"Bowling sides should have a set of pre-determined plans about how to initiate and maintain an incipient batting collapse: Which bowlers will be used in what order, what will be their role, what field settings are most helpful, optimum rate of overs, and the psychology of inducing 'mental disintegration' among the incoming batters.

"Initiating a batting collapse should be approached as a 'set-piece' - like taking a corner or a free kick in football - by deploying smoothly rehearsed sequences selected from a pre-determined repertoire."

Is a batting collapse similar to a football set piece? If so, is it possible to plan it like Bruce Charlton at The Doosra has suggested?

If you ask me, that's something good captains are already doing at every level.

All international sides now have laptops, analysts and plans for each batsman and bowler. Even at club level bowlers have their bunnies, players get to know each others weaknesses and captains plan 5, 10 or 20 overs ahead.

This tends to be quite fluid and dependent on the captain's hunches in the middle at club level.

Set piece batting collapses

Perhaps this can be better planned around the idea that once you start a collapse you can keep it going with a set pattern of attack.

It would mean a team getting together before the game, talking about the opposition, knowing who does what to which player, then implementing the plan with minimum input from the captain.

This approach also requires caution. An inflexible captain who sticks to closely to his plan, even when it is failing, is asking for trouble. A good captain knows when to abandon the master plot and try something new.

I don't think it's something you can practice at club level specifically. Each opposition player will have a different set of physical and mental strengths or weaknesses. You can't practice against them all. You can practice general ideas like bowling a different line or length though. Some decent middle practice should be part of every clubs preparation anyway.

So really, a well planned batting collapse is just an extension of skills your team should be working on anyway: talking the opposition out, watching players for weaknesses, knowing your role within a side and practising skills you can reliably implement under pressure.