My son is only 12 and I’d like to ask about the best way to teach him how to hold a cricket bat.
Also, should he backlift be straight towards the wicket keeper or on an angle towards the slips. Thank you

The best way to teach a young player how to hold a cricket bat is to lay the bat face down on the ground.

Ask your son to form a v shape between the thump and forefinger of both hands and pick the bat up. If he is a right-handed batter, his right hand will be on the bottom and left hand at the top.

He can line his grip up with the spine of the bat. If he is right-handed move both hands (the v shape) fractionally to the left. If left-handed move fractionally to the right.

That’s the traditional grip and a great place to start.

Now ask your son to take his batting stance keep the same grip. His back lift, and it’s only a personal opinion, should be towards say 2nd slip.

This will allow him to play both off and leg side shots and keep the bat relatively straight at such a young age.

There are many videos available on YouTube to help – this one by former England batter Mark Ramprakash I found to be quite useful