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DIY Backyard practice net

DeanWhipper

Cricket Spectator
I'm looking into building my own cheapo backyard net to use a bowling machine in.

At this stage I'm leaning toward PVC piping for the frame, around 3m high, 3m wide and 6 meters long.

The real issue I'm running into is what kind of netting to use, real sports netting costs an absolute fortune, I got quoted around $500AUS for a 10mx10m net, and the only other kind of netting I can get my hands on farm netting to keep birds out, I've bought a small roll of it to do some testing but my hunch is it'll be too weak to withstand my brutal cover drives :p

Also at this point I'm looking at the new bowling machines from the guys behind the Paceman bowling machine Paceman Strike & Pro Bowling Machines on Vimeo Hopefully it'll be $600 or less.

Anybody does this before? Any pointers would be much appreciated.
 

Daemon

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Assuming you're going to buy a small strip of astro, how much will it cost? Just curious as they kept telling us in school it would be way too expensive to replace our worn out pitches.
 

DeanWhipper

Cricket Spectator
I can't afford to buy proper cricket astro, that stuff costs an absolute fortune. But I checked out Bunnings and they have something very very close, it's even the right length (9mm?), it comes in 3m wide strips for about 50~ a meter, so it's going to cost me around 200~ for what I want.

EDIT,

I should probably make myself more clear, I could afford to buy proper cricket astro and netting etc. but half the fun is building it on the cheap.
 
Last edited:

Daemon

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I can't afford to buy proper cricket astro, that stuff costs an absolute fortune. But I checked out Bunnings and they have something very very close, it's even the right length (9mm?), it comes in 3m wide strips for about 50~ a meter, so it's going to cost me around 200~ for what I want.

EDIT,

I should probably make myself more clear, I could afford to buy proper cricket astro and netting etc. but half the fun is building it on the cheap.
Sounds like you'll be spending ~$1000-1200 on this. Not a bad investment at all imo, considering the ridiculous amounts some people spend on certain other gear, especially bats. Put pics up and stuff when you're done, sounds like it'd be fun putting the whole thing together. Wish I had a backyard and could do something similar :(
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
You don't need special netting. Just use wire. More durable and cheaper.

chain_link-fence.jpg

Go to the local demolition yard if there's one near you.
 

DeanWhipper

Cricket Spectator
You don't need special netting. Just use wire. More durable and cheaper.

View attachment 20321

Go to the local demolition yard if there's one near you.

I thought about this option but some friends suggested it was really expensive stuff, got any idea how much it'll cost per meter? The netting I'm looking at would be 200 bucks tops.


Also, yep 1000-1200 is exactly my budget on this project, I'll be sure to post up pics and maybe even some video once it's completed later this year, should be awesome.
 

DeanWhipper

Cricket Spectator
Fencing wire absolutely destroys practise balls, I'd try to get something else if you can.
Ahh good call, I'm thinking if the bird netting I'm sourcing isn't strong enough I'll try getting 3 nets and layer them one over the other, it's unlikely the ball will be able to rip through all 3 layers.

I've also thought about reinforcing the high impact areas (IE cover and midwicket) with something like shade cloth, or hell maybe just a sheet or something to deaden the impact.

Thanks for the input
 

Riggins

International Captain
it doesn't really destroy bowling machine balls in my experience, which you seem to be going for. really ****s up leather ones though, yeah.
 

DeanWhipper

Cricket Spectator
Well yeah I don't think any bowling machines use actual cricket balls, the fact that they arn't perfectly round would probably make them do really funny stuff off the pitch, and at 150kph you'd be in some trouble.

One drawback of fence wire is that it would need a pretty tough frame to attach to, given how heavy it would be and all that. My PVC piping idea would probably not be able to hold the weight.

One other cool thing I just thought of, wonder if you could put a slips cradle in the net and aim the bowling machine at it to give you catching practice, that would be pretty damn awesome. It would be even more awesome to practice keeping in.
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
One other cool thing I just thought of, wonder if you could put a slips cradle in the net and aim the bowling machine at it to give you catching practice, that would be pretty damn awesome. It would be even more awesome to practice keeping in.
Have done this while drinking beers after training. Best done sober imo.
 

wellAlbidarned

International Coach
Well yeah I don't think any bowling machines use actual cricket balls, the fact that they arn't perfectly round would probably make them do really funny stuff off the pitch, and at 150kph you'd be in some trouble.

One drawback of fence wire is that it would need a pretty tough frame to attach to, given how heavy it would be and all that. My PVC piping idea would probably not be able to hold the weight.

One other cool thing I just thought of, wonder if you could put a slips cradle in the net and aim the bowling machine at it to give you catching practice, that would be pretty damn awesome. It would be even more awesome to practice keeping in.
Hah, yeah, I think lots of international teams do that. If you can catch 160kph, you can catch anything!

wire isn't nearly as bad on arti balls, true. Certainly doesn't extend their life though.
 

DeanWhipper

Cricket Spectator
Got a quote from a netmaker for a 10mx10m actual cricket net, $10 per square meter.

Yeah, 1000 bucks for a net, what a joke.

Looks like the bird netting will have to do
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Must be able to get cheaper than that - what about this outfit? Cricket netting - Cricket Nets. Under 'Netting by the metre' it's $10.50 per 3 square metres.

If you specifically wanted 10m by 10m (i.e. weren't satisfied with 3m widths) then one of the bulk rolls might suffice though it doesn't list the cost.

Anyway, cool project, looking forward to seeing how it goes :thumbsup:
 

DeanWhipper

Cricket Spectator
Must be able to get cheaper than that - what about this outfit? Cricket netting - Cricket Nets. Under 'Netting by the metre' it's $10.50 per 3 square metres.

If you specifically wanted 10m by 10m (i.e. weren't satisfied with 3m widths) then one of the bulk rolls might suffice though it doesn't list the cost.

Anyway, cool project, looking forward to seeing how it goes :thumbsup:
I think I actually got a quote from that site for around the same price aha, weird

Thanks though, pics will go up when I get started
 

DeanWhipper

Cricket Spectator
Update.

Picked up a 10m x 10m heavy duty bird net for $45au~, have done some testing on it, seems to be exactly what I need.

Pulling it tort and absolutely belting cricket balls at it didn't seem to cause any problems.
Worst case scenario to be completely sure I don't have any problems I'll get another 10m x 10m net and double it up, nothing will get through that.

The other issue I've been looking into is noise.

I had a hit at indoor the other day against one of those BOLA machines and it seemed pretty loud, the constant whine it produces isn't SO bad, but the noise when it fires balls out is pretty full on, plus the sound of actually hitting those high density balls is pretty intense, although that might just be the echo of being in a big concrete cave that made it sound that way.

Wouldn't want to piss the neighbors off too bad, might have to look into one of those light ball machines, anybody got any experience with them?
 

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