Aggressive young batsman problem

I have a little kid 11 years old who plays very aggressive pairs cricket (this is where they play 4 overs per pair, they carry on batting if out, but lose 8 runs). He makes a lot of runs every week without getting out and outperforms most kids of his age.

However, when he has been given the chance to play highe 'proper' 11-a-side cricket (out is out), he has struggled. He still plays aggresive cricket and gets himself out very quickly.

I don't want to curb his natural aggresive flair yet want him to adjust to the longer form of the game in the hope that he can go higher.

How can I deal with this, practically or psychologicaly?

I agree with fishcake. It may just be that he needs to get used to playing longer games.

Thanks for the replies.

The only problem is that he is trying to get into representative cricket where they play the longer game and he has to perform to get into Lord Taverner's side.

Its a funny setup where they play pairs cricket at junior legaue level but they make them play the longer game when playing representative stuff.

I guess the best course would have been to have got him into a U13 side where they play the longer game and he could have adjusted himself there. Unfortunately they have far too many 13-year olds for the team and this kid cant get in even though he is much better than most 13 year olds.

But I certainly dont want to curb his natural flair and basic instict with which he hits the ball hard, very hard and plays the shots to perfection. He just wants to hit every ball out for a boundary; thats his only problem.

If one things for sure, it won't happen over night so you have to take note of that. I remember myself a few years back in this situation - use to pull almost anything back of a length and back. I had to get more conventional and I lost some of my flairy self in the process so this leads me to say this, if he ought to be somehow good, he'll have to sacrifice some of his flair now and try to regain it when he gets good.

 Solid advice Tonksy and if he was my lad I'd simply say treat every ball on it's merits.

Actually he is hitting a six in every under 11 match he plays in these days. He hit one yesterday and today he hit the ball out of the ground. Thats quite an achievement for an 11 year old I guess. And he does this without much effort; he knows where the middle of his bat is. I have ever only hit one six in my 30 years of playing cricket!

I think the way to go with him is to teach him to be selective in his shots but not necessarily discourage him from going for the big hits. And I want him to keep his confidence which is at high at the moment. After all confidence is 90% of cricket.

If your 14 year old has become a back foot player then teach him to cut and pull. Bowl at him slightly back of a length with width and he'll probably cut by instinct.