Develop your Batting Skills at Home

Ben Williams has been running his YouTube coaching tutorial channel since 2014. His content covers everything from drills you can perform at home with just a bat and ball to more advanced advice that would usually take place in the nets. Although we’ve picked a couple of the ‘do it at home’ videos, it is certainly worth checking out some of his other content.

Controlled One-Handed Driving on the Front Foot
Top hand Controlled Driving

• Standing side on, place your front-facing hand onto the higher end of your cricket bat handle.
• Holding the ball in the other hand, raise it up and out in front of you.
• Drop the ball directly at your feet and allow it to bounce twice.
• Only on the second bounce, move your front forward and drive straight with the bat in a controlled     manner.

Bottom Hand controlled Driving

• Standing side on, place your trailing hand onto the lower end your cricket bats handle. Make sure there is enough space between your hand and the very bottom of the handle and that your bat is slightly raised.
• Repeat the drill with the trailing hand
Driving with both Hands

Standing side on, combine the two hand positions as demonstrated above, with your bat raised behind you

Front Foot Drive

• Place the tennis ball under your chin and push it down onto your shoulder.
• Allow the ball to drop from under your chin and allow it to bounce twice.
• Once the second bounce, bring your front foot forward and bat down, to drive through the ball.

Make sure you keep your head level throughout the movement.

Back Foot Drive

• Drop the ball from a wide angle, although in line with the side on part of your body.
• Step back, align yourself with the ball and drive through it on the second bounce.

Advanced Drive

• Drop the ball in front of you at an arm's length.
• Take two steps forward and drive through the ball.


Training time: 50 to 100 attempts per session.

Hand Speed Drill
Great for - Shot power, along with hand strength and wrist flexibility.
What you need is a cricket bat that is lightweight and strapped to the bottom with elastic.

•Assume the batting stance with your weighted bat.
•Practise driving through to get used to the weight feel and to develop a good tempo with your hands.

Resistance Band Batting
Great for: 
Batting power and muscle endurance.
What you need - Cricket bat and elastic resistance bands (if you don’t have a resistance band, try using either tying up a piece of elastic or a bike tyre).

•Attach the elastic to a pole or something that is sturdy and will be able to take the tension.
•Place both legs inside the elasticised ring. Stand side on, making sure it is tort against your front knee.
•Practise driving forward, learning to push against the elastic.

Footwork training
Great for: 
Developing agility and shot placement.
What you need - Cricket bat, individual Strapped ankle weights and three circular place mats (if you do not have place mats, you can use beer mats or any other type of place mat).

• Place the weights on each ankle.
• Arrange the three mats in a line in front of you.
• Get yourself in the batting stance in front of the three mats.
• While practising drive, take turns placing your front foot on each mat while balancing the ankle weights.
• Once you feel comfortable with this, try it with two steps instead.
Handwork Training
Great for: 
Arm movement, opening your body up and timing
What you need. A cricket bat and tennis ball.

• Stand in your batting stance.
• Place the tennis ball just above your elbow and lock it against your body.
• Practise driving forward. As you open up your body to play a drive, the tennis ball should fall away. If not, try loosening up your body, as it will give you more freedom with your shot selection.
Body Position
Great for: 
Shot placement, batting stance and timing.
What you need: Cricket bat and half a cricket stump (if you don't have this, you can use a straight stick or any other straight wooden device) and a mirror

• Tape the wooden device to your forearm.
• Stand in your batting stance in front of a mirror.
• Watch yourself while practising the forward drive, focusing on the direction the wooden device points on your downswing.
• Keep practicing until the wooden device, and in turn your forearm, will align with your body and point in the correct direction.

Great for: Timing and shot selection.
What you will need: Cricket bat, tennis ball(for fast bowling), wind ball (for spin), stumps (or a bag) for a wicket, and buckets for fielders, and wall for your invisible bowler.

• Mark your middle stump and batting crease.
• Take your batting stance and , using whatever hand you bat with, throw the ball hard against the wall.
• As it bounces back, play the ball back onto the wall.
Once you get used to this, try out for following different variations of bowling.

Fast bowling with a tennis ball

For a shorter ball, throw the ball at the lower part of the wall with no bounce.
To pitch the ball up, bounce it against the wall and allow it to bounce before you play the shot.
For front foot strokes, throw the ball against the higher part of the wall with no bounce.

Spin bowling with a tennis ball with a wind ball.

• Throw the ball under arm, with the speed coming from the spin.

If you want to add another dimension to the game, place the buckets around you, and treat them as fielders. With each shot, work on placing them between the fielders, and with a shot control that means you don’t get caught by the buckets/fielders!