So, at the grand old age of 35, I decided to go full 'treat yo self' and get some 1-1 coaching booked. Something I never had as a kid, and ultimately this year I would like to improve my batting. I've never been a particularly good bat, but the disappointment last year of not playing much has given me a drive to at the very least
try.
Off I went at 7am last Saturday to go through some initial setup points, and after seeing a few things have altered my stance a little bit, and trying to move/pivot my front foot anything is on middle/leg to give me better access to the ball - something I was clearly not doing at all previously.
After that we had a bit on trying to play the ball late, and essentially trying to get my head in the right position, over my foot. Was asked to essentially try and drive straight at anything that I thought I could. Started off on the bowling machine with a double bounce, but when going up to 55mph found it hard to time anything, and even when I did connect I knew I was going too early, and getting rather frustrated
Had my club net last night going in with the same mindset - just trying to drive straight. Was nice to have that clarity and something to work on, but again, I struggled to connect with anything; was able to whip some balls on the leg side nicely as a result of moving my front foot just a fraction, but got stuck in a whole of leaving balls I could probably cut (something I'm very keen work on) or just blocking it.
I appreciate things magically will not change overnight, and there's a bit of work/skill to it, but does anyone have any kind of simple tips/drills with playing it late that I can do?
Final note - to anyone in London it's well worth checking out NET in the Clapham/Battersea area; probably one of the better uses for a space as part of a railway arch! Callum who runs it is a pretty sound bloke, and I'm looking forward to learning a thing or two from him
https://neweratraining.net/v2/