Front-foot play lives or dies on two things the drills below attack directly: a stride that actually reaches the pitch of the ball and a head that finishes over the front knee. Everything else — the full face, the timing, the follow-through — tends to fall into place once those two are honest. All five drills work in a garage, a garden or a net lane.
Head, not bat. Film side-on and pause at contact: the head should be level with or ahead of the front knee. Everything cosmetic follows from that one frame.
The stride direction. At the ball, not down a pre-decided line — a stride to middle against a wide half-volley is a reach, not a drive.
Balance at the finish. Toppling off-side after contact means the head went past the ball; falling leg-side means it never arrived.
Long enough to get your head to the pitch of THAT ball — there is no fixed inches answer. The cone drill exists because most batters' calibration is off: what feels like a big stride on the crease usually measures a bat's-width short on film.
Four of the five, yes — the shadow stride, your own drop-ball, the wall rebound and the gap check are fully solo. That's deliberate: front-foot faults are grooved alone in minutes a day, not fixed in one weekly net.
The one-line half-volley block, with the checked-drive test: if the ball floats, you're decelerating into contact. Commit through the ball — full follow-through, head staying down — or choose the defence instead. The caught-in-the-ring guide covers why the half-drive is the worst option.
Sticks works anywhere you can swing a bat — at the nets, or at home with nobody bowling. It watches through your phone and speaks this kind of coaching out loud, one focus per shot — in English or Hindi. Video never leaves your phone, and it's free while Sticks is in beta.