Cricket | Cricket Drills

*AUDIO DESCRIPTION ON* Set the bowling machine to bowl between middle and leg. Set two cones up a third of the way down the wicket. One central and one leg side.  Batsman to hit from the front on drive set position, knees and feet facing down the wicket. Batsman to hit an on drive, hold the follow through and move towards the cones holding the shape.  Have the batsman face 3 balls each, making adjustment, and rotate through several times. 

3-5 people stand in each net, with one bowler and the others waiting to receive the ball. Each bowler bowls 24 balls with the batsman getting 3 consecutive balls. If the batsman decides to leaves one of the balls then they may have another ball. On receiving 3 balls the batsman must join the back of the queue.

Set up in groups as shown: one batsman, one wicket keeper, one feeder and one or two fielders. Mark out the V area with chalk or cones, approximately 4-5 metres wide. The batsmen has to try and hit the ball between the cones to score runs, if they do they get one run, if not, they lose two runs.

To play this defensive shot properly players will need to think about their whole body's position in order to avoid popping the ball up for an easy take.

*AUDIO DESCRIPTION ON* Set up 3 different coloured cones midway down the wicket going across.  From a bobble feed.  Hit the ball and hold the shape whilst taking steps in the line of the shot till the cones are met.   Players to have 2 shots each before rotating.   Once players have a feel for it, move on to the progression- calling the colour of the cone. 

When the drill is started both teams roll the ball to each other in the same direction (can be clockwise or anti-clockwise). The aim of the game is for the ball from one team to overtake the ball from the other team.

This is an attacking stroke, played to a full, wide of off stump delivery. Keep a relaxed, balanced stance, with your head and eyes level. Using your normal backswing, step forward; your leading foot should have a comfortable stride to the pitch of the ball. When playing the stroke the front shoulder dips, front knee bends. Your shoulders rotate vertically, bat moves in an arc (3 o'clock to 9 o'clock) and continues  through the line of the ball in the direction of shot (through the covers - on the on-side).

Player 2 throws. Each batsman has 3 consecutive balls, then goes to the back of the queue. If you leave a ball you get another go. The ball should be a slow high underarm feed.

With between 5-8 players on each team. Each batsmen must drive on one out of 3 deliveries and run on the driven one, then complete two runs. The fielders must stay behind the boundary until the ball is hit. If a boundary is hit the batsmen gets an additional 3 balls. If the ball is hit out of the grounds then 6 runs are awarded. 1) Bat until all out or 2) Bat until teams wickets are used up i.e. 4 wickets per team.

10-18 players required. (Note diagram for accurate lay-out of drill.) Five stumps required for drill. Three stumps are set up on a diagonal line, 10m apart from each other. The other two stumps are 20m away from these, again on a diagonal but this time they are 20m apart. The Coach stands at the top on the middle stump. The drill begins when coach rolls the ball out as shown. Player 1 must sprint around the first stump, change direction and then underarm pick the ball up, aiming to hit the third stump. Player 2 must anticipate the ball coming towards them, and moves forward off the cone to back the ball up. Player 2 then throws overarm at the base of the next stump. Player 3 anticipates this happening, and backs the throw up, before throwing the ball over the top of the final stump. The next player now returns the ball to the coach, and then continues to run around the first stump. Drill continues, and players follow the ball, moving clockwise to the next station.

Players work in groups of 5, in a grid with 5 cones set up in a zig-zag formation, roughly 7 metres apart. Each player stands on a cone. All players, except for those queueing behind the first cone require balls. On the coach's call player 1, on the first cone, aims to get to collect the ball that has been dropped from shoulder height by the player on the cone in front of them, before the ball bounces twice. This is one pick-up. Player 1 then gives the ball back to the player on the cone, and sets themself before the coach gives the next call. Again the working player aims to get to the next ball before second bounce. This process is repeated until all players have performed 4 pick-ups.

** AUDIO DESCRIPTION ON ** Drill can work with a mininum of 3 players and 1 feeder. Can add more pairs sharing catches if you have more numbers. Coach/feeder will use the ramp to send 4 consecutive catches to a player opposite. Inbetween that, players will pair up and swap catches whilst the coach is sending the 4 catches. Players rotate once the 4 catches have been taken.

Set up the practice as shown in the diagram. Make sure that the bowler feeds the ball in over arm and gets the ball to bounce to waist height. The Batsman then plays a back foot drive and tries to aim to hit the ball through the cones.

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 aim 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. 6 feeds per batter rotate clockwise. Drill is best done in nets (2 grounds per net in opposite directions) .Encourage players to wear at least batting gloves when doing this drill.