Print

[justnotcricket86]

Buzz - how do you fancy doing a keeping masterclass thread? Seem to always get a lot from your training ramblings

[Simmy]

i will give u a keeping master class mate

had a decent year last year! i am the (No Swearing Please) don with the gloves lol

[justnotcricket86]

Fire away Mr Ward.

Keep it to another thread or PM though. Was just saying to Buzz it's always helpful hearing what other people have to say

[Simmy]

well am sure i do 100 things technically wrong when keeping but works for me i guess. i would also be intrested on hearing buzz's take to keeping

[roco]

Keeping does get over looked that's why I have started coaching the keepers at my club

[Buzz]

Ok, I have split out the keeping part of the thread, as it is a great topic and there are loads of keepers on here - I have spent plenty of time at fist slip so aren't really qualified to talk about keeping... Simmy, Roco and others pontificate away, even if it is just on the topic of Jack Russell's eccentricities!!

[justnotcricket86]

what have you been working on Roco?

[roco]

I am a reserve keeper but regular 1st slip

Mainly working with the katchet standing up working on glove work as that is the first thing then foot work standing back

[Simmy]

i dont really know how to describe certain things... and my english is rubish but i will try and make some points

and tbh i dont really work on my keeping during training because if im honest i dont really know what i need to improve on..

standing back is prettty straight foward.

keep ur eye on the ball crouch and when the ball bouces rise up with the ball. if having to dive for any devliery edges etc

take a stride to one of the sides before diving this will make you cover more ground.

allways keep ur hands 2gether. and cussion the ball into your hands same as normal catchy..

allthough if i am keeping to bowlers that are exceptionaly fast. i wont crouch at all i will just bend my knees slightly and bend my back keep my legs sholders width apart. coming up from the couching persition some times takes a bit to much time when fast reactions are needed best

Standing up is probs the hardest part of keeping.

make sure u have your feet shoulders distance apart to keep the best balance u can.

i allways make sure my left foot is on the offstump. and my hands are around 6 inches behind the crease when crouching. i angle my body alittle bit in towards the stumps as well.
tend to stay as low as possible again and rise with the ball.

feet movement i feel is key to taking the ball when stood up. when taking a stride to the left or the right when stood up alot of keeper take there 1st stride diaganly away from the stumps meaning u have to reach a little bit further with ur hands... i tend to do the opersite and step towards the crease line and take the ball in a forwards motion. ur hands are cusioning the ball but the your body movment is forward slighty this increasing the speed you are able to take the bails of the stumps. because u dont have as far to reach.

Alot of leg side stumpings are down to guess work as you cant actually watch the ball all the way into your gloves.

watch the ball till it bounces then try and guess the height of the ball with ur gloves and follow the same sort of monitions.

i might be talking aload of old (No Swearing Please). but this is how i play the game

i won afew keeping awards last year took 18 catches and 16 stumpings(just in leageu games) so must be doing something right.

one of my better games last year

[procricket]

As a main line Keeper

Standing up

Courage,,balance,,head position,,soft hands,,agility,,Positioning,,start point,,,reaction

Standing up i stay down as late as possible and move my head into line with the ball and then my legs and my hands follow.
I do not give much standing up for speed and movement back to the stumps.
Too many young keepers just go with there hands instead of actually moving there legs (you can tell if your doing it on a wide ball and your hand are far away from your head and body.
Stay low as it easier to come up than down...




Standing Back

Starting Position crouch or not,,watch ball,,,give,,,head and body position....


I stated keeping late but since then have kept for Lancs Under 17's and various Premier League sides i love nothing more than standing up i think the biggest problem in the Uk is poor pitches and after swing

Keeping is a easy thing to coach in my eyes but i think keeping to a very good level is a hard thing to do i think repetition is key for consistent as i have seen some very good keepers around but not to many consistent ones..

Keeping is a thankless task if you get anything on a chance your expected to catch it and you can never switch off.

It funny not many established league keepers do not practice as much as you should i catch around a 1000 balls on a practice session and have devised some very good drills involving a cricket coffin and a stopwatch.

Rhythem is key for a keeper and repetition is also key i have sets of 30 and if one is spilled you start at the beginning again.

Forgot when i stand up i watch the ball across then up  and the leg side take is all to do with rhythem in my eyes and experience  and on the leg side still keep low   

[400notout]

Procricket, do explain this cricket coffin stopwatch drill, I am quite curious! Like the tips so far, there are two very good videos on Youtube with Jack Russell doing a masterclass. You'll be surprised at how much he doesnt care about footwork etc, more about aggressive mentality than anything else, worth a look

[justnotcricket86]

400 - I love that masterclass, got some really good stuff from that. Especially lining up with a gap between the stumps..

[400notout]

Yeah picked up a few things I hadn't thought about before. My problem just now is taking the ball down the legside, need to do a lot of work there. That video is ideal as it shows you that basically all you need to worry about is catching the ball, which is the skill stripped right down and in the end all you need to do. He has completely different views on how to coach keeping than what is being shown to youngsters also.

[Buzz]

Has Bruce French done any keeping master classes or anything? He has done wonders with Matt Prior's keeping

[19reading87]

Do people find they always use their stronger hand to catch the ball as much as possible? So technically were only ever using one hand and the other is just for support... pretty much like batting as the top hand is ment to do the majority of the work....