PitchVision batting coach Gary Palmer has been causing a bit of a stir.

After years of experimenting and developing he has come up with the ultimate batting session.

A batting session that is so effective and so complete he has been showing it to open-mouthed coaches at several first-class counties.

But here is the kicker; it teaches you to bat in a way that has never been taught before.

Gary calls it 4 Angles, and it’s the only session you will ever need as a coach or a player.

Not being able to score runs is painful. I’m sure you have experienced something similar to Kevin Pietersen and his slump as England play Pakistan.

59 runs in 6 innings? Awful; especially when you decide the best form of defence is attack and hook straight down deep square leg’s throat.

So what are KP and his coaches Andy Flower and Graham Gooch going to do about it?

When you bake a cake you don’t wait until it’s in the oven before making it taste good. A good cake is all in the preparation.

Cricket is just the same. When you put in the work mixing the right ingredients, you know you will be proud of the results.

So, if the weeks before the season starts is the prep time of cricket, what are the ingredients?

Cricket is a simple game, but getting good during preseason gets complex when you look at the hundreds of different methods espoused by coaches and fitness gurus.

These are the things I have tried and tested over a 20 year period as both a cricket coach and fitness trainer.

Controversial? Only if you don’t follow the evidence.

I stand by every one (and have made them all at one point or another).

I read that 5 million people worldwide woke up on Christmas morning to a Kindle eBook reader. Who knows how many millions got their hands on an iPad or other tablet with a Kindle app ready to go.

Great gifts, but you need something to put on them.

There are two types of fielders; people who are allowed to field in the slips and those who aren’t.

This is more down to the fielder’s reactions that their ability to catch.

The edge that flies straight into the body is regulation for the slip fielder, but many club and Academy cricketers struggle to react to catches either side of their body simply because of the variation in the pitch.

The more variation in the pitch the greater variation in the carrying edge.

Imagine you scored 220 of your 50 overs and you now have the opposition 185-8 with 5 overs left.

You’ve bought your openers back on to finish the job, and rudely the last few batsmen are defending like their life depended on it.

You can stick with the strike bowlers and hope the batsmen get bored or the bowlers are fast enough to blast them out.

The game will end in a draw and your hopes of a strong league position fade a little more.

Or you can bring on your more occasional spin bowler.

It’s a simple calculation:

Desmond Haynes was a world-class batsman. He is a world-class coach. The unique skills he can teach are invaluable to any player (or coach) with the desire to improve.

But you will never get to have coaching from him.

This video is the 2^nd free preview of the online coaching course Batting Lion: the Desmond Haynes