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[icewolf]

hey guys,

Last year I started playing after a 15-20 yrs break...yeah I am 43 ...I got better towards the end of last season but this year due to lack of practice I am unable to play proper shots and I've noticed my bat speed is too slow and I am simply unable to pull or hook the best I could do is block. I am ok with square cuts because you play those late anyway.

I am planning to book a 2 hrs session on a bowling machine with a coach, last time I went there the coach told me they cant bowl short balls because the machine could only bowl them really quick and I may not be able to play them and he was kind of right because we tried with tennis balls and they were coming like rockets and the best I was able to do was to block them.

Any suggestions on how to increase my bat speed?

[WalkingWicket37]

Use a lighter bat

[northernboy1987]

Lighter bat or stronger arms/shoulders. I'm not sure there's many other options?

[ridhuan]

Lighter bat and secondly, use front foot pull shot without shifting to back foot will increase the speed

[The Cricket Boutique]

Practice in the net. Get someone to throw you balls (underarm) from fairly close between waist and shoulder height and just keep playing the shot over and over again. Do a couple of buckets of balls before you have a proper net.

It will come eventually.

A lighter bat may also help.

[ElPerro]

A few others have mentioned a lighter bat - I'd throw doing some gym work in with that as well

Also do some drills specifically targeted with playing a series of pulls in quick succession.

[ProCricketer1982]

Use orange bola balls for a machine as they are lighter and bounce more as they are made for kids

[ppccopener]

Lighter bat is the only way to go here as others have said. it's only taken me 25 years to work out i'm not Matt Hayden and gone for a lighter bat now
 

[smilley792]

Lighter bat? Nonsense. Just practice!



Two methods I've seen. Guy with a tennis racket hitting tennis balls short. Practice with little pain.


Or the other was a guy with a basket off balls on a stool and stood about 8 yards from you, and just constantly throwing light full tosses at your chest/head. No chance to settle, you hit it/or duck then get set again other wise you'll get hit.

[uknsaunders]

Gym work. There is a stat somewhere that says you lose muscle mass from age 25 onwards. The rate of loss increases with age and depending on what dodgy internet source you read you may of already lost 15% or more of your muscle naturally. I'm your age and spending even a small amount of time doing weights can reap rewards. Try and do 1 or 2 weight sessions a week. I tend to do heavier weights and less reps. Wouldn't say it's turned me into a sportsman of any shape or form but my upper body if stronger than 3-4 years ago.

As others have said a lighter bat will help bat speed. Be careful on this one as everyone has an optimum weight and sometimes too light won't return greater bat speed. As long as you can play cross bat shots easily without being late on the ball you are ok.

Will add (having seen Smiley's post) that a paceman bowling machine can do wonders. Even the cheap one with autofeeder. Take it down the club, plug it in and just spend a couple of hours hitting balls. Trains your muscles and your hand eye co-ordination.

[ProCricketer1982]

Sky did something with sky a few weeks ago, basically do a baseball style hit at a ball on a tee about waist high. Aim was to increase hand speed through the ball which is linked to power. Also getting the bottom half into a power baseball style position etc

Again, something to do.

Tbh, just train actually pulling and you'll improve. Gym work etc will not improve your shots.

[uknsaunders]

Gym work etc will not improve your shots.

Just to clarify, I use a pulley based weights machine to mimick a straight drive and bat swing. Using this in a range of positions and gradually increasing the weight will help train and strengthen the muscles for playing specific shots. This in turn will help increase bat speed ie. the bat will feel easier to swing as you get stronger. You are right in the respect that practising the shot is equally important.

[ProCricketer1982]

Just to clarify, I use a pulley based weights machine to mimick a straight drive and bat swing. Using this in a range of positions and gradually increasing the weight will help train and strengthen the muscles for playing specific shots. This in turn will help increase bat speed ie. the bat will feel easier to swing as you get stronger. You are right in the respect that practising the shot is equally important.

I should have added 'alone' at the end, sorry nick

[icewolf]

Yeah I used to go to gym 5 days a week last year...have to start again ... my membership is still active.

About using a lightweight bat, I've thought about it but at the same time I see guys like tandulkar playing those shots with a heavy bat? yeah not a good example but it could be done right? I just recently bought an M&H international 2 10 bat...but I've noticed my optimum weight is around 2 9.

Maybe playing quicker balls on a bowling machine would help me to react quickly? maybe facing 65-70mph good length balls?

[InternalTraining]

There are two aspects to cricket batting which I think club players like us should work on: 1) Physical strength and conditioning; 2) Technique

I was in a similar situation as yours and too slow for quicks. Physical strength helps a lot. You should look into high intensity interval training to get used to quick body response to get into the right position for different shots. @uknsaunders has provided a great example of how to use weights to train for specific shots. You should try it. If you watch videos of Virat Kohli training in the gym, you will see that he is using barbells to develop quick body reactions. It is just one aspect of his training regimen but does highlight this major point about cricket batting.

My observation is that inorder to play a cricket shot correctly, not only do you need to understand the (physical) mechanics of playing the shot but also the conditions (type of deliveries) to play the shot. I love playing the pull shot but there are deliveries that I leave because I can't pull them. Trick to playing the pull shot is to get in position early by gauging the length early. This is a skill that require a lot of practice. Once you are in position, you can pull the ball without problem. You need that extract micro-second to get bat to ball and early back-foot position will give you that. It is all about muscle memory and reaction time; you should train for that. Bat weight has nothing to do with it. I have pulled real quicks with heavy bats because I got in position quickly. Bat weight had nothing to do with it. Start slow. Use tennis balls or low speed Bola machines. Gradually, increase the Bola speed. Note of caution: Bola balls can do serious harm at high speeds - I ended in an ER thinking my arm was broken when I missed by pull (over powered) and got hit on my right forearm.

Let us know how it goes.