How Professional Cricketers Train: Methods, Nets, and Preparation

The Net Session

The net session is cricket's primary technical training method: the batsman faces deliveries from bowlers in a confined lane (the net), allowing concentrated practice in a controlled environment. Professional teams use nets differently from club teams. At international level, nets are targeted: a batsman working on a specific weakness (say, handling short balls from left-arm pace) will face exclusively that type of delivery from coaches or left-arm bowlers in the squad. Generic 'knock about' net practice is largely a thing of the past at elite level. Net sessions are timed: typically 20–30 minutes per batsman, two sessions per day on touring (morning preparation, optional afternoon session). Quality of balls faced matters more than quantity.

Throwdowns and Bowling Machines

Throwdowns — deliveries from a coach or specialist thrower using an underarm or sidearm motion at higher pace than they could bowl — provide batsmen with specific movement patterns without placing bowling strain on valuable bowlers. Specialist throwdown coaches (often former fast bowlers or fielding coaches with strong throwing arms) deliver hundreds of balls per session, replicating specific deliveries: the inswinging yorker, the short ball rising at shoulder height, the off-cutter. Bowling machines — which can be set to deliver at specific speed, angle, and spin — allow for extreme repetition. They are particularly useful for facing very fast bowling (120mph+ deliveries) that no net bowler can replicate, and for training against spin in specific trajectory shapes.

Shadow Batting and Visualisation

Elite batsmen practice shadow batting — performing their batting shots without a ball, in front of mirrors or video cameras — to refine their movement patterns and muscle memory. Rahul Dravid's famous pre-sleep routine involved shadow batting in the hotel corridor, working through deliveries he anticipated in the next day's play. Video analysis is now standard: batsmen review footage of their own technique, identify patterns (a tendency to fall away off a back-foot shot, a slight gap between bat and front pad), and work on corrections in throwdowns or nets. Visualisation — mentally playing through the next day's batting innings, imagining the bowlers they will face and the shots they will play — is explicitly trained by sports psychologists with many international teams.

Physical Conditioning

Modern cricket fitness has transformed since the late 1990s. The era of cricketers who would smoke in the dressing room and drink beer after matches (which describes much of county and international cricket through the 1980s) is completely gone at elite level. International cricketers now follow strength and conditioning programmes comparable to professional footballers: gym sessions focused on explosive power, injury prevention (core stability, hamstring strength — the most common injury in cricket), and cardiovascular fitness for long fielding sessions. Body composition targets for pace bowlers focus on power-to-weight ratios; batsmen need explosive lower-body power for running between wickets.

Mental Skills Training

Mental skills training — once considered 'soft' or secondary to technical training — is now a central part of professional cricket preparation. Teams carry full-time sports psychologists. Training includes: pressure simulation drills in nets (the last over of a T20 training match, held in front of the whole squad); deliberate failure exercises where batsmen are put out immediately and must bowl again without dwelling on the dismissal; mindfulness training for managing pressure between deliveries; and strategic planning sessions where batsmen and bowlers develop specific match plans for specific opponents. The Australian team's preparation for the 2021 Ashes, for example, included extended mental skills work focused on managing the pressure of playing England at home — a scenario they had not navigated since 2017.