The Teesra

Month: June 2019

  • Timing — when should the down swing start?

    Timing — when should the down swing start?

    Working with an experienced batter over the last couple of sessions on “timing”, and encouraging him to hit his drives even harder.

    I have been suggesting that he tries delaying the downswing as long as he dares, to create greater bat speed at contact.

    I came across an interesting paper that identified some of the key timings of “skilled” batters (see below) — significantly that better batters appear to more consistently coordinate the initiation of the bat downswing with the completion of the front-foot stride — but this image perhaps captures the delayed downswing better than any words could.

    Hands still high, wrists cocked with the bat raised beyond the vertical, weight transferring dynamically into the stroke, as the front foot is just about to land.

    Stepping out to drive
    Maxine Blythin, Kent Women

    In the interests of outcome-based coaching — the ball was hit through extra cover, on the deck, at a rate of knots!

    (more…)

  • Teesra Talks — Schools competitions: caring & sharing

    Three schools comps in 7 days — nearly 300 children, rain, threat of thunder…and a lot of fun!

    Schools competitions

    Teesra Talks is hosted on anchor.fm, and will be available as a subscription podcast from various distribution sites soon.

  • In the nettles. And other thoughts on backyard cricket rules.

    Telephone call with the manager of one of the junior sections I coach. Two close games at the weekend, but in both we had lost by narrow margins after missing out on a lot of legside singles.

    https://twitter.com/theteesra/status/1138811781504208896?s=21

    I received a lot of interesting replies to this tweet — targets to hit in drills, incentives for playing a stroke, penalties for not playing a stroke.

    My own preference is to utilise some form of games-based approach, but with constraints for the players to adapt to.

    So — the Teesra presents “the legside single game” aka “in the nettles”.

    (more…)