Hi Guys,
With clubs starting to get back to it with the start of winter nets - I was interested to know how do your club run club nets/training during the winter months.
Is it just a case of 2 or 3 lanes booked at a sports centre or cricket academy and everyone bowls and bats? Which is what my club have always done - however I am wanting to move away from this (hence this thread)
I am wanting to have abit more structure where the recognised batsman get longer to practice and bowlers take their practice seriously. As well as fielding drills. So just looking for ideas that may have worked for you all to keep everyone happy, engaged and attending! Or have you found that this is maybe more an individual thing (ie players taking control of their own practice in small groups on a seperate day - this is what I have done over the winter) and club nets are just where everyone gets a go.
Be interested to hear everyone's experiences
In the past I've been in charge of player development across both 1st and 2nd XI and have run some sessions that were a bit different from normal nets.
Batting nets - limited to 6-8 people, 2 nets, with a bowling machine in one, and throwdowns in the other. Batsmen required to email ahead and identify what they want to work on so I can plan drills accordingly.
Bowling drills - no need for nets, just book any old sports hall. These worked well when each session had a theme - we had one on run-up and alignment through the crease, another on upper body mechanics, another on wrist position, seam position and variations. We split the groups into two and had them compete - who could hit a double set of stumps most times out of 12, who could land their balls in the tightest cluster, who could swing or spin the ball around the post. I made them do this once at the start then again at the end after I'd given them all some individual pointers - every group got better by at least 50%!
Also we found that a game of modified indoor cricket worked well for getting people thinking about shot placement, fielding and running before the season. We made it so there were no extra points for hitting the back wall - 1 run for hitting any wall and 2 runs for each completed run. People agreed that this was a really useful complement to normal nets.