Ah nets, the great redeemer. Forgiver of last year’s sins and offerer of future glories. As the new cricket season approaches, it’s a place where the muscle memory is roused from its winter slumber and the excitement for the new season is ratcheted up a notch.

After finishing my second net session, a new tweak to my batting stance has had me spending the rest of the week day dreaming of all the impending runs that will no doubt flow from my bat this year. The fact that I felt less creaky after the session that I did the first is simply proof that those aches were merely a sign of rustiness rather than my age catching up with me.

I was seeing the ball well, making good connections and, on occasion, my feet were even moving. It was the kind of session where everything seemed to click. Even playing around a straight one from our fast bowler didn’t dampen my spirits.

However, all this boundless enthusiasm is tempered by the tricks that nets so often play on cricketers of a certain level. For starters, it is incredibly unlikely I will ever play on a wicket with as much bounce as those in the nets. Early season wickets tend to be green and sticky and any plans for runs off the back foot are openly mocked by a delivery that pitches short of a length and proceeds to rap me on the toes.

Even the nets, the pieces of fabric designed to keep innocent bystanders safe from flayed cricket balls, themselves act as cotton wool for batsmen. As I cut and pull my way to glory in the nets, I become oblivious to the idea that in a real game there are fielders. That short ball I hooked so gloriously? That was caught at deep square leg. That uppish cover drive I hit? There’s a fielder at mid wicket waiting for it.

And I’ll be honest, the shots I play it the nets never translate to the shots I play out in the middle. The only time I’ve ever attempted to dance down the track and whack a spinner saw me clean bowled and red faced.So maybe it’s time to temper the thoughts of quick fire fifties and match winning partnerships and accept that I will almost certainly be out for a duck first game of the season and it will be an uphill battle from there.

That said, the tweak to my stance really has worked wonders. This year is absolutely going to be my year, I can feel it…