Cricket net practice that makes you better

How do you plan a net session?

Give it one goal before you arrive. Decide what you're working on, such as hitting a good length, playing straight, or a new run-up, and plan the hour around it. A net with one clear aim teaches you more than an hour of bowling and batting without one.

Write the goal down, even if it's one line in your phone's notes. Then split the time. A typical hour might be a warm-up, a few sets of bowling, a turn with the bat, and a few minutes at the end to look back at what happened. If you share the net, agree the plan with everyone in it before the first ball, so nobody is waiting around wondering whose turn it is.

• One goal per net. Two at most. More than that and you won't know what worked.
• Make it something you can check. "Bowl better" is hard to judge. "Pitch more balls on a good length" is easy.
• Carry it over. Start each net by reading what you wrote after the last one.

How should you warm up for the nets?

Build up gradually before you bowl or bat at full effort. Start with easy jogging and movement, then some throwing, then a few balls off a short run. Only bowl off your full run-up, or face quick bowling, once you feel loose and ready.

The first few balls of a net are rarely your best, and that's fine. Treat them as part of the warm-up rather than as the start of the work. Bowlers can roll the arm over off a few steps and gradually lengthen the run. Batters can start with some throwdowns or gentle bowling to get their feet moving before the quicks come on. If you're a junior cricketer, follow the warm-up your coach gives you.

How do you structure your bowling in the nets?

Bowl in short sets, each with a target. Put a marker on the pitch, decide what each set is for, and rest between sets. Short sets with a purpose are easier to keep accurate than one long spell where your run-up and your length slowly fall apart.

• Set one: rhythm. A few balls at an effort you can repeat, aiming at a good length.
• Set two: the goal. The thing you came to work on, whether that's a line, a length or a new variation.
• Set three: full effort. Your quickest balls while you're still fresh, off the same run-up.
• Set four: pressure. A short over where every ball counts, as if you were bowling in a match.

Keep count of how many balls you bowl. It stops a net turning into an endless spell, and it gives you a fair comparison next week. When you notice your length drifting or your run-up changing, that's the time to stop and rest, not to push through.

Spinners can use the same shape: a few balls to find the rhythm, a set aimed at one spot, then a set mixing in the ball you're working on. For more on pace, read how to bowl fast.

How do several bowlers share one net?

Take turns in a fixed order and bowl in sets, not single balls. Agree the order before you start, give each bowler a set of a few balls, and swap. Everyone gets a rhythm going, and nobody stands around long enough to go cold.

If three or four bowlers share a net, keep the sets short so the wait between them stays short too. Use the waiting time well: walk back to your mark, think about what you're trying with the next set, and watch the batter's feet. If you film the net, it helps to know which ball was whose.

How should you bat in the nets?

With a plan for every few balls. Pick one shot or one type of ball to work on, such as leaving outside off stump or playing the ball on a good length, and ask the bowlers for it. Batting with a purpose beats slogging every ball you face.

• Start by getting in. Play the first few balls the way you would at the start of an innings: watch the ball, leave well, defend.
• Work on one thing. A shot, a ball type, or a trigger movement. Tell the bowlers so they can help.
• Finish with a scenario. A few balls where you bat to a match situation, then stop.

Batting nets are easy to waste because every ball feels the same in the moment. Afterwards, what you remember is the one you middled and the one that beat you. Having the session recorded, ball by ball, gives you the full picture. Read more in batting analysis in the nets.

What drills make a net feel like a match?

Ones with a score, a target or a consequence. Bowl an over to set a field, defend a small total, or bat out a set number of balls without getting out. A little pressure makes the net closer to a match, and it shows you what holds up.

• Bowl to a field. Tell the batter the field you'd set and bowl to it. A ball that would go to the boundary counts against you.
• Last over. The bowler defends a small total in six balls. The batter has to score.
• Survive. The batter has to see out a set of balls without being bowled or out caught.
• Target practice. Put a marker on a good length and keep a tally of how many balls land near it.

Keep the scenarios short and the scoring simple. The point isn't the game, it's practising under a little pressure.

What changes between indoor and outdoor nets?

Mostly the surface, the light and the space around you. Indoor nets give you a predictable surface and steady light. Outdoor nets feel closer to a match but change with the weather and the state of the pitch. The way you plan the session stays the same.

Indoors, the ball often comes off the surface differently from a grass pitch, so don't judge your length only on how it looks there. Outdoors, check the pitch and the run-up before you start, and adjust your plan if the light is poor or the ground is wet. In either, make sure both sets of stumps are in place and the run-up is clear.

If you want to film the net, see phone tripod setup for the nets for where to put the tripod in each kind of net.

How do you keep a record of each net?

Write down your goal, what you tried and how it went, straight after the net. Better still, record the net itself, so you have every ball to look back on, not just the few you remember. A record is what turns one net into a run of progress.

A notebook works, but it relies on memory. Filming gives you the balls themselves. With a phone on a tripod behind the bowler's end, the whole net is captured without anyone holding a camera, so bowlers and batters can concentrate on cricket.

How do you review a net afterwards?

Look back at the goal you set and check it against what happened. Did more balls land on a good length? Did you leave well outside off stump? Watch a few good balls and a few poor ones side by side, then write down one thing for next time.

Keep the review short, a few minutes is enough. The useful questions are simple: what went well, what didn't, and what you'll try next week. Compare this net with the last few, not just with how it felt. Over a few weeks, the pattern tells you far more than any single session.

In YORKER AI, every session is saved, so you can put this week's net beside last month's and see your trend. Filter to the balls you care about, such as your quickest or the ones that pitched on a good length, and watch their clips. If you train with a coach or a squad, share the session in a Huddle so everyone sees the same balls.