It’s a mantra as old as overarm bowling: Put the ball on a good length for long enough and you will get your rewards. But in a world of slower balls, bouncers and inswinging yorkers, it’s an ideal we have forgotten.

Take Stuart Broad as an example. The England bowler spent a long time trying to work out what kind of role he had. Was he the enforcer; there to bowl bouncers and scare batsmen? Was he a line and length man; using swing and seam movement? How did this role change between formats, if at all?

This week’s winner of the Cricket Show podcast question competition is Mohan. He wins a free coaching course from PitchVision Academy.

"What is the difference between an offcutter and inswinger, as well as legcutter and outswinger? How can we pick inswing and outswing from bowlers hand?"

Listen to the panel’s answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here. 

There is a simple shorthand for what defines a good coach: reputation is everything. We look at a player’s first-class or International record and that helps us decide if we should follow his advice.

But you wouldn’t go to the dentist of you had a broken leg. So why go to a former player to fix your broken technique?

Of course, experience goes a long way but coaching cricket is a completely different set of skills than playing.

Everyone knows that line and length are the keys to bowling success, but if you had to choose one over the other, which would win?

The panel discuss the matter this week alongside the usual features including questions about bowling into the wind and the difference between cut and swing (for bowlers and batsmen). It’s a bleter this week so get downloading!

It doesn’t matter how good a coach you have, because when you cross the white line it’s all down to you. No coach can play for you. You have to learn to understand your own game because you can adapt to the changes proposed by your coaches.

But in today's cricket world, a keen self-understanding is uncommon.

Meanwhile in the academic world the opposite is true.  Schools and Universities specialise in teaching skills then measuring how well you have learned through exams and coursework.

The great thing about standing up sessions is that they should never be dull: you can create lots of distraction, different spins and bounce types with the overall aim to be to overload the keeper so that the practice is tougher than the actual match.

We still need to keep the drills relative and functional to match play, yet feel free to let that imagination run wild.

Back in the good old days if you got a good length ball on off stump you dutifully played a forward defence, respected the bowler and waited patiently for a half volley to drive.

Tell that to Sehwag, McCullum or Warner; aggressive IPL superstars who are happy putting a length ball into the stands, even if it’s in the third over.

Karl Stevenson is a sports psychologist, who has been researching the ins and outs of anticipation and decision making skill in cricket batting. He has worked with top-flight county teams as well as teaming up with the ECB.

In a recent interview, we got some tips from the lab that can be used on the pitch:

This week’s winner of the Cricket Show podcast question competition is Naveen. He wins a free coaching course from PitchVision Academy.

"While playing in Twenty20, What do you think should be role of the top order? Should they go after the bowling initially even if it requires taking chances or should they wait for the bowlers to bowl loose deliveries and give the team a steady start?"

Listen to the panel’s answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here. 

Club cricket in some parts of India is almost extinct. So this week the team discuss the how to beat the system and become an Indian cricketer if you are not picked up early.

There are also questions from Indian listeners on opening tactics for Twenty20 batsmen and how to stay in form during the off-season. Listen to the show for the panel’s answers.