Imagine the scene, you turn up at nets. The bowler's bowl and the batsmen bat. Sometimes they swap places. It's all pretty typical.

The guy is just expected to never make a mistake, even when all the work he gets involves taking throws from fielding practice.

The problem of coaching a specialist

Coaching isn't like filling a jug with water. Minds don't work by having information poured into them until they are full. For a start, jugs don't wonder if it's the right kind of water for their needs.

As a coach, have you ever wondered about the talented player who seems to cruise without putting in the hard yards?

How much better would Player A be, you wonder, if only he had the motivation of the les talented Player B? The frustrating part is that motivation is more complicated that a simply telling Jimmy to buck up his ideas.

When done wrong, team meetings are a waste of time. I know. I spent years working in a big company who had the ability to make meetings about meetings last for hours for no reason.

So if you are going to have one make the most of it by doing it right. It's only respectful of the player's time.

The captain is in the dressing room before the game giving his team a last minute talk.

He tells the boys that they have the talent and ability to beat this lot. All that needs to happen is this: Stay focused and switched on for the entire game. Let the will-to-win take us over the line.

A long time ago in another life I was a fitness instructor at a big gym.

Even back in the late 90's people would tell me at their first sessions that they didn't want to get too bulky. They wanted to tone up. As we know, it's all but impossible to accidentally get too big.

What's this got to do with cricket coaching?

If shots go through fashions, we can safely say the sweep is this year's must have item. Have you been wondering how to play the sweep well?

The sweep is an excellent weapon for any batsman: when used correctly.

Frowned upon totally in its early days, the shot (and its range of variations) has become an acceptable, if difficult to learn, shot. But many coaches still shy away from teaching it, going down the safer route of a straight bat.

Would your club side be better with a couple of excellent spin bowlers? How about your Test team?

They are mysterious, a joy to watch and frustrating to play against. But spinners need careful attention if they are to be developed properly. It's easy for coaches and captains to crush the enthusiasm and confidence of a young player simply by misunderstanding how to handle them.

Despite all the recent innovations in coaching, some things remain constant.

I have been a coach since 1994 and have taught kids at almost every age and skill level. Long ago I learned that to be a success you need to do certain things. You could be standing in front of 40 8 year olds or trying to get the most out of an elite group of under 16 Academy players. These are the immutable laws of coaching kids' cricket: