How To Improve Hitting For T20 Cricket

There are several things you can work on, in this order ...

1. your Batting Game Plan

2. your Batting Technique

3. your Strength and Conditioning for batting

The first part of your game plan to be aware of is 'getting in', like the other 2 formats you still need to give yourself an opportunity to assess conditions and look at the bowlers pace and angles.


Your time frame is anywhere from 6 - 18 balls based upon conditions and opposition.

You are still looking for scoring opportunities, they are based on your strengths though.

Be aware of your favourite boundary areas and where you are looking to play, it's important you play to your strengths, whether it is front foot drives or back foot cuts and pulls.

You also need to rotate the strike, so be aware of knocking the ball into space so you can get your partner on strike as well. This stops the bowler from being able to build up pressure in the over, you are more likely to get a long hop or half volley this way.

The other thing you can look at is to use the crease to counter swing and to disrupt his length.

One of my favourite batters is Matthew Hayden, as you can see in the attached photo, his game plan was to take the initiative from the bowler straight away. He would go out of his crease and take his stance closer to the bowlers length.Pushing the bowler back off his length and making it difficult for him to swing the ball.

In this photo you can see he developed this as part of his game plan for Test cricket

as well.



This is something you can practice, I would suggest you begin by taking your stance 6 inches out of your crease to start with and see how that effects the bowlers' length and what scoring opportunities it presents.

If you like this, make sure you master it first in practice before you try it in a game.

In 20-20 cricket there is always more time than you think, so take your time, keep your normal pre-shot routine, breathe easy, scan the field properly for space, re-set your focus.

2. Batting Technique : there is a very simple drill to improve your power and length in your hitting.

If you are at a cricket club that has a bowling machine, set it on a full length and set the goal to hit the ball dead straight, as if you are hitting it down the ground to hit the sight screen.

Swing easy, don't look to over hit the ball, relax, watch the ball and look to make good contact, with the goal of hitting it at the sight screen.

This allows you to check your bat swing, you can't hit straight without holding the shape of your shot and making sure you are swinging through the line of the ball.

If you don't have a bowling machine, get a friend or coach to throw some balls to you in the middle and work on the drill in the same way.

You may want to get the thrower to wear a helmet, it can be quite dangerous for them when you are hitting the ball cleanly.

Be patient with this, this will improve your bat swing, weight transfer and challenge you to hold the shape of the shot whilst seeking to generate power.

Over time this will benefit your batting, especially when you start to clear the boundary and your confidence grows in your long ball hitting ability.

Strength and conditioning: your physical strength is important in the power you can generate when batting, have a look at Greg King's conditioning pages here at Cricket Fitness, you can begin these exercises without using any weights as your body is still growing, weight till your older, over 18 to begin to work with weights.