I am a womens county player and usually bat without a helmet. I am now winter training with my local mens team and need to use a helmet. I am finding i am just not seeing the ball pitch / rise off the pitch when i play forward. Even when i concentrate hard on simply watching the ball i am loosing it. Without a helmet i am fine, i see the ball pitch, rise and onto the bat. It is very frustrating as i am not getting into the positions i usually would (as i'm not seeing the ball).

I do tilt my head down with my shoulder dip / backswing leading into a forward stroke. A related point is, i used to always bat in a cap, however last year i worked on really leading with my head and shoulder into shots and ended up binning that cap as i felt i wasn't seeing the ball with it on.

The lads just say persevere and i'll get used to it, but i'm not happy with this as in the meantime i'm batting like a chump.

Does anyone have any advice, simple drills etc that will help me transition? It obviously seems to be something to do with me tilting my head too much and cutting off my sight to the ball.