As a cricketer, especially for a wicket keeper, the position and balance behind the stumps is key. Now that we’re familiar with different fielding drills, it’s time to move on to keeping wickets like a professional. Let’s get started.

We hope the last post about fielding drills was a great one, especially if you’re an aspiring fielder. Today’s post, however, is for inspired wicket keepers to hone their craft and become great at the basics. For the first drill, ask your friend with the bat to hit the ball directly at you or on either side of the stumps. This can help you improve your reaction time. Always remember, as a wicket keeper, your position is key.

The next drill is quite similar to one of the fielding drills in the last blog. Ask your coach to throw balls at you. However, for the challenge, face the opposite direction and not directly at your coach. Now, as your coach says the word “turn”, quickly turn around and transition into a crouched wicket keeping stance. The intention of this drill is to test your reaction time, especially while trying to predict the direction of the ball.

Remember that if you turn around and stand straight, catching balls that are aimed lower than your waist can be a challenge. For the next drill, it’s about preparing you for the blind spot. Yes, it’s wicket keeping to spin bowling. Now, as a wicket keeper standing close to the stumps, predicting the direction of the ball that spins both ways can be challenging. Furthermore, this exercise can test your reaction time too as you might want to get better at collecting the ball on the off side and the leg side of the stumps.

For this drill, call in two friends – one with the bat and one with the ball. Now as your friend throws the ball, ask your friend with the bat to walk down the wicket and miss the ball. This way you can try stumping from the off side and the leg side of the wicket. In order to maintain the best position, mark your position from the off stump and the leg stump.

We are so proud that you’ve come this far as a cricketer. For the last post, we do a quick recap!