Is coaching the pull shot harming young cricketers?
As any coach knows, coaching the pull shot is an easy win. Kids love it, they can do it easily and it gets them runs when they are starting out.
But it's also reducing their chances of batting success.
The pull is already the most natural of shots for anyone to play: step back and hit across the line through the leg side. Any novice player can do it.
The fact is that it's a staple of village tail-enders around the world.
Hypocrites make better cricketers
If you want to get someone's hackles up, call them a hypocrite.
It's an insult against something we all hold dear: consistency between words and actions. Hypocrites talk the talk, but don't walk the walk.
Except if you want to be a better cricketer or coach, hypocrisy is a handy skill to have.
You just need to be able to get over the urge to be consistent.
Hobgoblin of the mind: Why consistency is a bad thing
How fast is it possible to bowl?
In this free cricket coaching video Ian Pont discusses how fast he thinks bowling can get with his brand new, top secret fast bowling method: the drop step and front foot block.
Ian has noticed that 99% of bowlers don't use this method, but most of the really fast ones do. It makes perfect sense to emulate them.
One fast, simple way to improve your cricket stamina
Everyone who has played cricket has felt that 'heavy leg' feeling.
You want to keep going, but the body just doesn't give you the same after a long innings, bowling spell or session in the field.
While no one can stave off the feeling forever, there is a really simple way to get more stamina.
Are you sure skipper? Proof batting first isn't what it's cracked up to be
Batting first gives you control. It's the attacking way and its how cricket 'should be played'.
At least that's what the senior pros at my club and TV commentators say.
Except that you are also much more likely to lose.
At least, that's according to Economics Professor V. Bhaskar who studied the results of every daytime One Day International match and concluded that teams who win the toss and bat only win 44% of matches.
Laws of cricket: Run out with an elbow?
This edition of Laws of Cricket, in association with the International Institute of Cricket Umpiring and Scoring, covers some more tricky questions of the Laws.
Why are bowlers not getting faster?
No regrets: How attacking captaincy breeds confident cricket
Someone once said the only things you regret are the things you didn't do.
That's certainly true when it comes to captaincy, as Mike Brearley told PitchVision Academy when he noticed a mistake the Bangladesh captain would go on to regret.
Up the anti: Why you need to forget core training for cricket
Ask any power lifter. They don't bother training the core.
Why would you when squatting and deadlifting movements give you abs like iron anyway?
The fact is that lower back injuries in cricket happen because the spine is moving too much. The fast bowler with a mixed action has a lot of rotation at the spine and over time this leads to pain and stress fractures.
How to bat in the middle order
Is there really much difference in batting approach between number 4 and number 7?
There certainly is, and if you get the wrong person in the wrong place in the order it will end up costing you games.
For example, at my own club the 1st XI has a strong batting line-up with players capable of scoring runs quickly right down the order to number 9.
