net sessions, isn’t it?

It can be no different here at Millfield at times and as a result, our coaching group aim to come up with net formats to facilitate as much “bang for our buck” in our competitive net sessions as we possibly can.

Here is a net session that we have devised to reward discipline from the batsmen and to enable our batters and bowlers to shift focus from one type of situation to another very quickly.

Here are my notes that went out to the winter training group ahead of Thursday’s session this week:

  • This is a session, which combines discipline (first 10 minutes of net) and T20 skills (last five minutes) for both bowlers and batsmen.
  • There is also a consequence for the batters if they are not able to bat with discipline or are dismissed within the first 10 minutes.

Net regulations

  1. Have a variety of bowlers in each net with max of four bowlers per net
  2. Bat in pairs swapping with hard run single (3.25 seconds or under) either third or fourth ball (dependent on bowler numbers in your net).
  3. There will be a padded up batter per net who will bat after 10 minutes in the event of a wicket being lost
  4. Every Pair bats for 10 minutes. This is irrespective of the number of times an individual batter gets out.
  5. Wickets are taken in the following ways: Bowled, LBW, Caught keeper/1st/2nd for seam or Caught keeper/1st for spin, hit at head between knee and top of head height to standard placed fielder, irrespective of pace off the bat, Hit into the air on a poor trajectory allowing time to get under it
  6. The “fielders” are all professional cricketers. They can dive and can move!
  7. Any benefit of the doubt goes to the batter.
  8. The umpire’s (one of the coaches) decision is final.
  9. If a batter is dismissed within the first 10 minutes then they will forgo the opportunity to have five minutes simulating the last two overs of a T20 game. Batters will have earnt the right to bat in the T20 element by batting with discipline and being not out across the first 10 minutes of their session
  10. If a batter is dismissed within the first discipline 10 minutes then they shall de-pad, prepare to bowl in the next net groupings or undertake tennis ball technical drills.
  11. The last 5 minutes will be an opportunity for the batters to practice their power hitting, ramps and other T20 in a net context.
  12. The bowlers will have the opportunity to practice their yorkers, slower balls, cutters, arm balls, angles on the crease and anything that they can do to deceive the batters or cause either a poor contact or an error.
  13. There will be no consequence for dismissal in this section. It is an opportunity to practice your relevant skills and test your effectiveness of your decision-making & execution of your skills. This element is about being effective, not just trying things out for the sake of it or swinging as hard as you can.
  14. You will assess your effectiveness in the T20 section at the end of your bat and bowl on the whiteboard. This will be an effectiveness.
  15. If a waiting batter comes in for the T20 element of the session as a result of a wicket lost in the first discipline section then he has the opportunity to have a 20 minute net of five minutes T20, discipline 10 minutes, five mins T20 if he applies himself well enough to the task.

Review and Reflection

  • Discipline: Do I earn the right to be able to practice my Death T20 Scoring Options by being not out after 10 minutes? Yes or No?
  • T20 Effectiveness: What % do I give myself at the end of the session in terms of being effective across the balls I face in the T20SKILLS Section?
  • How Could I increase my effectiveness if I was to have another go at the same task?
  • Discipline: Do I get enough balls in good areas for the batters whom I compete against? Did I take a wicket in line with the criteria above?
  • T20 Effectiveness: What % do I give myself at the end of the session in terms of being effective with the balls that I delivered in the T20 section?
  • How could I increase my effectiveness if I was to have another go at the same task?

Have a go at this session for a couple of weeks and see if you get more “bang for your buck” from your net sessions.



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Cricket Show S8 Episode 2: Standards in Cricket
 

What are the standards in your cricket team? It's a tricky subject, but the team of Sam Lavery, Mark Garaway and David Hinchliffe get stuck into it in the podcast discussion.

Then there are listener's questions about drives. One is about the difficulty of hitting straight and the other is about the flow of the cover drive. If you bat or coaching batting, you have to listen in!


Read More...
 
How Much Does an Effective Batsman Understand Technique?
 

Good batsmen have good technique (whatever that means). But how much do you need to understand technique to be a good batsman?

It's certainly not the same thing. There are plenty of players who do well without worrying about playing right forward, without a straight back lift, without even hitting straight. They play, they score runs, they get on with the rest of their day.


Read More...
 

About PitchVision Academy
 

Welcome to this week's guide to playing and coaching better cricket.

I'm David Hinchliffe and I'm Director of the PitchVision Academy team. With this newsletter you are benefitting directly from over 25 Academy coaches. Our skills include international runs and wickets, first-class coaching, cutting-edge research and real-life playing experience.

 
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Issue: 447
Date: 2017-01-27