Cricket Photography

This is my first time in this forum. I have a Canon 5D and do a lot of cricket photography for my sons junior club. I have been using a 100-400mm lens and have just ordered my dream lense, the 600mm. I am very excited about how close I will be able to get to the action.
I have a good knowledge of the game, so that helps. To be honest, in the past I have just been using an automatic setting, but I know I am not getting the best out of my 5D. As a mother, my interest started as taking photographs of my son, but now it is turning into a more serious hobby. I need advise on what camera settings I should be using. I have found that my photographs of batsmen with helmets on, the faces are too dark, and the whites too white. I would really appreciate any advice, as the 600mm is a serious lense, not to mention expensive, so I want to take best advantage of it. I live in Brisbane Australia.

I think by posting some of your pics would help with responses

Wow, a 600mm lens, that's serious! I'm a cricket fan, but have never tried any cricket photogrpahy (or sports photography in general).

For composition ideas, have a look at www.cricinfo.com. Maybe they shoot from certain angles to avoid the helmet/face problems you mention. Post some sample shots and maybe others more experienced with sports photography can help.

Here's some links for you:

Q & A With Gmen: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=116971
Sports tutorials etc: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=135417

These 2 links pretty much have all you'll need to know.

However, I shoot cricket with my 30D + 70-300 lens and while the lens is not as good as I'd like, the photos I get are ok.

These are the settings I use:
I shoot in Manual and set my shutter speed and aperture and will push up my iso if needs be. As my 70-300 lens is not the greatest at a wide aperture I stop it down to around f8 but your 600mm lens will be fine wide open. Spot meter from the whites and make sure these are not getting blown. My af preference is for single shot af as I'm concentrating mainly on the batsman at the crease, and I use high speed continuous shooting. Set the white balance for the conditions and shoot in jpeg.

You can see how I do here: http://www.eastrycrick​etclub.com/ECC%20Galle​ries.html

I hope to upgrade to a 70-200 f2.8L IS + t-con soon.

Here's an easy way to get the right exposure:
First set the f-stop & shutter speed you need. Then adjust the ISO.
Need an exposure crutch?

Gavin shoots a lot at high ISO & provides fun captions as well. The first & many other images are at ISO Speed Ratings = 1600!
The week's sporting events in images...

Notice that this is the 2nd recommendation for Gavin's (Gmen) info?