[This article first appeared in my Substack feed, on 27th October, 2026; it has been modified, a little, wince then.]

An interesting and important post from Chris Stockdale via LinkedIn — Why junior batting standards are falling.

Bemoaning the lack of even the basics of batting in so many of the young players he sees.

I wonder, though, if Chris has conflated three issues — the migration of junior cricket to “participation” formats, the “dumbing down” of entry-level coaching qualifications, and the massively changed emphasis in batting techniques?

Participation formats

I don’t know the situation in Australia, beyond a couple of comments about the demise of backyard cricket (“Bluey” notwithstanding), but in the UK kids don’t play cricket in the park, anymore; unless they are privately educated, few get to play at school, either.

Those grassroots coaches Chris describes, with little or no knowledge of the fundamentals of batting, are the only ones facilitating play. And “participation” formats have become the entry point for the majority, with cricket well on its way to becoming a minority sport in England.

The right time to introduce technique

Yr4 (Aus) (equivalent to yr5 in schools on England, I believe — the school year when kids turn 10) does seem an obvious place to introduce “grip, stance, and backswing” (as it used to be formulated) but that assumes prior exposure to the game — many UK school kids won’t even see cricket before yr6 (ages 10-11), with Chance to Shine, so lecturing them on how to hold a bat will mean very little.

First they have to want to play; then want to learn how to play.

Ripe for finessing by the new generation of ECB-trained school cricket coaches from the new Cricket for Teachers programme…although the emphasis on “…teachers [being] shown how to deliver fun and engaging softball cricket games…” suggests the technical aspects have been omitted.

Finding the right people to coach technique?

“You can only coach if you’ve played the game to a high level.”

I’d say “you can only coach if you know how to coach”.

Coach the fundamentals of batting — straight bat, straight swing, control the bat. This almost demands a traditional grip, stance & backswing. Almost, but not entirely.

Coach outcomes, not techniques!

Although that assumes a coach can recognise desirable outcomes (and identify potentially damaging flaws in a nascent technique).

I have read another senior coach (and coach developer) musing as to whether cricket coaching should become a graduate-entry profession. I’m all for up-skilling (and perhaps we only call level 3 & above “coaches”?) but who is going to pay for the education, or to employ these new graduate coaches?

Or could it be games-based?

How about a more sophisticated application of the participation formats already used. Make losing a wicket more expensive — minus 10 runs, perhaps. Or the batter has to use a technique bat for the rest of their innings— that will shift the focus of most to survival!

It’s because that’s all they see on TV

As to “kids today” (and coaches) not valuing their wickets — a simple change to playing regulations in the shorter formats might change that.

Other sports play their short format games with smaller teams — 5-a-side soccer, rugby 7s — so why not cricket?

T20 could be 9-a-side — more space for batters to score runs (good for the short-attention-span fans) but greater incentive for players to preserve their wickets.

Can it really be that simple?

No, of course not.

But neither will traditional, rigid, rote learning of “feet & hands” guarantee to produce more and better cricketers.

There has to be a better way.