Every young cricketer wants to improve.
And it’s easy to assume the answer is simple: spend more time in the nets.
Regular practice certainly matters. But more practice doesn’t automatically lead to better performance.
The players who improve fastest aren’t always the ones who train the longest. They’re often the ones who train with purpose.
Whether a young player is preparing for club cricket, representative cricket or simply trying to become more confident, the way they approach training can make a huge difference.
Here’s how players, parents and coaches can get more value from every net session.
Arrive With a Plan
One of the easiest ways to waste a net session is to turn up without knowing what you want to achieve.
Rather than simply hitting balls or bowling overs, choose one or two clear goals before training begins.
For example:
- Play spin more confidently.
- Improve straight driving
- Rotating the strike
- Bowl a more consistent stock ball
- Land more yorkers
The goal doesn’t need to be complicated.
It simply gives a purpose and helps the player judge whether the session has actually moved their game forward.
Focus on Quality, Not Quantity
It’s tempting to measure a net session by numbers.
How many balls did you face? How many overs did you bowl? How long were you in the nets?
But quantity alone doesn’t tell you whether you improved.
Hitting 100 balls without purpose is far less productive than hitting 20 with it.
Every so often, ask:
- What’s working?
- What isn’t?
- Why?
- What adjustments should I make?
Improvement comes from the combination of repetition, feedback and adjustment.
Don’t just repeat the same skill. Pay attention to what each repetition is teaching you.
Train Like You Play?
One of the things you frequently hear in sport is that you should ‘train like you play’.
Whilst this advice certainly has value in certain applications, it also creates limitations.
In games we are often encouraged to play within our comfort zones, e.g. playing to your strengths and avoiding weaknesses. If that mindset is adopted in training, then improvement becomes limited because players aren’t pushed outside of their comfort zone.
Pushing players outside of their comfort zone at training is the quickest way to improve certain skills in games (read more in the next section).
Combine this style of training with match scenarios where players are replicating the intensity and mindset in a match, then you hit a sweet spot of development.
Spend Time Being Uncomfortable
Improvement rarely happens when everything feels easy.
If you always face bowlers you’re comfortable against, practise your favourite shots or bowl in situations that suit you, progress will eventually slow.
Instead, deliberately spend some of your training time on situations that challenge you. For example:
- Face more spin
- Practise against short bowling
- Work on the shot you don’t trust
- Bowl to stronger batters
Create situations where you have to solve problems rather than simply demonstrate what you can already do.
Mistakes in training aren’t something to avoid. They’re often where the most useful learning happens.
Let Your Weaknesses Shape Your Training
Everyone enjoys practising the skills they already do well.
There’s nothing wrong with sharpening your strengths, but your biggest improvement may come from addressing the areas opponents can exploit.
Ask yourself:
- How am I getting dismissed most often?
- What type of bowling makes me uncomfortable?
- Which scoring options am I missing?
- Where do I lose control as a bowler?
- What one skill would make the biggest difference to my game?
The answers should help shape what you practise next.
A net session becomes much more valuable when it’s connected to what is actually happening in matches.
Bowlers Need a Plan Too
Net sessions can easily become batter-focused.
The batter occupies the crease while bowlers line up, bowl a delivery and head back to their mark.
But bowlers should be training with just as much purpose.
Before a spell, choose an objective.
For example:
- Hit a good length six times out of ten
- Swing the new ball consistently
- Improve accuracy to left-handers
- Execute yorkers under pressure
- Build three consecutive dot balls
- Practise a specific dismissal plan
Instead of thinking about isolated deliveries, bowl in overs and spells.
Have a plan for the batter. Build pressure. Notice what happens when you change your line, length or pace.
Every over should have a purpose.
Ask Questions
Training is one of the best opportunities a young player has to learn.
Players shouldn’t be afraid to ask their coach questions such as:
- What should I focus on?
- Why did that happen?
- What did you notice?
- Is there another option I could try?
- What’s one thing I could improve today?
Good coaches can provide information that players may not notice themselves.
But players also need to become curious about their own game.
Over time, that curiosity helps them understand what works, what doesn’t and how to make adjustments without always relying on someone else to provide the answer.
Review the Session
Training shouldn’t finish the moment you leave the nets.
Take one minute afterwards to reflect.
Ask:
- What was my goal today?
- What has improved?
- What challenged me?
- What did I learn?
- What should I work on next time?
It doesn’t need to become a lengthy training diary.
A few quick notes can be enough.
Over time, these reflections help connect one session to the next rather than treating every training session as an isolated event.
They also make progress much easier to see.
How Parents Can Support Better Practice
Parents play an important role in shaping how young players think about training.
A common question on the way home is:
“Did you bat well?”
It’s understandable, but it can unintentionally make training feel like another performance that needs to be judged.
Instead, try asking:
- What was your goal today?
- What did you learn?
- What has improved?
- What challenged you?
- What do you want to work on next time?
These questions shift the conversation from performance to learning.
That matters because training should be a place where young players feel comfortable experimenting, making mistakes and trying new things.
Final Thoughts
The purpose of training isn’t simply to spend more time in the nets.
It’s to become a better cricketer.
That means arriving with a plan, practising with intent, challenging weaknesses, creating match-like situations and taking time to reflect on what you’ve learned.
For parents and coaches, it also means helping young players see training for what it really is: a place to learn, experiment and improve—not a test they have to pass.
To get more purpose out of your child's training sessions, contact us today.