The Teesra

Category: batting

  • Power hitting with Julian Wood – camán and sliotars

    I attended a fascinating Power Hitting Masterclass with Julian Wood at the MCC Cricket Academy, yesterday.  Sunday evening saw a dozen coaches having a lot of fun hitting balls.

    https://twitter.com/MCC_Academy/status/932327046121967616

    Lots of ideas on how to help others hit harder and smarter – and it was a little drill to develop wrist speed and flexibility when hitting, with hurling stick and balls (the camán and sliotars of the title), that I think might try out (if I can just get hold of the equipment). (more…)

  • Simplicity and focus in 1-to-1s – ECB Coaches Association Conference review, part 1

    I watched two coaching demonstrations at the ECB Coaches Association Conference – a batting session with Graham Thorpe and a spin bowling one with Chris Brown.

    Both deployed a range of drills to challenge and develop specific skills, but, if I am honest, I wasn’t really that interested in the cones, hurdles and baseball mitts.

    I was much more interested in hearing what the experienced coaches were saying to the player. (more…)

  • It’s too easy..

    Interesting conversation with a parent after one of my sessions last week.

    We had been working on hitting front foot drives, and had finished with a game, with bobble feeds from the coach – making it “too easy” for the players to hit the ball.

    As I explained to the parent, just about the only way for a batter to strike a low bouncing (almost rolling) delivery back towards the feeder is with a vertical bat – the feed forced the batsmen to approximate the front foot drive, rather than just hitting the ball anyhow.

    A perfectly reasonable question…I probably should make a point of explaining some of the “madness” to the parents, in future.