Tactics | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

How to Be A Nasty Fast Bowler (When You Are a Nice Guy)

Picture the typical fast bowler personality. You are probably thinking of an angry, red-faced man with a face full of bristling moustache. He is bent on everything short of murder and not short of a few choice words or a bouncer aimed straight at your teeth.

But what if you have a bit of fast bowling talent without the aggressive personality?

Can you ever be a success as a quickie?

Ask the Readers: Swing Bowling Against a Breeze?

Phil sent in a question and, frankly, it's one I thought the PitchVision readers would be able to help.

Here it is:

"Having played league cricket 26 years and taken a wicket or two, I have now moved city. The ground where I now play is very open and there is a strong breeze blowing from left to right. As an away swing bowler I have quickly accepted that I cannot swing it away to a right-hander when the wind is blowing across. Is this incorrect of me? Of course, I would assume a high class swing bowler would have no trouble but I am unsure whether it is possible or not"

So, what do you think?

No Plan Survives Enemy Contact: So Why Plan?

Filed in:

Helmuth von Moltke was a Field Marshall and brilliant war strategist in the 19th Century. He first coined the term "no plan survives contact with the enemy". He was absolutely right and his ideas are still used in war planning.

It's just the same in cricket as it is in war. No matter how much you plan, theorise and try to stick to a strategy, the game always takes it's on direction and momentum.

Which begs the question; why bother to plan at all?

How to Plot a Stumping

Menno Gazendam is author of Spin Bowling Project. Get your free 8 week spin bowling course here

Stumping is a way you can get one up on your quick buddies. It's an extra dismissal type that quick bowlers do not have access.

The things about stumpings are that many spin bowlers do not plan for it. They simply see it as something that happens when the batsmen charges them and misses the ball.

While I do love the fact when a batsman looks silly after charging me and getting stumped you do not have to wait for moments like this to get them stumped.

Coaching the Ashes: Use 4th Inning Test Skills to Win Your Matches

What an epic 1st Test Match in the 2013 Ashes.

What an epic final innings.

As a coach, I couldn't help noticing how many of the skills and tactics of the match could be utilised by all teams at some stage in the coming weeks. Here are the lessons from that Test match that you can take into your next match:

Are You Sabotaging Your Chances of Getting Swing?

The sun beats down on a warm afternoon and you are in the middle of an opening spell. The ball is new, the pitch is firm and the batters have set their jaws to dig in hard.

You are desperate to find that bit of swing to make all the difference to your attack.

The call goes up for which side needs shining from the senior player at gully, "look after the dragon, guys" he insists, before rubbing the side of the ball imprinted with a golden dragon on the dark red leather.

The Curse of Injury, and The Opportunity it Brings

It's can be a coaches' worst nightmare to lose the teams best player or captain ahead of a crucial match.

Australia are not the only team to suffer a crucial injury leading into a high profile series.

Batting Tactics that Keep Captains Awake at Night

This afternoon, I had a conversation with ex-England captain, Michael Vaughan about the impact on batting tactics and shot execution in limited over cricket.

We discussed how - tactically - the game has gone full circle. The new ODI regulations have influenced the renaissance of an age old limited overs adage.

Keeping wickets is, once again, the holy grail of batting.

5 Coaching Lessons from the IPL Final

The IPL seems a long way from the cricket we play. But it is the same game with the same size pitch, balls and stumps.

It's just the players are a bit better.

So there is bound to be lessons guys like Dhoni, Malinga, Pollard and Morkel can teach us. Even if we may never play at Eden Gardens in front of 60,000.

Here are 5 universal things that I think we can take into our next game, be it a friendly or a vital final:

How to Coach Single Awareness in 4 Simple Steps

Often we concentrate on the boundaries and pay scant regard to singles and developing the art of running between the wickets.

One of the reasons for this is the reliance on standardised nets to develop batting technique rather than incorporating innovative practice and facilitating brilliant cricket discussions to build run scoring awareness.