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[400notout]

Looking for drills to develop quick hands through the ball while batting, anyone got any ideas? Preferably without anyone trying to be funny!

[Simmy]

i dont under stand what u mean by quick hands

[peplow]

bat speed? caused by fast hands through the ball maybe?

they were talking about kieswetter (spelling?!) having fast hands through the ball the other day...

[400notout]

If you watch pro's getting into position and how quickly they get their hands through the ball. The speed in which you hit through the ball, and how quickly the bat comes down into the shot. I've had the time to watch a few class players bat in the nets etc and the difference in speed is quite big. comprende?

[400notout]

Yes Pep, commentators speak about it all the time and it is noticeable to an extent.

[peplow]

i agree, i think its an important factor in producing power and hitting the ball far, apart from the massively built players like chris gayle etc the players that hit it far seem to have immensely quick hands, maybe to do with bat weight also, easier with a 2lb 6/7 than 2lb 11/12!

[400notout]

Yeah agreed, although I find when you play better players even not big built guys they hit the ball much harder (generally) through timing and I would assume hand speed comes into this also

[Nickauger]

Golf ball and cricket stump. If you could get something like a 4.5lb bat and practice with that then when you come to use your normal bat, everything will be much quicker.

[Buzz]

Personally if you want to quicken up your hands, I thing you should take up squash and practice with a really heavy bat to strengthen your arms and wrists. Doing a lot of press ups might help too.

Realistically I think it will be diffisult to change what you are born with so you may have to look to improve your natural game first before being able to dramatically increase your hand speed.

For example in Hockey some people have quick hands and are brilliant on the dribble, some are not - but you have to maximise what you do naturally well.

[afridilover]

Look at Ross Taylor for example, he could have played Hockey professionally too but decided to play cricket

He has very quick hands , best way to practice i think is definitely squash or even badminton !

[steveAt]

Personally if you want to quicken up your hands, I thing you should take up squash and practice with a really heavy bat to strengthen your arms and wrists. Doing a lot of press ups might help too.

Sure I read somewhere about a couple of pros playing table-tennis to improve hand-eye coordination at speed as well.  If you're particularly focused on cricket rather than being a good ping pong player, you could try and play with your leading hand, even if that's unnatural to you.

Also, on the heavy bat front.  Me and a mate jointly got a mid range SS imported by a friend of ours that we used in winter nets, and occasionally now too.  It was near the 3lb mark, as opposed to my standard weight of about 2,9/10.  You can feel the difference when you switch back, really get through the ball.  There's also a pic of Eoin Morgan doing the same thing on Cricinfo today oddly: