Cricket Net Sessions Explained: What Players Practice and How Training Differs by Format

International cricket training is structured around net sessions — practice batting and bowling in enclosed nets that simulate match conditions at a fraction of the space and time commitment of a full match. Net sessions exist at every level of cricket from club grassroots to the Indian national team's pre-Test preparation at the BCCI's National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. The structure, duration, and specific drills used in a net session reveal much about how the game is learned and refined at each level.

A Typical Test Match Net Session

Pre-Test match net session (international team, day before a Test): (1) Duration: typically 60-90 minutes total; split between batting groups and bowling groups. Not all 11 players bat in every net — senior players may take fewer balls to preserve the body; (2) Pitch simulation: the net pitch is often prepared with similar characteristics to the match pitch (groundstaff provide information about expected conditions — spin, seam, bounce — and the net strip is prepared to replicate); (3) Batting focus: batsmen work on the specific delivery types they expect to face. Against spin: batsmen practice footwork patterns (coming forward and back to the pitch), sweeping, and leaving. Against pace: specific line (wide of off stump) and length (short pitched ball) practice; (4) Bowling focus: fast bowlers typically bowl shorter spells in nets than in matches to protect workload — 4-6 overs per net session; spinners may bowl longer (12-15 overs); (5) Fielding: a separate fielding training session precedes or follows the net session — catching practice, direct-hit run-out practice, ground fielding drills.

T20 Preparation vs Test Preparation: Different Skills

The specific skills practiced differ significantly between Test and T20 preparation: (1) T20 batting practice: aggressive stroke-play from ball one — practicing the pull shot from short of good-length deliveries, the scoop over fine-leg (from full deliveries aimed at the toe), the slog-sweep (against spinner practice balls), and the ramp. T20 drills emphasise: hitting specific areas of the ground from specific ball positions; calculating the required strike rate for specific over-blocks; (2) Test batting practice: leaving the ball — practicing the leave (the defensive non-shot) is as important as stroke practice in Test preparation; batsmen deliberately leave balls outside off stump, building the muscle-memory of not playing at the ball. Playing back and across: practicing the defensive back-foot shot against pace is critical for touring teams visiting fast Australian and South African pitches; (3) Cross-format players: a batsman who plays both Tests and T20Is (Kohli, Root, Smith) must maintain separate technique patterns for each format — T20 brain (play everything) and Test brain (leave everything that doesn't need to be played) require active switching.

The Batting Machine and Its Limits

Bowling machines (batting machines): automated ball-delivery devices that fire balls at specific speeds, lengths, and trajectories without a bowler. Benefits: (1) Consistency — a batting machine can deliver 50 consecutive balls at 145 km/h, identical length, enabling targeted practice on a specific delivery type that a human bowler cannot sustain; (2) Safety — pace bowlers can reduce their match workload while batsmen still get pace-bowling practice; (3) Specific deliveries — spin bowling machines can replicate doosra or googly trajectories at practice speed. Limits: (1) No reading the bowler's hand — a batting machine provides no run-up, no hand-position reading, and no release-point variation. Batsmen practice the shot but not the identification that precedes it; (2) No match psychology — facing a machine is inherently low-pressure; the adrenaline, concentration, and consequence of facing a bowler in a match are absent. Elite coaches use machines for skill drilling but always supplement with live bowling for the mental components.