Good basic explanation of some sound sprint drills.
Poor old Matt Prior. The first English wicketkeeper who dares to use a bit of lip to put off the batsman gets told by an Aussie to shut up.
Ignoring that irony, one thing that is for sure is that the noise of keepers at all levels has dramatically risen under the the banner of chirping. The theory is twofold. First you put off the batsman by making him lose his concentration or feel under pressure. Second you keep the fielding side on their toes through constant encouragement.
From a good set of short training videos. This is very basic, but that does not mean it is not effective.
The Star Drill is a classic! This version is easily performed at home or in the park.
I'd like to get a better idea of what level you are at when it comes to playing cricket and understanding cricket fitness, nutrition and psychology.
I'd like to do more posts you can use, and for me to do that I need to understand who I am talking to better. Especially if you read harrowdrive regularly already (and if not, you can subscribe, it's free and almost as much fun as playing a last over nail biter).
This guest post is by Liz Ward.
If you believe you have the power to succeed, to thrive in difficult circumstances and have the characteristics and traits that promote survival, perhaps you have, and as soon as you realise that 80% of your performance is in the mind, you will start to become great!
Of course, technique is important and mental strength is no compensation for lack of skill, but you stand there facing another player who has devoted as much time, effort and yes; blood, sweat and tears, dedicated to their technical education as you.
Developing your ability to field off your own bowling can make a huge difference to you and your teams performance.
It gives the captain an extra fielder to work with, can take surprise wickets through low catches and run outs and discourage batsmen to go for quick singles. While you could leave it to chance or natural ability, but it's very easy to train yourself to stay on the ball even after you have let that cherry go.
On Saturday night in the bar after the game (washed out after the first innings of course) the conversation turned to coaching methods.
As you can imagine, it's a topic that pricked up my ears on your behalf. There are some very experienced players at my club so I was at the ready to pick up some ideas to pass on.
Is there anything quite as satisfying on the cricket pitch as running out a well set batsmen just as you had given up hope in getting him out?
Mainly this satisfaction if from the rarity of such an event. Ask yourself how many run outs your team had last season. Ask yourself how many run out chances were wasted thanks to a poor throw or a misfield. I know my own team have had at least 3 open goals missed in the last 2 weeks.