✕ Close Setup
Before you start
  • Check the space and the kit.
  • Get your child's attention first.
  • Show it from two sides.
  • Say one thing only.
  • End on one that works.

Put the phone down where you can see it. Tap Next with your thumb, or use the arrow keys.

Setup · 1 minute

Is the space marked?

  • The stumps (bucket, bottle or a set of stumps)
  • The batting crease 1 m in front
  • The bowling mark
  • Two cones as a "gate" a bat's width in front of the stumps

A bat, a soft ball, an underarm feed from 6 m, a helmet if the ball is hard.

Warm up · 3 minutes

Three minutes to get warm.

Easy jogging on the spot, then arms and legs. How to warm up well is explained at workonfitness.com.

3:00
Show it · 1 minute
  1. From the stance, step the front foot just inside the line of the ball, head over it.
  2. Drive: a full swing, front elbow up, top hand in control, bat close to the front pad; hit along the ground.
  3. Defence: the same step, but the bat comes down straight beside the pad with soft hands; the ball drops in front.

Show it once from the front and once from the side, slowly. Then let your child try.

The skill · 15 minutes
  1. Off a tee first, then a dropped ball, then a lobbed ball.
  2. Step to just inside the line of the ball, head over it.
  3. 10 drives: full swing, front elbow up; to a fielder on the off side, then move the tee and drive on the leg side.
  4. 10 defence shots: full face of the bat, bat and pad together, soft hands.

How much: 10 drives and 10 defence shots, 3 rounds

Hit it along the ground

15:00
The game · 5 minutes

Batting zones

The rules

Drives along the ground into a near zone score 1 run, into a far zone 4.

  1. Mark a near zone 5 to 10 m out and a far zone beyond 15 m
  2. The feeder feeds 10 balls underarm to the front foot
  3. The batter drives each one along the ground

Fair play: A grown-up batter plays defence shots only for the first 5 balls.

Points
1 run for a drive into the near zone; 4 runs into the far zone, along the ground.
Fouls
a ball hit in the air scores nothing; a ball caught by a fielder costs the batter 4 runs; a ball that goes through a gap between bat and pad costs 2 runs
Win
The most runs after 10 balls each.
Score
0
  1. 8
  2. 16
  3. 24

5:00
Finish · 2 minutes

6 of 10 drives along the ground into the open zone.

0/6

End on one that works. If it was hard today, finish with the easier version.

Finished

Well played.

Saved in this browser only. Next time, "What should we practise today?" picks up from here.