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[edynamo]

Not sure I said at the ground.. Just net in the morning.. Could do that anywhere

Where would you suggest going? Guess you'd advocate hiring a bowling machine too?!?!

I'd suggest a few catching drills to get the hands eyes working - can be a bit of fun too!

We had similar with our lads last week as oppo hadnt unlocked the nets / we used full tosses, underarm with batters defending and killing ball dead and then forcing ball into the ground back to partner on the bounce then set as a challenge how Many successive balls without moving
Good players can adapt!

[Jlscarroll17]

To get your hands going, start with a good fixed base and play shots with just your hands and don't move your feet to get your hands and eyes going, then progress with bobble feeds to get your feet going. I do this before every game and it certainly helps a lot

[ProCricketer1982]

Where would you suggest going? Guess you'd advocate hiring a bowling machine too?!?!

I'd suggest to click the ignore button and try not to be a idiot. Im sure he has his own club locally, another clubs nets or even wherever they do winter nets. It's really not very hard.

Bowing machine wise, depends where you have available at the end of the day.

[HallamKeeper]

Before nets I always do some form of warm up with my feet. I am thinking about doing this for games too. Ladders are good, you don't actually need ladders, easy to improvise. Getting your feet working is almost as important as getting your eye in, in my opinion.

If your team does catching practice before the game volunteer to be the one giving edges. Or throw and catch a tennis ball against a wall and get as close to it and throw it as hard as possible, ideally a red tennis ball, to get your eye in.

[Nothing2SeeHere]

I'd suggest to click the ignore button and try not to be a idiot. Im sure he has his own club locally, another clubs nets or even wherever they do winter nets. It's really not very hard.

Bowing machine wise, depends where you have available at the end of the day.

A good suggestion but as a non club cricketer access to club facilities is tricky. As a team we are universally time poor (difficult enough to get 10 (how I dream of a full team*) players out for an entire match) so getting others along to throw at a net would also be tricky. Good idea if I can progress my skill to move up to club level.

I'm really looking for other suggestions that can be carried out whilst waiting the customary 30 minutes for the rest of our/their team to turn up. Getting involved with the catching sounds a good option.

Going back to basics. I guess what I am looking to build would be eye focus, leg movement and warm up the arms and shoulders? Would this summarise what these drills should be working?

Thanks for the suggestions.

(* We did manage a full 22 man turn out last week but within 5 overs were down two players due to injury)

[HallamKeeper]

There is one exercise that my coach told me to do if I was on my own. Stand as you would facing the bowler, put a ball in the crook of your neck/shoulder and then let it roll over your shoulder so it drops in front of you and then drive the ball into a wall/net/fence. Takes a couple of goes to get it right but I do this when I'm at nets waiting for my session to begin if I'm early.

[brokenbat]

Visualization !! I love it. Gets you in the zone. Find a quiet area/corner, with all your kit on..close your eyes and visualize.

There have been countless studies, across many sports, about how this works. Hayden, Rahane, Kohli, have all been advocates.

[bk]

Absolutely second the visualisation recommendation. As for footwork a skipping rope is great for getting the heartbeat up and feet moving. Also worth getting a few throwdowns and working out how you're going to leave the ball early on. Get the triggers going and only play at what you have to until you get the pace and bounce of the pitch.

[Nothing2SeeHere]

Absolutely second the visualisation recommendation. As for footwork a skipping rope is great for getting the heartbeat up and feet moving. Also worth getting a few throwdowns and working out how you're going to leave the ball early on. Get the triggers going and only play at what you have to until you get the pace and bounce of the pitch.

Its the throw downs that I don't appreciate the value of yet. What is it you feel you are building/working on? Eye focus?
How do you run your throw downs? Over arm/under arm - specific area targeted/full/short/mix it up?

Sorry to need to have it spelled out but I didn't pick up a cricket bat (at all) until my late 30s so I simply don't have the school background to fall back on to understand the simple concepts.

Visualisation is easy to understand. Its a cross over concept from other sports. Repetitive drills are easy once again. I just can't see the value in the way I have watched other people (at a low level team) run throw downs so I don't know if its just my understanding or if the people I have watched, are doing it wrong.

Lots of good suggestions coming. Thanks

[edge]

Personally, I like a few mixed to get the feel of ball on bat and get the hands going, followed by working on a few key shots to make sure I'm playing them right. Main aim is to cut out errors early on by making sure I'm playing straight through the ball and moving my weight back and forward well. Ideally after the throwdowns I want to feel comfortable with what I'm doing and ready to concentrate on the match/bowlers I'm facing rather than my own technique.
I'm quite bottom handed, so some off-side drives focusing on getting in position and hitting the ball down, some full and straight focusing on playing straight through towards mid-on/midwicket rather than playing across the line which I can do early on, and then a few short to pull (probably my favourite shot) so that I'm playing something off the back foot too, focusing on hitting it down and hard without slogging, and also because it feels good to whack a few short ones before you go in!

Of course that's all an ideal and more normally I end up clumping a few full tosses straight back at someone while wishing we had permanent nets at our ground...