Net flicks and drill

Cricket nets are many things - from structures that provide physical boundaries to imaginary fielders with a 100% catching rate. They're workshops where cricketers are shaped. They're places where cricketers can be practitioners without having to worry about being performers, though once in a while we're lucky to get a glimpse of what goes on inside them. (The nets, not the cricketers.)

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's that left-hander in the right stall? The otherwise right-handed Alice Capsey trains to to be a back-up left-hand bat for England in the ongoing Women's ODI World Cup. Heather Knight, on the left, simply can't watch.

Somewhere in the matrix is an alternate timeline where Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen swapped places, and Strauss is the one renowned for popularising the switch hit and playing reverse sweeps in Tests.

You can't put Chris Gayle in a box. Or in the nets. Below, the Universe Boss demonstrates how he warps space-time with his shots.

In the age of T20, though, nets are about as useful as a textbook on defence to the average power-hitter who can clear the stands with a well-timed shot.

Watching Nasser Hussain block and block at training might not be first-choice entertainment for even the most ardent cricket fan but these photographers at Edgbaston are absolutely riveted.

Extra cover for silly point - below, former New South Wales cricketer Rodney Davison uses the SCG nets as a second line of defence and a means to spare himself some running.

The nets are a safe space for batters and bowlers. Fast bowlers are allowed to cross lines they wouldn't be able to elsewhere, overstep the mark, take big leaps, and test their limits. It clearly worked for Mitchell Johnson, whose missteps in the nets didn't translate into no-balls on the field at the 2015 men's ODI World Cup. He took Virat Kohli's and Kane Williamson's wickets in the semi-final and final respectively to help Australia win the title.

Part of the immense lore of Don Bradman is the story of him, as a young boy practising hitting a golf ball bounced off a rainwater tank in his backyard using a stump as bat. It's supposedly what developed his incredible hand-eye co-ordination, and if it's good enough for the Don, it's good enough for Bangladesh batter Mehrab Hossain, who attempted it at indoor nets in Colombo.

Everyone talks about the most beautiful cricket stadiums, but don't sleep on the equally picturesque outdoor nets. Below, England look like they were having a workcation in Kingstown, though they were there for the men's ODI World Cup in 2007.