Batting in the nets

Originally posted by 70_degree_spin There's this bowler at my school who just bowls bouncers. Needless to say he hardly takes any wickets.

I went to this club training session to see if i felt like joining them. Every bowler bowled a bouncer. Thats all they did. They only wanted to hit the batsman. Needless to say i thought they were &"("! and left.

I just practiced glides, flicks and drop and run shots off faster men, and when they bowled up to me used to throw the kitchen sink at it. Most of them sails over the boundry straight, when they are up to me. Short balls I just try to defend my head being smashed

When spinners are on (horror of horror only three of them in a squad of 40 for the university excluding myself) down the track, inside out over extra cover was my favorite shot. Unfortunately one of them was a Derek Underwood type left arm spinner (6' 3" in height) who was firing it in. Others also did not know how to flight it (i was the only one who threw it up over the eye line of batsmen). SO did not have much opportunities to play it.

Batting in nets was not fun for me, because every fast bowler targeted me to test their bouncers, but never tested their yorkers on me

In the nets i pretty much just leave and defend since i take about half an hour to get my 'eye in'... and we only bat for 15 mins

I work on cover drives, straight drives, on drives and cutting, the most difficult to play, people who slog and have fun at the nets are stupid.

Sometimes we get the batsman to bat as if they must score every ball. Helps bowlers to bowl better in the later overs and the batsman to add runs at the end.

I prefer with 2 people on a proper pitch. Sure it means more running but you get a better understanding of what shot does what. and what will get you out.

Just curious RightHandBat, whats your strike rate(i would be surprised if it wasnt something like 200% since you sound like you play at just about everyball!:) ) and whats your batting average in the last few seasons?

Ok a ball that involves risk and could cause losing your wicket if an attacking shot is played at

Yes i tend to play a shot at quite a wide deliver, but you i am taling about agood length ball just outside the off stup, a ball that a scoring shot cannot be played to!!

Originally posted by RightHandBat Originally posted by henjam leaving the ball is something all good batsmen should practice at, why play at a ball you don't need to if the shot you will try to play won't produce a run? All you are doing is risking the chance of losing your wicket, thats why i think leaving the ball is incredibly important Scoring fast in One Day cricket is essential, so that's why you should be working on a shot for every ball, because if you do, you will find that you will succeed more often.

I play in 48 over matches, so there is still plenty of time to leave good balls, especially early on in my innings!

of course you are right, but knowing where your stumps are is extremely important for an opener, in one day or longer version of the game.

For me its all of the above chices. Since I'm a bowler and a no.10 batsman I try and improve my bowling and add more swing to it. When I bat, my coach gives a little less time for me than for others. I try my best to touch the ball with my bat. I'm not that bad, but my helmet was really bad so I couldn't really see the ball clearly. Then my technique is horrible when I play with my pads on and against a cricket ball. I not very used to it. Just as I was improving, I moved from the country last year. For one full year I never played any cricket then finally I found an area where there are net sessions and I'm going to start next week if it doesn't rain. Hopefully I can improve and become a very good allrounder.

I think people have a funny attitude about leaving balls in the nets though.  Bowlers think you are a pussy and others think you are a waste of a 15 minute batting time! My team mates are so used to me hitting anything absolutely necessary now, they know if they want me to play a shot they will have to bowl accurately.  At the end of the day we all benefit from it.

Thanks for that, since I wasnt really in the mood to get into this ' no one's techniques are fine ' debate :)  Techniques from the old text book is one thing, but at the end of the day the best techniques are those who gets you the most runs, you can have all the techniques you want but if you are so preoccupied with them all the time it could be detrimental to your game out in the middle.  Coming back to the thread, yes, as an opener, I needed to practice leaving the ball more :)

Originally posted by UKKiwi oh but my techniques are fine :)

No ones technique is fine, you should always be looking to improve on it and make it flawless.