Masterclasses

Cricket masterclass

Physical development

﻿Our Masterclass number six is brought to us by England cricketer Danni Wyatt. A massive thank you to Danni for providing us with this amazing session. Hi everyone! Today's cricket's masterclass is brought to us by Danni Wyatt, who's a world cup winner. So look forward to hearing all about her career highlights and some top tips to how we can improve our cricket skills.

Hi guys. How are you doing? Danni Wyatt here. Hope you're all well at National Oak Academy. Yeah, play cricket for England Ladies, and... I'm going to give you an insight into my England career and any tips that I can think of. So I'm currently 29 years old and I made my debut for England in 2010. So when I was only 18 years old, I got the England call up back in Sydney. I was actually on holiday, on the beach, on Bondai, sunning it off. And the coach at the time, Mott Lane rang me and said, "Hey Danni, we would love to have you on our tour to India." And I was like, oh gosh. Wow. I couldn't believe it. Yeah. I can't really remember the feeling exactly, but I remember ringing my mom and dad's straightaway and they were absolutely over the moon. Didn't think I'd ever get picked for England, especially so young as well. And I've been lucky enough now to played.... Oh god, I think I've played over a hundred T 20 internationals for England. Think I'm the- think I'm the overall.... T 20 play I've played the most he 20 cups ever for England, which is quite an achievement, actually. I've got a number of career highlights that I've wrote down here. So the number one career that I can remember was back when I was 13 years old and I hit three hundreds in a row for my county stafficture. Yeah, that was incredible, really. And I think there were, I think there were 30 over games back then. I was leading wicket taker in the under 21 European championships for England when I was 15 years old. So I was a bowler back then who could bat a little bit. I know, a batter doesn't really bowl, who had a goal in the net. How things changed. Weird. I was a Ashes winner in 2013 and the next year in 2014, double Ashes winner. I was the first England player to get a T 2000 in the ashes in 2017 in Cambra. It was a night game. And I remember it very well and it wasn't that long ago actually, but yeah, everything just came off that night and it was incredible to win the game as well. And to draw the ashes was, yeah, I don't think you'll ever get better than that. Well then the one and then two games later, I went and got my second T 2000 against India in Mumbai, on a very hot day. And my dad was in the stands watching me. So that was really special. I was World Cup winner in 2017 and I was a, I was the KSL player tournament in 2019, so last summer. I've been in the ICC T 20, team of the year for two years, which was 2017 and 2018. So that's like the best team ever in the world. So that's a, an honour to be in that team of the year. And I was in the big bash team of the year, last year as well. So yeah, I've got a number of achievements that I can be very proud of and hopefully I'll keep adding to that list in my next few years of my career.

Danny has played her country England for over 10 years. And in this time cricket has taken it all around the world, playing in India, Australia, and lots of other places. A highlight of Danny's career has been to win the world cup in 2017. She has played over a hundred times for her country and is the most kept player for 2020 cricket, which is an amazing achievement. And she scores lots and lots of runs.

So yeah, I'm going to give you a few tips. I still have a good life off the field as well. And I do take it seriously when I train, but I know what I want to work on now. So I go into training with a clear plan. I know what to work on. So in Monday session, when I go to the oval, I'll tell the coach, I want to work on legside play. I want you to throw balls in my legs or anything straight, or I hit past the bowler, not flick, and keep working on hitting straight. And I know what drills to do as well. So I did a lot of top hand and bottom hand drills, just get a partner to just underarm, so i'll drop feeds and have solid base, bang, bang, bang... You know, it makes your hands work together. And obviously you go on to two hand after that. So yeah, it's a matter of knowing what works for you. As I say, I've been playing for England for 10, 11 years now, and you do learn over the years, what works for you. And you get a lot of coaches telling you different things and it doesn't always work for you, only you know what works for you, so remember that. And I broke my wrist when I was 10, and I've had some many coaches in the past tell me different ways to hold the bat, and it's not comfortable for me. So I've just got away and use the bat the way I want to. And it's worked. So obviously listen to coaches, but also think about what they're saying and what works for you as well then.

Danni has lots of advice and top tips for us. Some of the main ones been to make sure we practise as much as we can and lots of repetitive drills to help us build our skills. She tells us to be as happy as we possibly can. And that generally helps us play our best when we get on the pitch and to always enjoy playing crickets and sports. Her final tip is to listen to our coaches and the great things that they tell us. If your child would like to practise the skills from our masterclass, please remember to... Ensure the area is safe and that your child is feeling fit and well to take part in the lesson. Check you are wearing the right clothes for sports and physical activity. And I'd encourage your child to be as independent as possible with this. Share your work with Oak National. If you'd like to please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Twitter, tagging at Oak National and using the hashtag, #Learn with Oak. We'd love to see your brilliant cricketing skills.

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