Newsletter | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Hi,

If you want more, you are in the right place. There is more discussion on Twenty20 with Sam Lavery talking us through bowling and a detailed look at field settings for T20 leggies. And there is more spin with a drill from Mark Garaway.

It all comes together to make sure you get more runs, more wickets and more success here on PitchVision Academy

Have a great weekend,

David Hinchliffe

Big Bash Lessons: Rebalance Your Coaching in Twenty20 Cricket

Sam Lavery has been talking about changes in the modern game, and how to apply them at club, school and academy level.

Lately, I've spent some time talking to first-class coaches about T20 cricket. I'm aware that what we see at the pinnacle of our sport will filter down. I find it gives me a direction of my own, as to how my cricketers at Portsmouth Grammar School can develop skills that are current in our ever-evolving game.

One of the main points I picked up on was the ever-increasing emphasis put on bowlers to be Twenty20 match winners.

We all know bowlers win Tests, but in a world where Chris Gayle, Brendan McCullum and David Warner appear to be the prize assets of any franchise, is the real value in the guys at the other end, who restrict these players to good innings rather than great ones? And if T20 is as much about the bowlers as the batters, do we attribute our coaching in the right manner or proportion?

I wonder, are we investing the same amount of time in differentiating between leg stump yorkers and 5th stump yorkers, and then developing an association to appropriate field placings and scenarios. Or do we focus more on swinging hard, setting a base and driving the hips to clear the ropes, or adjusting the head and feet position, to perfect that ramp over short fine leg?

After all those things are more fun aren't they?

If you look at the stats from the 2015 Big Bash, the value of an effective bowling unit is clear. Six of the top 10 Big Bash bowlers made the final.

Where once individual bowlers would make significant impacts on a game - with Murali single handedly winning game after game in the early days of T20 - now the ability of a group of bowlers to collectively work together and squeeze a batting line up holds more value. Having an ability to repetitively execute one or 2 skills to an extremely high standard is harder than facing a bowler who delivers the ball at 90mph. Perhaps we may be seeing another victory for nurture over nature.

Andrew Tye's ability to execute an off stump yorker, with the support of Brad Hogg's mystery and Yasir Arafat's craft and skill, are a perfect example of how quality skills, combined with good decision making and an understanding of roles, are mighty effective.

So how does this transfer into what we do as coaches?

Address the balance of your time and focus, and ask ourselves a few questions.

Are we spending adequate time preparing your bowlers for T20 success?
Are we building a team of bowlers, or are we just working with individuals?
Do all the bowler's know their roles and how they can be applied?
Is the captain able to associate a specific situation or scenario, with the skills they have at their disposal?

Not a week full of facts I’m afraid. What do you think are the answers in your situation?

Discuss this article with other subscribers

More Spin With The Helesfay-Dewer Spin Bowling Drill

I know you love a drill, so here is one from one of our recent coaching additions at Millfield School, Dan Helesfay. Dan has recently been shortlisted for the ECB Young Coach of the Year and has made a really strong impact within our programme since joining us in the 1st week of the January.

Dan took the drill from another ex-work colleague of mine, Ross Dewar. Ross is the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Worcestershire. Dan adapted it and worked it into a session that was concentrating on the role of the hips within a spin bowling action.

You may recall a recent article which featured the research taken from the ECB's Spin bowling department. This drill is a good way of building a bowling action which promotes increased body rotation, increased revolutions on the ball and a more advanced release position: All good things for a spinner to have in their technical tool box.

Band on the Run (up)

Dan holds one end of a resistance band, wrapping it around his wrist. This ensures that the band will not slip from his grasp. It really stings if one of these pings you on the backside!

Dan finds a tension point behind the bowler and maintains his position behind the bowler so not to make the "pull" excessive. We can increase the resistance if necessary once the drill is mastered.

The bowler runs up and deliverers in their normal action with the intention of having their hips square or beyond square at point of release: This is something that isn't always coached yet research and slow motion footage demonstrates that the biggest spinners of a cricket ball use their hips to maximise the ability of the fingers or wrist in producing revolutions on the ball.

As you can see, the bowler is being forced to focus really hard to make those hips work in the drill. It takes more effort to rotate the hips and more effort to finish the action. Yet over the 6 attempts that this bowler had, he was able to complete his action well.

The bowler then, armed with his new kinaesthetic awareness, can bowl without constraints.

I have yet to find a bowler that doesn't start to fire the hips, which leads to us seeing a more advanced release position (not directly above the head). We are also hearing reports of more explosive sensations coming through the fingers and the wrist at point of release.

Give this drill a go. It's worked for Dan and our bowlers at school. It could work for you.

Discuss this article with other subscribers

Cricket Show S6 Episode 5: Fielding In The Box

David Hinchliffe chats to coaches Mark Garaway and Sam Lavery. The cricket topics start with a discussion about the difference between skill, and skill under pressure. Listen in for the team's solutions.

Then the show moves on to field settings for Twenty20 leg spin bowlers. Both Garas and Lavers came up with the same field.

You can view it here.

Plus, we talk about trigger moves for 12 year old batsmen alongside all the usual banter. Don't miss it, listen now!

How to Send in Your Questions

If you want to win a cricket coaching prize, you need to send in your burning questions to the show. If your question is the best one we give you a free online cricket coaching course!

Send in your questions via:

Or you can call and leave your question on the Academy voice mail:

+44 (0)203 239 7543
+61 (02) 8005 7925

How to Listen to the Show

Just click the "play" button at the top of the article.

Or, the show comes out every Friday and you can listen to it on your computer, smart phone or tablet every week automatically. Simply choose your favourite podcast player and do a search for the show:

iTunes (Mac and PC)
Overcast (iOS)
Apple Podcasts (iOS)
Pocket Casts (Android, iOS)
Dogg Catcher (Android)
Podcasts (Windows Phone)

Or subscribe manually with the RSS feed. Right click here, copy the link and paste it into the appropriate place for adding new feeds in your podcast subscription software or RSS reader.

You can also download this show onto your computer by clicking the play button at the top of the article, or clicking on the mp3 to download.

This is show number 296.

Discuss this article with other subscribers

Set Up: Knock Down: A Leg Spin Field Tactic

Max Andrews is a freelance coach on PitchVision Academy, in this article he talks us through the mysteries of spin bowling tactics.

There is a lot of information on the the correct action to be able to bowl well. But it is very difficult to find information on how to bowl in match scenarios, and what fields to set.

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