Admit it, you need to run better.

There’s that one person in your cricket team who always seems to be run out or run you out. What a pain.

You say it’s important, but when did you last work on it with full focus? Who has time?

Running between the wickets is hard to train, so you leave it and hope you’ll magically get better. Then you get three run outs in a match and tear your hair out.

I’m not going to sugar coat it: You have to work on running to get better at running between the wickets. That’s cricket for you.

This is not just to stop the brain-freeze moments, but also to pick up more runs. The average team faces over 200 dots in a 50 over match. Turn just 20 of those into singles and you increase your score by far more than 20.

Here is how to boost your cricket with better running.

Focus on running

The most important drill is not a drill: it’s focus.

If you do some running at every session you will get better at running. Not only does it show how important you consider running for cricket success, but also it gives you “time on task”.

You’ll hear excuses. You’ll make excuses. Someone will say “but I get to face fewer balls if we do this.” Others will claim “I don’t need to work on this, I never get run out.” Some joker will point out “It’s not realistic.”

Shut up.

Get on with it.

I’ll tell you what causes you to face fewer balls. Getting run out. I’ll ask you how much better your average would be if you picked up five more singles a match, regardless of run outs. I’ll remind you that it’s not realistic to hit balls in nets for 10 minutes either but you do not seem to mind that.

Like I say - in the nicest possible way - get on with it. It’s either your focus or it is not. What are your team’s goals?

If you truly want to be better as a team. Get some focus and throw yourself in. It’s not clean, it’s not easy and it’s not always what you want as an individual batsman. Go with it. For the sake of your cricket team.

Time and compare

The best judges of a run know exactly how long it takes them to make a single, a double and a triple.

Most guys learn by trial and error in games. But you can recreate the trial and error with a drill. It combines fielding practice with a bit of running. You break it into two, first timing how fast you run with a stopwatch, then seeing how fast a fielder can get the ball to the stumps.

Here is the drill in full.

What you quickly see is how tough it is most of the time for a fielder to get a run out. A half a second difference is HUGE. It starts the process of building confidence that you can make it.

But you can’t stop there. We need to put it together.

Decisions are the difference

No matter how quick you are, or how often you see a fielder struggle, the real practice of running has to be based in the messy process of cricket decision-making.

Think about how much your brain has to do in the few moments of taking a single.

• Focus on the ball, pick up line and length from the bowler.
• Choose an appropriate shot, attempt to play it.
• Process how well you hit it and what direction it went.
• Notice the fielder’s position and movement and decide if a run is on.
• Call decisively and set off, listening for your partner’s cancellation.
• Get to the other end!

That’s a lot of fast decisions in a very chaotic situation.

So, practice in chaotic situations.

Clearly middle practice is best, especially well-designed intense practice like battle zone cricket. This drill focuses on picking up singles as much as possible with fielders trying to run you out. If you get the balance right between bat and ball you will find fast development in your running decision making.

You can play with the way you do this to make it more or less challenging.

• What difference does a sidearm or bowling machine feed make?
• How do more or less fielders chance the decision-making process?
• What if you cut off certain areas of the field?
• Or make certain areas “better” for scoring?
• How does fielder skill and intensity balance against batsman skill and intensity?
• Does the type of ball make a difference?

By working hard to keep it a challenge, you are constantly adjusting and adapting and challenging yourself. By the time you have done this a few times, a game will seem calm and simple in comparison!

I would strongly recommend videoing the session - ideally with with PV/MATCH - and reviewing how you did afterwards. Action is nothing without reflection.

But wait, I hear you cry, we only do nets! How do I do this in nets?

Don’t panic, you’re not alone.

Running in nets

Nets are a challenge for running skills.

I applaud those who try by doing the “bat in pairs, run every third ball” game. It’s at least an effort, albeit a rather ineffective one. There’s no link between hitting and running so there is no judgement.

The good news is you can use target batting to make it miles better.

The basic idea is simple: Set a target and when you hit the ball into that target you run.

You can use cones, string or even tape to mark the spot.

The connection between hitting a spot, making a decision and calling a run is still there, even if it’s not quite the same.

To advance it further, there are loads of other tweaks you can make.

• Keep score to see who does best. You can do this with PV/ONE.
• Push yourself for half-hearted calling and running. Make a “run out” rule for losing points unless you call clearly and run hard.
• Make the targets smaller or bigger.
• Make it a competition between batsmen and bowlers with points for bowling success and points for running success.

You get the idea. If the game is working as it is, keep going. If you feel it’s not engaging you, change it until it is. You have the control.

The bottom line with all this is that it is simple, but not easy.

It’s hard to set up, it’s hard to stay focused throughout the session, it’s hard to adapt and change as you go to make it better.

But remember, you have to control over your focus and the way you practice.

So, take control, pick up some extra runs and enjoy the competition of practice too.