We are very lucky to have space outdoors to play. While Dylan being a typical 10 year old would love nothing more than to be glued to his Xbox for hours, he does, without too much coaxing, love playing out.

He’s absolutely football mad, I admit that this may have been nurtured by me, but it wasn’t exactly hard. He knows all the players, follows the gossip and loves to play in goal. While I’ve always loved the game, it was really not my sport in terms of playing. No, my love, was a smaller, harder ball, a stretch of grass and the sound of leather on willow. Cricket for me, was Summer.

Net World Sports approached at the exact same time as Dylan’s interest in Cricket has been sparked. The cricket World Cup imminent, cricket club starting at school, it was inevitable that we turned up at the local club on the weekend. They asked us to review their Garden Cricket set and Rapidfire Rebound Net (Double-Sided). Both have proved invaluable in Dylans progress in learning the intricacies of the game.

The re-bounder is fantastic, simple but so effective. The most important skill to learn is catching the ball and this piece of equipment is perfect. Not only with a cricket ball, our aspiring goalie has been using it to practice his shot stopping skills also. From a cricket stance I’ve been standing behind Dylan and throwing the ball at the re-bounder and he then catches the ball. It improves reflexes, hand-eye coordination and catching technique.

The garden cricket set is very well made, the bats sturdy, the balls soft enough not to have to worry about smashed windows but firm enough to be able to bowl properly. Again for our novice it is an excellent introduction to holding the bat correctly and playing cricket shots. It comes with two bats, two sets of stumps and stands, bails and two practice cricket balls. It packs down into its bag and can be easily taken to the park or to the beach.

Overall a fantastic set that will give any aspiring cricketer great foundations into what will be a lifelong love of the game. For more information on all the products, head to the Net World Sports website.

The cricket set and re-bounder kindly gifted for the purpose of a review