A mate of mine used to fly for one of the budget airlines. He let me into a secret about their landing strategies; they come in very steep in their descent and land heavy, often bouncing a little on the runway before all the wheels are rolling smoothly on the tarmac. The reason, so he claims, is to save fuel. Less time in the air equals less fuel burned.

Many other - premier- airlines companies land with a shallower descent which starts earlier and lands softer.

I often use the "premier or budget" airline analogy when working with fielders around their approach to the ball and their throwing technique.

Budget airline fielding

Many fielders run into the ball, especially when coming in off the boundary rope and end up getting down to the ball late. The reaction of coming in late and steep is that the body has to bounce up during or post pick up.

If you bounce up prior or during pick up then you risk the ball hitting the wrong part of the hand and cannoning out of your grasp. Or missing the ball all together.

If you bounce up slightly after pick up then most of your energy in your body is lost out of the top of the head rather than being driven towards your target and through the back of the ball.

Premier airline fielding

Matthew Hayden was the best Premier airline deep fielder I have seen. Hayden used to approach the ball in a low body posture and scoop the ball up cleanly with lots of flexion in his legs throughout the approach and pick up.

He used to the take a large drive step in a low fashion which drives his weight, momentum and energy towards his eventual target. Then comes a long delivery stride, similar to that of a fast bowler, which helps to kick start the kinetic chain from ground to ball release.

Once this mass of energy has released the ball, he steps forward and begins to put the brakes on in his follow through. His initial follow through step almost throws him off of his feet. The subsequent steps are there to regain balance.

Hayden's movement looked more like a Baseball outfielder than a conventional deep fielder and has since caught on with other elite cricketers around the world.

Premier fielding drills

So what language and drills can we put around fielders to encourage this kind of associated movement throwing action?

"Imagine that you are entering a low tunnel as you approach the ball. The tunnels continues until you near release. Drive low until you release the ball. Your aim is to keep your head from banging on the tunnel roof"

Side on footage of their previous throws compared with the tunnel throws are telling. Repetition of this has proven to overlay good habit on top of good habit.

The other thing that we do is get some intervention poles lined up as the tunnel. We then mark the height of the "tunnel" for that the specific fielder with a thick elastic band on each pole facing the camera. We can then track the movements and throw itself on the video and have the elastic band markers to calibrate against.

It's a great drill, good use of markers, fantastic with video next to it and achieves results.

This will take your long throws into the "Premier Airline" category in no time.