Cricket Drills - Kids

Who said that cricket was for adults? Kids are kids today, but stars of the next generation. If you don't train them today, they won't do anything for the rest of their lives. Cricket is a great sport for them to connect with each other and doesn't just improve their physical skills, but also their social skills.

We've pit together a great list of drill that are kids friendly and they are super effective, and will make them not just a better player, but also a better person in general.

Reflex Catching

This is to get in the mood of playing cricket. I guess you could call this a warm up drill. It is also the simplest to set up and get started upon. There needs to be 3 people for this, so gather your friends and lets get started. Give one player a ball, I recommend using a tennis ball at the start, especially for kids. The other 2 stand in a way to make a triangle and have these 2 to turn their back.

The player with the ball shouts "NOW!" and throw the ball at one of the players. As soon as the player shouts, the other 2 players turn and catch the ball. They won't know who the ball has been thrown to until they turn, so it tests both players' reflexes. You then rotate the players after a certain number of throws (let's say 10).

Fielders vs Batters

This is a neat concept, which surprisingly isn't taught on many schools, or cricketing academy. It is the simplest possible way of getting the players engaged and out of their comfort zone. In addition to all that, it trains the next fielders in passing and throwing and the next batters in running.

To set this one up, you will need a few fielders (4-7 is ideal) and a similar number of batters (4-7 is ideal). Set the fielders apart form each other in a zig-zag like pattern. Additionally, set the batters in the position to run from one wicket to the other, in a queue. Have a time set (4-7 minutes are ideal). The fielders see how many times can they catch the ball successfully in that given time and the batters try to see how many runs have they completed.

Attacking Front Foot Drives

This is a great drill for batters. It is also very, very easy, you will however need a net for this. You could do it in open air, but it's not recommended in open air, as the ball will just fly out. To set this one it is very simple, make a queue (3-6 recommended, no more than this per net) of batters and have a bowler (anyone).

The first batter gets in the spot and the bowler makes underarm throws, so the batter can then hit the ball. Each batter will have 3-5 consecutive balls, after this, the batter will go to the back of the queue. This is a great drill to do and master.