Years ago, changes to the Laws of cricket changed the game.

Round arm allowed bowlers to increase their pace in the 1800’s. In the 1930’s, the Bodyline controversy caused fielding restrictions and the banning of the overuse of bouncers.

These days Law changes don’t have quite the impact, but they still happen.

This is a guest article by Daniel Maddocks of T20Kids.com: Promoting Cricket for Kids. Daniel is an ECB Coach with experience in coaching young cricketers in the North West of England.

When it comes to role models we often think about the likes of Glenn McGrath or Sachin Tendulkar; the great cricketers who had the ability to inspire millions.

Local cricketers around the UK are fast filling up slots at the interactive cricket coaching event of 2010: PitchVision Academy Live!

It’s a club game on a typical summer afternoon. Tell me if what I saw is a familiar story.

The opening batsman are being tied down by some accurate medium pace bowling. After 10 overs the score is 18-0.

Seeing that he needs to get on with it, one opener plays a defensive nudge towards cover and makes a dash for a quick single. His partner is looking for it too and they make it home. In the next few overs they do more of the same, making the scoreboard look a little fuller before the first wicket falls.

You only have to look at a great fast bowler like Brett Lee to see how important coordination is to cricket skill.

When Lee bowls, his muscles fire in a perfectly synchronised order to propel the ball towards the batsman at 90mph (145kph) or more. He is balanced and in rhythm.

It’s no different for batting and bowling either. The skills of coordination underpin everything we do on the pitch.

In part 1 we looked at the mental and nutritional parts of your match day. Today we get to the nuts and bolts of how to warm up, including the best drills for your needs.

Warming up: Preparing the body and mind together

Can a little bit of rubber tubing really make you a better player?

There is no doubt in my mind that resistance bands have an important place in cricket training, and you don’t need a personal trainer to get the best from one.

But like any tool, you have to use it right to get results.

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

OK I admit it. There are no specialist fine leg fielders. But in most teams it’s the same players who end up at either fine leg or third man, usually a bowler.

For that reason it makes sense to practice the skills you will most need.

Great news for all fans of cricket coaching drills: We have been given a bucketful to give away by the very kind guys at Inspired Cricket.

The drills cover 12 areas for all ages including:

• Warming up
• Agility training
• Fielding
• Net ideas
• Wicketkeeping

All produced in the innovative style that has made Inspired the talk of cricket coaching circles.

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

Purpose: A warm up routine that gets the hands and eyes ready for more advanced close catching drills. It also allows a coach to make changes to technique where needed.