For players in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, this is the time of year when cricket starts to move from “I should probably do something soon” to “the season is actually coming.”
The kit is still in the bag. The whites might not fit quite the same. The bat needs a check. The bowling boots have probably gone missing. And somewhere in the back of your mind is the slightly uncomfortable thought that the first net is going to feel harder than it should.
That is normal.
The good news is you do not need to panic-train your way into the season. You do not need to bowl a hundred balls tomorrow or bat for two hours on day one. In fact, that is usually the wrong approach.
A good cricket pre-season is not about doing everything at once. It is about building back carefully, choosing a clear focus, and arriving at round one with enough rhythm, confidence and direction to compete properly.
And if you are in the UK, this still applies. You are mid-season rather than pre-season, but the same ideas work as a reset: check what has happened so far, tidy up your training focus, and use the next block of matches better.
Start with an honest cricket check-in
Before you rush into nets, take ten minutes and ask yourself where your cricket actually is.
Not where you wish it was. Not where it was last season. Where it is now.
Ask yourself:
- What went well last season?
- What kept coming up as a problem?
- What did I avoid training?
- What role am I likely to play this season?
- What do I want to be known for in the team?
- What is the one thing that would make the biggest difference early in the season?
That last question matters.
A lot of players go into pre-season with a vague plan: “get better at batting”, “bowl faster”, “be more consistent”, “score more runs”. There is nothing wrong with ambition, but vague goals create vague training.
Try to make it sharper.
Instead of “bat better”, it might be “start innings better against seam”.
Instead of “bowl better”, it might be “hit a fuller length more consistently”.
Instead of “improve fielding”, it might be “attack the ball harder in the ring”.
Pre-season becomes more useful when it has a proper cricket focus.
Do not start at full speed
This is especially important for bowlers.
The first few weeks back are not the time to prove how fit or tough you are. They are the time to build rhythm and load gradually.
For batters, that might mean shorter, higher-quality nets. Start with contact, balance, decision-making and tempo before trying to smash everything.
For bowlers, it means building spells sensibly. The body needs time to adapt to bowling again, especially if you have had a proper break or have been playing another sport.
For fielders, it means getting the hands, feet and throwing arm moving again before expecting match sharpness.
You want to finish early sessions thinking, “I could have done a little more,” not “I have destroyed myself and now need four days to recover.”
That is how good preparation works.
Build a simple four-week focus
A practical way to approach pre-season is to think in four blocks.
Week 1: Find rhythm
This is about getting moving again.
Batters should focus on watching the ball, balance, leaving well and making clean contact.
Bowlers should focus on run-up rhythm, smooth action and control rather than pace.
Fielders should focus on hands, movement, throwing shape and confidence.
The aim is not perfection. The aim is to restart the cricket engine.
Week 2: Add purpose
Now you can make training more specific.
Batters might work on the first 20 balls of an innings, rotating strike, or a known scoring option.
Bowlers might work on hitting a repeatable length, bowling to a field, or building six-ball sets.
Fielders might work on attacking ground balls, catching under pressure, or calling early.
This is where your season focus should start appearing in training.
Week 3: Add pressure
Cricket is not played in perfect net conditions.
Add match-like situations.
Batting: “You are 0 off 8. How do you get moving?”
Bowling: “You have been hit for four. What is your next ball?”
Fielding: “One chance, tired legs, game on the line.”
Pressure does not need to be dramatic. It just needs to make training feel a little more like cricket.
Week 4: Prepare for round one
The final block should be about clarity.
What is your match role? What is your first-game focus? What do you need to trust? What should you stop overthinking?
By this point, you do not need ten new technical ideas. You need a simple plan you can take into the first match.
Match prep starts before match week
A lot of players only think about match preparation the night before the game.
That is too late.
Good match prep starts in training.
If you are likely to open the batting, practise starting an innings. If you are likely to bowl first change, practise coming on when the ball is older and the batters are set. If you are likely to field in the ring, practise the exact fielding skills you will need.
This sounds obvious, but many players train in a way that does not match their role.
They have a hit. They have a bowl. They take a few catches. Then they wonder why match day feels different.
The better question is: “What will my team need from me, and have I trained that?”
Keep fielding in the plan
Fielding is often the first thing squeezed out of pre-season.
That is a mistake.
Early-season fielding can be rusty. Hands are hard. Throws are loose. Players are slow to move. Communication is quiet.
You do not need a huge fielding program. You just need to make it visible.
Add a fielding focus each week:
- Clean pickups
- Catching while moving
- Throwing at one stump
- Backing up
- Calling early
- Attacking the ball
Fielding is also one of the quickest ways to feel involved in a team again. Even if batting or bowling takes time to click, fielding energy can be there from round one.
Set goals that survive the first bad game
A lot of season goals disappear after one poor performance.
That usually means the goal was too fragile.
If your only goal is “score runs”, a low score immediately feels like failure.
A better goal has layers.
Outcome goal: score more runs. Skill goal: start innings better against seam. Habit goal: review every match and train one clear focus each week.
Now one low score does not ruin the season. You still have a process. You still have a way forward.
For bowlers, it might be:
Outcome goal: take more wickets. Skill goal: bowl a fuller stock ball with better control. Habit goal: track bowling load and recovery each week.
For fielding:
Outcome goal: create more run-out and catching chances. Skill goal: move earlier and attack the ball. Habit goal: include one fielding block every week.
That is the kind of goal that survives real cricket.
Track enough to see the pattern
You do not need to log everything.
But you should log enough to understand what is happening.
After training, capture:
- What you worked on
- What felt better
- What still needs work
- How your body felt
- What the next focus is
After matches, capture:
- Your role
- What happened
- What you learned
- What you need to train next
This is where Switch Hit can help. It gives players a simple place to record training, match days, goals, diary notes, workload and AI coaching feedback, so cricket development is not left to memory.
That matters at the start of a season because everything feels new again. If you capture the early weeks properly, you can see whether your preparation is actually turning into performance.
For UK players: use this as a mid-season reset
If you are in the UK, you are not getting ready for the season. You are already in it.
But this is still a good time to reset.
Ask yourself:
- What has the first half of the season shown me?
- What pattern keeps appearing?
- What goal needs adjusting?
- What have I ignored in training?
- What do I want the next month to look like?
A season can drift if you let it. A mid-season reset brings it back under control.
You do not need to reinvent everything. Just choose the next focus and train it properly.
The aim is to arrive ready, not perfect
No player feels completely ready at the start of the season.
There is always something to sharpen. Timing is not quite there. Rhythm comes and goes. The first few matches can feel messy.
That is cricket.
The aim is not to arrive perfect. The aim is to arrive prepared.
Know your role. Build your workload sensibly. Train with purpose. Keep fielding in the plan. Set goals you can actually use. Review what is happening.
Do that, and the season starts to feel less random.
Switch Hit is built for exactly this rhythm: train, capture, review, and know what to work on next.
The season is coming. Start simple. Start now. Make the work count.