Joe had his 14 birthday a couple of weeks ago and got a new bat - only a cheap Slazenger Kasmir job, but we've put a lot of work into preparing it ready to be used, knocking it in and oiling it and covering with face tape and fibre glass tape on the edges. In part this was just an attempt to enthuse him with regards to batting because like Ben he'll hide at No.11 and says that he prefers not to bat, but 95% in net situations he bats far better than me and sells himself short. He does the same thing in his age group games.
So far, so good; having spent all the time preparing the bat he's been pretty enthusiastic about putting it to use, so on Wednesday evening (Training night under 15's and adults) we went along with a bucket of balls and a sidearm and had a net all to ourselves and he did quite well and was obviously enthused. This then allowed me to get him again to bat and this morning we got up and went over Mopises with a bucket of balls again and spent an hour and again - obvious improvement and visible increased confidence, which was good to see.
We'll do the same again tomorrow for an hour or so and I'll up the speed with the side arm.
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