Can your team catch regularly and confidently?

Then it's time for the daddy of all high catching drills.

This is grim if the fielder doesn't cling onto the first few high balls. It trains concentration and desperation which all the best fielders have in abundance.

I have been chuffed with the development of one committed player that I coach. This poor fellow couldn't catch a cold three weeks ago. He was getting frustrated and embarrassed in fielding practice and was dreading a high catch being hit his way.

Today, he is transformed.

How vital is a good slip catcher?

We work all year on developing bowling fast bowlers and spinners with the intention of taking the edge of the bat to create catching opportunities. So develop fielders who can convert those chances into wickets!

So, as a coach, lets assign some quality time to slip catching skills. Including your own. Read on to find out more:

Do you recognise this?

Bowlers have bowling with soaking wet balls, drying the ball on a towel kept in the back your trousers and fielders throwing the ball sideways as the ball slips out of their hands. Anyone who has played club cricket will know all about these kinds of challenge.

Have you ever said or thought any of these things as a coach?

"Fielding is a non-negotiable"

"Catches win matches"

"Fielding is the only time that we are working together as a team, so it's vital that we are good at it!'

I agree, but I also ask: How well does your coaching fielders and keepers reflect those statements?

How much are the players developing their basic stop, catch and throw skills so that your team fielding drills increase in quality?

After all, the better these drills are performed the better our chances of wickets in matches.

Last weekend I headed up a great group of cricket coaches at Sportsfest 2013 in the grounds of Wormsley Estate.

I was working with a group on throwing and they were struggling with both their alignments and also to understand my instruction.

I want you to look at a couple of pictures.

The first is Dennis Lillee in his pomp. 9 slip fielders in a range of 'ready positions'. Some are crouched low and others more upright, ready for the edge.

The second is 4 slip fielders all in similar ready positions: Lots of knee flexion and hands low in a keeper-like position.

We all know that catches win matches, yet there is one type of catching opportunity that is being taken in the upper echelons of the game that isn't transferred down the playing levels.

It's when a player dives forward to take a blinder.

As you know, I love coaching fielding and perfecting elements of the game that gives teams the best chance of squeezing life out of the opposition batters and taking wickets.

One of the tactics I use to achieve this is the "7 man fielding unit". I challenge the team to commit at least 7 active players to each delivery that is hit into or through the inner ring.

There are hundreds of keeping drills for standing up to the stumps. However, outside of the professional game, I see little evidence of keepers being asked to develop their capacity when standing back.

So lets address this now!