Cricket | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Specialist Fielding: Catching on the drive

This is part of the specialist fielding series of articles, for the full list of fielding positions covered click here.

Fielding Drills: Long Barrier

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

Purpose: The long barrier is a staple of fielding skills, but really being able to run in, attack the ball and return it quickly takes practice.

Tactics you should be using: Attacking from the boundary

During a match in the 2005 Ashes, the 5th wicket had just fallen and Adam Gilchrist strolled to the crease. The game was in the balance at 208-5. Orthodoxy dictated a couple of slips and a fine leg the only boundary runner.

But Vaughan directed a fielder to deep point.

Critics were up in arms. They accused the skipper of setting a field for bad bowling; a mistake a schoolboy captain would think twice about.

The Don Draper guide to manly cricket

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Don Draper, the brooding lead character in the award-winning TV show Mad Men, is quite the chap to look up to: Handsome, intelligent, masculine.

But what’s that got to do with being a cricketer?

He may be a fictional character from a bygone era, but he has more to do with bowling, batting and fielding than you might think.

Here are two things you can learn about being an exceptional player from everyone’s favourite womanising advertising genius:

PitchVision Academy Live!

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The PitchVision Academy Live! events combine all the benefits of traditional coaching with PitchVision; the interactive technology that seamlessly tracks performance in batting, bowling and fielding.

At traditional coaching sessions a group will get advice and feedback from a coach, but until now there has been no way of measuring success.

Coaching. Technology. Revolution: Now you can experience PitchVision Academy Live!

Due to the unprecedented demand for coaching places at the first event, we are proud to announce a full tour of PitchVision Academy Live!

Now you have your chance to get coaching from PitchVision Academy coaches as we take the event to 5 first-class venues across England.

Duellist or surgeon: What type of pace bowler are you?

Imagine standing at the top of your mark on a warm summer day. The batsman is ready, the keeper and slips are way back in the distance.

You are the one with the ball; all the batsman can do is respond to what you deliver. What happens next is up to you.

But it’s how you view the batsman that is all important to your personality (and success) as a bowler.

What goes into 10,000 hours of practice?

Research has shown that it takes around 10 years of daily practice (2-3 hours a day) to reach the pinnacle of any discipline.

It’s where the famous 10,000 hour rule comes from. It’s a rule so powerful it can make anyone a decent cricketer no matter how much natural talent they have (or lack).

How to bat against left arm bowling

This is part 2 of a 2 part series by Gary Palmer on batting against left arm swing bowling. To go to part 1 click here.

If you can’t play the on drive well you will struggle against left arm over bowlers so go away and work on that shot from the left arm over angle of feed.

In particular, technical points to look for are:

1. Open stance