Today's guest article from Darren Talbot; Professional coach, Managing Director of Darren Talbot Cricket Coaching and founder committee member of the Surrey ECB Coaches Association.

I keep hearing from clubs they are doing off season "nets" for their juniors (and seniors, more of which later).

John wrote in with a sad tale of a cricket team in trouble, and a real problem:

"I am the captain of my club cricket team. After about 6 overs if we haven't taken a wicket or two most players start sticking their hands in their pockets and not really putting in the effort. The game just goes down hillfrom there. What should I do to try to lift the team's enthusiasm?"

We have all been there. Here is what to do.

Planning is vital to coaching, especially if you are trying to cover a lot in a set number of sessions with the players you coach.

Many coaches do "in the head" planning, which is fine, but a lot of coaches prefer to get their ideas and thoughts on paper.

And a great tool for this is a simple session planner for group coaching: One sheet of paper that includes everything you need to cover during a session from saefty concerns, through the skills are are practicing to coach self-reflection.

This week's winner of the Cricket Show podcast question competition is John. He wins a free coaching course from PitchVision Academy.

The winning question was:

"Should keepers keep in the nets when you have bowlers bowling to batsmen for part of their training?"

Listen to the panel's answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here.

In a recent article, MS Dhoni's method of finishing one day games was put under the microscope.

It's worth a read in itself, but I wanted to look at Dhoni's method from the viewpoint of a non-professional batsman.

Can a club or school player emulate this method in their games, or does the Indian's rare genuis and skill mean you would be foolish to try?

One of the big issues with gm training for fast bowlers is the transfer from weights to the bowling action.

As Steff Jones says, there is a large river of difference between them unless you bridge the gap.

That's what this quick exercise combination from Steffan does really well, taking a "traditional" strength exercise and pairing it with a fast, powerful movement.

It makes sure you take the gym with you to the playing field.

Say what you like about Ravichandran Ashwin's Test credentials, but as a modern limited over bowler he has few peers.

His IPL economy rate is just over 6. No wonder he has a 0k contract. He has acheived this success at a time where off spin has become the black sheep of the spin family.

What can we learn from the young Chennai spinner to take to our own game?

This week's winner of the Cricket Show podcast question competition is Sagar. He wins a free coaching course from PitchVision Academy.

The winning question was:

"How does statistical information (including shot direction, bowling angle, line, length, etc.) help a batsman improve his game? I talked to a very good batsman who ignores this saying he knows what shots he played for which type of bowling against which bowler and against which line and length. He basically knows his strength and weakness, so he does not need any stats."

Listen to the panel's answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here.

Vazim is an 18 year old bowler who asked,

"How many ball should a bowler bowl for practice? Please help me in this problem."

It's a great question because we all know the point of practice is to make improvements, but bowling is also hard on the body and practicing too much can cause strains and stress injuries.

MS Dhoni recently lamented the lack of fast bowlers in India,

"We're going through a stage when we don't have the same firepower when it comes to the bowling department."

That has to hurt if you are an Indian fast bowler.

But it's true at club and school level too, it's not just an issue at the top.