Cricket Drills

To be a good cricket player requires:

Good hand-eye coordination
The ability to throw and catch a ball
Good batting and bowling technique
The ability to concentrate for sometimes long periods of time
Below we’ll practice exercises that develop skills 1-2. Good concentration is a skill that can only be developed over time.

DRILL 1 BATTING: HAND EYE CO-ORDINATION AND BATTING TECHNIQUE.
The late great Don Bradman used to do this exercise every day as a kid (and it sure worked for him).

Stand about 4 meters back from a concrete wall and hit a tennis ball into the wall. When the ball rebounds hit it again.
When hitting face side on to the wall, feet shoulder width apart, bat lifted ready to hit the ball. As you hit the ball keep your front elbow up and hit straight through the ball so it bounces once before hitting the wall.
Try to hit the ball as many times as possible before you lose control and you can even compete against your friends to see who can get the highest number of hits.
As you improve try using a golf ball to increase the difficulty.


DRILL 2 FIELDING: HAND-EYE COORDINATION, THROWING, AND CATCHING
“Catches win matches” as the old saying goes so improving hand-eye coordination for catching is very important.

Place two balls on the ground 3 meters in front of a wall.
Pick up the first ball throw it at the wall, clap your hands and the catch the ball with two hands as it rebounds off the wall.
Then place the ball back on the ground, run to a marker behind you 10 meters away from the wall and run back to the second ball.
Pick up the second ball throw it at the wall, clap your hands and catch the ball with one hand.
Place the ball on the ground, run back to the 10-meter marker and return to the first ball, and repeat.
Aim to increase speed and go as many times as you can without dropping the ball.
You can also practice catching with your non-dominant hand at the second ball station.

DRILL  3: BOWLING TECHNIQUE
Learning a proper cricket bowling technique can be difficult for beginners so it’s important to start slowly, get the technique right and then worry about the accuracy of the bowl later. The “Rock and Bowl” is a great learners drill.

Stand side on to the batsmen/wickets with your dominant hand at the back.
Hold the ball with both hands under your chin and turn your head sideways to face the batsmen/target.
Rock back and forth transferring weight from the front foot to the back foot in a smooth consistent motion.
Now as you rock back to end your back arm and when you rock forward let to your front arm extend and pull down and your back arm comes over your head and releases the ball in the direction of the batsmen.
This will take patience and practice to feel comfortable and it’s important to watch your favorite bowlers to see their techniques for some extra tips.

Practicing these 3 drills regularly will give the basic skills of cricket

Basic Exercise

There is six major exercise it will do on a daily morning.

1. Jogging

     Slow jogging about 15 - 20 mins.

2. High Plank

• Start on your hands and knees on the ground. Your hands and knees should be shoulder-width apart, hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
• Lift your knees off the ground and step your feet back, bringing your body to full extension. You want to create one long line that connects your shoulders, hips, and ankles.
• Reach back through your heels and forward through the crown of your head. To keep your neck and spine in a neutral position, try aiming your chin about six inches in front of your body.
• Keeping a tight core is key here. Tighten your quads, engage your abdominals, and push through your palms. Keep those hips lifted and don't forget to breathe!
• Moving your feet closer together will make this exercise more challenging.

3. Bodyweight Squat

• Start standing with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, feet turned out about 5-15 degrees.
• Hinge your hips back toward a wall (real or imaginary) behind you, and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
• Keep the weight in your heels and your chest upright. Keep your knees in line with your feet (don't let them buckle in).
• Go as low as you can, then push through your heels to return to standing.

4. Push-Up

• Start in a high plank position and place your palms under your shoulders or slightly wider. Keep your fingers pointing directly forward.
• Keep your core tight and bend elbows to lower torso toward the floor. Don't let your hips drop down before your chest lowers.
• Go as low as you can, then push through your palms to straighten your arms.

5. Reverse Lunge

• Start in a standing position with your feet about shoulder-width apart.
• Inhale as you step backward with your right foot. Land on the ball of your right foot and keep your heel off the ground.
• Now bend your knees creating two 90-degree angles with your legs. Your left shin should be perpendicular to the floor and your left knee is stacked above your left ankle. Aim to have your back knee hovering about 3-6 inches off the ground. Get low!
• You want to have your shoulders directly above your hips and your chest is upright.
• Push off with your back foot and press through your front heel to return to standing.

6. Burpee

• Start standing with your feet hip-distance apart. Then bring your palms to the floor.
• Jump your feet back so that you are in high plank, keeping your core tight and your hips lifted.
• Bend your elbows and do a push-up, returning to high plank. (Some variations of the burpee skip this step or do it slightly differently. Do what works best for you!)
• Now jump your feet to the outsides of your hands and explode up. Reach your arms overhead as you jump as high as you can.

Cricket Basic Rules

• Cricket is played between two teams each made up of eleven players.
• Games comprise of at least one innings where each team will take turns in batting and fielding/bowling.
• The fielding team will have a bowler bowl the ball to the batsman who tries to hit the ball with their bat.
• The fielding team tries to get the batsmen out by…
• Hitting the wickets with the ball when bowling
• Catching a batsman’s shot on the full
• Hitting the batsman’s leg in front of the wicket (LBW)
• Or hitting the wickets before the batsmen can run to the other end of the pitch
• The batsmen try to score as many runs as possible before getting out by…
• Hitting the ball and running between the wickets and making it to the other end before the fielders can hit the wickets with the ball. Each time you run one full length of the pitch it equals 1 run.
• Hitting the ball to the boundary along the ground is 4 runs.
• Hitting the ball over the boundary on the full equals 6 runs.
• The fielding team must get 10 batsmen out before they can change over and start batting.
• The aim of the game is to score as many runs as possible before the fielding team takes 10 wickets. The team with the most runs wins.