If you are a cricket coach, chances are you have felt frustrated by the physical level of your players. You might have spent hours working on technique only to see it break down when a young player simply does not have the strength or movement quality to carry it out. Maybe a batter collapses on the back foot because their calves cannot support them, or a bowler loses control of their action because their core gives way. For some players it is the lack of upper body strength that stands out, as they struggle to generate enough power to hit the ball off the square.

These things are not just frustrating for you as a coach. They are frustrating for the player who feels limited, and for the parent who can see their child trying but falling short physically.

This is where strength and conditioning makes such a difference. The role of a coach in this area is not to make a player into a bodybuilder or turn training into something complicated. It is about giving the player the physical tools to carry out the technical skills you are asking of them. Once they have those tools, everything else you are coaching suddenly becomes easier to deliver.

In my own work with hundreds of junior cricketers, I have seen this play out time and again. By focusing on the right physical qualities, players not only become more robust and less prone to injury, they also find that the game becomes more enjoyable. They can bowl with better rhythm, hit the ball harder, move quicker in the field and ultimately express the cricketing skills you are teaching them with more freedom.

When I look at the most common limitations in junior cricketers, three areas come up repeatedly. The first is core strength. The second is reactive strength, which is all about explosiveness. And the third is general movement skills and agility. In this guide I want to break down each of those, explain why they matter, and give you some practical ways to help your players improve them.

Core Strength: Building the Link Between Upper and Lower Body

Core strength is one of the most fundamental qualities for any athlete, yet it is often one of the weakest areas in junior players. The reason it matters so much is simple.

The core is the link between the lower body and the upper body.

Whenever a player rotates through their hips to swing the bat, or pivots over their front leg to deliver the ball, the core is the structure that connects that movement together. If it is weak, the chain breaks, and energy leaks out. If it is strong, the player can transfer force efficiently and safely.

When we talk about core strength in cricket, it is helpful to think in three categories. The first is anti-extension, which is the ability to resist the lower back arching excessively. The second is anti-lateral flexion, which is resisting the tendency to bend sideways, a common fault you will see in bowlers. The third is anti-rotation, which is about keeping the hips and shoulders in line and stopping unnecessary twisting that wastes energy.

A lot of juniors are particularly weak in these areas because of modern lifestyles. They spend long periods sitting down, often slouched, and they simply do not get enough variety of movement. Adults are not immune to this either, but in juniors it is especially noticeable because they are still developing. The result is a lack of control and stability through the trunk.

From a performance point of view, strengthening the core means better control when bowling, more stability when batting and improved posture and efficiency in the field. From an injury prevention point of view, it reduces the load on the lower back, which is one of the most common sites of pain and injury in young cricketers. If the core is not able to do its job, the lower back is forced to take the strain instead, and that is when problems arise.

If I had to choose one physical quality to focus on with every junior cricketer, core strength would be it. Strengthening this area builds a foundation that makes every other part of the game easier and safer.

Reactive Strength: Teaching Players to be Explosive

The second big area where junior cricketers struggle is reactive strength. At its simplest, this means the ability to be explosive and powerful off the floor. If you think about a pogo jump where the goal is to spend as little time on the ground as possible while bouncing back up again, that is reactive strength in action. A lot of juniors, when asked to do this, sink slowly and leak energy. They are not springy, and that lack of reactivity shows up across their game.

Cricket is full of movements that demand quick, explosive reactions. Sprinting, changing direction, back foot contact or the leap to take a catch all depend on reactive strength. The quicker a player can produce force, the sharper and more effective they will be in those moments.

When you look at the best athletes in any sport, they have that springiness. Olympic sprinters and jumpers are prime examples. For cricketers, developing it is just as important. A batter who can snap their hips through explosively will hit the ball harder. A bowler with more arm speed will bowl faster. A fielder with reactivity will cover more ground and get to the ball sooner.

Training reactive strength does not mean complicating things. A simple but highly effective drill is the snap down. Starting tall on the toes with the arms reaching to the sky, the player quickly pulls down into an athletic position, as if they were setting themselves to field a ball. The key is to hit that position sharply, not sink slowly. Once players are comfortable, you can layer in reaction calls where they have to land in different stances depending on the cue. This combines physical development with the ability to react to a stimulus, which is exactly what happens in a game.

By focusing on reactive strength, coaches can help players become quicker, sharper and more athletic. It is one of the qualities that separates an average mover from an outstanding one.

General Movement Skills and Agility

The third area that holds back many juniors is the lack of basic movement skills and agility. A surprising number of players cannot squat with good form, hold a strong lunge, or even do a push-up. Some lack the ability to roll smoothly on the floor or change direction with balance. When you watch them in the field, the deficiencies are clear. They move slowly to the ball, turn like a ship rather than with agility, and struggle to dive or recover quickly.

These limitations usually come down to inactivity and lack of exposure. Children today spend far more time sitting and less time playing physical games that build natural agility. Bad posture and mobility add to the problem. When a coach then asks them to perform a cricket skill that depends on those foundations, such as picking up a ball smoothly and releasing it in one rhythmical motion, it simply is not possible for them to do it well.

Improving general movement skills is not about reinventing the wheel. It is about teaching children to master their own body weight, to control positions, and to move with efficiency. A simple wall drive drill is an excellent way to do this. Leaning into the wall at an angle, the player drives one knee up while keeping the hips tall and the supporting leg strong. Switching legs back and forth builds sprint mechanics, strengthens the calves and glutes, and teaches the whole lower body chain to work together. Not only does this improve movement quality, it also transfers directly into sprinting speed and efficiency on the cricket field.

Helping juniors become better athletes is as important as helping them become better cricketers. Once they can move their body well, everything else improves.

Peak Height Velocity and Long-Term Development

Beyond these three areas, coaches also need to understand the bigger picture of how young athletes develop over time. A key concept here is peak height velocity, often shortened to PHV. This is the period during a growth spurt when a child shoots up in height, typically around age fifteen in boys and a little earlier in girls, although it can vary widely.

Why does this matter? Because the physical qualities and needs of players at different stages of growth are very different. You could have three players the same age, but one pre-PHV, one in the middle of it, and one post-PHV, and each requires a different approach. Pre-PHV, the goal is to build solid movement foundations. During PHV, coordination often falls apart and injury risk goes up, so workload needs to be carefully managed. Post-PHV, players can be treated more like young adults and progressed with more intensity.

What matters is that you treat players as individuals rather than making assumptions based on age alone. I have worked with juniors through all of these stages and the most rewarding thing is seeing how the ones who built their movement skills early, and stayed active through the difficult PHV years, come out the other side as strong, resilient athletes. By sixteen or seventeen some of them are moving weights that many adults could not handle, and they are doing it safely because they have built the right movement qualities.

But this doesn’t mean we need to wrap players in cotton wool. Protecting them from any challenge often does more harm than good. Instead, they should be gradually exposed to the kinds of demands they will face in a game. Jumping, sprinting, landing, changing direction and holding strong body positions are all things they need to practise. Coaches should not fear these things but should manage them sensibly, adjusting volume and intensity as required. That way players build the robustness they need to thrive in cricket and beyond.

Avoiding Common Mistakes

One mistake coaches often make is assuming that technical faults are always technical problems. In reality, many are physical problems in disguise. If a player cannot stabilise their trunk, no amount of coaching cues will fix their bowling action. If a player lacks strength in the calves, they will keep collapsing on the back foot no matter how many times you tell them to stay upright. Recognising when a limitation is physical is crucial.

Another mistake is being too protective. It is natural not to want to hurt a young player, but avoiding physical challenge altogether leaves them unprepared for the demands of the game. Cricket requires sprinting, diving, twisting and turning. If players are not exposed to those movements in training, the risk of injury actually increases when they try them in a match.

The final mistake is over complication. Coaches sometimes feel they need elaborate programmes, but in reality the simplest drills done well are the most effective.

Creating Strong and Resilient Cricketers

When physical development is taken seriously, the payoff is huge. Players not only perform better technically, they also become more resilient. Stronger cores protect the lower back. Better movement skills reduce awkward mechanics. A physically prepared player is a more confident and adaptable player, able to handle the challenges of training and competition.

Building these foundations early creates long-term benefits.

Juniors who enjoy physical training and understand its purpose are more likely to carry those habits into adulthood. That means healthier, fitter cricketers who continue to improve rather than break down.

Final Thoughts: Enhancing Your Coaching with S&C

As a coach, your expertise is in cricket. Players come to you to improve their batting, bowling and fielding. But the reality is that without the right physical base, those technical skills will always be limited. Strength and conditioning is not a distraction from cricket coaching. It is the platform that allows your cricket coaching to really take effect.

The good news is you do not have to design everything from scratch. That is why I created Cricfit Teams, a system built specifically for coaches. It gives you plug-and-play strength and conditioning programmes that can be integrated into your coaching, saving you time and giving your players exactly what they need to develop physically alongside their cricket.

The most simple way to put it is this. You provide the players, and we provide the programmes. If you are serious about helping your players become stronger, faster and more resilient, this is a solution designed for you.