Newsletter | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Hi,

Has a top international cricketer ever taken the time to document his methods while still playing at the highest level?

It’s certainly the case now as Kevin Pietersen is providing 2 coaching courses on PitchVision Academy, and to celebrate he is giving some free advice at his special preview page. Read the article below for details.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Mark Garaway gives us advice on coaching bowlers, we look at core training and we have a simple tip for bowlers to work as a unit.

Have a great weekend,

David Hinchliffe

Kevin Pietersen Shows You Exactly How to Become an Explosive Batsman in Keep Calm and Smash It

PitchVision Academy is delighted to present Kevin Pietersen as the man behind Keep Calm and Smash It, the online batting coaching course.

Revolution is an overused word but if one person personifies revolution it’s KP. And for the first time he is about to revolutionise the way you bat too.

Keep Calm and Smash It is the online batting guide from the England and Delhi Daredevils superstar. Direct from the man himself, you can discover how to emulate his stellar success with the bat.

And there is no one better to show you because, as a youngster, Pietersen was written off as a gentle off spinner who could slog down the order. Despite that tag, he has over 11,000 international runs, has been world number 1 batsman, a Wisden Player of the Year and is a crucial cog in England’s rise to the best team in the world.

The course was filmed on location at KP’s home county of Surrey and features revealing interviews and all-action videos of batting in the nets while the 3 times Ashes winner commentates on his technique, tactics and mental approach.

It’s the first time that the secrets of the International batsman have been demonstrated outside the inner sanctum of Team England. Everyone has seen these methods in action on TV, but now you will learn exactly how to practice them and put them into action, and why they work so well.

If you ever wanted to play the switch hit, or the slap shot, or get an effective trigger move this course is for you.

If you ever wondered how an experienced international player constructs an innings this course is for you.

If you ever wondered how to get through a slump this course is for you.

If you ever wanted bulletproof self-confidence at the crease this course is for you.

To help you with this, the course doesn’t begin and end with videos. This is not some 3 minute YouTube clip you watch and forget. Every aspect of the course has been designed to help you emulate KP by showing you exactly how to practice in your specific circumstances.

Personalised worksheets and online interactions guide you through the maze of options you have when you are working out how to practice. The course even allows you to interact with other enrolees be they your batting buddy from your team or someone from halfway around the world.

Keep Calm and Smash It is the total step-by-step package to batting success and everything you need in inside in one place that you can access from any PC with an internet connection.

The course is available soon, but until then PitchVision Academy is giving away exclusive content from KP both as a taster of what to come in the course and extra advice and tips direct from the man himself that wont ever be published elsewhere.

So if you want some free email advice from KP (with no obligation to buy, and you can stop the emails at any time), click here.

Discuss this article with other subscribers

How to Improve Pace Bowling Technique during Preseason

We have all been to pre-season nets the seamers bowl bouncer after bouncer on flat and fast indoor pitches.

Whilst it is a great way to have fun, it has little if no relevance to the first few games that you are going to out on grass only 3 or so months later.

There is no use in bowling your fastest or most penetrative spell of the year in a session which comes months before the start of the season.

Many do this and then get frustrated in the season when they cannot recapture the feelings of the pre-season period.

With 4 months to go until the start of the season, the best work for bowlers is on their technical processes.

This ensures that when competition time comes round that their actions are repeatable and efficient. That is the underpinning of the delivery of the skills that are required to be successful.

So how do you do that in the limitations of winter nets?

Building technique: Four paced run up

Fast bowlers can bowl off 4 paces to isolate elements to enhance the bowling action during this period.

If a bowler is making some shifts to their action then it is nearly impossible to do this off of a full run and at full intensity. The 4 Pace approach is a perfect fit.

A reduced run up and less momentum into the crease will provide a good foundation to gain control of the body and cement that technical enhancement into place.

With 4 paces you can work on:

Alignment of the feet, hips and shoulders at ball release
Height of the bowling hand at bound strike (lower than the shoulders and moving forward)
Angle of approach, bound and delivery stride
Height of the bound (linked to point 2)
Pace of the run up (over 80% of fast bowlers run in TOO Fast)
Ability of the action to withstand forces on the back leg and front leg in delivery stride
Grip and release position
Swing type (away and in)
Variation deliveries
And a whole heap more.....

Progressing technique: Full run up

As a coach, I will only let bowlers move to a full run once they have demonstrated an ability to maintain a good action. This is to say consistently hold their movements together over a sustained period of time, even after introducing an element of fatigue into the session.

A technique that can be held over 4 steps under those tests is ready to be tested on a full run up.

Pace bowlers will be amazed at the pace that can be generated off of 4 steps as they find that they deliver more energy towards their target in a controlled and balanced fashion.

Incorporating into Nets

A normal net can easily work with a couple of bowlers operating off of shortened runs.

Just a word of warning: A coach will have to keep his eye on the intensity levels as any fast bowler is a competitive being and will react to a batter taking liberties.

By working in this way, your fast bowlers will be fresh, technically sound and highly skilled in time for your 1st game of the season.

Discuss this article with other subscribers

Cricket Show 145: Behind the Scenes on the Kevin Pietersen Shoot

With Burners on holiday, David Hinchliffe and Mark Garaway get to discuss what it was like seeing Kevin Pietersen up close during filming at the Oval. You can see the results here.

The team also discuss the Ranji Trophy final and rant about writing people off too early.

Plus we answer your questions on how leg spinners and wicketkeepers can work together and how to look after a young talented fast bowler like Pat Cummins.

Don’t forget you can join the conversation anytime on the PitchVision Academy twitter feed if you have something burning to say back to us.

How to Get in Touch With the Show

Our contact email can be found here.

Use our twitter or facebook accounts.

Or you can call and leave a message (it’s an answer phone, not manned but we check it every day). If it’s a good story or question we will call you back for a chat.

UK +44 (0) 208 816 7691
AUST: +61 (02) 8005 7925
USA: +1 347 722 1981

How to Listen to the Show

You can download the show onto your computer by right clicking on the link below and choosing "Save Target as..."

You can also subscribe to the show:

Click here to subscribe in iTunes.

If you don't use iTunes You can add the feed manually.

Discuss this article with other subscribers

4 Core Training Exercises for Batsmen

During a break in the filming of Kevin Pietersen’s coaching course, KP and I got to chatting about fitness training.

He said he spent a lot of his gym time working on his core. It wasn’t just so he could look good on the beach between Tests. He knows instinctively that the core is crucial to batting power.

That’s because timing and power with the bat are all based on the ability to transfer your weight from the ground, through your body and into the ball.

	Thank you for subscribing to PitchVision Academy. Read more at www.pitchvision.com