Can be done in pairs/ groups of three. Feeder drops ball in front of batter (with arm out horizontally, standing on the off side of the batsman for safety purposes).
Batter steps towards the ball, and aims to drive the ball on the second bounce/ half volley, driving the ball on the ground through the target zones.
Each group needs 6 tennis balls and each batter gets 6 feeds.
Drill is best done in nets (2 grounds per net in opposite directions).
Encourage players to wear at least batting gloves when doing this practice.
Focus needs to be on getting ball between cones along the ground. This is achieved by a strong top had on the bat, shoulder dipping into the ball, playing the ball late, and getting a big stride towards the ball, encouraging player's weight to be over the ball on contact.
Progression:
Player can hit ball by already being in the finished drive position, just moving hands upon impact.
This helps if struggling with stepping into shot.
Increase speed of drops to make player work harder, with less recovery between shots.
Make target zones smaller, and/or alternate sequence/ introduce points system or get players to react to the feeder's call, so as they drop the ball they should call a specific zone for the batter to aim for.
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