Cricket | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Become a Better Spinner with This Free 8 Week Course of Tips and Drills

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Sometimes as a spinner you wonder if it’s all worth it.

Your well planned stock ball is thumped by a slogger over deep midwicket and your captain puts his hands on his hips as if it’s somehow your fault.

And there are still 4 balls left in the over.

It’s enough to drive anyone to bowling miserly medium pace.

Except you are not like that; you love the challenge of bowling spin.

Tactics You Should be Using: Relay Throws

It’s quite the feat of fielding skill and power to slam the ball into the keeper’s gloves from the boundary edge. But in real life, there are precious few who have such a bullet arm.

That’s where the relay throw comes in.

But it’s not just about covering a bad arm: the relay throw is also a tactical fielding technique.

As you know, a relay throw is any throw where two fielders team up to return the ball to the stumps.

Cricket Show 123: Sightscreens Blowing Past the Window

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It’s the height of summer in the UK so we are experiencing monsoon conditions. Undaunted by the weather Burners and David discuss all manner of cricket coaching, playing and watching.

We look at the big international series as England challenge India for the Test number 1 spot and try to work out what a bowling “enforcer” really does.

Plus Craig Wright gives us a few tips on how to be a club captain.

And of course we have your questions where we discuss how to stop getting bogged down as a batsman and how to get selected for rep level cricket. 

Ask the Readers: Set a Seam Bowler Field and Win a Prize

It’s been a while since I asked for your help in return for some online cricket coaching; but now the time has come again.

I need your help with setting a field for another new player in my team. Yes, this is a real life problem.

Like last time with our left-arm spinner, we have a new bowler.

So the question is:

What is the best field for a medium pace seam bowler in a club league match?

How to be a Cricket Ninja

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Ninjas were the greatest warriors in the history of the world.

They were the original results guys: they didn’t care if their methods appeared unorthodox or devious because they got the job done.

They did it so well that at the time it was assumed they had supernatural powers.

It’s this extreme level of skill combined with the philosophy that “anything goes” that made the ninjas such a force in feudal Japan.

Here’s A Template for Using Powerlifting for Maximum Cricket Power

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This is a guest article by powerlifter and club cricketer Brian Wardle.

Cricket Show 122: Joey Arrives and Last Man Stands

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The show is invaded by an Aussie stowaway as Burners returns from his journey down under.

But there is plenty of coaching advice too.

Burner’s gives us the inside track on grass-roots reaction to the BBL Twenty20 tournament. Is it the death knell for longer forms of cricket?

Plus we answer questions on the non-bowling arm and how to bowl to tail-enders.

Finally, the interview this week is about tactics in the new Last Man Stands format of the game. It’s a great way to get a game done in 2 hours after work. 

How to Give the Lad a Go

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The jump from junior to senior cricket is a big one. Many don’t make it and are lost to cricket; dropping out when they finish the colts game.

That’s why it’s so important for senior players in the lower teams to make the transition to adult games easy for the lads (it’s usually lads).

It’s all too simple to pick an enthusiastic – or bully a less enthusiastic – player and forget about him.

Tactics You Should be Using: Finish with Spin

Think of the death of a typical top-level one day game: The quicks always finish the game.

It makes sense to follow their lead at club level.

Except club cricket is a different game and, in fact, spinners are far the better option to finish off an innings and get the win.

The possibility of the draw means batsmen can shut up shop and aim to just not lose the game. This is much easier against club seam bowlers with an old ball that it is against spin.

Fielding Drills: Square Game

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This drill is part of the PitchVision Academy fielding drills series, for more in this series click here.

Purpose: To practice a range of fielding skills at once under pressure; the pickup and underarm throw, running and throwing and chase and return.

Description: The wicketkeeper rolls a ball out in one of the 4 angles shown below. Each roll has a different reaction: